The Importance Of Stretching Exercises For Martial Arts

When you’re first beginning to train in martial arts, you probably have a lot of questions regarding your training, what you need to do, how you can develop and improve, and much more from there. You have probably already thought about improving your overall fitness, strength and stamina. But what about your flexibility? Just how important are stretching exercises for martial arts?

The quick and simple answer is that stretching exercises are very important. Stretching provides your body with numerous benefits, but most importantly, you will be improving on your flexibility both immediately and over the long haul. If you incorporate stretching into your training and keep on working on that, then over a period of time you will see great improvements in your flexibility, and this will help you make great improvements in your training and performance as well.

You need to look no further for an explanation of this then the name of Jujutsu itself. The actual and direct translation for Jujutsu is the flexible, or pliable, art or technique. So as you might imagine, stretching and flexibility are paramount in its usage, whether you are practicing Jujutsu, Brazilian Jujitsu, or any other form of martial arts outside of these two individual schools or styles of training.

Just think about yourself rolling and practicing submissions and defence in a BJJ class. With more flexibility, you can protect yourself in more ways, and do so while taking less damage. When you want to go on the offensive, you will be easily able to arrange your opponent in the right position where you can use your limbs to force a lock or submission when otherwise you wouldn’t have been able to.

It offers you direct and clear advantages and ways to improve. If you’re a fan of mixed martial arts and watch it at all on television, then you can see for yourself how flexibility can impact performance and competition. A fighter with superior flexibility, particularly on the ground, has a major advantage for both offensive and defensive techniques.

Of course, there is another valuable reason why stretching exercises are important for martial arts. Stretching before and after a training session will help you to avoid common injuries. You will be more “loose” and your muscles, joints and other body parts will be less likely to fall victim to accidental injuries simply from the motion and activity of training. So stretching will keep you healthy and in good form, so you can keep training, competing and improving.

As you can see, stretching and stretching exercises are actually very important. Martial arts requires a practitioner to have a great deal of flexibility in order to operate effectively and efficiently. People will always have different levels of flexibility, but if you diligently incorporate stretching and improve on your own, it will absolutely pay dividends in terms of your performance and your capabilities. Plus, you’ll be avoiding some nagging injuries along the way as well.