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Stretching
Author: sensei
Prior to the past few years, most martial artists believed that stretching everyday improved athletic ability. This is still true, however, recent findings by sports medicine researchers show that even more important than higher kicks or lower stances is stretching to prevent and heal injuries.
If you keep muscles and ligaments stretched, not only just before the workout, but everyday, you greatly lessen the chances of the muscle strain that leads to more debilitating injuries.
Stretching also relieves tension on connecting tendons, caused by overdeveloped muscles, such as the quadraceps (thigh) muscles.
Sometimes large muscles, like the quadraceps, tighten as they build strength through exercise, pulling on their connecting tendons. This can cause painful tendonitis (inflammation) where the quadraceps tendons connect to bone. Keeping the quadraceps stretched helps prevent this kind of tendonitis.
Finally, daily stretching actually helps injured muscles and tendons heal faster, by gradually bringing them back to their normal length. When muscles or tendons are strained or sprained, they react protectively by shortening. This helps prevent further inJury.
Unfortunately, those muscles stay in their shortened condition until something is done to bring them back to a normal length. If you try to exercise, using unbalanced and contracted muscles or tendons, you only make the injury worse.
Stretching helps the injured areas bring back normal blood flow while taking pressure off adjoining connective tissue and joints.
Much of today's joint problems, especially knee injuries, can be avoided by preventing and treating overuse injuries and tissue strain with proper daily stretching.
Subliminal audio tapes are big news in the martial arts world. Here's a way to improve your performance with subtle mental conditioning, done with subliminal messages, hidden in soft sounds of music. However, until now, the use of subliminal messages to directly improve physical training has not been done.
Woodland Hills, California, Hapkido instructor Fariborz Azhakh uses a subliminal audio tape to teach people, through relaxation, to stretch, while improving the mind set toward stretching. Referred to Scientifically as subliminal suggestion, subliminal audio tapes instill permanent habits into the subconscious memory, while the conscious mind concentrates on other things.
Subliminal suggestions subtly program you to make minor additions or changes in your habits by repeating a message enough times to make thc subconscious mind believe it's true. Often hidden in soothing music or ocean sounds, subliminal messages don't confuse the learning processes by letting the conscious mind hear the message.
Subliminal messages on audio cassettes are an increasingly popular method of selfimprovement. For the consumer's safety, tape makers are required to let you know the exact message of the subliminal tape. Azhakh does this on side one of his stretching tape, repeating over and over a number of convincing positive messages about the benefits of stretching.
Each simple, one line sentence is spoken as if it comes from the listener's mouth. For instance, one message says, "I enjoy stretching." Another states, "I relax while stretching." After hearing the message enough times subliminally, it seems as if the words originate in your own mind.
Other messages in Azhakh's stretching tape include:
I stretch before and after a workout. I take my time while stretching.
I feel the desire to stretch.
I enjoy feeling stretched.
I become more flexible each time I stretch.
I concentrate on breathing slowly and naturally. My muscles feel relaxed and warm.
I have a strong sense of physical control.
My concentration and focusing ability is strong. I feel more energy when I stretch,
I feel improvement every time I stretch. I am flexible.
These are just a few of the messages geared toward making stretching an integral and enjoyable part of your workout. On side one, Azhakh clearly vocalizes each one line message, with soft music and ocean sounds accompanying in the background. As side one progresses, his voice gradually dims and the music and wave sounds take over. Side two contains the same messages, however, they are completely subliminal. All the conscious mind hears is the music and gentle ocean sounds.
Azhakh has produced three other subliminal martial arts tapes, making him a leader in this new age method of learning. His other positive reinforcement aids deal with meditation and training habits-all designed to change or improve your martial art mind set.
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