Martial Arts Stretching – Building A Quality Routine

You need a lot of flexibility if you are going to easily be able to effectively and powerfully perform the moves in any type of martial arts that require extended range of motion. The graceful power demonstrated by those proficient in martial arts is comprised of flexibility, focus and strength.

Designing a well balanced martial arts stretching routine is essential to making rapid progress in any martial art. For a program that is effective, your day should begin with a light stretching routine in the morning, a strenuous general workout on certain days, and another light stretching routine in the evening. This sounds like a lot but an aggressive schedule like this increase your flexibility in one half to one fourth the time (or even less) o a less dedicated program. After having reached the level of flexibility that is sufficient, you will be able to lighten your routine quite a bit.

Morning and evening flexibility stretches should be made up of active stretches and general loosening methods. You do not have time to incorporate strenuous passive stretching, isometric stretching, or PNF stretches. Due to the fact that stretching on a full stomach is not good, you need to preform your morning flexibility stretches prior to breakfast. Do not try to divide your blood supply between physical activity and digestion at the same time. With this in mind, you need to do your evening stretching workout at least an hour after you have eaten your evening meal. However, it also has to occur at least an hour prior to going to bed. Both the morning and evening routines should be performed six days a week but be fairly brief, fifteen to thirty minutes each.
Your intense main martial arts stretching workout should only be done 2-4 times a week. You must give your body time to recuperate fully between these stretching workouts. Your main workout should start off with some cardiovascular fundamentals paired with mild dynamic stretches that will incrementally ramp up in intensity as your body begins to warm up. After a general warm-up, you need to include a more specific warm-up. This warm-up needs to include movements that are similar to the movements of the particular martial art techniques you are trying to develop. The core of the martial arts stretching routine is next in the workout, and it includes relaxed stretches, PNF stretching, and isometric stretching. Make sure that you end each of your intense stretching routines with a cool down period. During this time you should focus on static type flexibility stretches. Your level of proficiency and experience will set the level and length of your martial arts stretching workout.  Apportion your time between your warm up, main routing and cool down accordingly. Beginners should start more slowly with longer warm-up and cool down periods along with a shorter main part. People with a lot of experience stretching and a greater degree of flexibility can allocate a greater amount of time to sport-specific exercises and on the intense workout. Very advanced students often only require a short overall workout to maintain their already superior flexibility.

Deciding on what specific flexibility exercises to include in your program is also a function of your experience and depends on the sport or art you are practicing. If you are a beginner, it is important to focus on generic flexibility exercises. Students who are classified as advanced or intermediate should focus on techniques, such as, relaxed stretching, PNF, and isometric stretching, which are more advanced and concentrate on the groups of muscles needed for their particular art. For example: if you are do a lot of high kicks, you need to concentrate on hip and leg stretching; if you are a grappler, you need to work on the flexibility in your arms, shoulders, back and torseo; etc.

Careful attention in creating your martial arts stretching routine which takes into consideration your experience level and your art will provide better and faster gains in your flexibility and improvements in your overall performance. Devotion to your plan will help you achieve your goals.

These martial arts stretching routines are advanced, and I offer them to you as an effective means of increasing your flexibility and range of motion.

Be sure to visit www.MartialArtsStretching.com for more comprehensive information on scientific routines, martial arts stretching methods and more advanced forms of flexibility stretches. With a little focus, you will be able to increase your flexibility to a level which allows you to master the high kicks and other difficult moves inherent in many martial arts styles.

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