I did self defence when I was little. It was strange, and I can't remember much (apart from being beaten up by my sister) ^_^ To be honest, Taekwondo is the one that appeals most. I'm thinking of taking it up soon, though I'll most likely die from my unhealthy diet and general unfitness :P

I can't believe you could teach yourselves these things though, definitly need a master :D

Yeah, but the problem is you can't even find a real authentic school that teaches Bajiquan

TKD is great if you are flexible.... otherwise the stretches will kill you.. I never stopped training in TKD, been training for about 14 years now, trust me, the stretches kill me everytime :)

Brilliant. Bad thing I'm not flexible :D I guess it's good to push yourself sometimes though!

Exactly what location are you talking about? o.o

But... Bajiquan isn't exactly a good starter. Some people take basic karate as a starter, and then build around that.

I know I have to stretch - It's important in any martial art... But I hate it immensely. lol

What you can do is "throw" your leg up but I suspect you can't control it. I'm somewhat the same... I can "throw" my leg up past head height quite easily but when it comes to transitioning from one kick to another or when throwing multiple kicks with the same leg I lose height on the subsequent kicks because I'm not as flexible as I'd like to be.

You don't nessesaraly "have" to stretch. But if you're going into really complicated kicks or manuvers that require you be flexible, it's a good idea, it can avoid injury so it's not totally without merit. But Tenchu has a point in that streaching dosen't automaticly make your limbs powerful.


It's simple anatomy. Streaching your muscles frequently makes them longer and springier. Meaning you can extend, twist, contract, or move with them better. Now there are millions of ways to do this. But the key to becoming flexible is time and practice.

Now just becouse you are flexible,it does not make your techniques perfect. And it does not give you the technique, mental power and raw physical strength that you have to combine with flexibility, that makes your techniques sharp. But Stretching, if you do it conventioanally, or if you just thow lots and lots of kicks and punches, over and over again. Is very important. Anyway you look at it.

I see.. well if you're happy with your ability then that's fine as your kicking will maintain you flexibility but it won't improve it. Personally I find high kicks are beautiful and while Asakura is correct, flexibility is but one factor in the equation, it's a factor that needs to be improved in my case nonetheless to achieve the results I want. Therefore for me stretching is important in training.

I understand what you mean.

In my case, however, some of my training involves various dodging maneuvers that require a significant amount of flexibility and control to perform. Therefore, it is essential for me to stretch.
Muay Thai fighters (like yourself) generally don't flip or roll during a fight, so it's somewhat understandable that you wouldn't emphasize stretching to the same degree.

Different martial arts may encourage stretching at different levels -- but recognition of it's importance exists, nonetheless. It provides many of benefits.

~ But that still doesn't change the fact that I hate doing it, of course.