This is the fourth installment of my column on training that appeared in September 1999 issue of TaeKwonDo Times. To read the previous installment click here. In this article you will learn about kinds of flexibility and the right role for splits in kicker's training. The ability to perform dynamic movements within a full range of motion in the joints.
High kicks are a display of dynamic flexibility.
The ability to assume and maintain extended positions using only the tension of the agonists and synergists while the antagonists are being stretched. One example is lifting the leg and keeping it high without any support. The principles of flexibility training are the same in all sports. Only the required level of a given kind of flexibility varies from sport to sport. Flexibility training is speed-specific because in the muscle there are two kinds of stretch receptors, one detecting the magnitude and speed of stretching, the other detecting magnitude only.