Emphasis on stretching?

[Himokiri Karate]

Curios to know regardless if your a student or teacher as well as style...How often do you guys stretch or have your students stretch?

I was SHOCKED to hear a karate friend of mine say he only stretches two times a week. I thought he stretched all day everyday to be honest...

[andym]

It's relative, some people are more supple than others. I always was fairly stiff, so always work at it. Some don't need to put anything like the effort I have too. That also changes with age - the older you get , the more you must do. Plus, how do you define it. I do stretching before and after every training session ( see above) , but I also do a really serious , in-depth and detailed, stretching session once to twice a week

[ninjanurse]

I stretch daily and encourage my students to do the same. This is essential for mobility as we get older and for injury prevention to boot.

[mal103]

Our normal lessons include various stretches at the end of the warm up and at the end of the lesson, ideally stretching should be done on warm muscles.

If I do other exercises during the week then I may include stretches at the end. We try to include a variety of routines so if anyone is keen to get more flexible then they have a few more to work on.

Occasionally we will do assisted stretching with a partner but have to be careful.

[Harkon72]

We do floor stretching and wall stretching in class, but not every class in the same way. I'm not as flexible as I was, but I try to give my best effort in stretching.

[Himokiri Karate]

Its crazy I thought martial artist stretched as much as contornoisnt who stretch 3 hours a day (NO JOKE!)

[Wastelander]

I'll be perfectly honest--I absolutely hate stretching. I'm not sure why, but I do. That said, I had to research it while I was going through personal training/fitness classes in High School, and then I've done a little more throughout my martial arts career. I do know how to stretch, and I try to do at least a little bit of stretching after every workout.

Many martial artists tend to do something that really gets to me when it comes to stretching, though--stretching BEFORE working out! Stretching before you are warmed up at all can cause injury (I've subluxated a rib and torn a hamstring doing that, in fact) and stretching after warming up, but before your workout, makes your muscles less efficient, and you have to warm up again before you get into your serious workout or you can end up with joint issues.

I know I'm probably going to hear from people who have been stretching before they work out for decades and have no issues, and that's great for them, but I'm going to side with science on this one. University studies have shown that stretching before your workout is a bad idea, and I'm not going to do it or advocate it.

[bushido_man96]

We don't stretch in class. We are encouraged to do it on our own. When I'm in class, I'll usually stretch after basics before doing forms, as I'm really warm at that time. I try to stretch some after class, too, and whenever I'm warm. When I was in the ATA, stretching was a part of every class, so it was strange to go to a school that didn't stretch in class at all.

[mal103]

Its crazy I thought martial artist stretched as much as contornoisnt who stretch 3 hours a day (NO JOKE!)

If you were lucky enough to devote hours a day to MA then you could probably add some serious stretching to your routine, I consider myself a fairly serious MA'ist who devotes several hours a week on training, practicing, teaching and researching - but I do this around a full time job, 2 hours commuting per day, a house that needs DIY work, a couple of cars who needs fixing occasionally and a wife + 2 teenage kids who all want some of my time.

Good point about stretching cold muscles, we must also remember that we are MA'ist and not trained/qualified personal fitness trainers.

[ninjanurse]

Absolutely stretch after warming up-in fact I never stretch before running! I always stretch after and we only do light stretching in class after a 10-15 minute warmup. Students are encouraged to stretch AFTER class before going home.