I'm currently a beginner in Thai Boxing. I've really noticed that I've got poor hip flexibility - which makes kicking very hard. What stretches/excercises can I do to improve my hip flexibility?
The rectus femoris together with the iliopsoas is the usual culprit when it comes to poor hip flexibility, because these muscles are often very stiff and require specific stretching. The function of the rectus femoris is to flex your hip & to extend your knee, so you can stretch it by extending your hip & flexing your knee. Here is an example of the stretching of both the rectus femoris and the iliopsoas ( hip flexors) note that by flexing your knee of the leg that's extended (the leg that your stretching) more the stretch becomes more specific for the rectus femoris http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/HipFlexors/Lunge.html These weak hip flexors inhibit your kicking ability .... lack of strength, height in the kick and kicking endurance. Exercising hip flexors is one of the most important conditioning exercise a martial artist can include in their training workout .... In my fav book "Stretching Scientifically" .... Kurz explains that if possible, you should do even your general strength exercises in the same movement pattern as your technique. For example, in a general hip flexor exercise for kickers, lying down on a bench, let your left leg hang below the bench (to put it through the same range of motion as when kicking "with the rear leg in a fighting stance), and as you raise your left leg simultaneously press your right leg to the back and extend your left arm to the back while moving your bent right arm forward into a guard position. This is the pattern of limb movements synchronization in the front, side, and roundhouse kicks. Thanks to spinal cord reflexes, these additional movements of the arms and the other leg increase the tension of muscles lifting the left leg. More stretching links HERE !
Follow the Thomas Kurz links and ignore the rest. Kurz will get you there more safely than the rest, in about half the time. You can get his Scientific Stretching, 4th edition, almost anywhere online. When you get it, read the whole thing, not just the exercises. When and how you use his methods is just as important as the method itself. The 4th edition has a huge section with additional questions and answers from years of people writing him about using earlier editions of his book.
