I come from a family filled with PE teachers. Over the years there have been many changes made in the views of what is deemed to be safe practice. Bunny Hops anybody? ( not for me thanks ).

In a strange scenario, I had always done various types of pushups in training as my Instructor told me to. Fingertips, knuckles, Backs of the wrists etc. I fully accepted at that time, that these were necessary in developing body weapons. I noticed one of my students, was 'pretending' to do pushups on the knuckles one night, so I held him back at the end of the class and asked if there was a problem. He said that he had read somewhere that pushups like this could lead to osteoporosis. My answer was that they were to develop wrist strength and bone alignment, so that if he ever had to punch someone, he wouldn't break his wrist!

In the above scenario; was I right or wrong?

Do you perform exercises you are unsure of?

Have you ever seen potentially damaging exercises being utilized by an Instructor?

What exercises are banned in your club?

In the above scenario; was I right or wrong?
- I can't answer with 100% certainty, but I seriously doubt that they promote osteoporosis

Do you perform exercises you are unsure of?
- In the end, we are all working off of what our most recent dada tells us, so we all are unsure to a certain extent.

Have you ever seen potentially damaging exercises being utilized by an Instructor?
- Yes! Ballistic stretching is potentially bad for you. Things like stretch kicks can seriously harm you.

What exercises are banned in your club?
- ballistic stretching and partner stretching. both should only be done under the supervision of a fitness professional.

Its an interesting question....

In terms of martial arts practice in the grand scheme of things ive only scratched the surface with my own training and experiences.

However, working on Martial Edge has given me the fortune of speaking to some extra ordinary martial artists.

The best quote I ever got on the subject was always listen to your body.. sounds simple, but when I train if something doesnt feel right exercise wise I wont do it. Simple as that.

that's good advice.

As Dan mentions Ballistic streatching is potentially bad, however it should not be the EVIL that most people put on it, including some traininers.

I one doesn't take the time to properly learn how to balistically streatch then one shouldn't use them. There are benefits to balisitic streatching.

An important note is that unless you are in a constant state of flexability, then if you decide to kick high for self-defense you will be ballistic streching.

Dynamic stretching is as important as static stretching, but you must workinto it.

Yes, knuckle push-ups have nothing to do with the development of osteoporosis.

We're pretty careful about what exercises we use and we don't utilize the hurdler's stretch, regular sit-ups, and several other common exercises. We're fortunate in that one of our students was a professional gymnastics coach and she's full of great information about the do's and don't's of stretching-

pstarr wrote:


We're pretty careful about what exercises we use and we don't utilize the hurdler's stretch,
I remember when secondary education systems first dropped this stretch in their PE courses over here.
I've never had a problem doing it myself, but you always have to go with the safest common denominator, even if you, yourself have no problem with something.

mprowe wrote:
I one doesn't take the time to properly learn how to balistically streatch then one shouldn't use them. There are benefits to balisitic streatching.

Are there? Really?
Name one that can't be achieved through more safely via dynamic stretching.

An important note is that unless you are in a constant state of flexability, then if you decide to kick high for self-defense you will be ballistic streching

Only if you pass your flexibility threshold. Otherwise it's just dynamic stretching. Which, as has been pointed out before is quite easy to do, and maintain.

(and i'm not even going into why you'd want to kick high for self-defense)

First please tell me what the diffrence between dynamic stretching and balistic stretching. Last I was informed they were the same.

Static stretching is awesome and I do highly recommend its usage. Static stretch is, for those who may be on different terms then myself, stretching a muscle to an elongated position and holding that stretch for a certain amount of time. This is the most common type of stretching that most of us have been taught from a young age. This type of stretch is sometimes also called Active Stretching

Ballistic/also know as dynamic stretching is a bit more complex and consists of an athlete performing movements that replicate those inherent to their particular activities and sports. These movements, which include walking lunges and high knees, are better for sport-specific preparation. According to Sport Fitness Advisor, dynamic stretching:

“Uses speed of movement, momentum and active muscular effort to bring about a stretch . Unlike static stretching the end position is not held.”

However, I do believe you may be correct in fixing my terminology. The more I actually think about it current fitness trends now differentiate dynamic and ballistic stretching. Dynamic stays within the range of motions and ballistic goes beyond the range of motion.

As for kicking high in self defense, I might not choose to do so, but many of my TKD friends have no problems in thier minds about using head kicks in self-defense. It must be so because everytime they pracice self defense I see head kicks. (Sarcasam is intended)

mprowe wrote:
Static stretching is awesome and I do highly recommend its usage. Static stretch is, for those who may be on different terms then myself, stretching a muscle to an elongated position and holding that stretch for a certain amount of time. This is the most common type of stretching that most of us have been taught from a young age.

Agreed - static stretching is great. However, let's not fall into the trap of thinking that being good at static flexibility means you will be good at dynamic flexibility.ie kicking.

However, I do believe you may be correct in fixing my terminology. The more I actually think about it current fitness trends now differentiate dynamic and ballistic stretching. Dynamic stays within the range of motions and ballistic goes beyond the range of motion.

Yes. That is true. sorry for jumping on you earlier, but please please don't advocate ballistic stretching!! It's an injury waiting to happen.
To clarify:
Dynamic Stretching -
"involves moving parts of your body and gradually increasing reach, speed of movement, or both. It does not involve holding the stretched position."
"In dynamic stretching there are no bobbing, bouncing, or jerky movements and the movements are controlled even though they are quite fast"

Ballistic Stretching -
"Do not confuse dynamic stretching with ballistic stretching. In Ballistic stretching, you use the momentum of a fast moving body or a limb to forcibly and abruptly increase the range of motion. Ballistic movement cannot be adjusted or corrected once started. Ballistic or bounce stretching may result in immediate and as well as residual pain - [...] to the point of serious muscle damage"

(those quotes are direct from Thomas Kurtz' book "Stretching Scientifically" and he seems to know what he is talking about!)

His website: http://www.stadion.com/column.html

The funny things is that all of what is now called dynamic stretching was once called ballistic stretching.

when was that?
Kurtz book (pub. 1987) makes a clear distinction and quotes papers from 1961 that talk about the dangers of ballistic stretching. That would point to the terms being different for quite some time.

ANYWAY... what about some other banned exercises?