Tips to Improve Flexibility

To improve flexibility in martial arts is to do stretching exercises. The myotatic reflex is what every muscle is subjected to this can be sudden or extreme change. The myotatic reflex will tighten and then attempt to shorten to shorten when a muscle lengthens beyond a certain point. During stretching exercises this the tension you feel.

The myotatic reflex prevents and in some cases strains and tears. Your muscles could overextend and tear easily if it wasn't for the myotatic reflex. The downside to this is that you cannot fully use you body.

When you are stretching the myotatoc reflex your muscles will find a new limit but this must be slow and consistant. it is best to set stretching goals so if you overstretch and injure the muscle you will have to start over at a lower level.

There are three types of stretching:

Static - This is a controlled stretch. A position is held for ten to sixty seconds. This is to extend to feeling slight pain. During this exercise concentrate on relaxing target muscles and breathe deeply.

Dynamic - This is to move the muscle through full movement. This increases flexibility but should be done with caution. Focus on maintaining a correct dynamic stretch, smooth, even movements that do not shock the muscle. Examples of dynamic stretches are knee raises, leg raises, arm circles, and trunk circles.

Ballistic - This is a type of bouncing exercise and is moving pressure to stretch muscles. As this involves the myotatic reflex this can cause muscles to tense rather than relax. There is a high risk of injury to ballistic stretching.

As with any exercise it is best to increase blood supply to improve flexibility. Then move to joint loosening exercises followed by dynamic stretches to the get the muscles moving freely. If you are working only on flexibility, do static stretches next. Do some light static stretches at the end of every workout to relax and refresh your muscles.

Steve has over 20 years martial arts exeperience and a blackbelt in Judo. Check out his martial arts blog: http://typesofmartialarts.blogspot.com

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