How to Improve Your Flexibility for Martial Arts

Practicing martial arts takes a lot of dedication and care to ensure that you are handling your body appropriately and in shape to master the specific moves in your martial arts of choice. Building flexibility is an essential part of being successful in any martial art. In addition to going to a martial arts school, you want to make sure that you are working on increasing your flexibility on your own. That way, you can always bring your best self to your martial arts classes each week. Some people feel that you have to be naturally flexible to succeed in martial arts, but you can do a lot to increase your flexibility and become more skilled.

The Benefits of Flexibility in Jiu-Jitsu

When you are at your martial arts gym learning Jiu-Jitsu, you want to make sure that you have the flexibility to safely and adequately manage any new moves you learn. Having a higher level of flexibility can make you much safer in martial arts because it decreases the likelihood of a strain or other injury. With increased flexibility, you will also be able to add more power to your moves and improve your ability to use jiu-jitsu to avoid and defeat your opponent effectively. Increasing flexibility will honestly enhance every element of your physical fitness, so you will be able to enjoy increased strength and balance, which will help you throughout your Jiu-Jitsu practice.

Common Injuries in Martial Arts

Many people just starting in martial arts worry about getting injured. Jiu-Jitsu can often lead to muscle-based injuries like strains and pulls. These injuries tend to be very painful but short-lived and quick to heal. When you understand the common injuries you might face, you can see how flexibility might help you feel better and be more successful and safe in your Jiu-Jitsu classes and competitions.

In general, injuries in martial arts tend to impact joints like shoulders, wrists, and knees or impact your neck or back. You may also experience damage to your tendons, ligaments, or even nerves, especially if you fail to take essential precautions. Increased flexibility can decrease your likelihood of experiencing this type of injury. Many injuries result from a competitor having too big an ego or being overly aggressive. Addressing and managing ego and aggression can help you keep down your odds of being injured.

Ballistic Stretching

One way that some people attempt to improve their flexibility is through ballistic stretching. This method of stretching allows you to move your muscles beyond their typical range of motion, but this kind of stretch tends to be sudden and sharp. While this can result in minor increases in flexibility, it can also potentially lead to serious injury. If you want to improve your flexibility and avoid injury, it is best to avoid this method of stretching. This way, you can make sure that your body is protected and that you are taking action to continue to do the martial arts that you love.

Dynamic Stretching

Dynamic stretching is a much safer method of improving flexibility that is also more effective than ballistic stretching. Rather than quickly jumping into a new position, dynamic stretching asks you to slowly move your body into new positions with an increased range of motion. The progress with this kind of stretching can be slow, but it will prevent injury and help you to be more comfortable generally. In dynamic stretching, you work to be slow and gentle, so your body has room to adjust to increased motion and decrease your odds of an injury. To properly participate in dynamic stretching, you need to avoid jerking and bouncing. This kind of exercise is excellent for improving flexibility and warming up before your BJJ martial arts class.

Active Stretching

In addition to dynamic stretching, you can also add active stretching to your flexibility routine to improve your flexibility for martial arts. Active stretching is when you use your muscles without assisting them to initiate and maintain a stretch. You can activate some muscles through this stretching while deactivating and relaxing others. Many yoga poses are a form of active stretching that can help you increase your flexibility. This slow method of stretching and activating muscles can give you long-term improvements to your flexibility.

Passive Stretching

Grabbing your ankle to stretch your lower leg behind your upper leg is a passive stretch for your thigh muscles. This is passive because you are assisting your leg muscles with the muscles of your arm. In passive stretching, you will also use your body to stretch your muscles, but you can help the active body part with your arm or another leg. This kind of stretching is especially effective when you are working to cool down after a martial arts session.

Isometric Stretching

Isometric stretching is an essential addition to your flexibility routine and can help you build flexibility for your Jiu-Jitsu class. With isometric stretching, you will enter a stretch and then take time to tense and relax your muscles. This method allows you to extend the effectiveness of the stretch and get a little more progress. You want to be careful with isometric stretching and pay attention so you do not overextend your muscles and cause a potential injury.

Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) stretching

Finally, you can add proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) stretching to your routine. PNF stretching is excellent because it can help you increase the effectiveness of your stretching and increase your flexibility more quickly. It essentially combines passive and isometric stretching to create a more effective stretch. In this method, you use isometric and passive stretching one after the other to increase how far you are stretching continually. Only use this stretching once a day per muscle group to avoid straining your muscles too much.

If you want complete martial arts and fitness, you need to make sure that you build up your flexibility. Having flexibility will help you be safer in your martial arts practice and your life generally. As you improve your flexibility, your martial arts skills start to grow as your performance improves.

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