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Karate Tips Improving your flexibility The best way to improve your flexibility is by regularly using stretching exercises. Through stretching, you gradually condition your muscles to stretch to a new limit of extension. Its important for the stretching to be slow and consistent. If you overstretch and injure your muscle, you have to go back to a lower level of flexibility and start again. Easy does it is the Key!!! Aim for results over a period of months and not weeks. Its best to start your flexibility training with 10 minutes of Cardio Vascular work as the increased blood flow helps to improve the suppleness of the muscles, after this you can then move onto joint loosening exercises followed by static stretching exercises. The total workout should last no more than 20 minutes. A word of caution, don’t be tempted to overstretch, a mild pulling should be felt but it should not be too uncomfortable. Also don’t bounce when you stretch as this can tighten the muscles and could cause injury. Karate Stances Hachi-dachi Hachi-dachi, or "ready stance" is one of the natural posture stances of Shotokan. From hachi-dachi, you can move into any other stance. Kiba-dachi Kiba-dachi, or "horse-riding stance" is one of the basic training stances of Shotokan. It's name is derived from the fact that the stance looks as if the practioner is riding a horse. When in the stance, the feet are parallel to each other and about two shoulder widths apart. The knees are pushed out to the sides so that the legs are bowed. Grip the floor with your toes. You should feel pressure on the outer edges of your feet if your knees are pushing out properly. When looked at from the front, the stance should look as if the practioner is riding a horse. Since the stance is quite wide, it is very strong from the side. However, because the stance is not very long, it is very weak from the front and back. Zenkutsu-dachi Zenkutsu-dachi, or "Forward stance" is one of the fighting stances of Shotokan. From here, the practioner can move forward and back, turn and throw any number of techniques. When in the stance, the feet are parallel to each other and about one and a half shoulder widths apart. The stance is about two shoulder widths long from front to back. The front knee is bent such that the practioner cannot see the toes of that foot. The knee of the rear leg is locked out. The locking of the rear knee and flexing of the front allows the hips and trunk to squarely face the front. Keep the shoulders directly over the hips. Grip the floor with your toes. This stance is extremely strong from the front. In fact, when pushed from the front, the practitioner should not be able to be moved backward. |