Flexibility

Even though this may sound very futile, about half the time we spend in class is always spent stretching. This is not just to keep the muscles in order and ready for action but also to increase the high of kicks. There are many different ways we stretch in karate class, one type of stretching includes a black belt who leads all the others in what to do, and the other way is with a partner, this type is meant to only increase your kick height by pushing your legs apart or forcing you down until your head touches your feet. The main problem with stretching is that when people begin karate classes they don’t know their limitation, for your flexibility to increase you must always push yourself to the limit but not enough as to hurt your muscle. When white belts join, they see all the black belts with huge openings and flexibility and try to imitate, often enough they get hurt and don’t practice for almost two weeks. Stretching also brings another great characteristic to your muscles, they make your muscles stronger. Sometimes part of the stretching is to stay in a very hard position that makes your leg hurt or your back for one minute or two. In these situations your muscle slowly becomes stronger and more accustomed with each position that one latter had to use in sequences and exams. As boring as it may seem, karate is based on long and often painful positions to endure your muscles and increase your openings.