Flexibility progressions

[Rahf]

Now I know Juji has an excellent section on the TT page for flexibility and trust me I have read it twice to make sure I didn't miss anything.

My questions are as follows:

How flexible were you when you started stretching as a means of improving flexibility?
How much time did it take to reach say, full splits and 'face on knees' with a standing hamstring stretch?

What different stretching techniques did you use?

I'm going to start getting some serious stretching done and was thinking of starting out with relaxed static passive stretching.
Moving on to dynamic when I have actually progressed abit on my overall flexibility.

Tips, Chastizements (how the hell do you pronounce it?) or general hunky dory attitudes are most welcome.

[shengoikee]

i see this as another "how quick till i can do the splits?" threads :wink:

although it differs from person to person, id be surprised if you didnt get the splits all 3 ways if you stretched correctly 6 days a week for 2 months. not long!

[Gusch]

do you have a link to it, username?

[shengoikee]

http://download.yousendit.com/25F65BC07EABC658

personally i prefer a full body routine but this would be ok for lazy peeps. :good:

[short gorilla]

Like I mentioned before I am naturally inflexible. I used to be a big fat guy with severe chronic asthma. So when I got into the martial arts anything that I became good at I had to work hard at. I wasn't the worst case scenario, but I wasn't very well off. It wasn't for a year or so into my training that I gave any serious thought to flexibility. I'd say it took me a year to achieve a full split, factoring in injuries from being over-zealous and regular training injuries.

For the first few years that I could do the splits, I had to work really really hard to maintain that level of flexibility. But then as time progressed, and I kept training, my body started to really adapt to the training. Now, after about a decade of training, I can hit the splits almost cold. My right leg is a little tighter because of past injuries, but I'm working through it.

My biggest tip for flexibility is to make it part of your lifestyle. Don't treat it as a chore or something you do to get it out of the way. I stretch whenever, wherever I can. At school, at work, in the shower (dangerous if I'm in the school shower though), etc. It's an integral part of your training, and training for martial arts should be a lifestyle, nothing less. If you half ass your training, you'll get half an ass worth of results.

Now $5 says we get another thread like this within a week.

[AJCN]

It's takes time a month is too good to be true.

[CusTuM]

Now I know Juji has an excellent section on the TT page for flexibility and trust me I have read it twice to make sure I didn't miss anything.

My questions are as follows:

How flexible were you when you started stretching as a means of improving flexibility?
How much time did it take to reach say, full splits and 'face on knees' with a standing hamstring stretch?

What different stretching techniques did you use?

I'm going to start getting some serious stretching done and was thinking of starting out with relaxed static passive stretching.
Moving on to dynamic when I have actually progressed abit on my overall flexibility.

Tips, Chastizements (how the hell do you pronounce it?) or general hunky dory attitudes are most welcome.

whats wrong with improving dynamic flexibility while u improve passive... u'll need dynamic flexibility anyways if u trick and passive flexibility won't really help u there. (Juji's flex tutorial probably says that too)

[Zyndrof]

whats wrong with improving dynamic flexibility while u improve passive... u'll need dynamic flexibility anyways if u trick and passive flexibility won't really help u there. (Juji's flex tutorial probably says that too)

ehem... You need static passive flexibility to bee able the get the range of motion needed for high kicks...

[Rahf]

ehem... You need static passive flexibility to bee able the get the range of motion needed for high kicks...

Quoted for truth, doing sidelifts with hardly any static flexibility is not advisable.

[wynnema]

It's takes time a month is too good to be true.

ditto!

[CusTuM]

ehem... You need static passive flexibility to bee able the get the range of motion needed for high kicks...

Nobody said u have to have high kicks or good static passive flexibility to perform and benefit from dynamic stretching, they're not related like that. Just do dynamic stretching with whatever range you have... its not like you're not allowed to do so, it doesn't make u less flexible while having many benefits, and its not a bad idea to keep the difference between your max passive flex and your dynamic flex smaller. Also, why would it not be advisable to do side lifts with poor flexibility, as long as u don't have zero flexibility... it can't hurt.

[Ashtar]

I thought the safety thing was more about keeping the difference between your static-active and static-passive small... it's not really that hard to match (or surpass) your static with throwing huge momentum-loaded kicks, cept it's sort of dangerous.

[Rahf]

I thought the safety thing was more about keeping the difference between your static-active and static-passive small... it's not really that hard to match (or surpass) your static with throwing huge momentum-loaded kicks, cept it's sort of dangerous.

Tried that iny my younger years and ended up tearing stuff.. So I'm not betting on that ticket again :wink:

[RayFinkle]

When your attempting the splits with the legs to your sides where exactly should it hurt?(First when I tried them it was all muscles that hurt, now that i've improved alot when i try it hurts my hips more than anything and not really any muscle) And are the other type of splits easier to get (the ones with legs in front/behind).

[AJCN]

..ok, i'll make a diary of what happens, pictures and shit

bring it on..

[Papa Lazarou]

RayFinkle, if your hips hurt, the alignment of your pelvis might be incorrect. Try tilting it forward in the side split. As to where it should hurt, it really depends on the person. The weakest link in your flexibility will feel the stretch first.

[Ashtar]

Hip tilting is hard to do, like sometimes you bend at the back/abs instead and that's not proper right?