To improve flexibility in martial arts is to do stretching exercises. The myotatic reflex is what every muscle is subjected to this can be sudden or extreme change. The myotatic reflex will tighten and then attempt to shorten to shorten when a muscle lengthens beyond a certain point. During stretching exercises this the tension you feel.

The myotatic reflex prevents and in some cases strains and tears. Your muscles could overextend and tear easily if it wasn’t for the myotatic reflex. The downside to this is that you cannot fully use you body.

When you are stretching the myotatoc reflex your muscles will find a new limit but this must be slow and consistant. it is best to set stretching goals so if you overstretch and injure the muscle you will have to start over at a lower level.

There are three types of stretching:

Static - This is a controlled stretch. A position is held for ten to sixty seconds. This is to extend to feeling slight pain. During this exercise concentrate on relaxing target muscles and breathe deeply.

Dynamic - This is to move the muscle through full movement. This increases flexibility but should be done with caution. Focus on maintaining a correct dynamic stretch, smooth, even movements that do not shock the muscle. Examples of dynamic stretches are knee raises, leg raises, arm circles, and trunk circles.

Ballistic - This is a type of bouncing exercise and is moving pressure to stretch muscles. As this involves the myotatic reflex this can cause muscles to tense rather than relax. There is a high risk of injury to ballistic stretching.

As with any exercise it is best to increase blood supply to improve flexibility. Then move to joint loosening exercises followed by dynamic stretches to the get the muscles moving freely. If you are working only on flexibility, do static stretches next. Do some light static stretches at the end of every workout to relax and refresh your muscles.

Since time immemorial women have been considered an object of desire by males. It is all right till the thoughts remain confined deep down the brain, but can develop lots of complications when put in to action. It usually translates to stalking, sexual assault, and even rape in some instances. For the male it is simply a case of fulfilling his perverted desire, but it becomes a life shattering incidence for the woman which leaves a permanent scar for the rest of her life. To overcome and avoid such situations, you need to know some basic concepts and elements of womens self defense, so as to save yourself landing in such tricky situations..

Never Ignore Your Surroundings

Criminals do not come with any preconceived notions of their target. Unless they are able to chance upon their target in some remote location, they have to search for them. The most obvious location would be where he can find many people. This helps him in narrowing down to his most likely target. You need, therefore, to always be on the lookout for people taking unusual interest in you. Strangers you come across when you can recall to have met somewhere else, recently. People who look at you more closely, or for longer periods of time. If you feel that somebody is more interested in you than is normal, you should immediately be on the alert, especially if you are alone. It is not that hard to spot such a person as he will have to make more than one pass to accurately assess you, the victim. Such passes would also be necessary for him to try and guess his future mode of attack. Being constantly on alert would surely help you. Be on the look out for the same person to come across more than once, the car which passes you more than once and so on.

People: The Surprise Element

The best safeguard for you, a key concept of womens self defense, is people. Always try to be with people. Try to surround yourself with others. It does not matter that they may not be able to help you physically in case of an attack on you, but attackers are usually timid hearted and avoid company. Others could start shouting, call the police or do any number of activities which may hamper his plans. People are, therefore, the surprise element in womens self defense as the attacker can never predict what people would do in such a situation. The beauty is nobody can predict it for sure. He would most likely avoid attacking you when you are not alone. Your best bet is people. Stay with them, mingle with them and try to be amongst more people. Stay where people can see you. He would refrain doing anything nasty for fear of getting caught later. If he somehow catches you alone, try to reach the nearest house or building which is occupied or you find with people. Do any thing but reach people; homes, offices, complexes, anything where you can find light and people. Always try to use whatever objects you have readily available with you in your self defense. It is very likely to put the attacker on the defensive even if you are not able to cause bodily harm to him. He would also get slightly discouraged as he loses the element of surprise. Sometimes a return attack is totally unexpected and catches him completely by surprise. The most important attribute you need is the never-say-die attitude. You should never give up and be on the look out continuously for an opportunity. You do not know when a chance or stroke of luck presents you with the opportunity to save yourself from your attacker. The never-say-die attitude may push your body to perform tasks which you do not consider yourself usually capable of. There are many instances where women have been injured but have kept at it ultimately to be saved by passersby or strangers or even police.