Hi, my name is Tom Kurz. I am a graduate of Institute of Physical Education in Warsaw,
and together with my friend Mark Bazylko, also a graduate of the same institution,
we will show you a method of developing flexibility that is currently used in East
Bloc countries in training of their athletes.
In my method of stretching, muscular strength and flexibility are developed together. Progress is
very fast and injury free. Choose the exercises you need, perform them according to instructions,
and see how easy it is. Anybody who wants to perform movements close to maximum range of
motion in joints, for example high kicks, and to perform these movements without warming up,
ought to make early morning stretch an indispensable part of his or her daily routine.
First, warm up all joints. Gradually increase range of movements. Start from your fingers,
move on to your wrists, then elbows. Warm up your shoulders.
Now, warm up your neck.
Twist your trunk.
Your hips.
Warm up your knees.
Warm up your ankles and toes.
Keep your supporting leg straight, your heel on the ground. The height does not matter,
the angle between legs does.
Do not kick or throw your leg, lead it all the way. Feel stretching in front of your
thigh. At the end of movement, you can bend the knee of your rising leg for more stretch.
Do not lean forward more than it's necessary. Start low and moving legs at moderate speed,
gradually raise them to your maximum height. Now you can start low again and increase the
speed and height of kicks using your hands as target.
These were all the exercises making up the early morning stretch. Beginners should do
as many repetitions per leg, per direction as it takes them to reach their maximum range
of movement. It might be even 50 repetitions per leg, per direction. Gradually, the number
of repetitions required to reach maximum range of movement will decline to about 12 per leg,
per direction. The whole routine should take about 10 minutes for advanced and about 30
minutes for beginners. The early morning stretch should be done before breakfast six times
a week.
Except for gymnasts, dancers and wushu practitioners whose routines consist of a mixture of dynamic
and static exercises, for example splits, static stretches should be done at the end
of your training session. If you want to stretch before your workout, use dynamic stretches,
for example, the ones shown in early morning stretch. Now let me show you some basic stretches.
First, the principle. If you want to stretch a given muscle or a group of muscles, for
example, inner thigh, tense as much as you can, then relax. Now stretch these muscles
moving your body into a new position. When you can't stretch anymore, tense them again
and relax. Keep repeating this cycle of tension and relaxations till you really can't stretch
anymore. At this point, tense the muscles and keep them tensed for 30 seconds.
Hello, my name is Marc Trzysztofski and I would like to introduce you to some methods
of stretching. But first of all, let me tell you something about your neck. The position
of your head influences your body balance and the form of everything you do. Turn your
head to the side, block it, try turning it back against the resistance of your hand.
Relax, turn more, tense, hold the last tension for 30 seconds. Change sides, lean the head
towards the shoulder, block it, tense stretched muscles as if trying to straighten the head.
Relax, tense, hold the last tension for 30 seconds. Change sides and repeat the exercise.
When you begin your stretching exercises, you can start with stretching the neck and
go to your shoulders, loosen them up, you can use gymnastic apparatus.
Flex your wrist, hold your hand, tense, relax, tense, relax, tense, relax, tense, relax,
tense, relax, tense, and hold it for 30 seconds. Flex the wrist to the opposite direction,
tense, relax, tense, hold the last tension for 30 seconds. Starting with a wide grip,
bring the stick to the back, tense, bring the stick forward, narrow your grip, bring
the stick to the back and hold the last tension for 30 seconds. Change the grip, twist your
arms, tense, relax, tense, relax, tense, and hold the last tension for 30 seconds. Through
successive tensions and relaxations, crawl your hands towards each other. Hold the last
tension for 30 seconds. Switch hands and repeat the exercise.
of your legs as if trying to pinch the floor. Relax, stretch more, tense again, keep repeating
these actions until you can't stretch anymore. Then, hold the last tension for 30 seconds.
When your split seems perfect, point your toes up and you will probably notice that
the angle between legs is now less than 180 degrees. To stretch some more, lean forward
and pinch the floor. If you have weak knees, you can do it this way.
