stretching
Greetings! Enjoy The Week In Review At TheMartialArtsReporter.com
This sure was another exciting week at The MartialArtsReporter.com!
And here it is “The Week In Review”.
I hope you enjoy your Sunday and find the time to take in all the video clips in their entirety.
Celebrating The Life Of Brandon Lee, Who Would Have Turned 45 Today
Get A Great Lower Body Stretching Workout In Only 3 Minutes!
Here’s An Upper Body Stretching Workout In Just 3 Minutes!
Boxing Insights From My Filipino-American Barber
Jeff Imada, The Genius Behind Great Action Movies
We Will Never Forget 9/11 American Hero And Judo Champion, Jeremy Glick
I hope you come back tomorrow for a new post.
Take care. Stay safe.
Here’s An Upper Body Stretching Workout In Just 3 Minutes!
Yesterday I introduced a really cool lower body stretching routine that takes only about 3 minutes.
Well, I didn’t want to wait too long to share with you today’s “Upper Body Stretching Workout”.
The benefits and implementation I described yesterday apply here just the same.
Our stretching today focuses on our arms, triceps, shoulders, chest, back and neck.
Even if we are missing our regular workout at the dojo, gym or whatever because of time constraints due to work, travel etc. we can always get these stretch routines in, right?! Even in front of the computer or TV, in a hotel room or even on the beach.
Without further ado: “Upper Body Stretching Workout”.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTLm0LmMwi4[/youtube]
Get A Great Lower Body Stretching Workout In Only 3 Minutes!
No matter what kind of martial art you practice or not, it’s pretty safe to say that appropriate stretching before AND after any workout can offer a number of benefits such as:
- Increase of range of motion
- Reduce the risk of injury
- Prevent sore muscles after your workout
I speak from personal experience. Maybe some of you out there can relate.
Very often we don’t take the time for proper warming up AND cooling down. It is soooo important, especially the older you, I mean, I get. Haha.
Years ago, we did a lot of ballistic stretching which I today would not favor for lower body stretching. I now prefer static stretching, whereas you stretch a muscle to the point of a tolerable discomfort or better warming sensation and then hold for a defined period like 30 seconds. Just don’t overdo it! Work with your body, not against it.
This has worked for me very well and I just wanted to pass it on to you.
To close today’s post, of course I will not leave you without some visuals:
I came across one of the most effective lower body stretching workouts that really takes only 3 minutes to do.
I highly recommend stretching before AND after your actual workout.
In my humble opinion, it doesn’t matter whether you are a martial artist or not, you will benefit from it. Give it a try and let me know how you like it.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_MVPJ3dX_8[/youtube]
Should Injured Martial Artists Still Work Out?
Good question.
It all depends on the injury and its severity.
Let me give you a very practical and current example:
It looks and feels like I irritated my right Achilles tendon on Tuesday. I will openly admit that there have been several short moments of frustration, but ‘Thank God’ these moments have been very few and very brief.
I am not alone with this type of nuissance, aka injury, which is helping me re-assess my warm-up, workout and nutrition routine.
Whenever there is an explosive movement involved your physical activity such lunging forward, sprinting etc. the risk of irritating your Achilles tendon can become an issue.
It does not apply to everyone the same way and to the same degree. It depends on age, overall physical fitness, how prone your tendons are to injury, how warmed up your body/tendons are, how well your body is supplied with the right nutrients, etc. etc.
Well, anyway, here I am talking about an issue that we tend not to give much attention to as long as we are injury-free, of course.
After immediately sustaining the injury I took 2 Ibuprofen to fight the inflammation and possible swelling and started elevated icing.
Of course, I have prescribed myself to rest and not putting any unnecessary weight or stress on the inflicted leg as well as applying Arnica-based creme.
“Rinse and repeat.” Meaning I will apply the same for at least 48 hours.
I am also taking natural supplements and enzymes to support to healing process.
After 36 hours I am already feeling both physically and mentally a lot better.
I have been through some injuries in the past that were much more painful and called for a longer recovery period than this one.
They were for example a dislocated right shoulder (my stronger arm) and 2 herniated cervical discs. OUCH!
Now finally back to my original question: “Should injured martial artists still work out?”.
In my own personal case, I have been working around the injury, such as working my back muscles while sitting and lying down and not putting any pressure on the injured leg.
I will still be working my arms, abs and upper body before putting in a stretching session.
While being less mobile during this period, I will reduce my calorie intake and will probably come out of all this even more ripped than I consider myself right now. Ha ha.
My glass is half full, because I am not dealing with a cracked rib, torn stomach muscle or some other debillitating injury that would really suck. Or even worse, damage to the fourth sacral nerve that put Bruce Lee out of commission for numerous months back in 1970.
If you are dealing with any of your own injury experiences, I would love to hear from you.
Even if you’re not, I welcome your comments.
I’m preparing my personal comeback and that reminds me of somebody with a gargantuan comeback in his own right:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4eaDLqY8S0[/youtube]
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Thanks for contacting me at Tiger@TheMartialArtsReporter.com
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