side kicks (dynamic stretching)

Post questions and tips on making your stretches or your whole flexibility training most effective.
wynnema
Posts: 111
Joined: Mar 11, 2004 06:42
Location: North-West UK

Post by wynnema »

thats interesting dragon, I dropped that exercise specifically because it felt like it was over-stretching my supporting leg, something Kurz says to avoid.

I'll have a go tonight in the way you described.

cheers

dragon
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Joined: Jul 03, 2004 05:55

Post by dragon »

I'd start low.If you are warming up with the exercise to reach maximum height and then suddenly decide to "reach" with the leg,you will feel it...big time!

Personally,i think some people are suited to different ways.I've tried describing the technique to some of my training partners and they just don't feel it the way i do.Likewise,for others the Kurz method is awkward.


Dragon.

wynnema
Posts: 111
Joined: Mar 11, 2004 06:42
Location: North-West UK

Post by wynnema »

thanks dragon. Speaking of dynamic raises I recently read a report on a study by Moscov et al 1993. He found that

"there is no relationship between static flexibility and dynamic flexibility. This suggests that an increased static range of motion may not be translated into functional, sport-specific flexibility".

Does this mean as kickers we should only spend our time on dynamic stretches if we want to increase the height of our kicks.

dragon
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Joined: Jul 03, 2004 05:55

Post by dragon »

It's been said on this forum before-being able to do the splits doesn't mean you can kick high.
However,my dynamic stretching routine is based mainly on Pavel's theory:-I don't use dynamic stretches to increase my maximum kicking height,i use it to prepare me for kicking at my present maximum kicking height.He says when performing dynamic stretches you should feel no kind of tension/stretch at all.If you do,you've gone too far.
This method has worked well for me so far,and while i have seen an increase in height(even though i'm not actually trying),i believe that static forms of stretching are still needed(for me anyway).

Dragon.

wynnema
Posts: 111
Joined: Mar 11, 2004 06:42
Location: North-West UK

Post by wynnema »

after much trial and error I finally figured out the side raises that work for me and give me the most height. I gained a lot of help from the video on the trickstutorials forum:
http://www.trickstutorials.com/download ... _sidelifts

if you watch when the guy is facing the camera you will see he raises the leg different to both kurz and pavel. You sort of draw the leg up in front and as you raise the leg, the hips turn over with the foot at about 10 o'clock. Its very similar to the way the leg should travel in a high roundhouse kick but the leg stays straight. By doing it this way it teaches you the correct hip alignment for the roundhouse a kick I have always struggled with. You also feel the stretch in the right areas, whereas doing it Kurz or Pavel way, for me, never felt quite right. If you learn the raise in this way it is easy turn the raise into a high roundhouse kick.

Thomas Kurz
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Post by Thomas Kurz »

Having seen this video, my impression of the demonstrator from the trickstutorials is that he is very strong and flexible but he does not have experience with knock-down fighting or real martial arts. He may have learned his quasi martial art moves from bad books or from crooks.

His side leg raise is not functional for martial arts and combat sports. It is useless as a yoko keage (rising side kick). If his foot would meet a target usual for this kick, he would be sorry. This leg raise does not prepare well for the roundhouse kick either--the movement path and coordination are completely different from a functional kick--it actually teaches bad form dangerous for the kicker. See a good high roundhouse kick and compare, for example, this one: http://www.stadion.com/videos/mawashi.wmv .
Thomas Kurz
Madrej glowie dosc dwie slowie

Thomas Kurz
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Post by Thomas Kurz »

wynnema wrote:thanks dragon. Speaking of dynamic raises I recently read a report on a study by Moscov et al 1993. He found that

"there is no relationship between static flexibility and dynamic flexibility. This suggests that an increased static range of motion may not be translated into functional, sport-specific flexibility".

Does this mean as kickers we should only spend our time on dynamic stretches if we want to increase the height of our kicks.
Not exactly. See Stretching Scientifically page 49 (the first paragraph) and page 120. References for that 1st paragraph on p. 49 are not listed because the statements are obvious and repeated in most phys ed and sports training manuals, among others in Matveyev [Matveev] 1981 and Platonov 1997 (see bibliography in Stretching Scientifically).
Thomas Kurz
Madrej glowie dosc dwie slowie

wynnema
Posts: 111
Joined: Mar 11, 2004 06:42
Location: North-West UK

Post by wynnema »

Thomas Kurz wrote:Having seen this video, my impression of the demonstrator from the trickstutorials is that he is very strong and flexible but he does not have experience with knock-down fighting or real martial arts. He may have learned his quasi martial art moves from bad books or from crooks.

His side leg raise is not functional for martial arts and combat sports. It is useless as a yoko keage (rising side kick). If his foot would meet a target usual for this kick, he would be sorry. This leg raise does not prepare well for the roundhouse kick either--the movement path and coordination are completely different from a functional kick--it actually teaches bad form dangerous for the kicker. See a good high roundhouse kick and compare, for example, this one: http://www.stadion.com/videos/mawashi.wmv .
I watched your video and you are right. I guess I will just have to persevere with the side raises as you show them. Perhaps my lack of flexibilty in the side splits is preventing me from developing any further in dynamic side raises as my front raises are near vertical - its quite frustrating

Thomas Kurz
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Post by Thomas Kurz »

Bend more at ankles, knees, hips, and lower back, and you may get it. Note that what is a good form in gymnastics or ballet (body mostly extended), in hand-to-hand fighting, most of the time, it would be a bad form.
Thomas Kurz
Madrej glowie dosc dwie slowie

wynnema
Posts: 111
Joined: Mar 11, 2004 06:42
Location: North-West UK

Post by wynnema »

OK, thanks again for your advice. I am starting to think it is my ROM that is preventing me from reaching higher in the side raises, rather than form as they improved for the first few weeks then, well stopped so that I can raise barely past shoulder height.

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