easiest way to get flexible

Freedomfighter

I was wondering what is the best way to get flexible. I heard of Tom Kurz Dvds about flexibility has anyone tried them? are they anygood?
When i say flexible i mean splits, high kick, powerfull kicks.
All advice is very welcome here

Musashi

Not seen the Kurz DVD but the book is very good, covers a lot and gives reasons why you should and shouldn't do certain exercises. Just make sure you warm up well and never bounce in a stretched position!

Millionaire

Yeah I tried the Kurtz video a few years back.

I did not work at it enough to obtain a full box split.
I was always the last 9 inches away from a full split,
though I could side split no problem.

I guess there were a few tricks I learned that help warm
up the legs for faster kicks.

Today my flexibility is not as good as all. I cannot do side
split no more, and I would be a foot or more off the box.
Knee injurt has alot to do with this, and I do not invest
the time into stretching no more, that must be done to maintain
high kicks.

The Thai boxers I train with have real hard and fast kicks, and
I have not seen one stretch at all yet!!!!

Boru.

The quikest way to develop flexibility is to to incorporate PNF stretching. Tom Kurz is an excellent introduction to the subject. Anohter to look up would be Pavel Tsatsouline.

Cake Fiend

It depends on the kind of flexibility you're talking about (Kurz covers all kinds). For example, PNF stretching is good for quickly improving static flexibility, but I doubt it would do much for your dynamic flexibility.

See some of his articles here: http://www.stadion.com/column.html

Andrew_M

Kurz is great, but remember that more flexibility doesnt equal more strenght.

Once you can touch your toes and kick head height, i wouldnt push it any further than that, i dont really see the point in being able to do the splits...

Freedomfighter

The splits is more of just a facination with myself then a requirement for martial arts.

Clive

Andrew_M wrote:

Once you can touch your toes and kick head height, i wouldnt push it any further than that, i dont really see the point in being able to do the splits...

For the ladies of course!

Andrew_M

Well it worked for Van Damme in the greatest movie of all time, Kickboxer:D

Hardcase

A couple of quick notes.
I would recommend mixing dynamic, static and active stretching.

Dynamic stretching is explosive and should be praticed at the start of your training session (although after you have loosend out a little and warmed up) typical dynamic stretches would be the leg swings/iron broom (what you may have seen chinese wushu players do) you can do straight up toes to forehead then toes over opposite shoulder then inside and outside cresent kicks also you can do a swing out to the side for your side thrusting kick fleibility [keep back straight and swinging leg straight for all] These dynamic leg swings will help your leg speed so you can keep up with those Thai boxers.

Active streching is for that Jean Claude pose. Hold your leg out as high as you can in any kicking position then try to keep it there for as long as you can. This will help develop strength within the stretch.

Anyway my main point is dont over look the dynamic stretch. Really good flexibility can greatly improve your kicking performance and kicking stamina, as you require less effort to kick (especially high ones).

On a more personal note I gained great flexibility by sticking a static stretching session at the end of my daily run. I was so knackered at the end that my muscles just let me stretch them as they couldnt be arsed resiting. The I would jog and sprint for another 5 mins. I got very flexible!

Last note. When ever you come to the end of a particular stretch make sure you are at your furthest point, because your muscle will remember! If you slack off towards the end your muscle will say "oh, you only NEED to be that flexible this should be all the slack you need" This is particularly relevant when it comes to dynamic stretches as they are also an aerobic exersise so people often slack off toward the end of ther set because they are tired instead of pushing it.

ps: Dont neglet stretching the rest of your body.

I hope at least one thing here was new or useful. And congratulations on your reading stamina.

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