pain in hip flexors when streching in lotus position
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irishguy
pain in hip flexors when streching in lotus position
ive been doing hapkido for about 8 months now in korea. i usually train about 3/4 times a week. i usually go to the gym and try and strech my groins before i go to hapikdo. i start by putting 7kg dumbells on either knee while in the lotus position. after about 10 mins i use my elbows instead and i can get down a bit further. however im still a long way off touching the floor with my knees. i feel i have made very little progress over the last 3 months...any suggestions? i have some discomfort in my left groin when doing this. i have pain right at the top my quad muscles(hip flexor i think) and this is really preventing me from pushing myself. alos i injured my right leg doing axe kicks maybe 4 motnhs ago and ive injured it slightly again. it happens when my leg is coming fown in the axe kick....im thinking this is hip flexors also. if anyone could give me any info at all it would be much appreciated
Pain and injury are usually caused by wrong training (methods). Well even I can tell that what you do is REALLY wrong. What's with the pushing yourself... Trying to push yourself too much (in this case it's more like forcing yourself) is bound to lead to injury. First, I really don't understand why you put dumbells on your knees, for 10 min, my god that's too much! Second I also don't understand why you (static) stretch your groin before training. It doesn't suprise me at all that you didn't make any progress over the last 3 months. You're really far off the way you train now. I guess you haven't read any of the columns on this website also. If you did, you'd atleast know some basics which wouldn't include this. So instead of explaining everything, I'd suggest you just read those columns. http://www.stadion.com/column.html
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irishguy
cheers for the reply felix....i had a quick glance through the columns recently and i did come to the conclusion that im stretching all wrong. the problem is that im training in korea at the moment and all we do is static stretches before we start the class and also during the class warm up. im starting to do the dynamic streches from now on. when im using the the dumbells i dont keep them on for ten minutes at a time...im not a sadist! i usually sit with them on my knees for 1 to 1 1/2 mintues. then it starts to get a little painful right at the top of my left quad so i stand and strech out the quads and then i repeat the exercise. i use the dumbells at the start because its just to hard to use my elbows from the beginning. after about 10 min i use my elbows. my left groin seems to be way tighter than my right. my legs muscles are quite developed from playing soccer and football from a young age. i never gave that much attention to streching my groins for these sports...just the minimum strech. could you suggest a different way of stretching and have you any idea what the pain in the top of my leg is.? im going to try and incorporate as much dynamic stretching into my hapkido as possible but im afraid static stretching is what is used in my dojang so i must do what everyone else is doing. cheers mate
I'm not an expert. I think it's best to see a physician for the pain in your groin. And about the stretching, I guess that you want to stretch your groin because you want to be able to kick high. To achieve that, doing just dynamic stretches will suffice. From what I hear about your dojang, it seems that they don't incoperate save training methods. I recognize your story, I myself used to train Kung-Fu this way, I made my decision, to quit, after learning better training methods. It's up to you to make your choice.
Good luck
Good luck
training overseas
Hi there Irish guy
I know a little of how you may feel as I have trained kungfu in china and japan and karate and kyudo in Japan. When you go and train in such places the wealth of knowledge and ability (and I do mean wealth) is built on tradition and not the latest rational training methods. This can put one in a difficult position - that is you are there training with some of the best people you will ever train with, and yet the methods they use don't really bring the results you are after. Personally I went on a 3 or 4 year quest to find an instructor who would use rational training methods and teach me what I wanted to learn. In the end what i found was the best rational instructor was actually myself. After all I knew exactly what i wanted to learn and I was keen to put in the time to research and find the best training methods. Of course no one can teach themself martial arts so obviously i still attend at a martial arts school (a very good, traditional kung fu school).
I guess the point i am trying to make here is that you probably won't find anywhere in Korea using the latest rational training methods - tradition in such places is too important. So I think what you need to do is put in a bit of research reading the articles Felix pointed you to above and then work out your own rational strength training and stretching program (if you want to stetch effectively, strength training is essential). Then work out a way to combine this into your martial arts training program. Your teacher may allow you to do your own stretches in the corner or something at the beginning of class (who knows if you don't ask?! I know I was usually treated a little differently being the foriegn outsider!).
Anyway, just wanted to let you know you are not alone in your quest for performance! All the best!
I know a little of how you may feel as I have trained kungfu in china and japan and karate and kyudo in Japan. When you go and train in such places the wealth of knowledge and ability (and I do mean wealth) is built on tradition and not the latest rational training methods. This can put one in a difficult position - that is you are there training with some of the best people you will ever train with, and yet the methods they use don't really bring the results you are after. Personally I went on a 3 or 4 year quest to find an instructor who would use rational training methods and teach me what I wanted to learn. In the end what i found was the best rational instructor was actually myself. After all I knew exactly what i wanted to learn and I was keen to put in the time to research and find the best training methods. Of course no one can teach themself martial arts so obviously i still attend at a martial arts school (a very good, traditional kung fu school).
I guess the point i am trying to make here is that you probably won't find anywhere in Korea using the latest rational training methods - tradition in such places is too important. So I think what you need to do is put in a bit of research reading the articles Felix pointed you to above and then work out your own rational strength training and stretching program (if you want to stetch effectively, strength training is essential). Then work out a way to combine this into your martial arts training program. Your teacher may allow you to do your own stretches in the corner or something at the beginning of class (who knows if you don't ask?! I know I was usually treated a little differently being the foriegn outsider!).
Anyway, just wanted to let you know you are not alone in your quest for performance! All the best!