I can't touch my toes

[Tez3]

in the spirit of "If it looks stupid and it works, it isn't stupid"
Try this:
Lay flat on your back
Slide your butt up against the wall, your legs should be pointing straight up.
Relax and let gravity spread your legs apart.
OK, I see this won't help you touch your toes, but, more flexible is more flexible...
Oh, and it looks REALLY stupid...

My fist karate instructor taught us this one! You can add ankle weights as you progress, I find it an easy way to stretch rather than sat on your bum legs apart - not being able to get them as far apart as the others which makes you FEEL stupid lol!

 

[shihansmurf]

I disagree. I think it is UNDER-rated.

Flexibility, besides being one of five components of physical fitness, reduces the chances of injury.

I don't think I can agree more with you on the issue of flexibility being important to a martial artist, however, to use the touching your toes as the testing criteria bears no practical application to a fighter.Its a stunt that demonstrates a person's flexibility, nothing more. By itself it is limited.

If we use the ability to kick effectively, at various targets, with power and accuracy as the rubric then we will get more effective feedback on the status of our progression than if we focus on touching our toes. I can barely do so but I can deliver knockout power with my kicks at head level, would you consider that to be an effective degree of flexibility? On a similar note, I don't think I could break a stack of three bricks with a punch, but I have knocked out several opponents during my boxing days. Am I a hard puncher, or do I lack power because I don't practice tamishiwara?

Touching one's toes is a good indicator of flexibility, but I don't feel it should be elevated to the position of importance that it holds to a lot of folks.When we focus on the ability to perform stunts with our skills and attributes instead of solid applications as our measure we run the risk of loosing sight of the purpose of training. We miss the forest for the trees, so to speak.

Just my view
Mark

P.S. I hope that the above didn't come off as argumentative, I fired off the original post off the top of my head and was partly in humor. The topic got me thinking about all those little milestones we use as goals along the journey and how we have this unfortunate tendency to fixate on them.I wonder how much we loose by doing so. What are you thoughts?

 

[Tez3]

Not being able to touch your toes could be a problem depending on how far you can actually reach down? If you can only reach as far as the top of your thighs you are very stiff! Reaching down and not quite touching your toes is just annoying!

 

[kwaichang]

I wouldn't worry too much about that. Even when I played LaCross for years, I could never touch my toes and yet I lived and thrived.:ultracool

Just remember, very few, if any, self-defense situations call for you to touch your toes.

...i'm presuming my toes are still there.....

 

[zDom]

... What are you thoughts?

Well I agree that touching your toes is not the end-all and be-all of flexibility. And, as you've pointed out, many people are able to kick head high without being able to touch their toes.

And kicking head high IS (much!) more important than touching toes.

Being as flexible as possible is a GOOD thing, however — there are no drawbacks to flexibility that I know of; it's nice to be considerably more flexible than you need to be. And I think that having specific goals, specific benchmarks, for flexibility IS important.

The "sit and reach" test is a standard indicator of hamstring (and to some extent, lower back) flexibility.

For someone who is a good foot away from being able to touch their toes, touching their toes is nice goal. For someone who CAN touch their toes, they shouldn't be satisfied: they should work on laying their chest down on their legs.

Another useful benchmark for flexibility is, in Chinese splits, being able to touch your head to the floor. And, if you can do this, push it further by trying to lay your entire torso down against the floor.

I think milestones are important because they give us objective goals. The problem is that sometimes people mistake milestones for finishing lines! (for example, black belt rank!)

 

[kwaichang]

A word of advice: Bruce Lee said you never kick above the waist; of course he DID but was speaking about most students.

This is valuable especially as we get older and less flexible. You can effectively stop, hurt, maim, an attacker with a myriad of kicks at waist or below level.

 

[Touch Of Death]

A word of advice: Bruce Lee said you never kick above the waist; of course he DID but was speaking about most students.

This is valuable especially as we get older and less flexible. You can effectively stop, hurt, maim, an attacker with a myriad of kicks at waist or below level.

Obviously a flashy movie script calls for flashy kicks. I think he spoke for everyone when faced with actual combat. Why place yourself at risk?
Sean

 

[JadeDragon3]

I can't touch your toes either.

 

[bowser666]

Note : If any forum viewers are in prison , DO NOT ATTEMPT the toe touch stretch until you out from behind bars sry peeps i couldn't resist.

 

[shihansmurf]

Another useful benchmark for flexibility is, in Chinese splits, being able to touch your head to the floor. And, if you can do this, push it further by trying to lay your entire torso down against the floor.

Is this done starting form the side split and then lowering one's self to a seated position with the legs spread?If not, do you start from a seated position and splay the legs and then perform the touching the ground with your head part. I'm looking for a new stretch(or milestone,as it were) and this sound like it would be a god stretch to add to my routine, especially if it would keep pressure off my knees.

I think milestones are important because they give us objective goals. The problem is that sometimes people mistake milestones for finishing lines! (for example, black belt rank!)

Amen, and well said!

Mark

 

[7starmarc]

Note : If any forum viewers are in prison , DO NOT ATTEMPT the toe touch stretch until you out from behind bars sry peeps i couldn't resist.

More seriously, you should actually do your toe-touching on the floor, in a long sitting position, instead of while standing. Bending over from standing to touch your toes can put undue pressure on the discs, muscles, and connective tissues of your lower back. Not everyone will suffer from this, but many can injure themselves by the forces exerted across the back during a standing toe touch.

 

[qwksilver61]

My two cents...don't ever bounce..to stretch..and when you feel pain stop..easy does it...you will get there,believe me,just be patient.

 

[zDom]

More seriously, you should actually do your toe-touching on the floor, in a long sitting position, instead of while standing. Bending over from standing to touch your toes can put undue pressure on the discs, muscles, and connective tissues of your lower back. Not everyone will suffer from this, but many can injure themselves by the forces exerted across the back during a standing toe touch.

I agree. Sit and reach is much better than bending over trying to reach toes.

 

[Kwanjang]

My two cents...don't ever bounce..to stretch..and when you feel pain stop..easy does it...you will get there,believe me,just be patient.

GREAT advice!

 

[aqaz69]

Just make sure your knees are slightly bent and yes..don't bounce (bad for muscle tissue!). Look into mma workout routines to get in the best physical shape.

 

[zDom]

Just make sure your knees are slightly bent

Why? I've never heard this for stretching hamstrings (except to shift the stretch to other parts).

Explain.

In my experience, keeping knees bent leave the person stretching with a tight area making them vulnerable to injuries.

 

[wrc619]

In the Navy, we have to touch our toes seated as part of our physical readiness test. The method i use, which also goes well to my MA flexibility, is a dynamic warm up followed by a static stretch. Standing or walking, bring your heel to your buttocks alternating. Next, in the same manner, bring your knees up to about 90 degrees. The reps are up to your best judgement. I go by 10. After that, sit on the ground. Put one leg straight, and bring the sole of your other foot to your inner thigh. Lean forward over your bent foot for 10 seconds, relax, and then lean over your straight leg, and try to touch your toes. Finally, bring your left hand over your head as far as you can. Repeat the above often if it works.

 

[kaizasosei]

with a straight back and pulled in shoulders.