Weight Training affecting Karate

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Ever since July I've been weight training... i'm 15 btw. Basically, ever since then my legs have been a lot stiffer then they used to. I used to be almost able to do splits, and now i can barely even spread them apart to the point where i can place my elbows on the ground. This leg stiffening has affected my muashi-giri (round house kick) in shotokan karate; i cant lift it up as high, cuz when i do, it feels real stiff. My butterfly stretch has become real stiff to, my legs can barely move down to even stretch. My weight training has been done under my dads supervision, and he hasnt complained about my form or anything, so i dont really know what the problem is. If any1 can shed some light on this issue (what muscle has stiffened, how can i regain the flexibility) that would be great.

To add, no other body part has become stiff from weight training... its just the halmstrings and the muscles in the legs that are stretched while doing the butterfly stretch.
 
You are probably strengthening your quads too much compared to your hams. What does your routine look like?
 
You must give more information. Please fill out the following questionnaire:

1. What does your weight training consist of?
2. Are you least flexible when you're most sore? (this is normal)
3. Do you warmup/stretch before lifting and warmdown/stretch after lifting?
 
Ok, heres my routine:

Day 1
Squat
Cable Row
Barbell Bench Press
Shrugs
Triceps Pulldown
^Supersetted with Standing Barbell Bicep Curl

Day 3
Deadlift
Incline Barbell B-press
Renegade Row
Lat Pulldown
^Supersetted with Incline Dumbell Curl

Day 5 -repeat of Day 1

... and every week i change my day 3 routine with day 1. I do moderate stretching for like 5 minutes b4 starting my workout, but its mostly my thighs and arms i stretch, not much of hams. I dont think most of the problem is with the hamstring though.... it feels like its on the outside of my legs, around hip area maybe. As i said, it makes it difficult to do round house kicks because i cant lift my leg up as high. Another thing i found weird was that if i place one leg on a bar or surface thats maybe 3-4 feet in height and bend down to stretch towards the leg thats standing, i'd hear a cracking noise on the outside of the standing leg and i could do the roundhouse kick better...
 
The cracking you hear is just the sound of gas escaping from your tendons and other tissues as they constrict and rub together. It's nothing. You kick better afterwards because the sound is in indicator of stretching. Therefore, you kick better because you stretched, not because you heard the sound.

Try straight legged deadlifts and other dead variations for the hams.

Also, your routine is not befitting of a fighter. Shrugs? No need. Too much bicep ****. Too much isolation...too much of the same thing, and not enough of some things.

You can take care of most your pulling with oly lifts.

Work out 1 and workout two should be essentially the same things, as you are doing full body work.

Pull, push, squat.
 
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