Hello this is my first post on MAP. Currently I'm planning on starting dynamic stretching every day twice a day. My problem is after reading some of Kurz's articles is the side raises. He mentions to tilt your pelvis forward which allows you to raise your leg higher and avoid hip pain from incorrect side raises, he also says to do this for sidekicks. I'm finding it kind of hard to visualize this from the stick figure drawings he provides. Does anyone have any youtube videos or anything like that which demonstrates the proper way to do side raises from different angles. If anyone could give me some advice I would appreciate. Thank you for any help you can provide Fhil
The problem with Kurz method of Side Leg Raises is that it build up wrong way of kicking. This is one of the reasons I don't follow Kurz material.
Hmm... What is your opinion about dynamic stretching then. Do you feel it is beneficial to do? or is just the side raises you have a problem with?
When you kick you need a straight line for good kicks. See some TKD master's kick for examples. The butt out leg raise teaches you to stick your butt out when you kick. That's not how the kicks are to be thrown.
Fhil, Kurz states that you should rotate your pelvis to alleviate pain in the hips because failing to do so will cause you to jam the top head of the femur into the acetabulum (hip socket). This is more common in individuals who began stretching as adults because their bones were already fused together; in individuals who began stretching as children this is not so much a problem, because their bones were not fused together at the time. You can find all you need to know about properly rotating the pelvis from Kurz himself, in the sixth installment of his column at Stadion.com. Click the following link to see it: http://www.stadion.com/column_stretch06.html As an individual practises dynamic stretching he/she will eventually learn to adjust their position. The mistake you describe is common only in a few beginners. But it is impossible for an individual, who began stretching as an adult, to kick high without rotating their pelvis.
When I trained Wushu (Traditional) last year, we did some dynamic stretches in the warm-up. This is how we did the side-raises: When stretching the right leg, the left supporting foot was pointing away from the kick, i.e. left toes to the left while right leg kicks to the right. My body was in a straight line and I looked towards the kicking foot. I think it is called "pivoting" ? This way, I didn't feel any discomfort at all in my hips. Actually, I could kick fairly high (shoulder height) without feeling much resistance and with no warm-up. However, when doing roundhouse-kicks I can't kick above waist/chest without good warm-up... yet I have looked how they stretch in Kurz's "Stretching Scientifically" and they, as posted above, lean forward - but they also keep their supporting foot pointing straight forward, unlike me. When I try imitating the way they stretch, I can only raise my leg to about hip-level, not more as it causes discomfort. My questions! :star::star::star: Dos the fact that I can stretch dynamically much higher when pivoting my supporting leg/foot mean that... ... this way of stretching doesn't stretch as much as the Kurz-way? ... this way of stretching should work too? Greatly appreciate all help! :hat:
KonGato, When you try side leg raises, where do you experience discomfort? If it is at the top of your hip, see above. If it is in the adductors, you need to keep doing them the Kurz way. Here's why. The supporting foot in the side leg raises should be kept pointing directly to the front, as this is where 80% of activation occurs during the dynamic stretch. Rotate your supporting foot and you activate the hamstrings, which is what the front leg raises are for. By rotating your supporting foot, effectively what you're doing is cheating yourself out of an effective stretch. This is a common problem addressed by Kurz in his seminars.
Thanks for your reply! Well, if I do a side-raise to the right, I feel discomfort in the right adductor I think. Not used to that term but I googled it and yeah, that could be it It's about 10cm below the groin or where the leg starts and then about 5cm further. You explained to me why the foot should be pointing forward, it explains a lot. Thanks! Moving towards high cold-kicks! I'll resume my Wushu-training after the summer after having a 365 day break and I am looking forward to be able to kick higher than most of the students after being away from training!:hat: Just a tiny question; Since I don't practice martial arts actively now as I have taken a break (instead I train strength at home and jog, but no kicks), when is it suitable to practice kicks, i.e. to see if I have made progress? Would it be OK to do some 50 kicks (side, front = 100 kicks) after maybe the 2nd dynamic stretch-routine or... - should I do them seperately, hours later/earlier, followed by regular warm-up? best regards!
Adductors are your inner thigh muscles and consist of the adductor magnus, adductor brevis, adductor longus, pectineus and gracilis. Adduct means to pull the leg in toward the body. Bit of anatomy for everyone! Good luck with your kicks. From the activities you mentioned, I would structure your workouts according to the following 3 day split: Day 1 AM 1. Joint rotations 2. Dynamic stretches 3. Relaxed stretches PM 1. Joint rotations 2. General warm-up 3. Dynamic stretches 4. Kicks at low to mid height 5. Main kicking workout 6. Upper body strength exercises 7. Relaxed stretches Day 2 AM 1. As Day 1 PM 1. Joint rotations 2. General warm-up 3. Dynamic stretches 4. Lower body strength exercises 5. Isometric stretches 6. Run 7. Relaxed stretches Day 3 REST (repeat the Day 1 AM workout in the morning and evening)
So I should not kick cold... yet Does Kurtz mention somewhere when you can begin to kick cold (perhaps just to try it out, or as part of kicking workout, or substituting a warmed-up kicking workout), if you start doing dynamic stretches twice a day, every day? I think it is best/safest to do as you suggested i.e. warm up before kicking workout, but on an approximate, when would you recommend that one starts attempting kicking cold as high as one can? My idea of this is that warm kicks should be preferred when possible (training periods, wushu-classes) and cold kicks should.. "just be there" in case of necessity. 2 weeks or maybe 8 weeks (the amount of time it is said required to achieve maximum flexibility) ?
