Stretching
Stretching is an essentially important
part of any Martial Art involving kicks, the more flexible you
are the higher you will be able to kick. Although in a street-fight
situation you probably only need to use mid and low section kicks,
in class sparring and for competitions it helps greatly. Whatever
your flexibility when you start at the school, it will improve
significantly once you start training.
All types of stretching are practiced,
your muscles must be warmed-up before stretching. Warm-up, carried
out at the start of class will generally include some gentle stretches
of the major muscle groups i.e. quadriceps, hamstrings, calf muscles
etc. There are no set rules as to which stretches are used and
we try to vary them as much as possible. We do however, avoid
stretches that put too much pressure on the neck and back vertebrae
and excessive strain to any of the muscles. Serious stretching
is carried out only when the body is thoroughly warm generally
at the end of a class, a good time is after a sparring session.
Partner-Stretches
Partner-stretches are popular with a lot
of students because they allow you to be pushed beyond that that
can be achieved alone. A typical partner-stretch would be to sit
opposite a partner with your legs apart, the partner will then
place their feet between the lower part of your legs and holding
onto your belt will gently push your legs apart until you are
at your maximum stretch. After approximately a minute, you bring
your legs in 15cm (6”) and use your muscles to push against
your partners feet for approx. 8 seconds. Your legs are again
taken to maximum stretch for another minute and the whole process
is repeated another 2-3 times. Each maximum stretch should be
a little further.
Strength
Stretches are great for improving flexibility
but you also need to combine this with strengthening of the muscles
as this helps in reducing injuries. Any kick carried out in slow
motion will strengthen the appropriate muscles required for that
kick. A typical exercise being to stand on one leg holding the
other tucked into the body parallel to the floor. The raised leg
is then extended slowly as for a side kick and retrieved slowly,
this is repeated 20 times and the same exercise repeated fast
20 times. With the leg still raised it is extended and raised
and lowered 15cm 20 times. The exercise is then repeated for the
other leg.
