warm up/stretching

[Manny]

How many time do you spend doing the warm up/stretching in a regular class? For me 20 to 25 minutes is enough but sometimes (depending on the weather) it seems to me that this could be not enough.

Manny

 

[rlobrecht]

Our school spends about 10 minutes, which isn't enough for me (40 yo). I get to class 15-25 minutes early and warm up for 10-20 minutes if that, depending on how I feel.

 

[Cyriacus]

You warm up for as long as you want before class. The dojang is open from about an hour prior to classes, so you can get in as early as you like.
Class is spent training. Theres always someone handy to aid you in warming up and stretching prior to classes if you dont know how to do it yourself.

If you spend half the class warming up and stretching, how long do you expect to spend practicing?

 

[Chris Parker]

Not that I do TKD these days, but I read this last night, and it has me re-thinking our stretching/warm-up... I'm not going to get rid of it totally, but it's going to certainly change emphasis. Interesting article.

http://saveyourself.ca/articles/stretching.php

 

[Dirty Dog]

We warm up with what the article Chris posted would call "mobilizing", but don't stretch until the end of class. The stretching we do is to gain flexibility, and that's best done with muscles that are already well warmed up.

 

[andyjeffries]

Not that I do TKD these days, but I read this last night, and it has me re-thinking our stretching/warm-up... I'm not going to get rid of it totally, but it's going to certainly change emphasis. Interesting article.

http://saveyourself.ca/articles/stretching.php

Also, remember that stretching is useful for martial arts because our movements require a higher degree of flexibility than other sports/activities such as running.

From that article (although he goes on to say that we often injure ourselves through stretching):

Acrobats, gymnasts, yogis, contortionists, and martial artists have clearly been pushing the limits for centuries, sometimes achieving uncanny mobility. But these are highly motivated athletes with specific and exotic performance goals

 

[andyjeffries]

We spend about 20 minutes preparing at the start of class. The first 5 or so is in warming up the body (jogging, footwork, press-ups, etc) and then after that joint rotations and dynamic stretches. If we do stretching (CRAC) it's at the end of class for 5-10 minutes.

 

[Kaygee]

About 10 minutes, but this isn't enough for me so I usually stretch for about 15-20 minutes at home before I go to class.

 

[sfs982000]

We spend about 10-15 minutes at the beginning of class warming up but I get there early and stretch about 15 minutes prior to class.

 

[Aiseant]

Unfortunately, we cannot warm up before the class, as the dojang is already used for another class (and we don't have large facilities). I asked my group to come earlier anyway, and warm by doing the training before their class (it's a children lesson, not to harsh for us ) but they never do so (I think they don't want to be with kids, as they just left this stage...). But if you want, you can come and warm. Or do some laps in the stadium right newt to the dojang (strangely enough, no one does that too ...)

For a 90 min class, we warm up for about 15 min and then we're slowly getting harder and faster, and it's not warming up anymore
For a 120min class, we warm up for about 30-40 min, but we're usually using some 'game' activity with teams and work a little bit of dojang cohesion. And when half the school is trying to win against the other half, with well balanced teams ... it's not warming up anymore, it's war :bangahead:


We usually strech only at the end of class, for 5 minutes after crunches, push-up and this kind of stuff. Sometimes we're streching a little bit during class, but it's more to let time to instructors to put the right exercise in place when it asks for specific equipment (I discovered this little trick when I started to teach)