Kurz states you should be able to kick high, cold, in as little as 8 to 10 weeks. But just because you CAN kick high, cold, does not mean you SHOULD. Same goes for splits. Warming up will improve your performance in a workout and minimise the risk of injury. Save the cold high kicks for when you need them. Like stopping that guy in front of you, who is holding a steak knife, from spilling your intestines all over the pavement. BUT... I hate to be the one to ruin your fun, so give it at least 8 weeks
In this article, http://www.stadion.com/column_stretch06.html, Kurz says that you should have your kicking-knee slightly bent when doing the side-raises. However, in the movie Stretching Scientifically (with the polish man) they keep their kicking leg straight - at least as it is possibly visible... Who does it correctly? I myself find it hard to keep the leg bent. Another question; I get so exhausted and fatigued when I do the following - joint rotations - general warm-up - dynamic stretches (this is where I get fatigued) - kicking workout Is this a sign that maybe I should not kick so much during the workout, or maybe should I reduce the number of dynamic-stretch-sets? I reduced them to 4, but maybe 3 would do... At the same time, I don't want to move away from the routine you posted as I fear that that will slow down my progress...
Beginners usually start out with weak knees so are advised to keep their knee bent. I keep mine straight, so I'd advise you to do whatever is most comfortable for you. I'm concerned you are getting fatigued very early in your workout. Unless you are in extremely poor shape (smoke, drink, are obese and do zero exercise), then there may be an underlying problem. Please answer the following questions: 1. Do you suffer from asthma or have a pre-existing cardiorespiratory condition? 2. Do you feel sluggish when you wake up? 3. How many hours sleep a night do you get? 4. What is your day job? 5. What is your nutrition like? 6. What do you do in the general warm up exactly? 7. What sensations do you feel when you start to get fatigued? Breathlessness, cramp, etc? On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being no discomfort and 10 being nailed to a cross while chewing on a hornet) what is your perceived level of exertion? Thanks.
Hi, thanks for your fast reply. 1. Do you suffer from asthma or have a pre-existing cardiorespiratory condition? No, no astma 2. Do you feel sluggish when you wake up? Well, just tired.. who doesn't want to sleep more But physically, not so much. 3. How many hours sleep a night do you get? Normally about 7-8hrs. 4. What is your day job? I am usually a student, but right now and two weeks forward I am free. I do however do some sets of push-ups and squats throughout the day, about 3-4 reps 3 times every day. I do make sure I do not do any of them within 3-4 hours before my stretching 5. What is your nutrition like? Quite good. I have a natural interest in nutrition regarding veggies, protein and fibres from my gym-days. I eat minumum 3 times/day, and usually something rich in protein in the evening. I realize I don't include so many vitamins in my diet, but I'll buy some Ginseng/multivitamin tablets that dussolve in a cup of water. I used to do that every day before... Don't know why I stopped.:bang: 6. What do you do in the general warm up exactly? I think this could explain it; I do 1 minute of squats with palms to the floor (medium intensity) and then I jog on place for 1 minute, then I do about 2 minutes of "side-steps and kicking knee up and heel-to-behind. This raises my pulse quite a bit. After that I rest for 2 minutes before starting stretching. Maybe it would be enough with that last part 7. What sensations do you feel when you start to get fatigued? Breathlessness, cramp, etc? On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being no discomfort and 10 being nailed to a cross while chewing on a hornet) what is your perceived level of exertion? I would say "breathlessness"/high pulse. Right after the warm-up I'm at about 5.. During the 4th set of stretching I'm probably at 7. I'm mostly worried about how my legs feel afterwards, not so much the breath-aspect, as I don't want to get set-backs that one could get if one does dynamic stretching with tired legs. Maybe I could do with longer pauses between the sets.
Don't. Strength exercises should be treated the same regardless of how few you do. You need to rest at least 24 hours between applications. Strenuous applications will require longer. You are doing these exercises much too often. Cut back. Don't think if you do them less often you will lose strength. It is actually the opposite. Your muscles get stronger during the rest period. Right now you are stressing those muscle fibers when they are trying to repair themselves. No wonder your legs turn to jelly so quickly.
Your warm-up is wrong. Don't do strength exercises of any kind until after your dynamic stretches. Simply march, jog and run on the spot for 5 to 10 minutes until you break into a light stretch. Or skip rope. The objective is to warm up, not to fatigue.
Superfoot, I've done the daily stretching-routines you advised for about one week now and I have just some further questions During the relaxed stretching, would side-splits and front-splits suffice? Is it necessary to do hip-stretches as well - http://www.masterofbasketball.com/Training/hip1.gif ? (But I do them with straigth upper body and pushing the hip forwards) I guess it wouldn't hurt, but would it be some waste of time? My second question is about the side-split, when doing the relaxed stretching. I read in the thread "What to believe?" that unless one can do 10 squats of 2x their own weight, one should be doing the side-splits with toes pointing up. I can do about 12, with 1x body-weight so I would stay away from those This was very new to me! Imagining all those Wushu-sessions where they teach differently... Great info! Reason I brought this up is because I've done the side-splits with toes, and knees, pointing forward - this could be the reason I always feel slight pain on the inside of my knees? When I point my toes up (standing on my heels) I get further away from the floor. Is this variation of the side-split more/less effective than the "toes-forward"-split? I mean, should one only see the "toes-up"-split as a temporary substitute for the "toes-forward"-split until that one can be managed (by gaining more strength)... ? Also, when doing the "toes-up"-version, would you start from standing position (and going down) or would you start from sitting on the floor and spreading the legs wider apart, such as the video shows: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NskaHE42qm4"]YouTube - Superfoot's Secrets For Success Series - Vol. 1 Clip[/ame] ? I'm sorry if I stirred it around a bit too much
