Flexibility Stretches
are
Essential to Becoming
Great in Tae Kwon Do Karate
Or, Simply Staying Fit

I have been teaching students TaeKwonDo for many years and I see this all the time. People come in as White Belts and see all these other people of advanced rank doing fantastically high kicks and ,of course, they want to be doing that as well. I don't blame them.

But patience is the key to doing these exercises. It takes time and perseverance. If you are really committed, you could easily be doing the splits in less than nine months, that is about average over all age ranges.

For the younger folks, its about five months because young people are naturally more active. Your hips still have the pliability necessary to quickly get those pelvic muscles in motion. As you become older, your hips basically fuse together over time and it becomes more difficult to get rotary access to this pelvic area.

Have you ever noticed how small children can almost naturally do the splits? This comes from their extremely pliable bone and muscle structure.

You go down into your stretch to the point that you feel the muscles tighten, No Farther. With Consistency in your flexibility routine, over time this point will become farther and farther.

Plus, as you do this over and over, you will learn how far you can go with your muscles. Your muscles "will remember" how far they can be pulled.

Next, you must get into the habit of just doing it and create a pattern for your flexibility routine.

This is first stretch used when just starting your stretching routine. Simply called "Beginners Leg In" Stretch.

Start with your Left Leg straight out, knee locked, and foot straight up and down.

Next, Slowly begin to push your torso forward to your Left Knee with hands extended toward your feet. You can grab your leg if you like but do not force yourself down! Go down until you feel the muscles in your leg and back tighten.

That's Right! You will feel stretching in your back as well. These exercises are meant for Total Body Flexibility. Sometimes your leg muscles may actually be more limber than your back muscles. Take care to notice tightening not only in the leg muscles you are stretching but also in your back muscles that are being stretched at the same time. Release immediately if you feel any twinge of pain or burning sensation.

DO NOT bounce or force yourself down! This will cause injury. Each Flexibility Exercise should be done Slowly with a Steady, Even downward motion.

Starting out you will probably not be going down as far as me. It may even be uncomfortable or feel unnatural to sit in this position. This will become easier by staying consistent with your stretching routine.

Stay down for a slow count to 10 if you can and increase the count as you progress. Then, relax for a minute or so and then do it again. You should do a minimum of 3 counts per stretch per leg for a full routine. I will usually only show a particular exercise on one leg but you must do the exercise on both your right and left leg.

If you can't, no problem, just do what you can do starting out but Stretch Slow and Stay Consistent! Below are some very helpful tips on getting into your Routine.

Remember, I am over 40 so if I can do it just about anyone can!

An average commercial is about a minute long some are 30 seconds so at the beginning of a commercial start your exercise and hold it until the commercial is just about over. If you can.Then, skip a commercial to rest your muscles and continue that same pattern even through parts of the program you are watching. This really works Great! You will be doing the splits and those Fantastic Kicks in no time!!

Something else that is very important is NOT to Stretch Every Day!

Your muscles need time to get used to this new action and to regenerate themselves. If you think doing your flexibility routine every day will decrease the amount of time it will take you to achieve your goal of doing the splits---YOU'RE WRONG.

This will only hinder your muscle regeneration and actually make you prone to some serious muscle injury so don't do it. Let your muscles rest for a day or two in between exercises.