what is the best way to stretch your legs?

[JeetKuneDoboy]

what is the best way to stretch your legs?

[Seiryuzenshin]

There isn't really a *best* way, although there are ways that can do more damage then good.

Just make sure that the muscles are slightly warm, ie. from a jog.

If you sit in a warm bath, or a hot tub and do your stretching, it increases your flexibility a ton, and at a faster rate. Just be sure not to over stretch your tendons beyond a reasonable level, because then you will be *too* flexible and you will start having problems.

[Harimau]

Hi JeetKuneDoBoy,

I'm not really qualified to talk about stretching but I have been quite impressed with the routine that Thomas Kurz of Stadion recommends (yah, that's right - the cheesy ads in Black Belt magazine with the blonde sitting on the guy doing the splits - www.stadion.com).

Kurz makes the point the thing stopping most people doing the splits is that their brain thinks their legs are not strong enough and screams "Stop!" when you reach a certain point. E/t tenses up. Part of the trick is therefore to also recircuit your brain (not as bad as it sounds ). He also distinguishes between "static flexibility" (eg. splits on the floor) and "dynamic flexibility" (eg. kicking someone in the head). One does not necc. equate with the other so some people with great splits do not high kick as hard or fast as some others who can't even do the splits.

His routine is basically the following:-

(a) strength training to bring back, abs and legs into sufficiently good shape eg. squats, lunges - probably not an issue for you if you're an MT fighter

(b) dynamic stretching (i.e. leg lifts to front and side) twice a day, once immediately after you wake up (after warm-up), and once before your daily workout. He claims that after sufficient training, your morning stretch will stay with you throughout the day so you can kick high anytime without stretching. Please note that dynamic = moving, controlled lifts, and not ballistic, uncontrolled lifts using the momentum of your leg.

(c) isometric static (pnf) stretching, where you get into the traditional stretching positions but tense the relevant muscles from between 5 to 30 seconds, then relax and go into a deeper stretch and repeat. According to him, iso stretching is 250% more effective than relaxed stretching.

(d) relaxed stretching at other times.

Now, I'm pretty inflexible by nature, but I noticed that after following Kurz's advice, my functional flexibility improved quite a bit. I could kick higher and with much less warm-up. For years, I used to follow the traditional static stretching before classes with partners forcing the stretch etc. Used to be consistently sore as well and was less flexible!

Obviously this isn't enuff info abt the routine - just be warned Kurz's book is pretty incomprehensible unless you talk techno-speak - if you are looking for an easy follow-along, the video is a better bet (just ignore the karate kicking and focus on the exercises). I've also heard that Pavel Tsatsouline's routine is somewhat similar but have not read his books (www.dragondoor.com).

If anyone else has a view on Kurz's or Tsatsouline's method, I'd be interested to hear it (good or bad).

Harimau