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Martial Artists' Testimony
BUY!
Have been studying Martial Arts for a good 25 years+...(TKD, Judo, Hapkido, Tai Chi, Bagua, Hsing I, Jujitsu...)
Never could do the splits nor "high kicks" until reading this book, understanding the physiology (as explained by Kurz)and then developing my own system based on this book. There are no quick and easy solutions out there. So if youre expecting the book to do it all for you...well, sorry...it's not going to happen... Like anything in life...YOU must do the work. But I can honestly say (I'm 37 yrs old) that my overall flexibility, my side and front splits! are completely the result of Kurzs' scientific lessons on stretching...
Before, I would stretch and stretch for hours on end with steadily DIMINISHING results...Now I do my 8-minute dynamic stretching routine in the morning...and can kick to Max High within the hour and then for the rest of the day! It's an old book and the layout is kinda funky...(hence the lack of 5 stars)...But the results I've obtained merit 10 STARS.

The best book on stretching.
I have read over a dozen books on stretching, and own several that I ound useful. Though if I had found this book early on I woould have saved a lot of time. If you want results use this book.

Another great learning tool
As an amateur contortionist I thought I knew everything about stretching, but I borrowed a friend's copy of Stretching Scientifically and my ego took a blow because I had never even heard of isometric stretching. Once I started applying it I instantly gained more flexibility. East bloc training wins again. I am so glad I came across this book.

A Valuable and Extremely Interesting Book
As the title implies, this is a scientific and somewhat technical book on stretching. It is also insightful, helpful, and fascinating. It will show you how to learn to stretch physically, and it may stretch your mind as well. This is not a book that shows a series of activity or sport specific stretches for say running, tennis, or golf. It explores what is known about stretching, what is good and bad about stretching.

how to do the splits - and not much else
After some nagging running injuries I purchased three books on stretching.

"Stretching scientifically" is not really a guide to injury prevention, or even flexibility training. It's more of a guide as to how to do splits. If you want to do splits, it might be worthwhile. If you're an athlete, trying to prevent injuries, or trying to increase performance, it's not much help at all. The inner cover is filled with13 pictures of readers who learned to do splits. The front cover is a picture of a split. So is the back cover.

Everything is the book ties into doing splits. There are many common and useful stretches missing. There is nothing for the calves, hips, nothing really for the quads, back (maybe a few of the split stretches will target some of these indirectly, but not as a primary goal.) When I'm injured, I research my injury on the web and try to figure out what stretches might have helped it. As a result, I've learned many interesting and useful stretches over the years - and NONE of them were in this book.

Plus, the book is loaded with techno speak. Even as an aerospace engineer trained in reading massive technical volumes my eyes still glazed over reading this book. A lot of technical references, but who cares (no way to read the cited articles, done just to impress)? There was a lot of information presented, some of which might be good, but it was hard to make sense of. I lacked a clear summary and goal set after reading the book. It's the authors job to know everything and present it in a clear, concise, organized, and usable form. What I got was a ton of raw data for me to organize.

There was nothing on which stretches prevent which injuries. Not much on how and when to stretch. Not anything on how to tell if you're overstretching. If you had a specific question it's even hard to find out what chapter to go to - the information is spread out all over. On the plus side, I liked the question and answer portion of the book at the end. I think he'd probably be an all right guy to deal with in person, one on one. However, the introduction to the chapter reads "Does this method really work?" At this point, I realized I couldn't summarize what his method really was.

I think this Mr. Kurz really does know what he's talking about - but is having a hard time communicating it in a simple and effective fashion. Again, it's for the kick boxer who wants to do splits - not for endurance athletes who want to minimize repetitive motion injuries.

At the same time I also purchased "Stretching Anatomy." A good solid book, lots of good stretches, some new to me, all my favorite stretches included. However, no tie in between the various stretches and different sport and injuries was made. I'd certainly want to know what stretches were good for a runner with Achilles problems, for example. You have to figure that out on your own. Still, there's lot of good general commentary on what each stretch achieves, and it's no big task to narrow it down to what could help you. Very visual, information is very easy to absorb and apply quickly, you can't be using it in 10 minutes, and isn't that what most of us want?

The last book I purchased was "Stretching" by Bob Anderson. Its is a pretty good book as well, equal but different from "Stretching Anatomy." The information was a little harder to digest, but still not bad. Perhaps a few more tidbits of information compared to "Stretching Anatomy." There's nice section showing a group of stretches that apply to a variety of sports, from running to bull riding! Also a section on massage tools. Lots of nice summaries, good organization, once I read it a few more times it might become my favorite stretching book.

So, overall, two yeas and one nay. Tossing "Stretching Scientifically," using "Stretching Anatomy" TODAY, going to re-read "Stretching" a few times. Still haven't found the perfect stretching book, but two are definitely worthwhile.