Thursday, November 06, 2008

To Stretch Or Not To Stretch

"The old presumption that holding a stretch for 20 to 30 seconds — known as static stretching — primes muscles for a workout is dead wrong. It actually weakens them..."


I was taught well in Boot Camp.  We warmed up with a series of weird-looking Yoga-like moves: heel and toe walks, squats, hops, lunges, all at a very low intensity level and all interspersed with short jogs (across a basketball court and back.)  No aggressive stretching, just light effort, get-the-muscles-moving-and-warm stuff.  

It worked and also provided lots of comic relief for the slackers watching from the window above.  I still use the routine before a race and it still provokes the occasional "what the hell's he doing" glance and a snicker or two.

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