Hello everyone! I'm new in karate. I am from Greece, 32 y.o. and started shito ryu 4 months ago and i have the red belt.My teacher has 3 dan in shito ryu and 9 dan in okinawa so he also teaches as some of okinawa stuff. I'd like to discuss with you some things about stretching exercises. I had never practiced stretching exercises before so it is important for me to gain elasticity in my body, as i am old now to be very elastic. In my karate school the lesson is 1 hour and a half, 3 days /week, and the stretching exercises are done for only 20 min. So the days i dont have lesson i do stretching in my home for about 1 hour and half each time. I've seen very good results! Now in the point: I'm practising very much in side splits. I find them the most difficult but also the most important ( you can't do yoko geri without side splits). I've seen good progress but i'm still much far from doing FULL side splits. However i've overdone it and always feel pain on the hips during this exercise. I do it gently opening the legs a little bit more every 45-60 seconds and so on. I dont press in a brutal way because i am afraid it can cause damage. The question is: Will i ever manage to do full side splits as i'm already 32 years old? And is it normal that i always feel pain, even though i do this exersice very gently?