Pull your toes toward yourself, point your foot forward against resistance of your arms,
relax, pull, relax, tense again, and hold the last tension for 30 seconds. Repeat the
exercise with the other leg. Hamstring stretch, tense your hamstring, stretch, tense, relax,
stretch, tense, hold the last tension for 30 seconds. Tense muscles that bring your
thigh forward and straighten your knee. Relax, stretch, tense, hold the last tension for
30 seconds. Then, change sides.
Pinch the floor, tensing your legs, relax, lower your hips, tense again, hold the last
tension for 30 seconds. If you want your rear leg to stay flat on the ground, you can do
this exercise.
Side bends, move only to the side.
Relax, relax, tense, relax, tense, hold the last tension for 30 seconds. And then, change
sides.
qualities.
Lower back and hamstring stretch.
Grab your legs and tense your back as if trying to straighten up.
Relax, lean forward, tense, hold the last tension for 30 seconds.
You can also stretch your back and hamstring, leaning to one leg at a time.
Twist your trunk, tense, relax, twist again, relax, tense,
tense, hold the last tension for 30 seconds.
Change sides.
And here is another stretch for the same muscles.
Use tensions and relaxations to increase the stretch.
Hold the last tension for 30 seconds.
And change sides.
And here is another stretch for the same muscles.
Tense your abdomen as if trying to pull your hips forward.
Relax, tense, lower your hips, tense again, relax, hold your last tension for 30 seconds.
Your back may cramp doing this stretch.
To relax your back, you can do any of the following counter stretches.
This one, or either one of these two.
These are all the exercises you need to improve flexibility of your whole body.
For more information about using these exercises, please see the enclosed booklet.
And here is another stretch for the same muscles.
The exercises you have seen so far on this tape and the information from the enclosed booklet
will let you devise your own stretching program to suit your needs.
If you want more information about the theory behind this method and more tips about practical application of it,
please watch the following lecture.
Now I will talk about the importance of stretching.
Flexibility is one of the essential characteristics of an athlete.
Though anyone can benefit from having wide range of movement,
being supple and generally in control over one's body makes everyday life easier.
In the case of an athlete, the advantage of greater flexibility is obvious.
It allows for more economical performance and it also prevents injury.
In some disciplines of sport, flexibility makes competing possible.
Without great flexibility, there is no way of becoming a good gymnast.
Flexibility is best developed by stretching, which is an indispensable part of rational training routine.
It elongates muscles, tendons and tissues surrounding joints.
With a good stretching program, you should be able to utilize your current level of flexibility anytime without warming up.
By current level of flexibility, I mean the level you display in time of your training session
when you are able to reach maximum range of movement.
Stretching should be done before a workout as a part of warming up
and later at the end of the workout in so-called cool-down part.
Before workout, it should be done dynamically and in cool-down part as static stretching.
Stretching after workout facilitates recovery by improving circulation in stretched muscles,
thus helping to remove byproducts of muscular effort and relieves muscle spasm occurring in very tired muscles.
There is ample evidence connecting muscular tension and nervous tension.
Nervous tension is reflected by muscular tension, the inability to relax muscles,
and in turn increased muscular tension of skeletal muscles is accompanied by increased tension of smooth muscle fibers in internal organs.
Direct relation seems to exist between person's physical flexibility and mental flexibility,
otherwise known as lack of fixations.
Now let me explain how our method of stretching works and why it works.
There is couple of organs in a muscle and in spinal cord that we should affect in a proper way for stretching to be effective.
First, motor neuron alpha located in a spinal cord.
When activated, it causes contraction of muscle.
Next, proprioceptors.
These are structures inside a given organ, in this case a muscle that receives signals from this organ and send it to the spinal cord.
Two kinds of proprioceptors are of interest to us.
First, neuromuscular spinal.
It is a structure located inside of a muscle and reacting in case of stretching it.
Impulses from the spinal, when they get to the spinal cord, activate motor neuron alpha,
and this causes the muscle to contract and lower stimulation of the spinal.
Second proprioceptor that will be affected by stretching is so-called Golgi organ.
It is located in a tendon and reacts in case of excessive elongation or excessive contraction of a muscle.
The results of stimulating Golgi organ are just the opposite of the stimulation of neuromuscular spinal.
Impulses sent from Golgi organ inhibit function of motor neuron alpha and this causes relaxation of a muscle.
To sum it all up, the change of the length of a muscle activates neuromuscular spinal.
