WhatWouldHulkDo
Level 8 Valued Member
Bit of background: I'm inflexible. Have been since puberty, I suppose. There's been various times in my life where I've taken up a regiment of regular static stretching, with mixed results - never really achieved what I would call flexibility. And it's never taken me long to get back to being very inflexible when I stop. Getting back into karate a few year ago has helped, but generally I can't even touch my toes unless I've been stretching pretty regularly for a week or two.
A month or so ago, with the help of this forum, I discovered that my DL form was causing me lower back pain, and decided that my lack of flexibility was a major contributor to my poor DL form. So, I decided to prioritize improving flexibility for a while. The end goal is really to injury-proof myself better.
I've read Flexible Steel and liked the concepts, so I took up doing the "escape your fighting stance" sequence, along with KB good mornings. Today marks the end of week 4 of doing the sequence 4x a week. Figured that's a good milestone to put down some thoughts about it.
First off, it's a time-consuming sequence. It takes me about 40 minutes to get through it all, so it doesn't leave room for a lot of other stuff when you're trying to keep your sessions to an hour.
Stuff that I notice:
I've heard people say that acquiring flexibility is a long journey, but once you have it, it's easier to maintain. Hopefully my interest in the acquiring part holds out long enough to find out.
Onwards.
A month or so ago, with the help of this forum, I discovered that my DL form was causing me lower back pain, and decided that my lack of flexibility was a major contributor to my poor DL form. So, I decided to prioritize improving flexibility for a while. The end goal is really to injury-proof myself better.
I've read Flexible Steel and liked the concepts, so I took up doing the "escape your fighting stance" sequence, along with KB good mornings. Today marks the end of week 4 of doing the sequence 4x a week. Figured that's a good milestone to put down some thoughts about it.
First off, it's a time-consuming sequence. It takes me about 40 minutes to get through it all, so it doesn't leave room for a lot of other stuff when you're trying to keep your sessions to an hour.
Stuff that I notice:
- I've certainly gotten better at the movements of the sequence.
- Initially I had a very hard time getting my hip (right side in particular) to the floor in the arm bar, that's coming pretty easy now.
- Initially the tactical frog sequence was really uncomfortable, and it completely wiped out my hips - on day one, it made me so wobbly that I didn't think I would make it through the goblet squats. I can get a lot deeper into the frog now, though I don't have an objective measurement. And my hips don't feel so tired afterwards.
- Have improved the depth in the kneeling lunch.
- My standing toe touch is as good as it's ever been - which is still not all that good. I can get my second knuckle to the ground fairly easily, and can get the first knuckle to the ground if I work at it for a bit.
- I think mission accomplished on improving my DL form - a little more hamstring flexibility is helping me get my knees out of the way, no back pain for the last couple weeks.
- Interestingly, doesn't feel like my seated toe touch has improved much.
- Haven't noticed a benefit in karate, but my training there has been spotty over the last month - really need things to get normal again before passing judgement.
- The goblet squat in my S&S warmup feels easier, particularly with the 40 - that use to stress my upper back a little, I don't feel that anymore. Not sure if that's due to mobility, or just getting stronger.
- I'm not injury-proof yet. I still appear to be capable of getting hurt.
I've heard people say that acquiring flexibility is a long journey, but once you have it, it's easier to maintain. Hopefully my interest in the acquiring part holds out long enough to find out.
Onwards.