So I had a good time making these tutorials it's been fun and I had a
great response but the number one question I keep getting is how do you
stretch? How do you keep your flexibility so today we're going to be doing the
Scott Adkins stretching tutorial.
So this is how I normally do it. I'll start off with what they call the
Cossack stretch which is coming down here like this. You can either keep both
feet on the floor or this heel up, I tend to do both. Really important to
keep this foot flat on the floor because it increases the mobility of your ankle.
I've sprained this ankle so many times this one really hurts and you
can see that my heel is coming off the ground, that's because I've sprained that
ankle so many times. I've messed it up. Anyway, this just gets me nice and
loosened up and I've open up the groin area stretching out those ankles
really sitting back into it.Stretching out the back muscles as well.
This side stretch more through the hamstring. I'm just using this to
really loosen up the legs, a nice easy stretch to get going with.
A little bit of bouncing but not too much and this is the first thing I'll do.
This way keeping both feet flat on the floor.
Make sure the the knees come all the way out this way. You don't want it to
point here I don't want to be over the knee, this side I want it nice and
wide. Open it up like so, then I'll straighten my knees and just drop
into it like this. Pull my arms down low forwards and up on my tiptoes.
I can feel the stretch in my back. I'm just stretching out those hamstrings.
This is good for the back. I had a few problems with my back so always get
those back muscles stretched out as much as I can. Push that out wide in the groin
sit down into a deep stretch and come up a little bit and then sit down into it deep.
both feet flat on the floor
and just get the mobility into those hips really important to get mobility
into the hips because if you want to kick high obviously you need to be flexible.
From here I don't know what this stretch is called but I do this.
This is going back to the old Taekwondo days now really important with this, if you're
not as flexible as I am at the moment then you can have your knee out to the
front maybe but what's really important is that the foot is not in that sort of
position because that's putting a lot of pressure onto my knee joint. If it looks
like that then tuck all the way in you can sit on it that's a a less dangerous
position for the knee to sit only foot preferably won't be here because it's
gonna open up my hips more, nice and wide
but that foot needs to be in the correct position.
Now from here I'll stretch down to the front leg and it's important not to try
and force your head down to your knee because you think you're getting a
better stretch that way actually you're not.
Keep your head up and stretch for was trying get your chest down on your name
this is a better stretch than this. This is better see? It really
depends on how the hamstring feels. You can feel when you got a good stretch
again it's just a relaxed stretch nothing too crazy if I feel pain then
don't go any further you see that this leg my right leg is
less flexible than my left, it's always been that way since I was a kid I don't
know why but that's why I tend to do more kicks with my left leg than my right
just because it was more flexible so I tended to favor that leg.
Again here to the front, stretch to the middle
opening up this groin area this side stretch to the front to the
middle yeah full range of motion. One of the ones I like to do,I think it's
called the butterfly stretch. I bring in my feet all the way into my
groin I can push down on my knees like so just again open up the groin stretch
it down like that then you can put your feet forwards so your knees are at a 45
degree angle hold on to the toes and again stretch down don't bring the head
down like this keep your chest up I'm pulling on my toes just to get myself a
stretch and really feel that in my back I'm here again for another one of these
stretches and I'm just relaxing here I'm just chilling out.
It shouldn't be too painful I'm just freeing up the body what I tend
to do is do these stretches in front of the TV a lot of the time so now
I've got a pretty good stretch on and obviously I'm I'm not that flexible but
I'm okay see if you're struggling to get down to here that's fine just to be in
this position I'll go as deep as I can and then I will sit back with my toes
pointing up. You shouldn't be give you in this position I think it's better
to lean forwards because if you're upright I do think that's pressure on
your lower back and on the hips so if you're in the middle spits in this
position I think it's okay to lean forwards and then if you're gonna sit
down as you want you to have your toes pointing up
and I'm just gonna stretch.
stretch to the front
a little bit of a rock back and forwards I'm gonna keep getting deeper into the
stretch now and there's no secret to it, this is the way I stretch
I'm not the most flexible but I'm pretty good if I did it more often I'd be more
flexible. Something that I tend to do a lot is in the evening instead of lying
on the couch watch your TV I tend to get on a nice carpeted floor and I'll sit in
a position like this and I'll watch TV and then I'll just stretch out while I'm
doing that and you know that's it it's just about stretching the muscles on a
regular basis again stretch it all over the place and come up see how I'm doing
the middle splits I feel like I'm getting a little bit lower getting
closer to the van damme splits so there's a lot of people much more
flexible than me but as I say if I did this more often and I do depending on
the role the more often you do it the better you'll get
okay and that's it for me today this is
pretty much my maximum stretch at the moment because a bit a bit naughty not
been stretching as much as I should but it's not that bad it could be better but