Stretching for Taekwondo

Please forgive me if this has been covered, and thank you very much to all of the BBM crew for the hard work. I’ll try to keep my question short.

I’m a 47 year old male who recently began taking Taekwondo. TKD requires a great deal of mobility that is way, way beyond what I can do at this point, especially with my hips and one of my legs, in particular. Stretching is a key component of every class, and in order to perform the patterns that I’ll be learning, I’m going to have to gain a great deal of mobility.

I’ve read what I can find in this forum and across the BBM blog posts about stretching in general, and in the context of barbell training, but I’m a little unclear about how to approach it in my situation because I’m not sure I’m understanding the reasons behind the recommendations given.

Right now, I’m working through the Bridge 3.0 program, and I’m taking TKD classes on Tuesday and Thursdays as part of my GPP. I’ve noticed that since I began doing the stretching techniques that I’ve been shown in TKD class, I’m experiencing a fair amount of persistent pain in my lower back, and my rack pulls/deadlifts have been noticeably more difficult. I’ve also experienced several “back tweaks” over the last couple of weeks. My strength hasn’t dropped off, but I’m still fairly weak, so this isn’t a surprise to me.

I very much plan to continue barbell training using BBM templates in an effort to get stronger. I would very much also like to continue to study TKD.

So, my questions:
Is there any harm in my pursuing a fairly aggressive stretching regimen, in an effort to gain enough mobility in my hips and legs to perform the patterns correctly?
Is stretching an effective way to gain the mobility needed to perform these high kicks? If not, is there another method you’d recommend?
If mobility is gained through repeated exposure to specific patterns of movement, does that mean that I don’t necessarily have to stretch hard in order to gain mobility, as long as I do it consistently?

Thanks very much for any thoughts on this, and again for all of the great work you’re all doing.

  1. Probably not, as long as you aren’t doing it immediately prior to lifting.

  2. Each “bout” may provide some transient benefits, but you should also be practicing the desired movements frequently as well.

  3. I don’t really know what stretching “hard” means, but any persistent adaptation goal requires consistent work, so … sure.

Thanks very much for the help!