Flexibility is an important part of being a good martial artist. If our goal is flexibility, we then work hard to achieve it. But it can be achieved.

Some people are naturally flexible – just the way your body is made – and others have to work really hard at it, especially if you have taken up martial arts in your later years.

Those who are over 40 should take care not to over stretch and progress slowly, otherwise injuries can occur.

Try a little test! Bend forward, with your legs straight, and try to touch your toes. No? Then it’s time to think about a regular routine of stretching. In my opinion, stretching should be practised by everyone. By doing just light stretching during the day you will stay limber all of the time, which will help you through all of your daily activities.

When you are inactive your muscles and ligaments begin to tighten and become shorter. One of the main muscles that now becoming tight is the hip flexor because we spend so much time sitting down – at our desks, in the car, at the cinema! Stretching maintains (or improves) range of motion – so stretch at every opportunity you can. Stretching also increases the circulation of blood in the areas of the body being stretched, supplying more oxygen to the muscles, and increasing stamina. Elongating the muscles also releases much of the tension in them, causing less strain, and also increasing stamina.

Consistency is the key – stretch a bit every single day!

To become flexible we must stretch our muscles and ligaments, preventing them from tightening and shortening. At the same time we are working the joints to improve their freedom or range of movement.

There is no doubt about it - in order to be a great martial arts kicker like Grand Master Gary Wasniewski featured in my last article “The World’s Greatest Kicker”, it is critical that the legs, groin and hips are flexible. Flexibility in martial arts also depends on the knees and ankle joints moving freely so it is important to work on the flexibility of the hamstrings, adductors, upper thighs, quad and calf muscles.

Every martial artist dreams of executing the high kicks of Van Damme or Bruce Lee. Over the next few weeks, I will be taking you through some basic and advanced stretches to help you improve your kicking ability. I will be concentrating on basic technique rather than on how much time you spend on individual stretches. Clearly I won’t be able to cover all of the different stretches – it would take a book and not a few features to achieve that. I will concentrate on a few basic stretches that I use when teaching kickboxing lessons that I know are helpful when executing kicking technique.

Before we get started, here are some important tips:

• Warm up the muscles before stretching – light running, arm rotations and hip rotations are a great way to do that.
• Only stretch to a point of tension where you still feel relaxed and are not experiencing pain or discomfort. Over stretching is counterproductive, making the muscles and ligaments too flexible which can then lead to injury.
• Concentrate on stretching continuously and steadily – never bouncing or jerking. Your body will tell you when to stop – listen to it!
• Use simple stretches as part of your warm up, and the more advanced stretches at the end of your martial arts work out when your muscles are really warmed up.

My next feature in this series will introduce the “Dynamic Leg Swing”.

See you next time.

(www.kickboxing-london.co.uk)
(www.pka-kickboxing.com)