Don’t we all want to be this flexible in our Taekwondo practice?

Flexible Sarah

I hear

I am just not that flexible,

a lot…from myself! Actually, I hear this from a lot of people practicing tae kwon do. Especially those of us who are, how do I say this? Mature. I am here to encourage you to keep trying. You want your axe kick to look like this, right?

Terrific Axe Kick

It can be discouraging to want to round house kick the height of someone’s head and find that you can barely get your kick above the belt. But I say, don’t fret, your goal should be to get better, not jump to Jhoon Rhee flexibility tomorrow. Not only is that an unrealistic goal, it will just make you push yourself too hard which could mean you tear a muscle and then set yourself back in your practice.

Some people are just more flexible than others, everybody is different. You may never reach a perfect split. HOWEVER, that doesn’t mean you should not try.

A way to incorporate some stretching into your Taekwondo practice is to take 5 minutes after class and stretch. As your muscles are already warmed up, it is perfect time to give them a stretch. Since our classes are only 45 minutes, you can still be done in under an hour.