Stretching…

To be honest it only seems like yesterday that I turned Thirty and had all the energy and fitness I could ask for, now nearly 20 years on and approaching 50 things are somewhat different these days.. Training is defiantly harder going and my flexibility is somewhat reduced and try as I might I just cant do the things I used to be able to do.  Like it or not once you hit 40 things are never going to be quite the same and as each year passes the plain truth is that you have to change your training regime to suit your bodies capabilities. The most important thing is to keep mobile and as I approach 50 that’s my main objective.. to stay fit yes, but also mobile enough to enable me to sustain training into older age. It’s all very well abusing your body when your young, your body does have the ability to ride injury to an extent and of course repairs a lot quicker, today, injuries take a hell of a lot longer to repair, so being mindful of your body and that it does take longer to repair itself when injured, if you bear this in mind it will help you to keep training for longer... Weight gain is also a problem for me as being slightly less active as well as being less intense in my training does nothing for the waist line, but again it about getting your training into perspective and what you want out of it, especially like me, love to train but also wants to leave behind the hassle of proving to others that you can still cut it… and somehow I think I’ve reached that stage where I don't give a monkeys about what anyone else feels about what training I do, I’m not interested in what’s the current training fad on Twitter or Facebook is, its more about what suits me and how much time I have available to put to it.

A couple of weeks ago Rob and I were talking and its clear that we’re both looking at training in a new way, although both feel fit, aspects of our training like stretching for example have fallen a bit by the wayside.. Rob said perhaps it would be a good idea to start looking at this subject and how to incorporate it into the class. Last week was the first introductory class for simple stretching as a part of a warm up, not specifically for the old boys of the class like me, but low intensity stuff suitable for everyone.. basically we need to warm up sufficiently, especially the muscles and ligaments before the main class work begins. We spent 20 – 30 minutes looking at static stretches and how best to work the stretch through a particular range of movement.. although only half an hour was spent on this, I felt that I wanted to continue for longer.. it was a work out in itself. I was drenched by the time we had finished and there was still all our other stuff to do yet.. low intensity certainly worked for me and really felt that I’d worked hard at it. After work I usually step into the garden and go through a basic stretching routine that certainly helps to shift the stresses and stains of the day. I think Robs plan is to extend the warm up and look at other ways to stretch, perhaps partner work and using stretching aids.. I do belive this is a worth while exercise to revisit stretching, as it is a very important part of a healthier life style.. feeling that burn when stretching is one of the best feelings there is…

I will add to this post as we progress through the coming weeks..

Cheers for now

Steve

 

Related post:

http://stevewildash.blogspot.com/2008/05/stretching-it-out.html

Useful links:

http://www.cmcrossroads.com/bradapp/docs/rec/stretching/stretching_4.html

http://people.bath.ac.uk/masrjb/Stretch/stretching_toc.html

http://www.runtheplanet.com/trainingracing/stretching/chap1-whathappens.asp