[twoblink]

Heaven forbid I post something useful on Sherdog, but I'm going to.

I've wrestled since I was in high school, and I've NEVER had an injury (knock on wood). I have no idea why flexibility is not on the top of everybody's list. Flexibility increases power, increases your ground game, increases your reach on the standup, and most importantly, it PREVENTS INJURIES.

So I thought I'd recommend something I do that I've never seen others do, and probably why I have decent handspeed and no injuries.

Before I even warm up, I do my "joints warmup". I go from head to toe.

I start by rotating my head, full circle, 5 circles clockwise, 5 counterclockwise, 5 clockwise, and 5 counterclockwise. What this does, is it "lubes" up your joints, and reduces stiffness.

I then move on down the body. Just remember, top to bottom, outside in.

I then stick my arms out like I'm flying, and rotate my wrists. Again, I do 5 clockwise, 5 counterclockwise, 5 clockwise, and 5 counterclockwise.

I'll give the list of the joints I rotate in order:

Neck, Wrist, Elbows, Shoulders (shoulder rolls with arms to the side),Shoulders (swinging the arms in circles forwards and backwards), Waist (hands on hip), Knees, Ankles, and at the end, I fold my hands in a praying position, extend my hands up so I'm extended as long as possible, and I rotate my whole upper body.

This gets the blood flowing, your body produces lubrication which lubes up the joints, for greater and smoother rotation, and it warms up the tendons, giving you more reach. It also reduces injuries.

Special Wrist exercise:

Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, and raise your arms so they are parallel to the ground in front of you, hands up, palms down.

Now without moving your arms, spread your fingers as wide as possible apart, and cock your wrist upwards as much as you can, so you should be staring at the back of your hand, fingers wide spread. Hold for 5 seconds. Now, make a fist, and cock your wrist downward as much as you can, again, without moving your arms. Hold for 5 seconds. Repeat a few times. You might feel "sore" on the tendon on the back of your hand if it's your first few times. This exercise strengthens the wrists, increases tendon flexibility in your wrists, prevents "basketball style finger jams", and will prevent wrist injuries on jabs and hooks.

Just remember, regardless of who your opponent is, INJURY is ALWAYS an opponent you face in the cage or in the ring, or even just in practice; but ESPECIALLY in practice.

All bullshit aside, it saddens me to see good athletes get injured, because they don't do good warmups. I will contribute to this forum what I can, as in the last 13 years, I've not had one single injury. Hope I can help you say the same thing.

Anything that I'm unclear on, please let me know!

[Eduardo R.]

I'm currently out of training with a neck injury from sparring and I see a lot of good tips here. Too many people neglect a good warm uo stretch (me for one) and end up paying for it later, thanks.

[scorcho]

Sounds pretty good.

[Ultrashogun]

I also recommend this, but how would it increase punching speed?

[twoblink]

Because your joints are loose and well oiled up. Wake up in the morning, and throw a punch. Compare it to throwing a punch after warmup. I'm sure even without someone timing it, you'll note the speed difference. Loose warm muscles, tendons, and well lubed joints, vs cold stiff ones.

Before warmup, things go "snap crackle pop" when I rotate my joints, after warmup, they are nice and smooth. I'm sure I'm not the freak here, it should be true for most people.

[Centaur]

Stretching is very, very important.
At my school we strecth 10-15 before the first class, then about 10 mins more every hour or so. I also do PNF stretching for about 20-30 mins 2x a week. For those of you not familiar with PNF it's also called inverse myoatic reflex stretching, or "resistance stretch"...basically like a Thai massage or having someone do yoga to you. When I first started I could barely do a cresent kick at chest height. After 2 months of PNF I could easily kick people taller than me in the head.

PNF.
1. Have a partner stretch your limb approx 20 secs.
2. Resist against the stretch causing an isometric contraction (limb should not move. Approx 20 secs.
2. Relax stretch (about 5 secs)
4. Have partner strecth limb again 20 -30 secs.

Take the time to try it, or search for a page that has a better description/example and you will see results.

Peace

[judogido]

Studies have shown that stretching before training does not prevent injury.

Injury prevention is best achieved by a proper and thorough warm-up, rather than the "cold stretching" that has in the past been the norm for most training sessions. Best to warm-up, then stretch the warm muscles, then exercise, then cool-down stretch.

I would also never roll the head in circles, rather only left to right, up & down, side to side.

[judogido]

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do...ageNo=0#bottom

4) Stretching will decrease injuries.

• There's no scientific evidence to suggest that stretching will reduce injuries.

• Stretching in a warm-up doesn't decrease risk of injury.

• Australian researchers in the British Medical Journal reported that the average person would need to stretch for as long as 23 years to prevent one injury.

... and again:
http://articles.health.msn.com/id/100101230/?GT1=6327


The 7 Biggest Muscle Myths
By: Scott Quill Photograph by: Darryl Estrine
Rodale

MYTH #5

Stretching prevents injuries. Maybe if you're a figure skater. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reviewed more than 350 studies and articles examining the relationship between stretching and injuries and concluded that stretching during a warmup has little effect on injury prevention. "Stretching increases flexibility, but most injuries occur within the normal range of motion," says Julie Gilchrist, M.D., one of the study's researchers. "Stretching and warming up have just gone together for decades. It's simply what's done, and it hasn't been approached through rigorous science."

The real expert says: Warming up is what prevents injury, by slowly increasing your bloodflow and giving your muscles a chance to prepare for the upcoming activity. To this end, Dr. Gilchrist suggests a thorough warmup, as well as conditioning for your particular sport. Of course, flexibility is a good thing. If you need to increase yours so it's in the normal range (touching your toes without bending your knees, for instance), do your stretching when your muscles are already warm.

[ValeTudoGuy]

Stretching is good practice for all sports

[Dedicado]

Warming up the body increases blood flow, this helps the stretching process.

I like to " lube up" my joints by rotating them around before I do high-impact warm ups, but I don't think this tretching them.

If I do a low impact warm, like swimming, then I don't rotate my joints.

" Swiiming for warm ups? " Yep. Swimming. Go a few hundred meters, get out, dry off, hit the gym immediately.