Safety Information on warming up and stretching.

by Sensei Kevin Saliba

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A good warm up should prepare your body for a training session. Besides increasing blood circulation to the muscles, in a warm up one should also reach the full motion of one’s neck, arms and legs. This can be done by jogging on the spot, by running around the dojo and by doing a number of jumping jacks and by using the skipping rope. If you would try to stretch cold muscles the result will be injury. When it comes to stretching the keyword is regularity. Stretching regularity stimulates the muscle to grow in length. Improved flexibility can only be gained through regular stretching. 30 minutes stretching a day is much better than to stretching for hours every so often.

There are many kinds of stretching exercises, all of which are good if they if they are executed in the right way. Stretching is surely one of the most invaluable exercisers a martial artist can do. When done correctly, it will help you to loosen the tensed muscles and tendons, which hinder circulation.

When doing warming up or stretching it is very important to not obey the saying ‘no pain no gain’. Pain is an indication that something is wrong, so never stretch to the point of pain. The probability is that you will do your muscle more harm then good. Also while you are stretching it is important to relax the muscles. Tensed muscles do not stretch so much and it could cause injury.

 Stretching can be divided in two sections;

 These are Static Active Stretching and Static Passive Stretching. Each one of them is then subdivided into another two subsections. Following is a quick summary of all four sections.

 Static active Stretching;

 Dynamic Stretching;

 Dynamic stretching consists of leg and arms swings that you slowly take to the limits of your range of motion. In this kind of stretches you do not ‘bounce’ the muscle. Dynamic stretching improves dynamic flexibility and is quite useful as part of your warm up before an active workout. Start your movements slowly, gradually increasing the range and the speed of the swings. By the end of your stretching you should have almost reached your maximum speed. But beware do not overdue it, or a torn muscle can easily occur.

 Static Active Stretches;

Static stretching is when you hold the same position for an amount of time. That means when you stretch to your maximum and hold the stretch for as long as you can. It is very important to not bounce in this kind of stretches because an injury can easily occur. It is very difficult to evolve static active stretches to the same levels of dynamic and static passive flexibility. To do this one must acquire the ability to relax stretched muscles and at the same time build up the strength of the muscles opposing them. This must be done so you can hold parts of your body in an extended position. Lets say you are training how to hold the side kick for an extended period of time at a certain height you should extend your leg to the side and keep raising and lowering it gradually in one flowing movement.

 Static Passive Stretching;

 Isometric stretching;

The following kind of stretching is only recommended for adults whose bones are fully grown. Your muscles have to be healthy and strong. Although isometric stretching is the fastest way to achieve flexibility it is also the fastest way to get an injury. It is also imperative that you do only one isometric stretching per muscle group and repeat it till you reach the maximum of your stretch for that particular muscle group. Also do not do these kind of exercises more then 4 or 5 times a week. The muscles need to rest and restore themselves. The correct way to do these kind of stretching is to reach the maximum stretch, then tense for a few seconds, then relax and from the position you already are in stretch a bit more. Continue this cycle till you arrive to a point where you cannot stretch more. Hold this last position for 30 seconds.

 Relaxed stretching;

This kind of stretching is an additional way of improving Static Passive Stretching. Although it is a much slower method then the one above it is also a much safer way. This is so because they do not cause fatigue and you can do them when you are tired. While doing this kind of stretches you must find a way to relax all your muscles. In these kinds of exercises you must not put any weight on your muscles. Let’s say you are trying  for the spilt, remember to lean the body forward and support it with your arms. Then relax completely in that position. If you feel a point that you cannot stretch more, do not force the stretch but wait till you will slide in a more comfortable position. Between each cycle wait at least 60 seconds.