How much is stretching a part of your warm ups.

[MPC1257]

While I was on the PSDTC Forum one of the posters mentioned this site:
http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html (http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html) a Directory of Excersises and Stretches.

Which got me curious as to how much emphasis is placed on stretching during your warmups?

For our KunTao we do warm ups with and without kettle bells for about 20 minutes and then we do about 10-15 minutes of stretching for the hips, legs and back.

The Kali warm ups are mostly for the wrists, arms and shoulders without much stretching.

I never was very limber and at 50 it's even worse, but I have found that I am getting a little better as time goes on.

Thanks in advance for any input or advice.

Marty C.

[arnisador]

I was never much on stretching, and I just get right into techniques when teaching. If we're going to spar I might warm up with some motion exercise but not stretching as such.

[pguinto]

i think stretching is very important. it warms up the muslces and prepares the body for the stresses one will be performing during workouts, drills, and especially sparring. in my younger days, i would be able to touch my knee to my shoulder. stretching allowed you to be able to do he fancy spinning aerials with power, as commonly seen in movies. really freaks out the newbies, always puts some fear in the less experienced to see someone doing stuff they cant do. heheh.

in college, i competed in a multi-club martial arts tourney, involving the tkd, karate, and eskrima clubs. i warmed up early at the start of the event. but the higher eschelon/black belt/experienced players were competing late. in the meantime, i was appointed as a side judge for the lower clases. when i was notified of my fight hours later, i only had seconds to warm up. subsequently i wound up injuring my shoulder when i blasted a guy with a punch to the forehead. and even though i lost that match due to the negative point deficit for excessive force, i wound up fighting 4-5 more matches taking 3rd place (i wasnt out bc it was double elimination). it was a bit of a disappointment cuz a couple years prior, i took 1st place in the inaugural event when i was active in the karate club.

side note: btw i was cheated and shouldve fought in the finals vs an amatuer "world(?)" kickboxer (incidently being a friend of ours, he entered the tourney thru the eskrima club). it was gonna be a battle of the titans, advantage him, imho. anyway the guy i fought in the semis was a friend of mine as well (karate club) and even he later expressed his concern to me that i was cheated from the match point 3 times (i was cool with it since he was a sincere friend). in the upper bracket division, there were 5 judges per match; main judge was always the karate club instructor (probly held a grudge that i left the karate club to be one of the founding fathers of the eskrima club, competition in his eyes, i guess) along with 2 other karate club side judges, 1 tkd club and 1 eskrima club side judge.

I dont mean to go off on a tangent. Anyway after screwing up my shoulder in the 1st match, i had to fight all remaining matches nursing my right arm against my right pec. and only using it when i had an opening or fending off an attack. later that night i couldnt move my arm, i borrowed a sling from a friend and wound up having to use that for about 2 weeks. a radiologist told me i probly tore my rotater cuff. this in effect ended martial arts for me for a long time. i was too stupid/proud/scared(?) to go to the doctor for surgery. also being young, i wound up becoming heavily involved in other things like fraternity parties (greek/college frat, not gangs), billiards, mountain biking, hunting (shotgun, rifle and bow), as well as aggressive inline skating (jumping on and sliding down handrails with rollerblades, if i find an old pic i will try to post it), snowboarding, and lots of clubbing with hot chicks.

even though i was active thru the years, my shoulder would occasionally give me probs; especially after a big wipe out skating or snowboarding. i actually wound up giving up shooting the bow, cuz too much practice would make my shoulder flare up. im actually cautious about swimming in deep waters without a vest, cuz ive had my shoulder go out on me in deep waters before; extremely stressful for me as i almost drowned in a swimming pool when i was 6.

Moral - a good warm up can prevent injuries that might hinder future endeavors and your ability to perform. good stretching and warming up today is better than nursing injuries in the future. Better still to be doing today as opposed to reminiscing about the days of old. Also seeing a doctor after an injury is a good idea as well.

Edit:
Instead of posting a pic of me skating, i decided to link youtube clips of popular skaters of the day. funny some of the things that are said can be applied to fma training i guess. Dont ask me why i used to do this, just that i had friends who did it. and since my friends are pushing the envelope, it pushes you to do so as well:
Qo1w-eAIGPs yP9JccPDjB4

[Dawn]

how much emphasis is placed on stretching during your warmups?

Usually depends on what we're going to do. If it's forms we rarely do stretches, if we're going to work on applications that's when we have stretches during warmup. But we always always always stretch during cooldown it's like mandatory.

[MPC1257]

Usually depends on what we're going to do. If it's forms we rarely do stretches, if we're going to work on applications that's when we have stretches during warmup. But we always always always stretch during cooldown it's like mandatory.

Dawn,

That is very interesting. To my knowledge no one stretches during cooldown. What are the benefits?

Thanks for the reply and the info,
Marty