Effective Taekwondo Stretches

There is a mantra that every martial artist has been taught by their sabumnim (사범님) or master..

“You want to be flexible??”

..there is no secret..

“Hold the stretch for a very long time!”

There is no secret, there is no shortcut.. there is no exercise that will make you flexible quickly!

Flexibility training is a journey of consistency and willpower…

Just like building any habit!

So now let’s talk about the most important stretches to keep Taekwondo practitioners limber and performing techniques to their best abilities.

**Remember to warm up before you stretch!**

Side Splits

Open your legs as wide as you can (sideways), and try to keep your toes pointing up at the ceiling.

If you keep your hands close to your legs, you’ll find the position much more comfortable and also you’ll get a better stretch.

Make sure not to bend your knees and also to work on keeping your back straight.

Forward Splits

Open your legs as wide as you can (one leg forward and one leg backward).

Remember to keep both legs straight, focus on locking your knees.

Keep your upper body over your hips with good posture.

Keep your hips pointing forward.

Butterfly

Put your feet soles together, and bring your heels as close to your hips as you are able to.

Keep your back straight with good posture while leaning forward.

At the same time try to touch your knees on the ground.

To assist with this process, grab your ankles with your hands and apply pressure to your knees with your elbows.

Alternatively you may also put your hands on your knees and apply pressure from there.

Touch touches (Pike Stretch)

Sit on the ground with your legs fully extended and straight in front of you.

Keep your back straight with good posture, while leaning forward.

Try to touch your toes, or go beyond and touch the soles of your feet by reaching over your toes.

Remember to keep your knees straight!

Don’t bend your back to reach further, this will strain your lumbar muscles

Pigeon Stretch

Extend one leg straight out behind you, and sit down with the other leg bent in front of you.

Focus on keeping the hips pointing forward and your body straight with good posture positioned over the hips.

As you get more comfortable with the stretch, try to get your calf/shin part of the front leg parallel with your upper body. Placing your hands on the knee and ankle.

Try to get your hips as close to the ground as possible.

Single leg crouch

Bend both knees until you are fully crouching, from here extend one of your legs.

Focus on keeping the crouched leg’s foot sole flat on the ground.

Keep the toes pointing up on the extended leg, while keeping your back straight with good posture.

Hips should be as low as possible. Try not to let your knee extend further than your toes on the crouched leg.

For an extra challenge you can try to touch your toes.

Knee Rotations

Keeping your palms centered on the upper part of your kneecaps.

Bend your knees to make a circle, pushing toward your left side, then circling them around in front, to the right side, then straightening back up.

Do this as many times as necessary in both directions.

Hip Rotations

Don’t be fooled, this hoola hoop stretch is good for your hip flexors to prepare for Taekwondo techniques!

Place your hands on your hips, and push your hips to one side, then slowly to the front, then push the hips to the opposite side and finally push the hips back.

Try to exaggerate the extension as much as possible to get the best stretch.

Side Bend Stretch

Raise your arm straight up until it is pressed against the coinciding ear.

Bend your body so the arm ends up reach over your body, while remembering to keep your back straight with good posture.

Try not to bend forward or backward, or twist your body in any direction to ease the stretch.

The key point with all Taekwondo stretching exercises are to remind your joints of how far they can go..

The joint’s fully range of motion; or mobility..

YOUR mobility!

This is a major reason for many practitioners being drawn to the martial arts. The flexibility and mobility of Martial Artists is common knowledge.

So let’s double down on our stretching the next time we’re training Taekwondo.

Stretch well—Train hard.

As always, See you on the mats.👊