Preparing to go to the gym

[Caleb]

Hi,

I'm not in a very good shape, yet I've decided to take up Karate about 2 months ago, and I've been loving it.

The problem is, that I usually experience DOMS for 2-3 days after workout (this doesn't happen after EVERY workout, but it does happen when it is taxing). I've been doing some stretching exercises myself without any prior knowledge. Every morning, or every other morning I'd do static passive stretches for the wrists, and for the legs (for the legs I used to do some ballistic stretches of forcing my knee to the chest, standing with the legs together and bending down at the waist to touch the ground, and sitting with the legs spread out in a V position and pushing the trunk down with the hands pointing forward). After doing all these stretches (and holidng them for 20-30 secs), I'd do the side splint and the front split and hold them for 30 secs.

I've been doing this for a few months and I'm able to go pretty low on the side split, but after strating reading "Stretching Scientifically" I was shocked to find out that having such flexibility without strength might actually by injurious to my health.

I'm going to go to the gym, to improve my general strength and my flexibility, but I have no idea if I should prepare for it in any way, or I should just go and start doing some basic exercises with lighter weights? A friend of mine pointed me to http://www.defrancostraining.com/articl ... part1.html as a starter.

Thanks!

[CSta]

Read the articles posted on this site. Go to the main page and click on "Columns." With regard to getting in shape specifically for contact martial arts, Article 19 provides a framework. You will find that there is a large body of science behind "getting in shape" for a particular sport.