Stretching and Kicking Master Class – An Article By Robert Martin Brighton WCMA
I must admit I approached this Master Class with a certain amount of trepidation as I’m not known for my flexibility, and I’m sure I’m not the only one! However this made it all the more important that I should attend.
How better to improve than a couple of hours of expert tuition.
You need to have a reasonable degree of flexibility to be able to kick in an easy relaxed manner without fighting your body every step of the way and telegraphing your moves with the sheer effort involved. Flexibility in itself is not the goal, but to be flexible enough to be able to move your body the way you want it to. It would also be nice to be able to drop into the splits on demand and throw casual head kicks in sparring.
After a hearty lunch at the all-you-can-eat Chinese place in town, to accumulate some extra weight with which to increase my standing split stretch, it was off to a packed training hall to begin the afternoons session.
We started off with a good warm-up to loosen up the joints and make the muscles and tendons more ameanable to change, whilst listening to tales of the consequences of trying to stretch without the correct preparation. This really encourages you to get the most out of the warm up time!
Then it was on to the main event.
Repetition of a variety of different kicks to practice the technique and then moving on to the stretch best suited to improve it. Front kicks, crane kicks, round houses, hook kicks interspersed with front stretches, butterfly stretches and others relevant to the muscles and joints involved. Then it was taken up a level with assisted stretching with 1 or more partners.
The solo stretching on its own can be very effective. With the assistance of another person you can be held in the correct stretch position with a controlled amount of pressure being applied. What’s more a 2nd person is less likely to slacken off if for some reason you happen to change your mind about how good an idea this was. This does require a certain amount of trust in your partner so that you can still relax into the stretch, otherwise you will just tighten up leaving you with all of the pain but none of the benefit. Then you get to do it to them!
Please note this should really not be tried at home or without suitable expert supervision as a muscle tear of tendon injury can put you out for months! Adding a 3rd person gives you all the benefits of a two person stretch but with a little extra muscle power to take it that little bit further.
As well as the physical side the session was interspersed with useful information about how to use your breath to aid your stretching and a variety of other recommendations on how to get the best out of it. The effectiveness of which were clearly demonstrated by Shaf showing what is possible, with a full box split.
The takeaway messages?
We are fortunate to have Instructors with the knowledge and experience to teach this in a safe and controlled manner.
If you’re serious about getting flexible you need to stretch every day.
Warm up first, then ditch your comfy chair in front of the tv and stretch as you watch.
If you are willing to put the time in then who knows what you can accomplish! But it
all comes down to you.
Robert Martin
Brighton WCMA