Not Stretching Before Martial Arts..

[hank]

thomas kurtz is one of the stretching gurus:

http://www.stadion.com/

[Meguro]

Kurtz, that's the man. He's got some interesting ideas on stretching.

[markusan]

If the report by the CDC is the one that tested army recruits who stretched before exercise be careful how you interpret the results and how you compare it with MA training.

I believe they were static stretching before doing things like running calisthenics etc, not extending their muscles to their full range of motion.

I would argue that we need to stretch our antagonist muscles, eg hamstrings, because they are the ones that pull against kicks like the snapping front kick.

It is the thigh muscles and hip flexors that lift the leg but the hamstrings work against it. It doesn't take much imagnation to figure what happens if you try a high front kick with cold tight hamstrings.

The bottom of the hamstring crosses the back of the knee and attaches to the lower leg crossing the top of the calf. So stretching the calf releases the lower end of the hamsting. Th top of the hamstring inserts in the buttock area under the glutes and rotators so a hip and rotator stretch losens up that end.

My theory is warm up first by jogging, situps, pushups, stepups etc(all short range of motion, followed by a calf stretch (and achilles) then a hip and rotator stretch, freeing up both ends of the hamstring. Then hit the hamstrings first with static then dynamic stretches.

Then once the hammies are loose do a groin stretch and transition from one to the other (side split to front split).

That's at the start of class

At the end of class add a really good thigh and hip flexor stretch. Remember all our kicking, and stances like horseriding stance, shorten those muscles and if you dont stretch them after a session they become very short and strong, rotating your pelvis forward and causing lower back problems (sound familiar?)

And as for the theory that static stretching doesn't work, ask a pilates teacher. Pilates was developed specifically for dancers doing similar full extension moves to those we do and it is based on static stretching and core strength.

[ovine king]

most important thing is never stretch a cold muscle.