Impulses from the spinal travel to the spinal cord through synapse, activate motor neuron alpha,
and this causes a muscle to contract and return to its previous length.
Conscious excessive contraction of a muscle stimulates Golgi organ,
and this thanks to its inhibitory influence on motor neuron alpha causes relaxation
and makes possible to stretch the muscle.
This is used in reaching your maximum stretch through five-second lasting isometric tensions
followed by relaxation and subsequent increase of stretch.
After reaching maximum stretch, tense the muscles for about 30 seconds.
Tensing the muscles while it is fully stretched overrides pain signals, lower sensitivity of spindles,
prevents involuntary contractions, and what is most important, stimulates muscle fibers to grow longer.
The above seems to conform quite well with long established facts, namely that the muscle relaxed is nearly perfectly elastic,
which means that it will bounce back as soon as stretching force is removed, and that the muscle tense is less elastic.
It also seems to explain the need for early morning stretch.
Muscular tonus lowered while sleeping probably causes increase in sensitivity of neuromuscular spindles,
and this makes it difficult to do full range kicks or arm swings immediately after waking up.
So far, practical experience shows that a couple of isometric tensions lasting 30 seconds,
separated by periods of rest of about one minute length, performed once a day, is sufficient to bring steady fast progress.
Some people think that elongating muscles can diminish their strength.
Nothing is farther from the truth.
The method presented here relies actually on isometric tension of the muscle,
which is one of the fastest methods to develop strength.
True, people who use isometric methods of developing strength can't expect to perform very well
in events calling for dynamic actions, because these isometric exercises improve mostly static strength.
Since it takes only a couple of minutes a day of static stretching involving these isometric tensions
to give muscles a stimulus to grow longer, it is highly unlikely that you will become less dynamic.
It is not isometric tension or it is not isometric exercise that hurts dynamic movements.
It is doing it instead and at the expense of these movements.
Watching or participating in a sport calling for generating maximum force in a movement,
for example boxing, track and field events like jumping or shot put, racket sports, karate,
you might have noticed that before throwing a punch or hitting a ball, athletes instinctively make movement opposite
to the one that they attempt to do, knowing that this will increase its force.
A muscle works best if it can contract from a position where it is nearly maximally outstretched.
Ability of a muscle to contract is proportional to the length of muscle fibers.
Skeletal muscle fibers contract to 60% of their initial length.
So you can see that the longer your muscles are the more you can get out of them.
There is classification of disciplines of sport according to the character of strength required in them.
For example, static strength, dynamic and explosive.
Type of effort like aerobic or anaerobic and other important factors.
Similar classification can be made according to the kind and level of flexibility required in different sports.
There are three basic kinds of flexibility.
Static passive, static active and dynamic.
Static passive flexibility, that's the ability to do for example splits.
It's an ability to assume and maintain extended position by means of one's weight or using any kind of apparatus.
Static active flexibility is very similar to static passive except that you have to have enough strength
in the muscles opposing this that you are stretching to hold your stretched muscle in the stretched position.
It's developed the same way as static passive flexibility except that you have to also work on strength.
The dynamic flexibility is shown in dynamic movements.
For example, in kicking.
It actually rather shows one's flexibility than develops it.
It is not true that every sport has its own exclusive method of developing flexibility.
The method of stretching is the same for all.
It's just the kind and level of flexibility that is different in each sport and for each athlete.
For example, a gymnast needs all three kinds of flexibility and all of them at the highest level.
A tennis player will need great level of static flexibility.
Once you have achieved maximum mobility in the area that is of interest to you,
using general non-specific exercises presented here, there is no need for so-called special stretching.
For example, hurdles doing a headler stretch.
Explanation that this position resembles the one a headler assumes while passing over the hurdle is ridiculous.
There are quite a few exercises perfecting passing of the knee over the hurdle without forcibly twisting it.
If the hurdle has the ability to do side split and front split, all his flexibility needs are perfectly well taken care of.
And the technique of running the hurdles is better developed in motion, even in slow motion, but always in motion.
Three more things about stretching.
First, make sure that increased flexibility does not interfere with your performance.
For example, great flexibility of spine requires greater conscious effort in keeping it straight.
Some gymnasts are forced to wear a brace due to excessive development of flexibility in this area.
