Missing ingredient for flexibility

[Alan Armstrong]

Flexibility or trying to improve it is an issue for many martial artists. It is if some people just have it and others don't.

Usually those flexible types have earned it over the years and yes there are the contortionist that are made of some type of human rubber.

For the rest of us "Stiffs" we are going to need to earn our flexibility the old fashion way right! With hard work and plenty of blood sweat and tears.

There is an alternative method of gaining flexibility for kicking purposes; that doesn't involve the blood sweat and tears method.

It is entirely based on one missing ingredient "Baby oil"

Massage your legs with it (keep your fingernails short) get right in-between each muscle. The baby oil and the friction of massage will warm your muscles releasing unnecessary tension.

Myofascia release is a technique or idea to separate muscles that are sticking together causing stiffness. So the idea here is to massage your own leg muscles on a daily basis, without stretching.

Once you have become accustomed to doing this on a daily basis for about twenty minutes or more for one month add this idea to your stretching routines. Till eventually you start stretching with baby oil and continue to become my flexible.

What I trying to convey here is before stretching, massage your muscles first with baby oil (Creating heat) to release tension and sticking muscles. Trying to stretch muscles that are not warm or primed first could continually hinder your progress for flexibility.

We have approximately 600 muscles in our body that contract or relax at any given moment, some (Like the heart) do this automatically and others we move consciously.

In the ancient past, oils for the body were highly sort after.

The ancient Greeks that worshipped there own bodies as a temple would cover themselves in oils and with a suntan, would transform themselves in to living bronze statues.

[DWx]

Myofascial release seems to be the buzzword in the sport world at the moment. Whether directly influencing the fascia does anything is not debatable but I think most people find benefit in self-massage by relaxing their muscles and working out any knots.

Mostly I just use a foam roller + hockey ball which seems to do the trick. Probably a little less messy than baby oil though I can appreciate why you might prefer it

[Alan Armstrong]

Myofascial release very well be a buzz word, even so all martial artists should know something about it's benefits.

I'm not entirely focused on fasial release with my comments, more of a primer for stretching with baby oil.

If I was to solely focused on fascia release, then yes self massaging with rubber balls and rollers is another option for a post-massage after workout; my comments are intended for pre-workout proposes.

In the 1980's when kickboxing was the thing, many martial artists were practicing. Massaging the fighters legs prior to a bout was very beneficial, as there was no energy wasted from the fighters massaging there own legs and shoulders. This was the job of the fighters corner team, to help release unnecessary tension for the fighter.

I believe once the muscle relaxing and stretching issues have been sorted out, then focusing on joint ligaments and bones can be singled out and addressed more clearly.

Muscles are only one part of the bigger picture to improve flexibility for kicking. Having a good "Turn out" is important also worth investigation (A turn out is a ballet term for opening up the hips)

Hip decompression techniques and hip stacking are also issues that are necessary for kicking appropriately; muscle stretching is only one part of many topics that needs to be investigated.