What’s the difference between someone who falls and gets injured and the person who hurts himself when he barely moves?
I submit to you the #1 reason is tension in the mind/body.
Let me explain:
Back in 1991, a client of mine, Raul, invited me to his ranch to go horseback riding. He mounted the best horse in the stable and saddled me on the “horse from hell.”
Perhaps he didn’t like how hard I was working him out in the gym and wanted to teach me a lesson. Or he might have been sadistic in nature. Either way, I was an experienced rider of horses, so I didn’t know I was seated on an evil one.
Five minutes later, I knew.
The beast took off on a gallop when he was supposed to be merrily trotting along. I noticed a group of trees in the distant and ascertained that this Hades horse was going to run me into them and either try to decapitate me or paralyze me for life.
Being that I didn’t want either of those two visions, I elected to do something crazy and unthinkable – to most. I stood up in the saddle as the horse galloped along. Then I pulled my left foot from the stirrup, lifted that leg as high as the saddle, leaned slightly to the right and jumped away from the horse.
My jump was no ordinary jump.
Instead of trying to land on my feet, I jumped up and away from the horse, tucked into a ball, and rolled sideways across the top of my shoulders.
As soon as I hit the ground I continued to roll. I spun onto my feet and was effortlessly brought to my feet by centrifugal force.
I breathed a sigh of relief and wiped my brow. Then, from 70 yards away, Raul, who had watched this entire scene unfold, yelled, “Nice fall, dude.”
Now let me ask: Why was I able to escape from this horse without an injury?
Two reasons.
One, I knew how to do a breakfall from my martial arts training.
And two, when I executed the breakfall I was totally relaxed. Even in the midst of a potential life-threatening situation, I was calm.
If, however, on the other hand, I executed the same breakfall with tension, nervousness and fear, I am certain I would have gotten injured.
So knowing what to do isn’t enough.
You’ve got to reach a point in which you know what to do and can relax while doing it.
The same reason the Fure-cat didn’t get injured is the same reason cats don’t get injured when they fall out of a tall building. Cats just relax and go with the flow.
What does this have to do with flexibility and stretching?
A lot.
When most people, stretch instead of relaxing – they increase the tension. They breathe improperly. They furrow their brows. They tell themselves
that “it hurts.”
This is not the WAY to quickly double your flexibility. The proper WAY is laid out for you in my Combat Stretching program.
As you’re watching the DVDs and following along with me keep in mind the importance of deep breathing and physical relaxation. When you do
this you’ll not only double your flexibility – you’ll also relax to the point where injuring yourself is a rare occurrence.
Order Combat Stretching today and receive a copy of my mind-blowing DVD on Chinese Underground Sports Rejuvenation Secrets – a huge value-add only available to the next 99 people who order today.
Best,
Matt Furey