"How long does it take to do a handstand like that?"

Not surprisingly I suppose, I get asked that question quite often. How long does it take to get my body to willingly curl itself like so, balancing on my hands no less?

Admittedly, the answer depends on whether it's competition season, or for that matter, on what time of the year it is. Like anyone, I tend to be tighter in winter, looser in summer. And when I'm in the middle of a training season, my flexibility is more ready-to-go at all times, versus when I'm in a lower-key "maintenance" phase in my training.

But even so, something to keep in mind is, rarely am I able to just get up off the couch and assume The Scorpion (the pose that you see pictured at the top of this blog). Like everyone, I need to warm up, then systematically stretch, gradually building up to more intense positions, allowing my body to prepare itself safely for the contorsion. In the case of The Scorpion, I usually need a good 20 minutes of limbering movements to tackle it, and that's assuming I've already done some form of exercise (i.e. I just finished a round of cardio). If you saw the stretches I must start with, you'd probably be surprised! They look pretty much like the stretches we all commonly see at the gym. But I have evolved a method and approach that enables me to get the most out of them, and to then use them as foundations on which to then go further.

Why do I mention this? To illustrate the point that flexibility training is serious business -- for all of us. Even among those of us who are already very limber, we need to take the time out to work with our body, move it through its ranges, warm it up, flex, squeeze, breathe, relax, elongate.... and to do all of this within safe boundaries so as to avoid injury or other harm.

So make sure you're not shortchanging your own stretching. Even if your goal does not include touching your feet to your head, you want to take the time and effort to give your body the stretches it needs to keep its joints and muscles healthy!

Are you "that guy who stretches for 10 seconds and calls it a day"?

You know who you are. You've just put in a rigorous hour of cardio, chest presses and squats. Your body is taught and buff, but it's also tight and in need of stretching. So you sit down, reach for your toes, painfully slouching your shoulders. And all of ten seconds later (okay....20), you're sauntering back to the locker room.

Well hold your horses, cowboy! I have a news flash for you: if that's your idea of stretching, don't even bother! Do you even know what you're trying to accomplish with that stretch? Or is it simply something you were given by your coach or workout buddies, and you've been ending your workouts with it ever since? How much has your flexibility improved with it? Hmmm?

Now don't misunderstand. Indeed, I'm assuming your muscles are on the tight side. And I'm assuming this either gets in the way of your doing the activities you enjoy, or it's just outright uncomfortable. I'm also assuming that you know that you should stretch, and that this half-hearted post-workout move of yours is your attempt at helping yourself open those tight muscles (in this case, probably your hamstrings), or at least to prevent their worsening.

Here's the problem: Effective stretching requires two key things that are missing from the above scenario. You must safely lengthen the targeted muscle to the point that it's receiving that distinct "stretch sensation" (not pain!), and you must hold that lengthened position for a minimum of 20-30 seconds while trying to relax the muscle in question. Unfortunately, the classic sit-and-slouch move so prevalent in the gym.... will usually do more to generate tension and overflex the back (our backs already are overflexed just by virtue of all the sitting we do) than it will loosen muscles that could actually use the stretch, such as the hamstrings. To stretch correctly, you need to choose more effective, targeted positions, then allocate a tad more patience in practicing them than you've invested up until now.

So think of this the next time you've finished a workout and are about to slip back into your habitual nano-stretch. Just as you know you won't get good at running with just a minute spent on the treadmill....just as you know you won't see progress in your biceps by doing 2 bicep curls holding a Coke can, you won't accomplish much in the way of increased flexibility with an "if you blink you'll miss it" stretch attempt!

Smarmy TV ad

As if there aren't enough potential barriers to getting in one's workout! This bugs me almost every time I go to the gym, since unfortunately, the odds are good that this particular ad will air on their in-house TV network during the time I'm there. I'm assuming it's for some clinic that does some kind of hair removal. I say I'm assuming because I still don't know -- I have yet to pay attention long enough to find out. Probably safe to say I'm not in their target market. Anyway, what irks me is their pitch: a woman's voiceover says something like "Such-and-such percent of the human body is covered by hair." They then show a model, discretely nude (you know what I mean by this: shot from above, as non-threatening and assexual as possible, filmed through a filter so as to remove the "blatant nakedness" feel, yet retaining just enough glamour to grab your attention) and looking smugly up to the camera. The woman's voice-over continues: "Fortunately, we can fix that."

