Upper Body Stretch for Martial Arts Fitness

Series Summary

Are you getting tired of doing the same old workouts over and over again? Do you find that you can’t keep your weekly routine going because you can’t stand the whiny voice of your Jazzercise instructor? Do you want to do exercise with some point to it other than moving your body around until it’s in pain and ready to shutdown? Well, you might consider looking into the world of martial arts.

Aside from a long tradition of effective fighting techniques, martial arts are intended to help you understand how your body works, as well as how to relate to and control it. In this free fitness and martial arts video series, learn a workout routine that incorporates elements of yoga, boxing, and jujitsu. This mixture of techniques and exercises will help keep you on your toes, mixing up your routine a little, as well as training you in some important self-defense techniques and martial arts moves. Perhaps in six months, you could be a lean, mean fighting machine. Perhaps you can get rid of that motor in the back of your Honda, if you know what I mean.

Video Transcript

"Hi! Before we go into some boxing with weights, I'd like to show you some stretches for your upper body to prepare you. You're going to take this arm and put your other arm here and pull it in. You get this nice stretch around the back of your shoulder and your arm. Then you're going to do the other side of course after. Just pull it in and hold it. With each stretch actually, just hold it until you feel the muscle has released and is warmed up. Then we're going to do another stretch where you take this arm straight up and you make an arrow going down the middle of your back, and take your other hand and pull it down. Then you do the other side, pull the other elbow, and just pull it down. Another great one for the chest and the back is to hug yourself and then clap in the back like that. That one feels really good. Then take your hands, if you can clasp them behind you like that and then lift up and let your chest just open. Now, let's do shoulder rolls forward. Take them up as high as you can and do full range of motion, and then go up and all the way back. This is really good for neck and upper back tension too. Okay, we're ready to do some boxing now."