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This is a log of my journey to Shotokan Karate Shodan and beyond.

7/21/07 – Saturday stretching.

July 21, 2007 by doug Leave a Comment

In my ever ending quest to improve my flexibility, I spend a good amount of time stretching on Saturday. My son assists our Sensei’s with a couple of classes and I like to stretch while sitting there.

I spend a lot of time working my side splits since one of my main goals is to prove that old people like me can still do the splits. I have a long way to go but I am seeing improvement in both my flexibility and my side height of my side thrust and roundhouse kicks. I also work on my hamstrings even though my front snap kicks are good.

Today I did:

Butterflies – I sit with my back against the wall while doing them because I feel that I get a better stretch.
Side splits – I also try to lean my back against the wall but I also lean forward to get what feels like a better stretch. I spend a good amount of time in that position moving my legs farther apart as I relax. I do another variation where I lay on my back and put my legs up on the wall. I cannot hold this position for a long time, around five minutes of so because of gravity forcing my legs down.
Hamstring stretch – I sit on the floor with my leg straight out in front of my. I lean forward and either grab my toes or put my arms on the floor on the outside of my legs. I get the added benefit of a deep calf stretch from this movement too.

I also do a similar simple stretching workout before class on Tuesday and it seems to really help even thought it is very simple.

Filed Under: Karate Workouts

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