Review: Dynamic Stretching – Mark Kovacs
Sat, Jan 15 2011 11:11
| martial arts, training, exercise, martial arts Altrincham, fitness, stretching
| Permalink
I'm not going to lie I HATE stretching, passionately. It always feels like a preamble designed to kill time and give instructors time to think up what they are actually going to do in a session. This misthinking has haunted me for years and the injuries and plasticine muscles I've accrued are testament to how much we all could do with a good stretch.
I've never liked static stretches (stop and hold for 30 seconds) they're boring and seem to do little. This book agrees with me in a far more informed and scientific way – they have their place but they neither prevent or more pertinently cause injury in most cases. A better way of moving is needed and this book aims to offer it. A large array of exercises in varying degrees of 'odd' fill this book, before being combined into many (overlapping) sports specific routines that can be built up into whole training sessions. There are probably 3 or 4 routines completely relevant to the martial artist the wrestling and gymnastics ones being the essential two in my opinion.
One criticism some people level at this book is the focus on the bottom half of the body. This makes little sense to me as the knees and ankles are the most injured joints I come across in people and the hips as well makes up the holy trinity of load bearing joints in the body. It seems reasonable they need the most protection as they take the most punishment and stress in sport, especially martial arts.
In all honesty you might feel a bit silly at first when you try some of these out, particularly in the gym but I say – don't worry. After one week of using the ideas and programs in this book I felt almost instant improvements to my flexibility and more importantly recovery times. I was actually training harder and easier than before. No bull, no buy in, I have no idea who Mark Kovacs is but he's assembled a nice little arsenal here for anyone to benefit from.
The archaic and unhelpful version of stretching most of us have acquired or adapted simply doesn't cut it and here I think I've found one of the few books to blow it out of the water. The science here isn't baffling nor is it a completely different way of doing things. For anyone who's done yoga many of these movements will feel familiar and for those willing to give them a shot the rewards are great.
So what is dynamic stretching? For me the critical difference is moving in a clearly defined way that recruits specific muscles and joints in a gentle and incremental stretch. Moving as you do each stretch rather than holding or forcing your body into positions it supports the natural range of each muscle and helps you push it on further at your own pace and need. Some of it might seem like it's taken from the Ministry of Silly Walks but in all honesty – do you really care if it works? I certainly don't and am convinced it does!
I've never liked static stretches (stop and hold for 30 seconds) they're boring and seem to do little. This book agrees with me in a far more informed and scientific way – they have their place but they neither prevent or more pertinently cause injury in most cases. A better way of moving is needed and this book aims to offer it. A large array of exercises in varying degrees of 'odd' fill this book, before being combined into many (overlapping) sports specific routines that can be built up into whole training sessions. There are probably 3 or 4 routines completely relevant to the martial artist the wrestling and gymnastics ones being the essential two in my opinion.
One criticism some people level at this book is the focus on the bottom half of the body. This makes little sense to me as the knees and ankles are the most injured joints I come across in people and the hips as well makes up the holy trinity of load bearing joints in the body. It seems reasonable they need the most protection as they take the most punishment and stress in sport, especially martial arts.
In all honesty you might feel a bit silly at first when you try some of these out, particularly in the gym but I say – don't worry. After one week of using the ideas and programs in this book I felt almost instant improvements to my flexibility and more importantly recovery times. I was actually training harder and easier than before. No bull, no buy in, I have no idea who Mark Kovacs is but he's assembled a nice little arsenal here for anyone to benefit from.
The archaic and unhelpful version of stretching most of us have acquired or adapted simply doesn't cut it and here I think I've found one of the few books to blow it out of the water. The science here isn't baffling nor is it a completely different way of doing things. For anyone who's done yoga many of these movements will feel familiar and for those willing to give them a shot the rewards are great.
So what is dynamic stretching? For me the critical difference is moving in a clearly defined way that recruits specific muscles and joints in a gentle and incremental stretch. Moving as you do each stretch rather than holding or forcing your body into positions it supports the natural range of each muscle and helps you push it on further at your own pace and need. Some of it might seem like it's taken from the Ministry of Silly Walks but in all honesty – do you really care if it works? I certainly don't and am convinced it does!
Happy stretching!