How long do you stretch/warmup for class?

[Red J]

The basic class stretches for the first 15 minutes of every hour long class. In our advanced class, you are to be stretched out before the class begins so that the full hour is purely instruction and practice.

[KarateMom]

5 - 10 minutes

[aes]

Our Dojo sets aside about 20 mins for warm up and stretching at the start of class. This can go a bit longer. Generally about 10 mins of stretching. Because I have such a long way to go with my stretching I have been supplementing this with extra stretching at the end of class and 3 times a day.

 

One Sensei at the Dojo suggested you can speed up the side splits by putting your bum against a wall or heavy couch and sitting down. Pull your feet apart while sitting legs extended as far as possible and hold it. The carpet will naturally hold your feet in this position. After a while your tendons etc will stretch out and you can increase the stretch. Wait and increase more. This supposedly mimics one of those stretch machines.

 

I have yet to really use this but plan too as soon as I have some spare time watching TV.

 

Al

[guarddog]

We usually strech on our own upon getting their as we are there 15min early. Then we do conditioning and excerises that strech us out also.

 

So they get worked into our 1 to 1.5 h class.

[KickChick]

While I agree with KickChick about stretching every day, I do have a warning:

 

HEAVY stretching should be done no more than 3 times a week. It can overstress your muscles, just like lifting weights to the max every day can be stressful.

 

ok... I just read your post monkeygirl. So what constitutes "heavy stretching" in your book. Stretching without a warm up, bouncing to "overstretch" can result in pulling or tearing of a muscle, ligament or the hyperextension of a joint, incorrect stretching exercises and order of stretching, and improper duration of the stretch ... all these can "overstress" (is how you put it) your muscles. When you stretch correctly, the feeling of the stretch will diminish somewhat after you have held it for 20 seconds. If the feeling becomes painful or grows in intensity as you hold the stretch, you are overstretching and should stop.

 

Most important is the stretching you do after training ... and for some of us that train consistently... the cool down stretch is just as important. When finished with training, do a cool down stretch. You will be tempted to overstretch but you just want to perform light to moderate stretches at this time.

 

Spend at least 5 minutes per light stretching session, and 15-30 minutes per heavy stretching session (not including warm-up) Your goal is to have several light stretching sessions daily (like when watching TV, reading book, first thing in morning, before bed) and only one heavy stretching session per day.)

 

You'll just have to stay tuned for my first article to read more!

[kicker]

15 to 30 minutes of stretching depends what we are going to do in the class.

[Thai_Kick]

20-30 minute warmup and 5 minute stretch!

[karatekid1975]

In my dojang, we do a 5 to 10 minute warm-up (jumping jacks, push-ups, sit-ups, ect) and a 5 to 10 minutes of stretching.

 

But I usually stretch on my own before class and after. One reason is because, in class, they don't usually hold a stretch for long and it feels like I didn't even stretch. A stretch should be held for, at least, 10 seconds, I believe. But they hold it for 5, at the most I stretch after class because my muscles are warmed up and I can do a good stretching. Plus if I don't, I get "stiff."

[monkeygirl]

We stretch for 15 minutes tops, pretty much because we only have a 45-minute long class. However, if we teach a stretch/warmup that is new to the class, we'll take longer. We once spent over half of the class simply warming up. Sometimes we do cardio classes where we don't really do any "real" training. But I'm getting off subject.

 

Depending on age and physique, a lot of people like to stretch before class. If I get the time, I like to, because of my freaky hips

 

However, since I teach, I'm usually stretched out anyway.

 

It's really the student's responsiblity to figure out the extent of stretching their body requires. If they know they need extra stretching, it's their responsiblity to make sure they get it. Students are strongly recommended to come early and stretch while the last class is ending.

 

If we had more time to stretch it would be wonderful, but, sadly there just aren't enough hours in the day to have 4 classes, 1/2 hour stretching, AND still get a respectable amount of training in.

 

Exercising after 10pm usually isn't a good idea