Stadion's Sports and Martial Arts Training Discussion

Well, first of all your age is not the problem, especially at 16! You say you stretch often, but with not much results. My first guess would be in regards to your stretching routine. Have you studied Kurz' method in his book and DVD? It's not so much about what kind of stretches you do, or how much ...

Muhammad wrote:the distance between my ankles when i do a middle split is 1.84 centimeters

What are you, a Lego man?

This is criticized in SS on the basis that the partner is neither resting or stretching. Just to mention, this is only a side note. The real basis for criticism of partner stretching in the book, is the fact that your partner doesn't feel what you feel. If you suddenly feel pain and you let your pa...

What type of squat is this- body weight with feet spread about shoulder width? If so, lowering all the way down takes a certain amount of calf flexibility. To strengthen, doing these slowly with full stops at the top and bottom is most beneficial. However, if you can't go down very far, work on your...

First of all, check your technique. It is best to start from a horse stance where the hips are even with the knees. Then gradually widen the steps, all the while maintaining the level of the hips and knees. You should do this until you are on the floor and the soles of the feet then turn outward. If...

Leaning is just to further increase the stretch where you may need. Sometimes your hip flexors of the rear leg are much tighter when attempting the splits, so leaning back will get it up to speed with your hamstrings. That is all. For martial arts training, I'd still say do both kinds to become as m...

So, I pretty much went through the whole book again and I actually can't seem to find the page(s) that talks about the inside and outside crescent kicks. :? It's briefly mentioned when the dynamic stretches are shown. One shows him standing with the foot about head height kicking the opposite hand ...

Since I can only go down to about 21 inches of ground when I do the front splits, should the rear foot be about 45 degrees on its inner side or should it be completely on its inner side, regardless of how flexible I am in this stretch position? Basically, far enough on the side to allow you to slid...

See, I thought before that you meant that in the open split position, you lower the knee to the floor along with pushing the front foot forward, rear foot back, or both, just like in the true split. With the true front split it's fine to put the knee on the ground, because that's the natural way to...

Don't lower your knee, rather, as I said, push both feet apart, forward and backward. That way your legs straighten and there is no awkward twist or sideways bend on your knee.

Not a great deal of time is spent discussing inside and outside crescent dynamic stretches, but they are mentioned in the book Stretching Scientifically . They are relatively simple movements compared to the side leg raise, and shouldn't need that much attention. It's just getting your joints to rot...

From the picture it looks like the dimensions wouldn't allow you enough range of motion to get your back into it. The upper body should be able to hang down 90 degrees perpendicular to your legs. If it can allow for that, then you should be able to use it for back extensions.

Well, when I first started it long ago I was too eager to do isometrics and often got sore, even after relaxed split stretches or a little bit of strength exercises. I guess I was too weak and not eating right. Recently, when I got back into it and tried isometrics the first day following hard dynam...

Regarding the DVD, the great thing about it is that you can actually see the exercises in motion (by Kurz) and get a better sense of how they are done. That way you'll have less questions, precisely because it is a do-it-along type. There's less room for having to imagine and guess. As for the kicki...

If you want to be able to do a high roundhouse or side kick with the supporting foot pivoted to just about 45-90 degrees, I don't think you'll kick very high if you do that. You also won't be able to turn your hip over to the horizontal kicking position required for roundhouse and side kicks. If yo...