Stiff shoulders

[J540lover]

Anyone know any stretches for the back? I`ve got really stiff shoulders, and often when doing kicks I crunch over cos my upper back isn`t flexible. Anyone know of anything to help flexibility up there?

[J540lover]

And while I`m at it, what about hip flexors? I`m training for side splits and isometric splits, But when I do the side splits, the only thing stopping me is a pain on the outside of my hips. What is it? Lol. Im not even getting low enough to feel a stretch in my legs before my hips have something to bitch about. Help anyone?

[sghost666]

And while I`m at it, what about hip flexors? I`m training for side splits and isometric splits, But when I do the side splits, the only thing stopping me is a pain on the outside of my hips. What is it? Lol. Im not even getting low enough to feel a stretch in my legs before my hips have something to bitch about. Help anyone?

I have that problem too. I think it has to do with hip alignment and somehow turning tilting your pelvis forward, but I don't get how to do it. It makes it difficult to do roundhouse kicks (which I'm trying to get) without smashing the outside of my hip joints. Apparently some people have a physical problem with their joints that makes it impossible to do it, but I don't feel this is the problem, but don't know the solution.

[Papa Lazarou]

About shoulders:
Look in Juji's flexibility section. He's got pictures of various stretches. In fact, it wouldn't hurt to read the whole thing - it's pretty awesome (and awesomely useful). You'll gain a lot of valuable knowledge by reading it.

Other than that, shoulder and upper back stretches are pretty intuitive - you can basically make them up. You can also stretch this area with arm swings (stretching the chest and upper back + shoulders alternately in each rep) in a dynamic stretching segment.

I can say more on this if you really need it (Juji's section is best though).

About hips:
Most people have the right bone structure for the splits. It's a abnormality not to (so fairly rare).

Many people do have this problem with the side splits. Try tilting your pelvis forward. One way of doing this is to enter a side split stretch with your torso parallel to the ground, that way your pelvis will be nearly maximally tilted forward. In this position your femurs and hips shouldn't have problems (but they might).

For dynamic movements (side raises, roundhouse kicks etc.) it's the same thing. One solution is to lean your torso back as you do it - like a in a side kick.

I expect the problem in both cases is that you're trying to keep your body upright too much. Hope this helps.

[J540lover]

Thanks alot. That helps. I'll try it out. As for the stretch tutorials by Jujimufu, it would be an insult to the guy if I said I'd never read them. Which I have, just not all of it. Lol. As for the splits thing,.....well hey I don't know until I try what you just told me. Which Is what im going to do now.
Thanks.

[J540lover]

When you talk about having the torso parallel to the ground, do you mean leaning over forward at a 90 degree angle? Cos when I do that I can go further with the splits. I can get my legs wide enough to start the stretch without feeling my hips. But Jujimufu's tutorial on splits says not to learn forward, stick your hips forward. etc.
Either you're saying I need to do the opposite, or I've completely misunderstood you.

[J540lover]

Or I've misunderstood Jujimufu's tutorial. Or both. Argh...

[Papa Lazarou]

Haha. It's hard to be clear on this stuff.

Yeah, I meant that you should bend at a 90 degree angle. I think Juji's talking about keeping good posture so the legs are perpendicular to the floor - i.e. "the ankles, knees, and hips are in a straight line". You should try to keep this alignment in the legs with my version of the stretch too, but it's less important when you're doing relaxed stretching rather than isometric.

The back and torso are really almost irrelevant. The important things are hip and leg alignment. Being parallel to the floor is just a way to trick your hips into the right alignment with the femur.

Your back should still be straight in my version (the bend is in the hips), and you should keep the ankles, knees, and hips aligned as Juji says too.

The position I talk about will get you the splits with your toes up, but will also benefit the toes down version nearly as much. You should probably keep trying the upright version in addition to the parallel version for a while to see if it helps get the alignment working, but don't be too fussed if it doesn't - you can get the splits with either.

[J540lover]

Dude thanks alot. That was really great advice :smile:
Its so much easier than doing it in an upright stance for me. I assumed Juji meant that the whole body had to be straight. But I can keep my hips, knees and feet in line fine.
Cheers man :cool:

[Ashtar]

If you are crunching during kicks, it's not really due to back flexibility, it's a reaction you do because it makes your kicks seem higher (your head lowers, so you perceive the kick as higher). It also stops you from falling backwards, protects the abdomen, and prepares you to stop incoming force from your front. Mostly a form thing.

Juj's flex guide has stretches for pretty much all the body parts. To stretch your back, you can hang like in an inverted row and allow your scapulae to protract. Upper back extensors are tough, I think a lot use foam roller work for there.

[J540lover]

Ok, so is there any particular way to stop crunching? Or do I just focus on making sure I dont crunch? Thanks btw

[Ashtar]

Focus is probably the best way. It could possibly be due to some musculoskeletal imbalance, but I have no clue how to diagnose that kind of thing being unfamiliar with the muscular interactions, you'll have to wait until someone who knows about this volunteers some info.

If you're crunching forward to stop from falling backward, then maybe there are other areas where you can 'shift forward' so that you would be able to keep upright with a neutral spine. You could do kicks slowly and ask your sensei on suggestions where this might be since he should be familiar with compensation issues like this. He has been saying crunching is a problem?