This never fails to startle me, mainly, because as she starts to say "Fortunately, we can....", my mind expects to hear, "...change that." But fix? Fix that? Huh. I didn't know that the presence of hair automatically warrants a fix. Call me old-fashioned, but I actually like having, oh, eyebrows, eyelashes, hair on the top of my head, and yes, even those fine, soft, blond hairs on my forearm. Sure, there are some choice topographical zones in which hair is best kept missing, but given that these are somewhat in the minority, percentage-wise, to the total surface area of skin, it seems a tad....oh I don't know, OCD?....to suggest that hair in of itself is a bad thing worthy of elimination, which to me is what happens when you use the word, "fix." Yes, I "get" that the writers are trying to create some kind of an urgency ("Oh my gosh, you have all this hair! Hurry!"), but I still think they went a bit overboard and thus missed the boat on this one.

And now, I can free up what clearly has been way too much brain real estate dedicated to analysing this one topic!

When stretching, the third time is the charm

You may not believe this, but even those of us who can put our foot behind our head will encounter post-workout body tightness -- you know the feeling, that sensation that hastens your breath and renders all sorts of grunts and facial contortions as you gingerly attempt to untangle stubbornly knotted muscles. For me, this especially happens after I've finished a run, the result of my hamstrings and calf muscles firing a bit too enthusiastically. To counter this effect (and to avoid feeling like Frankenstein the next morning), over the years I have developed a series of post-run stretches that elongate the back of my legs quite nicely. Even so, there's just no avoiding the plain fact that the first couple of stretches after the run will be a bit agonizing, as the muscles are still in "contracting" mode, where all I can do is try to calm my breathing and concentrate on relaxing. For this reason, I always start out with lighter, more cautious stretches, then progress gradually to the more extreme positions. And like magic, ten minutes later I feel great, having returned to my high-kicking full mobility.

Now, while high kicks may not be in the cards for you, you can still successfully apply this same principle to your stretching. All too often, people cut off their stretching session when their muscles haven't even begun to open up, and then wonder why they're not seeing any changes in their flexibility! The key is to perform each stretch a minimum of three times. The first time is essentially just a warm-up; you're introducing your muscle to the position, getting a feel for how tight it is, and beginning the process of breathing through the stretch. The second time around is when you start to improve upon the quality of the stretch, and increase the duration of it. You should start to see a little improvement from the first time you assumed the stretch, but you're still not finished. The THIRD time is when the real benefit kicks in. This is when you want to extend the stretch -- both time-wise and position-wise -- to the maximum point your body is capable of comfortably holding. THIS is how you make progress with your stretching, and this is how to best encourage a swift recovery from your workouts.

A little yoga....and then a smoking break???

What a strange thing to see. I went to the gym to do some running and strength training, and managed to stumble upon the same person -- a tall, blond young woman -- three times during the course of my visit. The first was in in the locker room; our lockers happened to be in close proximity. I noticed she was carrying a yoga mat, and with my brilliant powers of deduction (being a yoga teacher gives you all kinds of special talents), assumed she was probably on her way to one of the yoga classes there. Indeed she was, for about an hour later, I happened to glance inside the group fitness classroom as I walked past, and there she was, one of the throngs of mind-body revelers.

But the celebration of posture-meets-deep-breathing would not be long lived, for I then showered and changed, glanced at my watch and scurried to my car, but not without noticing the same tall, blond young yogette, standing on the sidewalk -- yes, that's the sidewalk right in front of the fitness center building, slouching, and casually smoking a cigarette as she chatted vacantly with a friend, her yoga mat still slung over her shoulder.

I'm going to hazard a guess that "Because I heard it gives you a good butt" is the more likely reason this one is enrolled in the class, versus "To improve my health and well-being."

Do you suppose her lungs appreciate irony?

How I Do It: The Splits

People are always asking, "How do you do that?" when they see me stretching or contorting. So I thought I'd offer a basic explanation on one of the more common stretches, the splits. Basically, it's a matter of being able to fuse two other stretches together:

The Dancer.....

.....and Seated Hand to Foot (or "Archer 2"):

Once you get comfortable doing these stretches independently, you then try to perform them (in essence) simultaneously, which voila! results in the splits -- your one leg is being extended 90 degrees behind you, your other leg 90 degrees in front of you. Easier said than done, but that's how it works!

Crossing your personal finish line....only no one is there!

The snowflakes were the size of cotton balls, and may as well have been comprised of the same considering how quickly the drifts were piling up. “It’s advised that you not leave the house if you don’t have to,” the news radio meteorologist sternly warned, as I gripped the not-so-power steering wheel of my 1994 Dodge Shadow and squinted through the microscopic peepholes the wheezing defroster was granting me. As if the wasteland of spun-out cars and trucks in ditches wasn’t already a good indicator that this wasn’t a good time to be commuting to work! But duty called, and having already slip-slided seven death-defying miles into my 20-mile trek to the office, I reluctantly gave up on any remnant fantasy of retreating back to the cave, brewing a cup of hazelnut tea, and spending the day nestled in a cocoon of warm, fuzzy novels and reruns of Remington Steele. Besides, I thought, I’m always up for a challenge, and fighting the perils of this late winter storm, while nerve-wracking, seemed to be unleashing my inner competitive athlete, replete with steely-eyed concentration and triumphant sighs upon successfully conquering each segment of blizzard-blistered road. I was going to prove, darn it, what a trooper I am! Let others wimp out and stay home, today I would show off my grit, unveil my unyielding occupational dedication (and hopefully garner some extra-credit brownie points for my devotion). The anticipated gratification upon making my arrival – the bragging rights and battle stories it would give me for days to come – became that morning’s carrot stick, enabling me to brave what otherwise would have been an extremely frightening and stressful drive for me.

