Well, gains keep coming. I think I'm at the point now where my muscles are a lot more conditioned that before; max flexibility comes very quickly, and my muscles aren't sore the next day.

Right sided kicks feel smooth, and very controlled. On the other hand, left sided kicks still feel awkward and restricted at times. I'll have to work on that.

Still using the pulley-leg stretcher---I like it, as I stated last week. I've noticed my hamstring stretches are progressing, but adductor (abductor?) inner thigh muscles need work---when sitting on the floor, legs spread apart, I have a *VERY* difficult time lowering my torso to the ground. I'm not sure if this is lower back or some type of hip inflexibility.

At any rate, I'm injury-free, and progress is there, and even if a little, I'm happy.

Adductor = inside of leg
Abductor = outside of leg

legs apart, torso down, mailing a lower back stretch.

Long time no post!

I got hit pretty hard this summer with a chest infection (go figure) and had to take a whole month of training off. But I've been back at it a while.

No major changes; starting to incorporate hindu squats and some upper body strengthing, and that's about the only new item. What I want to do and what I end up doing always seems different.

--As far as flexibility, it is increasing, but slowly. My left side kick now feel a helluva lot smoother than a few months ago. Very little if any hip pain at all, and range of motion has gradually increased. I'm still sticking to the same dynamic legs swings, and passive stretching on days off/after class.

I have no doubt that if I added more, I'd become more flexible, faster. Between work, summer holidays, chest infections, and great weather for mountain biking, I've found it a bit hard. I plan on testing in Dec, so as it gets colder, I'll be in the dojang more.

[This message has been edited by MikeMartial (edited 09-22-2004).]

hy mike
im from peru im 22 years old and i ve been practicing karate since i was 18
it is a great idea posting your progress with with KUrz i use to read his articles in his site and i have some doubts maybe you can answer:
martial artists have to develop dynamic stretching (according to kurz leg raises are the way)so whats the reason for isometric stretching ?
what are you doing to MAKE your kicks higher?
Do your goal is making splits?
i hope not bother you with my questions
i ll very glad if you answer
thank you

I, too, am interested in this one. Is there anyone on this forum who has actually gone from, say, knee-high to head-high kicks using Kurz's methods? If so, what were your workouts really like?

Hey everyone this is my first post on this form, but I have read up some on kurz's dynamic stretching and have been trying to implement it in to my routine.

I was wondering if anyone had noticed that the stretches are a lot like ballet. My girlfriend did ballet for something like 10 years and I have been telling her about these stretches and they are almost exactly like what she used to do. I guess it makes sense they have pretty high kicks in ballet.

Easily, ***EASILY*** have gone from waist-high kicks to head high kicks, with only dynamic and passive stretching. If I had to pick one, and only one form of stretching, it would be dynamic.

And no, heh, haven't even come close to a full split. I'd be the first to admit I don't work on my static stretching; since I've made so many gains using only dynamic, I doubt I'll attempt a full split.

But it does amaze me how high I can kick, yet appear so inflexible during passive static stretching.

Attaining full dynamic flexibility seems to come a lot faster, like Kurz had mentioned in his book. I do only one or two sets of legs swings (front/back/side), so 6 total, before class, and I'm good to go.

Mike,
1. You say you went EASILY from waist-high to head high kicks. How long did it take to reach head high from waist?

2. You also say you did/do 2 sets of front, back, and side leg raises. Did you use a "target" to keep raising your leg higher and higher?

3. What, when, and how often was your static (relaxed or isometric) stretching done? Same question for dynamic raises.

4. Finally, I can kick head high to the front, but cannot from the side or back. Is this unusual? What this results in is that I can't kick head high in a roundhouse.

Thanks for responding

[QUOTE]Originally posted by DP07:

4. Finally, I can kick head high to the front, but cannot from the side or back. Is this unusual? What this results in is that I can't kick head high in a roundhouse.

[/QUOTE]

This is normal, as difficulty in side kicks are usually the result of poor adductor strenth and kicks to the rear rely more on trunk strenth.

Also for both the mechanics of doing the kick are a lot harder than front.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by DP07:
Mike,
1. You say you went EASILY from waist-high to head high kicks. How long did it take to reach head high from waist?

2. You also say you did/do 2 sets of front, back, and side leg raises. Did you use a "target" to keep raising your leg higher and higher?

3. What, when, and how often was your static (relaxed or isometric) stretching done? Same question for dynamic raises.

4. Finally, I can kick head high to the front, but cannot from the side or back. Is this unusual? What this results in is that I can't kick head high in a roundhouse.

Thanks for responding[/QUOTE]

1. Probably about 2 or 3 months; I know Kurz says it can be done in a much shorter period of time, but you have to consider age/current flexibility/time to commit to stretching. That being said, it's been the last 3 months of a year of training that I've noticed head-high kicks that come easily.

2. I *now* only do two sets----when I started out, I'd do at least 4 sets per leg, per direction, twice a day. And no, I never did use my hand as a target. I did at first for front leg swings, but I never did for side---I could never touch my foot [IMG]http://www.fightingarts.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif[/IMG] Theory of the target is to stop the swing from becoming balistic. I just ease into the legs swings, and try to "swing" my leg, not fire it as high as it will go.

3. Relaxed passive stretching: only ever done after class now, when I am fully warmed up. After my first hamstring injury, my physiotherapist recommended multiple intervals of passive relaxed stretching throughout the day; not a bad idea, but there are more effective ways to gain flexibility.

Isometrics: Never tried, yet.
Dynamic: Twice a day, when I'm diligent about it. Morning, warm up by marching on the spot, doing joint rotations, then work up into dynmaic leg swings. I find this tough to do, first thing in the morning. Then, before my TKD class.

4. Front kick involves pretty much only hamstring flexibility, and that's why it's easy to gain height here first. Like UKFF said (and he's the true expert on flexibility and conditioning) Side kick involves adductor strength, and a great degree of hipflexor involvment and body mechanics. This is the kick were I pulled my supporting leg hamstring 3 times.

Roundhouse (Turning, depending on your terminology) was, and still is to a degree, my nemisis. I had achieved high front and side kicks long before my roundhouse kicks. to this day, my left roundhouse kick suffers due to a bad injury to my right hamstring.

Although flexibility is obviously important here, I can't stress enough about proper kicking mechanics. Just by turning the supporting foot more, bending properly at the waist, you can totally change how easily, and high, a kick is delivered.

Last note: Don't push it, but work consistantly at it. I look back at the year, and despite injury, time away from training, I've made amazing gains, using very simple technics. It can be done!