We include stretching in every class at Mississauga Taekwondo. Most students go through the motions but actually don’t stretch at all and pay a price. Why?

The human body is an adapting engine. It makes changes only based on some kind of change or stress. If you don’t challenge the body, it makes no changes. In fact, it ignores areas that are not used. As babies we are tremendously flexible. As soon as we stop moving around and using all our joints to the full range of motion, the body stops supporting them and you get less range of motion or more effort to achieve it. Why? To move, we need to extend and flex joints using muscles. Muscles are attached to our bones via ligament and tendons. These attachments are on either side of the joint. One set extends them, the other flexes them. However, we also have fascia-like a sausage wrapper-around the muscles. In addition, there are nerves. When we move, they all stretch with the muscle. For those will excellent flexibility, we only have to move the weight of the body part that is moved. For those with less flexibility, we have to use force to stretch the muscles, facia, nerves and tendons and also bear the weight of the body part being moved. Think of how much effort is to run 100 metres once carrying no extra weight, or with 50 Kgs around your waist.

We have often used the following demonstration. Someone stands on a force plate or scale and holds another person’s leg at the ankle and begins to lift it. Initially there is little change in the force, but as the limit of the base flexibility is reached, the force rises quickly until you get to a point where the person is actually lifted off the ground rather than stretched further.

The message is clear. Take stretching seriously. Warm up the joint area to be stretched then stretch and relax then repeat several times to let your body know you are serious.