Second, the use of partners.
I strictly oppose it because it's dangerous and it's non-economical.
It's dangerous because partner never feels what you feel.
And it's non-economical because two persons are doing what one can do perfectly well.
And obviously a partner is wasting his time because he's neither resting nor stretching.
And the third thing, never do any ballistic stretches.
This can be applied with some effect only with children.
Actually, this method was discarded quite long ago by block coaches because of injuries, slow progress,
and other disadvantages like changes in bone structure and loose joints.
In children, ballistic stretches can affect ligaments and this causes above mentioned problems.
In adults, these stretches will cause muscle tears and loss of flexibility.
The progress that you will be making will not be very steady.
Some days will be better, some days worse.
Nobody can perform at the top of his or her ability all the time.
So if you have difficulty reaching the same level of flexibility from one training session to another,
don't force anything. Perhaps it's not your day, perhaps you haven't recovered from previous training session yet.
Now let's say something about warm-up.
Although my method of stretching gives you greater range of movement even without a warm-up,
abandoning it and trying to work out without a warm-up is wrong.
Warming up not only allows for top performance during one's class or competition, but also speeds up recovery after the training.
Muscles prepared for work do not gather as many byproducts of muscular effort as unprepared ones.
A proper warm-up should consist of no more than 30 minutes of general aerobic type of exercises performed with gradually increasing intensity
and toward the end of a warm-up resembling more and more actual techniques that are going to be used in main part of your training or in competition.
Warming up prepares all systems of the body for work and to perform at top efficiency.
It affects heart, blood vessels, muscles, joints, ligaments, it raises body temperature, facilitates this activity of enzymes regulating metabolism of skeletal muscles.
More blood with oxygen reaches muscles so more work can be done before fatigue sets in.
Reaction time is shorter, contraction time is shorter and strength of contraction improves.
Warm-up also prevents injuries because muscles and tendons are more elastic, joints are well-rubricated and reaction time is shorter and athlete is less prone to fatigue.
There is additional reason for using good warm-up before competing.
It helps to relieve pre-start tension. Athletes that are over-excited can be calmed down by proper warm-up
and athletes that become apathetic, even sleepy, can be packed up by properly chosen warm-up exercises.
Some readers ask me if stretching is safe. If done right, without bouncing and without use of partners, it's perhaps the safest exercise.
Others ask if a grown-up person can do splits. I don't see why not.
I am no adolescent and I started to stretch using this method that I was taught in Institute of Physical Education in Warsaw when I was well over 20 years old.
My friend Mark Bazylko is over 30 years old and started stretching about six months before we did this video.
He can do perfect front splits now. He did not demonstrate hanging side splits because of injuries he suffered earlier in his career as a competitive judoka.
His knees were badly damaged and this makes it difficult for him to do hanging side splits.
Somebody asked me how tendons can take this position, I mean hanging split.
Well, the same as muscles. Tendon is just a part of a muscle and it grows stronger together with the muscle.
When the muscle grows stronger due to exercises, so does the tendon. And in this stretching method, muscles are also getting stronger.
Can anybody do the hanging split? Yes. If you can only lift yourself off the ground using tension of stretched muscles while sitting in a split, you can do, of course, all the hanging splits.
By the way, hanging split is not the most difficult exercise in stretching.
It looks difficult, but doing a split while standing on hands, for example, in handstand requires greater flexibility.
And the most advanced level of development of flexibility is shown by gymnasts that can, starting from sitting position, place their hands on the floor, lift their hips and legs off the ground and slowly spread legs into the split position.
This requires that the stretched muscles are really long and relaxed.
There is no weight pulling them, so what you see is not just muscles stretched by the trunk pressing on them from the top, or in case of handstand split, weight of legs pulling the muscles.
The muscles here are completely relaxed and their antagonists have to be strong enough to lift them and hold in this position.
High kicks and splits. Some people ask what's the relation between these two. You do not have to make complete splits to be able to kick really high, nearly vertical kicks.
The key to high kicks without a warm-up is the early morning stretch and rational training methods.
You can't expect much of yourself if you are constantly over-trained and never fresh.
Thank you for your attention. I'm sure that the program presented here will help you improve your flexibility and at the same time will help you to improve your health and sport performance.
Thank you.
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