Stretching and Flexibility
As everyone knows martial arts require a certain level of flexibility. Some martial Arts like Taekwondo and Muay Thai with their high kicks for example, require an even higher level of flexibility. It doesn’t matter if you are rolling on the mats grappling or firing kicks to the head, flexibility has many benefits in martial arts. Truth is you can’t succeed in many martial arts without some sort of flexibility.
In short, almost all striking styles include various kicking techniques and you need flexibility to perform them. So, the following three stretching exercises practices at Stricklands Martial Arts are a must if you are serious about your martial arts dream. What’s more, you don’t have to spend hours or put on a huge effort to increase flexibility. Most of the stretching needs only 15–20 minutes of your time. So, with a bit of consistency, you will experience huge benefits in a short time span.
Do’s:
Passive stretching (also called static-passive stretching) involved assuming a position, and then holding it with the use of another body part of an apparatus. For example, in the seated forward bend stretch we perform in class, we use gravity to hold fold our hips and torso over our legs, as we stretch our hamstrings and back. Passive stretching is helpful for both pre-workout and post work-out cool downs.
Dynamic stretching, which involves moving parts of your body and gradually increasing reach, speed of movement, or both. Two examples of dynamic stretching we perform in class are the “leg swing” exercise in which we gently swing our legs through their entire range of motion, forwards, sideways, and backwards. It is important not to confuse dynamic stretching with ballistic stretching. In dynamic stretching, our aim is to gently move ourselves to limit of our range of motion. There are no bounces or jerky movements, as are used in ballistic stretching to move the limb beyond its range of motion. Dynamic stretching improves dynamic flexibility, and is very useful as part of a warm up for martial arts practice.
Active stretching (also called static-active stretching) involves assuming a position, like a forward lunge, and using our own muscles, while holding that position with no assistance other than our agonist muscle. This will cause the antagonist muscle (the reciprocal muscle) to relax, and facilitate the stretch. Another example is a horse stance, the objectives is to contract the gluteal muscles in order to stretch the muscles in the front of our hips. In fact, most yoga poses employ active stretching.
Don’t’s
Ballistic stretching, which uses the momentum of our body or limb to force it beyond its normal range of motion, and typically involved “bouncing” into and out of a stretched position. Generally speaking, researchers and physicians consider ballistic stretching to not only not be useful for developing flexibility, but also expose the practitioner to a high risk of injury. Consequently, ballistic stretching should not be practiced.
The effectiveness of your fighting style and attack or defense may depend on how flexible you are. As flexible martial artists you can execute techniques more easily. In short, flexibility is an important aspect of all types of physical activities including martial arts. All martial arts techniques require precision, strength, and a range of motion that comes with a flexible body. So keep on stretching!
