As a martial artist, I've always been an advocate of stretching, but now that I'm mixing styles in my new gym I'm noticing that I have to stretch a lot more and a lot more thoroughly. On some days I practice Kung Fu and on others I practice Muay Thai and then on others still I practice both. The different styles I practice utilize different muscle groups to execute their respective techniques and require me to stretch/develop different muscles for proper execution.
Make sure you are doing proper warm ups and stretches before and after each workout. I personally find that I get the best results when I warm up 15 - 20 minutes with light stretching mixed in before a session and preform some much harder stretches for 15 - 20 after a session while my muscles are still warm. Make sure you have a good talk about stretching with your teacher/master/trainer before you get too far into a new program. You definitely want to know what the most effective method of stretching for your respective activity is before you get started.
Make sure you are doing proper warm ups and stretches before and after each workout. I personally find that I get the best results when I warm up 15 - 20 minutes with light stretching mixed in before a session and preform some much harder stretches for 15 - 20 after a session while my muscles are still warm. Make sure you have a good talk about stretching with your teacher/master/trainer before you get too far into a new program. You definitely want to know what the most effective method of stretching for your respective activity is before you get started.
A good example of this is how I stretch before my Kung Fu classes vs. my Muay Thai classes. I spend a lot of time warming up my core muscles and upper legs, and I perform some light stretching of the tendons in the back of my knees and loosen my ankles, waist and shoulders up by performing rotational exercises. In Muay Thai I will work some shadow boxing techniques before I start class, and/or maybe jump some rope or sometimes as a group we'll do some boot camp like exercises for 5-10 minutes. This evenly warms your muscles up and while it doesn't loosen those tendons I typically focus on before Kung Fu, it gets me ready for the power driven kicks and punches that make up my Muay Thai arsenal of techniques.
As I previously stated, you just want to make sure you are stretching and warming up properly for whatever exercise you are performing. This will allow you to perform at maximum capacity and will prevent you from being injured as you escalate the difficulty of your activity.
