8 essential stretches in the martial arts

 I have been stretching out and working on flexibility since I was little kid and I have noted some weird trends, some very effective stretches and some strategies that work very well to improve your stretching effectiveness. Over the years we see things like “macho Karate” Stretching start to turn into Yoga style stretches. We have taken from the world of Dance, gymnastics and even foot ball (North American foot ball) at one point….I kid you not.  Heck I had an instructor grab a shinai and teach us “Golf stretching” For the upper body, cuz we know how bloody limber those golfers can be…what athletes they are! 

                So that was kind of in jest, even though it happened. Over the years I have stretching in Gymnastics, Baseball, Judo, Karate and kung fu and I have trained with martial artists, serious gymnasts and other athletes and more impressively the Dancers from RWB that came and trained with us a little bit in the early 90’s.

                Over the years I have found a theme and essentially 7 highly effective stretches that were made more effective with some stretching strategies and some stretches that should be avoided because they are way to dangerous and lead to lots of injuries. Important to note that stretches I deem unsafe may still be used if you do them properly and are ready for them, and the even the ones I deem unsafe CAN lead to some injuries if done wrong or done with out safety in mind.

                The first stretch I would highly recommend is the seated straddle stretch.  This is one every one knows. Sit on the ground, legs straight, separate them as much as you possibly can and reach forwards and to each leg, reach over as well.  This one can replace a lot of stretches and will stretch out the hamstrings, Obliques, Adductors and other muscles (depending on which way you reach).  This is one of my “top” stretches because of the safe style it presents as well as the ability to build on the stretch. You can add a leg rack, partner, stretching straps ext to stretch deeper and you can increase the angle of your legs to stretch out your adductors even more.

                The second stretch is the Double toe reach.  Essentially this is the same start as the straddle. Sit down with your legs straight out in front of you, then bend at the waist and reach forwards to touch your toes or grab your toes.  This one is a tad bit difficult for beginners and can be dangerous if you have a lower back issue, but done properly it can help with flexibility and the lower back issues you may have. It stretches out your Hamstrings, Poplitius (behind the knee), Glute area and Quadratus Lumborum along with your back muscles (Errectors) and really helps with posture issues.  If you have posture issues its also important to strength train a little.  Most people who get hurt, try not to laugh, end up trying this standing up…and fall forwards.  This is why being Macho can hurt.

                From the Double toe and seated straddle I often suggest going to the hurdle stretch (leg in ).  I never suggest the leg out version because of the stretches well known reputation for injury for newbies to stretching.  This stretch is done with one leg straight and the other leg folded into the groin area. This is a AWESOME stretch for your lower back and hamstrings. I have a hip injury I am working on and lots of my forwards improvements have come because of this style of stretch.

                One of the best-known stretches in the world of stretching is the Butterfly stretch. Essentially sit down and bring both feet into your groin folding them in and push the knees down to the floor.  This stretches out the adductor muscles as well as the lower back. This one can be dangerous if you do silly things or if you have back or hip issues, but generally its safe as long as you don’t over do it.

                A little less well known but very safe and very effective for older people or office workers with lower back issues is the Child pose, with or with out twist. This is a great and easy stretch.  Kneel down and sit in Seiza (on your knees), bend so your chest is near or on the ground, still sitting on your knees. Then take your arm and reach across to the other side of your body with your arm flat on the ground. This looks weird, but it stretches out a lot of your body and specifically your lower and mid back.

                One of the most used stretches in Karate is the Deep lunge or as we call it the front stance stretch.  Assume a front stance or lunge position, rear foot on the ball of the foot or top of the foot for comfort and then lunge out with the front knee as much as you can keeping your posture upright. This will focus on your hip flexor muscles or iliopsoas muscles. This is a very effective stretch and great if you have no existing injuries.  Along with the deep lunge you often see the Runners stretch /Lizard stretch.  This is a bit different stretch in that you take up the deep lunge but then you wrap your “near” arm around the front leg while lowering your chest to the floor. This really stretches out the inner thigh muscles and helps with the hip muscles as well.

                An easy lower back stretch is the Body twist while laying.  Essentially lay on your back, raise one leg, bending the knee to take the hamstring out of the equation and then twist that knee across the body to the other side trying to touch the floor, with the upper body flat on the floor unmoving.  Great for the whole spine and fun because you often get an audible pop or two out of it.

