Hello all, I've been practicing Taekwondo for about 14 years now. Our warm up routine consists of 20 jumping jacks, joint rotations (rotate head, arms, hips, knees), and basic stretches (american splits, chinese splits, butterfly stretch) as well as push ups and sit ups. It is the same warm up EVERY DAY and it gets a bit monotonous. I've searched a bit for good TKD warm up routines, but I'm curious as to what your club does for a warm up. Also, do you save the stretching for after class, or do it during the warm up before class? Thanks in advance for your input.
I'd have your beginners spend the first 2-3 months learning how to squat and deadlift with gradually increasing range of motion. That way they can have the flexibility to kick high without a warm-up; but if you wanted to include one, they could spend 2-3 minutes doing kicks (on pads) with ever-increasing amplitude and speed to get them ready for the main workout. That's what I do.
Thanks for the input Van Zandt. So so you don't do stretching before the workout? Kwajman: American splits are done by placing one knee on the ground, extending your other leg straight and separating your legs as far as possible, whereas Chinese splits separate both legs simultaneously while they are both fully extended. I'm not sure how to upload photos, but I'm sure you can google the stretches and find photos of them both.
No. Absolutely not. If you need to stretch before a skill you aren't ready for the skill. American splits = front splits. Chinese splits = side splits.
We do the 30 on 30 off routine for cardio. So for example, star jumps as fast and as many as you can for 30 seconds, rest for 30, then the same with tuck jumps for 30 etc. by the time we get to the end, we usually do about 6 or 7 exercises, my attempts are ridiculous. I hate doing it but honestly it does the job. Now since my instructors found out I'm going in the army he works me like a dog haha
Our warm up consists of: 1 minute planks (sometimes on forearms, sometimes on hands, or both.) - Time depends on class, 1 minute is the norm, but we've gone for 3-4 minutes before. 30-60 jumping Jacks - Usually 30 light at the beginning of warm up, and 30 full jumping jacks at the end. 20 push ups - Any variety. 20 full sit ups 20 crunches 20 side-crunches 5-10 minutes of jogging 1 minute leg lift ** light leg stretches 20 forward lunges 20 back lunges 20 squats neck, arm, and hip rotation. If time permits, instructors will throw in some additional warm up exercises like stretch Kicks, walking lunges, and sparring stance bouncing on ball of foot (closed and open stance.) ** Fully warmed up we'll do 5-10 minutes of harder leg stretching depending on the class curriculum. Sometimes we'll do shadow boxing, jump rope, and so on. This warmup routine usually takes 30ish minutes.
Lol, If you're serious, glad I could put some ideas into your routine. We don't always do the full routine though, it really depends on the curriculum which is rotated every 3 months. The school I train at is full MMA, and they understand the limitations of TKD in real life situations. So the instructors will introduce BJJ, boxing, MT, and Krav elements into our TKD routine. On boxing days, we'll do very light leg stretches and more upper body exercises and so on. About an hour, we usually exceed by 5-10 minutes more if we're doing cool down stretching.
