Do i need to stretch for Longer periods? or just stretch more Frequently?

Question

I be stretching everyday,but yet my legs is STILL too stiff to do my kicks!!!!
I'm 33 1/2 years old(But i dont think that has nothin to do with it)

Answer 1

I would suggest pushing yourselves harder for longer periods of time but taking a break every other day

Answer 2

Thirty-three is not young in respect to flexibility and if you have not been working out or physically active until recently you also have metabolism and a few other things working against you. However it is not to late by any means-it just means it will be a little harder for you to get there and may take you a little longer. The old adage "no pain-no gain" is counter productive here. Anything more than a dull ache and you are over strectching and that causes you to be less flexible-not more. So don't stretch past the point of a dull ache and be patient. Also use props like chairs and belts to help you in some of your stretching and it will make it easier for you.

Make sure you warm up your muscles with some aerobic activity like jumping jacks, running in place, shadow boxing before you stretch. Warm muscles stretch better and more efficiently than cold muscles so warm your muscles and body up first. Second, concentrate on doing slow static and dynamic stretching and also pay close attention to how you breath when you stretch. Check out static stretching on the Internet and/or check out yoga and you will find a wealth of information on this that will help you a lot. More and more martial arts schools are going to the slow static and dynamic type stretching and they and their students have had good results with it. I started doing it in my classes in 1984 and have never gone back to the ballistic type stretching that you still sometimes see today. Also pay attention to your lower back and work on its flexibility since the groin muscle group and especially the hamstring muscle group interact with it so much.

After your workouts do some cool-down exercises and stretching. You will find that this will help you to avoid a lot of stiffeness and soreness. Also make sure to drink a glass of water a half hour before you work out and hydrate yourself afterwards. Also your salt intake can affect how stiff you are so I sometimes recommend that a student eat a pinch of salt after a workout when they are also hydrating.

This all sounds like a lot but if you do a little reading and research and some of the things that I recommend above you will see results in three or four weeks. Flexibility is like muscle or endurance-you can build it. You just have to keep in mind body-builders and marathon runners did not get there overnight and that it takes time and keep at it. With the proper approach and training you can build it also.

Answer 3

Less is more, sometimes. You are not too old to achieve splits, not at all. I suspect your muscles are too weak, that's why you feel stiff, you need to strengthen all muscles involved in kicking, that includes abs, lower back, hamstrings, adductors/abductors, and hip flexors.
Limitations to splits or kicks are manyfold, your nervous system, strength, alignment of body during kicking. The limitation is almost never caused by joint range of motion or ligaments/tendons.
As a kicker you need active dynamic flexibility, after all a kick is a moving thing, not passively standing there with a leg up in the air (it might look good, but doesn't knock an opponent of their feet).
Work firstly on strengthening up your hamstrings, adductors/abductors, hip flexors, and lower back.
Rest if you feel tired or sore or stiff, a tired and weak muscle is injured easily.
Also avoid static passive stretches before your kicking training, warm up with active dynamic leg raises (please note, active dynamic raises, NOT ballistic raises, there is a big difference in them, you never loose control over your raise, a ballistic stretch means powering the leg beyond its current range by means of velocity and mass of the kicking leg).
3 sets of raises to the front, side, and rear, 12 reps per set. Do them first thing in the morning before breakfast, joint rotations and a light warmup to get the joints warm and bloodflow into the muscles.
Doing it in the morning will gradually reset the associated neural pathways.
Let me ask you a question, what is the use of training kicks when you need a 1/2 hr warmup before you can throw any kicks? No street thug waits for you to do a warmup, you need to be ready there and then!
Once you become stronger and flexibility increases, you will see that you can reduce the effort(30mins to start with, later you can reduce this to 10mins).
Passive static stretching is good at the end of a training session as part of a cooldown.
This is a proven method, and even guys twice your age achieve hanging splits between chairs with this method.
All based on Thomas Kurz' excellent book "Stretching Scientifically"

Answer 4

Be careful with stretching.

Best to do it properly. There is an excellent method called PNF or Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation. A company called Health for Life has a great video called Synerstretch.

Look on google video to get an idea.

You can do light stretching or loosening up but if you are going to really stretch, wait up to 48 hours until you do it again. Have plenty of bananas or prunes for potassium.

Hope this helps.

Answer 5

actually age does effect flexibility. anyway, try warming up then stretching, warm up some more and stretch again.
remember to stretch to the point of light tension not pain. over stretching can do more harm than good, so take it easy, it will come with time. also, after a workout, cool down with light stretches too.

Answer 6

Make sure that you warm up prior to stretching. Stretching cold muscles is next to impossible.

Do some range of motion stretches and circle all of your joints first.

Then get into some serious static stretching. Also try PNF stretching, if you're not already and if you're not sure what that is then just type it into google.

Answer 7

Stretch at least 20 minutes a day.
That will increase your flexibility over time.

Answer 8

your muscles have to be warm before you stretch so go for a light jog before you stretch,also if you drink coffee it de-hydrates your joints and muscles so try to cut down...good luck