                All eight stretches are fantastic to add to your daily stretches or to warm up for a Karate class, a long run but they are not the end all be all of stretching. Feel free to explore more stretching, get into a Yoga class or explore youtube for more stretching ideas. The most important thing is to be safe doing them and don’t do stretches that are harmful or you are not ready for yet.  But what about Strategies to make your stretching more effective?

                Over the years I have stretched out with some really wicked flexible people, from Gymnasts to dancers and they all had their little tricks. Some good and some down right dangerous! The top three strategies or ideals that you should try to make your stretching more effective include things like PNF Stretching which is Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation stretching or Hold, stretch, hold stretching.  This means taking up a stretch and go as deep as you can, then hold it while breathing for a short time and relaxing into the stretch, then moving deeper into the stretch again and holding it, repeating as you can.  This stretching allows you to use natural reflexes to produce deeper stretches that increase flexibility and range of motion. Of all the stretching, including device stretching like leg rack stretching, I have found PNF stretching to be the most effective of all the strategies.

                Just as important as how you stretch or what stretches you use is the important rule of Stretch only after you warm up…what is a warm up…. A warm up is things like jogging, sprints, jumping rope, jumping jacks ext. anything that will warm up the body before stretching is allowed to be done. Stretching cold was a trend a decade or so ago to start off class with “Yoga like” stretching right off the bat. No one warmed up and the stretching was highly ineffective and dangerous. You should always give about 5 minutes to warming up (Preferably more) before you even try to warm up. Often that means getting to the dojo 10-15 minutes before class starts and do some warm up exercises before you stretch out with the class.

                The one strategy I tried…did not really like…that was very effective…but not practical AT ALL was the use of Hot Hot Hot baths. One of the strategies or secrets that the Dancers from the RWB imparted on us was the use of the Hot bath warm up before stretching. I actually tried this when I was a green belt kid looking to improve my range of motion and it does work….short term and it lead to me over stretching and being out with a torn something or other (I was a kid…I hurt….I did know what hurt just that it hurt).  So, the use of the Hot bath is effective but can be dangerous…if you are an idiot kid like I was. Its basically getting into the hottest tub of water you can manage to handle and not cooking yourself…then getting out and dropping to the floor and stretching out right away till you cool down…rinse and repeat. Suggestions….Wear a good swim suit, don’t to it in the buff or you are REALLY limited to were you are doing it and make sure you sort of dry off a bit before jumping out of the tub!

 

                So those are some good stretches and ideas, what about the ones to avoid?  Well unfortunately I have been part of doing these, done them on my own or watched others in class do these and I have personally seen the dangerous stretches and bad stretching strategies go south fast. Now its important to note that just like the Good ideas and stretches can be dangerous if done poorly, these CAN be done safely…but the reason they are on this list is that they tend not to be.

                The Hurdle stretch leg out is done by assuming a seated position with one leg straight out in front of you, and the other leg out to the side, bent at the knee, just like you are doing a hurdle. The dangerous part is the knee out to the side part.  Statistically 80% of the people doing this are not going to be flexible enough to really do this stretch effectively and a percent of them are going to be doing damage to the joint capsule around the hip. To get the proper angle for the stretch you should be able to keep your glutes on the floor on both sides or at least close to the floor, but most people can not do this…..push it and damage themselves. Just do the leg in version!

                Wanna really damage a beginner, or inflexible older student?…make them do the Plough! This is done by sitting on the ground with your legs stretched out in front of you, then rolling back and over your shoulder, keeping the shoulder/neck area on the floor with your toes on the ground over your head. This position is rough with issues and yet used a lot with Yoga enthusiasts. This is dangerous for the neck and back…mostly the neck mind you. I have witnessed people over doing this and getting sick, Choking themselves out and even damaging their throat with this stretch. To stretch out your lower back, middle back, neck and upper back….pick different stretches that don’t include resting on your neck with your body weight.

                One of my all time hated stretches is the dreaded Seated, leaning back quad stretch.  I have actually damaged my knees doing this stretch, and while it can be done safely with out damage if you don’t lean back, if you lay back and really stretch out…you are going to hurt your knees and legs.  Do a standing stretch by pulling your heal to your butt or use a chair and do a quad stretch with the chair…or wall….dont load your full weight on it then lean back and over stretch your quads. I have actually seen a Quad injury so bad from this stretch that the person had to get surgery to reattach the quad muscle to the knee.

