18 easy stretching exercises for martial arts

Prepare the body for the maximum performace

Without any pretense of completeness, in this tutorial, we want to share a basic full-body soft stretching session ideal to be prepared for a 6 Dragons Kung Fu training session.

Note – This article has been asked by one of our Core Course practitioners on Patreon (see how to attend our home study classes here Learn Kung Fu online: a beginner-to-expert course).

How and when to execute the stretching exercises

A few important indications:

• This kind of practices are good for flexibility intermediates before starting an intense workout (after a small warm-up, read How to correctly perform warm-up)
• This kind of practices are also good for flexibility beginners (after a warm-up or after an entire training session, read Basic warm-up)
• Every kind of stretching exercise involves more than a single muscle / muscular groups (the subdivisions in this guide are purely organizational)
• To know how to properly perform the exercises we are going to describe refer to the article How to correctly perform stretching (safety, times, common errors, effectiveness, etc.)
• Depending on what we are going to do, let’s give more importance to the muscle groups involved in the activity we want to perform after
• …

A note by Master Kongling – Many of the exercises we are going to see are the ones that we will use in the first phases of the Core Course.

The exercises

Head, torso and neck:

• Exercise 1 – From standing, we gently let our head completely fall forward; without exerting any force we let it go forward and then slowly completely back (5-25 times); let’s avoid tension, intensity and / or forcing to arrive at the maximum extension
• Exercise 2 – From standing, we gently drop our head towards the right shoulder (if it’s not an effort, we can touch it) and without exerting any force we move it on the opposite shoulder and vice versa (5-25 times)
• Exercise 3 – From standing, we gently drop our head to the right and without exerting any force we rotate it at 360° to dead weight in one direction and then in the other (5-25 times per direction)
• Exercise 4 – From standing, let’s grab our right wrist with the left hand, let’s position them behind our nape and (bending the torso) let’s gently pull toward left (5-25 seconds to the right and the same, symmetrically, to the left)
• Exercise 5 – From standing, let’s put ourselves in military rest position (let’s grab our right wrist with the left hand behind the back), let’s slightly bend our neck to the left and let’s gently pull toward the ground with our left arm (5-25 seconds with the right and the same, symmetrically, with the left)

Shoulders, fingers, wrists and arms:

• Exercise 6 – From standing, let’s bend the torso forward, with the legs perfectly straight and the arms outstretched let’s try to touch the ground (10-25 seconds, initially, for those who are less flexible, it is enough to just touch the knees, the ankles or, better, the feet)
• Exercise 7 – From standing, we open our arms sideways, we straighten our elbows, we open the palm of our hands (without stretching the fingers), we bend the wrists so that our fingers become perpendicular to the ground (facing upward), then with both arms we push outwards (10-25 seconds, this way, even if bent, we stretch also our fingers)
• Exercise 8 – From standing, we stretch our arms upwards, we cross our fingers with the palm facing upwards, we look at our hands and push our straight legs downwards, our head downwards and our hands upwards and backward (10-25 seconds)
• Exercise 9 – From standing, we put our hands behind our back with the palms facing upward, we solidly grab our right 4 fingers (excluding the thumb) with the left hand, we straighten our arms, we push our shoulders backward and we move upward our arms following a curvilinear path (10-25 seconds, we can also bend our back forward if the practice does not cause enough tension)
• Exercise 10 – From standing (or in Ma bu stance, read The correct position of the rider (ma bu)), we bring our hands with the fist clenched facing upwards (read How to tighten the fist) to our flanks (at the height of the fluctuating ribs, the elbows are well-directed backward, not sideways); maintaining the legs still, we rotate (on the y-axis) torso and head to the left; done this, in a consecutive flow, we stretch the right arm as if to execute a punch (but without inertia); let’s alternate the elongation 10-50 times per side, symmetrically
• Exercise 11 – From standing, let’s position our left hand with the palm parallel to the ground and facing upward; with the right hand (from above), let’s grasp the 4 fingers of the left hand (thumb excluded, without covering the fold area that connects them with the rest of the hand); done this, let’s bends the fingers of the left hand toward our body and let’s straighten the elbow of the left arm forward (until it becomes parallel to the ground; let’s repeat the elongation, symmetrically, on the side opposite (5-25 seconds for each)

A note by Master Kongling – Exercise 11 is also at the base of a Chin Na technique.

Ankles, legs, knees, buttocks and toes:

• Exercise 12 – From standing, we place both palms on a wall, we do a step backward with the right leg, we straighten it, we bend the left leg and without lifting the soles of the feet, we stretch the right ankle (we repeat the elongation, symmetrically on the opposite side (for 10-25 seconds per side)
• Exercise 13 – From standing (with the feet aligned to our shoulders’ opening), without raising the soles of our feet, we crouch down in a natural way (with the feet directed outwards), we join our hands as for prying and we push the knees outwards with the elbows (10-25 seconds)
• Exercise 14 – From standing (or in Ma bu stance), we spread our legs apart, we bend our torso forward, we stretch our arms inside our legs grabbing the back of our ankles and we bend our head as if we want to look behind us (for 10-25 seconds)
• Exercise 15 – From standing, let’s spread a bit our left leg sideways, it must remain straight and touch the ground only with the heel (the foot’s direction must be external, perpendicular to the right one); then we lift the big toe of the left foot, we rotate the torso to the left and with both hands, we try to grab it (both legs must remain perfectly straight); let’s repeat the elongation, symmetrically, on the opposite side for 5-25 seconds
• Exercise 16 – We sit on our knees on the ground (with our heels under our buttocks), we comfortably open our knees and we keep our back straight (5-25 seconds, who is able can go backward by resting the hands, forearms or the head on the ground)
• Exercise 17 – From standing, we contract the fingers of the left foot, we lean them on the ground and we gently draw a circle (parallel to the ground) with the left knee, first in one direction and then in the other (symmetrically 5-25 times per foot and direction); the rest of the body follows / helps the movement
• Exercise 18 – From standing, let’s bend the left leg backward (trying to make the heel touch the corresponding buttock); to do this, we have to keep the balance on one foot, and grab the instep of the left foot with the left hand; in the meantime, let’s lean the right hand on our nape trying to stretch the elbow and the shoulder upward (10-25 seconds per leg)

Final notes

It is fundamental to stress that:

• Do not practice these without having read the how and when to execute the stretching exercises
• The practices we have seen are not directly related to things like power stretching, relaxation, regeneration, Qi Gong or other
• This type of stretching is not enough intense for 6 Dragons Kung Fu’s advanced practitioners
• This is only an introductory practice to Kung Fu flexibility (read Physical conditioning: how it works), useful even for wellness in daily life
• There are a lot of other exercises that are complementary and alternatives to these ones (with future tutorials we will add more specific practices)
• With these exercises, we cannot reach real fight flexibility (read Conditioning check for flexibility) but they are a fundamental step to obtain it
• …

In-depth courses

• Full body stretching exercises – A visual explanation of how to stretch every single element of the body
• Basic 6 Dragons Kung Fu exercises – A video course about the most important practices of 6 Dragons Kung Fu

In-depth articles

• 5 stretching exercises with a stick – How a stick can be effectively used for stretching
• Dynamic stretching: an exercise for the lower limbs – A dynamic practice to prepare the legs to kick

Questions

Reply in the comments and share your experience:

• What stretching do you do normally?

Author: Master Kongling

Founder of 6 Dragons Kung Fu.

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