Going for the full side split can't wait!

[toakungfu]

hey everybody i am new here and would like to start out by making a little log of my upcoming split progress.

a little about myself:

22 years, starter martial arts when i was 5. at the age of 16 i did 4 hours of training everyday.
at the age of 18 i stopped because of school and life.

because of my many years of dedication into martial arts i got a job as a bouncer. im not half the size of my colleges but i know my technicues and so far i have been in it since i was 20 and i really enjoy it. trying to make a party work and make violence and so on a non existing object is a challenge. and i really enjoy the work.

at the moment im 187 cm tall. im 95kg and im not fat, but i diffently don't got a sixpack either. i decided it was time to get my body back in shape. and i therefore have found a crossfit club and a BJJ club im going to join soon.

in my prime age (age of 16) i was 5 cm or less from doing a full side split.
(what can i say? what i lacked in knowledge i compensated for in stubbornness!)
but i didn't bother to get it all the way down there. and diffently didn't bother to keep my flexibility up.

i decided that since i have already started doing some home training (easy squats, running, push ups and so on) i will also work on my flexibility. and i want to archive the split.

my end goal is not to go to some finals or anything, i want my body to be in a good shape, and i want to be able to do pretty much all kinds of sports (hiking, snowboarding, diving, parkour and so on)
not going for the best in anything, just want to have a fit body and have fun with all the crazy things you can do with it. therefor crossfit is the perfect match for me. and since i used to do kung fu i want my kicks back and therefor i want to archive the split.

i then found this guy on youtube who made something called elastic steel. found it interresting and googled it to review it, and i found this site. and Van Zandt. i read his beginner guide, and i must say damn!
you did what i have seen no one else being able to do. make stretching simple!. you have clearly understood what stretching is about and you have the power to pass it on (not everybody has that)
i have read the relax into stretch by pavel and scientifically stretching. but after reading your post i finally get why you do all the different things. where i did enjoy some of them (especially pavel just for his russian humor) i didnt seem to be suited with a nice workout, just more or less confused afterwards.

i now decided that i will be doing my stretches again. and as i speak. i am sitting in a relaxed stretch, i might aswell use the time sitting down on something good.

i will be posting my stretching workout and maybe some pictures (picture say more than a 1000 words) which will give people the possibility to tell me what im doing wrong and so on. i hope this thread can end up as a beginners: step by step from a walking stick to a ninja mutant, or whatever :)

have done my dynamic stretches today. and i will be more precise tomorrow with my start out.

Talk to you all!
toakungfu

[YouKnowWho]

I don't know about TKD but in CMA, the stretching involve 4 steps:

Touch your

- head to your toe.
- eyebrow to your toe.
- mouth to your toe.
- chin to your toe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIiCqpetHvU&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAbkwZ_CKPo&feature=player_embedded#!

[toakungfu]

well i don't know if im going to be able to touch my toes with my head. just yet, i need to get down into the split first.

[Patrick Smith]

Welcome to MAP, toakungfu! :) Stick with the beginners guide to flexibility and Van Zandts blog (http://danvanzandt.blogspot.com/) and you can't go wrong.

[Van Zandt]

Thanks for your kind words, taokungfu. Best of luck with your splits training and if you have any questions, feel free to post up on here.

Oh, and welcome to MAP :)

[toakungfu]

well thanks everybody nice to get a good welcome :)

so far i have just been doing my dynamic stretches in the morning and in the night.

12x3 right and left of:
front kick
side kick,
horse kick.

the first set is 100% controlled and not really high.
the second is controlled but i put some more power into it.
the last one is not that much controlled, here i try to archive higher kicks than last time.
and i have been playijng with my kicks, it is amazing how easy you get your old skills back, while i usually could hold my side kick in the air at my hip. im now at the bottom of my chest. its a pretty good levithation in a couple of days.

I haven't done that much else, im doing some relaxed strecthes while at my laptop. since i might aswell just get used to the positions again.

i will wait a while with the more hard stuff. i don't see any reason starting out with an injury.

[Patrick Smith]

i will wait a while with the more hard stuff. i don't see any reason starting out with an injury.

AMEN! :)

[toakungfu]

so a little update.

i have been doing the dynamic stretches regularly lately and it is going fine, i can clearly feel a change in my muscularity in my legs, and my kicks has returned really fast.

i have this team of 3. 16-17 year old kids im training in martial arts. the plan was as follow:

learn them basic moves.
stamina,
learn them half advanced stuff.
kick their asses into shape (not beating them up, but all 3 are some tough kids and they want to learn it the hard way, so they will get it like that)

well i have been training my kicks and was playing around with them, while using my new kicks, and i can more or less hold a kick in 1 sec in face height now, and they asked why i got so agile, i told them i did this, and they wanted to join in. so now i have 3 guys who is joining me on the splits.

should be fun to see how this go.

well i will read the beginners guide through again. (good info should be read more than once)

[toakungfu]

(critic is more than welcome i need opinions on this, thats the reason why i post this)

so after reading on the high kick thread and the beginners flexibility thread i am starting to put together my own workout (+the one i am gonna make my students do)

morning + before training exercises:

3 sets of 12 reps of right and left:
front kick
side kick
horse kick
all done with stretched lef from floor to air (not the right motion for usefull kicks, only for stretching)

relaxed stretches during the day (i always use these while sitting at my laptop)

strength training:
need squatting,
i need horse stance
and i need running.
These i will kill myself and my students with, since it is the place i can see with the least change of injuries, (if done without taking your head off) and it prevents injuries from overstretching. + i makes the travel down to a full split a smooth one.

Isometric stretches will only be done while warmed up and during our workouts, and there will be atleast 48 hours between every time we do them.

also im adding some pilates exercises, (which is kind of amusing to see a couple of teenagers who try to be as manly as possible to do)
basicly laing on your back, and doing controlled kicks up in the air, to get used to the movements out in those outer possitions, it takes away the high lvl of stress your muscles take from doing a 90degree angle straight out, and now you do it up in the air instead and it makes it easier to get used to the movements.

anything else i should add?

[47MartialMan]

Welcome. Splits are also for bananas :)