                Lastly is the ever so popular Da’ Splits.   Or rather the suspended, or standing or full splits….front or side. Lets see, this is an essential stretch in 99.999% of the martial arts clubs, hell I even did the splits in Judo!  However they are probably the single set of stretches that I have seen lead to the most injuries in the past. Most come from over doing them, doing them with stupid over stretching ideas or just not being able to…and forcing the issue…or slipping or using poor form or…well you get the idea. Do the splits, but do them when you are ready, smartly and alone…with out moron instructors hurting you.

 

                So, not all stretches are bad, some are done poorly or pushed way to far, some are just bad. But how are instructors, training partners and our own stupid minds making them even more dangerous. How is macho mind sets, ignorance and just generally being unsafe making them more dangerous. Some Just bad ideas come out of ignorance or stupidity but some are so stupid that only a totally indoctrinated macho mind will see them as being anything but stupid. My all time most loathed I have done so many times its not funny. Having someone stand on you….in the splits or buttlerflies.  This is NEVER a good idea unless your legs are FLAT on the floor and or you are using your 10 pound baby to add a bit of weight to your stretch. I remember having full grown men stand on my knees from behind when doing the butterflies and feeling my adductor muscles starting to shred..and thinking…just a little bit longer.  I have also had people stand on my legs, or rather sit on my legs when in the splits between two chairs, trying to recreate something that my idol (JCVD) did in a movie or picture. I could walk and did walk away from that one…just not to well. It also led to a weak hip joint (Im convinced) and that lead to my hip injury. I have also seen people who do this get massive knee injuries as the weight was to much for the MCL and the knee just went on them. Stupid and dangerous…avoid them and if an instructor has someone stand on your legs while in the splits….YELL at them that they are dangerous  morons.

                This one story that stands out to me as being dangerous, led to a horrible and life long injury and really should have led to litigation is when one of my Sempai had someone try to improve his flexibility by Kicking out peoples legs…in the splits. He was doing TKD and his instructor was not happy with his level of flexibility. He had him assume the splits and when he was at his lowest stretching point, which was really not that deep or deep enough for him…he kicked the students out trying to make him do a deeper stretch.  This tore the groin muscles, ripped the joint capsule and causing him to have very stiff legs years later with and inability to really do any kind of deep stretching.

                Similar to kicking someone’s leg out is Forcing the stretch to be deeper….when you are not ready for it. This can be done by an individual or a partner. The ones I really hate watching is when you do a straddle splits position and your partner pushes the legs apart to deep or you over pull your leg rack forcing the muscles to over stretch.  Normally when you see this kind of goofy stretching it does not lead to permanent damage, but its painful and can be dangerous. Always know your limits and try to get up to those, and maybe a Tad on the other side of it, but not to deep or you can damage yourself.

                One of the other things you see a lot of, and especially in the last decade or so. People want to go into Stretching cold. They want to go right into stretching and hitting deep stretches or trying to stretch out doing very ballistic stretches with out warming up. I had one guy get very mad at me for doing the warm up and not going into deep stretching till the end of class…I tried to explain it to him that stretching is far more effective with a warmed-up body…but he was brainwashed and thought that doing deep slow yoga was the best warm up…not true! This is the best way to damage yourself and hurt yourself I can think of!  If you are stupid and want to hurt yourself a great deal, somewhat permanently….stretch out cold as deep as you can.  

                Up their with stretching out to deep and stretching cold is the very Macho Pounding on the muscles at full stretch. To describe this idea…I don’t know if I can do it with out sounding nuts or making people who do this sound crazy.  So, take up a very deep stretch…then when your muscles are contracting to try and protect you…Beat the tar out of them and try to force them to relax! I think you can see the issue with this. Not only do you force the muscles outside of their terminal maximum stretch and cause damage, but now you are also possibly causing extra bruising and potentially shredding muscle and connective tissue as the pounding is a form of micro ballistic stretching.

 

                There are great stretches, Great additional strategies, dumb strategies and dangerous stretches. What it boils down to is stretch out daily, safely and focus a few times a week on deep stretching but again…do it smart.