Maintaining Gains From Stretching

[tufrthanu]

I suppose this question is for stretching experts. Preferably people familiar with dynamic and pnf style stretching. I am overweight so I find some stretching routines difficult but I've recently come across some stretching routines via youtube from ElasticSteel. They seem to work ok but within hours my legs/hamstrings are completely tight again. This happens independent of what style of stretching I do. Is there something in general that I am not doing to make sure that once I get my legs stretched out to a certain point they maintain that flexibility so that I am able to kick relatively cold? Thanks.

P.S. I'm a relatively advanced martial artist and have read and practiced quite a few stretching techniques so any help will be enlightening.

[StrangeBacon]

http://www.trickstutorials.com/index.php?page=content/flexibility

The videos for the dynamic stretches arent working on the site, but this guys youtube channel has them all http://www.youtube.com/user/86itachi

The site also goes into nearly every static stretch possible and explains in detail with pictures the proper ways to perform and maintain flexibility using isometric/pnf stretching.

Is brilliant its helped many people out bucketloads.

The book, Stretching Scientifically by Thomas Kurz is another great resource.

If you still need some more info on stretching just ask, im a personal trainer by trade and i'd be happy to help when i have a little more time

Hope this helps.

[tufrthanu]

Yes I have Tom Kurz's book unfortunately some of those exercises are difficult for me to perform and having seen a demo tape of one of his seminars I can speak to the fact that sometimes he does not do what he is describing that he's doing. I will check out the links and stuff you have provided though. It's just frustrating to stretch out dynamically or through pnf and then a few hours later be just as tight as I was before.

[StrangeBacon]

A good stretching routine will usually take a good 6-8 hours a week worth of commitment to develop a good level of flexibility and then only 1-2 hours a week to maintain it, the best way to reach this is to do 15-20 mins of dynamic stretches twice a day preferbaly in the morning and evening for a few weeks, and then start doing isometric stretching no more than 3 times a week, at the same time reducing the dynamics down to once a day after you reach your desired level of flexibility.

You only need to do the dynamics every morning to maintain that level in addition with your martial arts training, that should be enough.

Make sure to do martial arts style dynamic stretches as opposed to the borderline useless fitness style stretches though (squat to overhead ect)

[tufrthanu]

Well perhaps you can answer this for me then. The flexibility that I am really trying to develop is that used in the round/side kick for taekwondo and hapkido. This involves the base leg hamstring. Strangely enough even though the legs and hips are in similar positions I can kick head high without much difficulty or stretch on the hamstring using my kicking leg, as long as I do dynamic leg lifts, however when I try to do the round and side kicks with the opposite leg the first legs hamstrings don't seem stretched very well. When I try to do the back leg lift demonstrated on that website and through Kurz's book I get a lot of stretch in the base leg hamstring. Should I be getting this? Doing 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps morning and night of the front and back leg lifts should produce greater flexibility in the base leg hamstring correct? Also I noticed after yesterdays stretch using this method

my hamstring during dynamic back lifts this morning was somewhat sore and extremely tight...is this good or bad? Could be indication that it's finally getting the proper workout or that its being worked too hard not sure? Thanks.

[StrangeBacon]

By sore and tight do you mean pain or discomfort? If its painful you should give it a day or two, so just do them 3 or 4 times a week for a few weeks or just cut out the evening session to give them a full 24 hours before the next one.

If its just discomfort then the body will get used to it, its like hard weights workouts, the first few will leave you struggling to move for the next few days

Ask your teacher in regards to the kicks as he'll be able to see whether its your strength or flexibility thats in question its very hard to tell and offer corrective advice over a forum when i cant see what you're doing.

[tufrthanu]

The soreness and tightness are somewhat similar to what you would feel from a buildup of lactic acid in a muscle after the first workout or two of a muscle building program. There isn't really any pain such as would be present in an injury. At least I don't consider it to be such. Also at this point I strongly believe it is the dynamic flexibility and not the strength. I have the strength in my legs such that if I lean on a support structure I can do a very slow side kick that is past my current range of flexibility; i.e., I can kick to a height where I feel a strong stretch in the back of the hamstring but can't kick to that height as a normal and comfortable range of motion.

[StrangeBacon]

Your body should get used to that then, regarding the kick, do side leg lifts and aim to progressively get higher over the 3-4 sets till you reach your full range of motion without dropping the trunk as this accomodates the stretch in the hamstring and uses the hip flexor more, using this method with the front and back lifts too you'll be able to more effectively isolate the hamstrings.

Stretch statically after workouts and (especially if you're working with weights) do a cooldown, i cant stress the importance of this enough, a proper cooldown will flush the lactic acid from the body and lead to greater flexibility and less soreness as a long term result.

There are a number of factors that affect flexibility at any one time such as sleep, nutrition (salt intake ect) previous exercise ect but you should be seeing a general increase week by week, dont get too discouraged if you can stretch to a certain point in the morning and not the same at night, like i said theres a stupid amount of things that will affect it.

Hope this was helpful.

[Jay]

I just have to emphasise one point.

Strength=Flexability

If you don't work strength on the muscles you stretch. You will get injured.

[bushido_man96]

Good call, Jay. You need levels of both.