Three and a half gluteal-gripping hours later, I exhaled exhaustively as I pulled into the parking lot. I’d made it, and in one piece, no less. Being it was now 10:30, I wondered how surprised my boss would be to see me, whether he had assumed, by now, that I had given up the goat and gone home (I had called and left a message early on that I was en route, but that was a long time ago; anything could have happened between then and now). I even had a flash moment of wonder….would my boss even himself have made it in to work? Granted, his commute wasn’t as long as mine, but on a day like this…. A person living within walking distance would surely think twice before leaving the safe sanctuary of their house.

Thus, I strode confidently and breathlessly into the office, ready to accept the ooh’s and ah’s in response to my victorious journey.

But then? Nothing. In fact, worse than nothing. As I walked the aisles and navigated the labyrinth to my desk, I quickly made a disturbing and surprising discovery: Everyone else was there! All my colleagues, all fellow employees….they’d all made it in. Worse, it seemed they had all done so substantially ahead of me. So naturally, no one was particularly impressed with my dramatic entrance. In fact, no one seemed to notice. As soon as I had my coat off and began work, it was business as usual. I think it took a good hour and a half before anyone even mentioned the weather, and even then, it was just a casual, “Kind of a yucky day out there, isn’t it?” Yucky? No no. A sloppy rain day in June, that’s yucky. This? This was cataclysmic, probably just one step below the second coming! What was the MATTER with these people? Did no one begin to appreciate the miracle each of us just experienced in steering our would-be deathmobiles to their safe destination? Annoyed but humbled, I shook off my disappointment and went to work.

Why do I bring this story up? Because the pursuit of fitness goals is often riddled with similar frustration. You struggle along, overcoming huge challenges, plowing through barriers, pulling out depths of effort and discipline you never knew you had (and more over, never dreamed you’d need just to lose a few pounds or add some muscle tone to your body!). Yet in spite of the cravings you faced down, in spite of the daily workouts you endured, in spite of surviving the veritable blizzard of junk food and societal enticements to break your resolve, in spite of your Herculean defeat of the “enemy” of bad habits and sedentary lifestyle, no one is at the finish line to cheer you on. Oh sure, there are exceptions. Perhaps you have a trusted loved one or friend cheering in your corner. But by and large, few will seem to realize, or even care, about your valiant success. In fact, except for the actual changes brought on by your new lifestyle or habits, little else will be different. Work is the same. Morning TV shows are the same. The weather is the same. Excited beyond description, you want to be able to share the joy with someone, to bask in the glow of the accomplishment. So when no one is there to chant “You did it!”, there can be an odd… letdown.

Don’t get me wrong, we don’t (hopefully we don’t, anyway) pursue healthy eating and exercise for the sake of validation from others – we do it because we have a goal that relates to our physical, mental, and/or spiritual health. And there’s no question, reaching that goal, or achieving a huge milestone in your fitness path, is where the reward is at. But still… there’s often a desire to reap at least SOME recognition for all your hard work. And when it doesn’t come….when the heavens don’t open up and angels down sing down on you…quite frankly, that can be quite a bummer! But the truth it, no one but you will ever know the valiant effort it took for you to reach your goal. Sure, people can sometimes see visual changes, such as weight loss, and at least have an idea that you’ve put in some hard work. But no one can truly know the nitty-gritty details of how much it took for you to say no to your former ways and pave a new lifestyle – even if just to tweak a program already in progress. And this is something you need to anticipate, so that when you DO hit your mark, when you do reach your goal, when you do win the prize….you are able to celebrate it on your own, without the unlikely (even if deserved!) accompanying ticker tape parade. File it under “Would be nice, but not necessary.”

So let’s remember this: we can make huge changes in ourselves, but at the end of the day, the only person who’s likely to notice – REALLY notice – is yourself. And that’s quite okay!

The Taming of the Stretch

(Er, make that The *Timing* of the Stretch -- as in, when to stretch and how often to stretch)

I suppose with a name like The Flexibility Coach, I figure I'd better deliver the goods in a hurry. So without further ado, here's a quick lowdown on the big debate regarding how best to time your stretches, what kind of stretching is most appropriate for the activity or goal of the moment, and how frequently you should stretch. If you're an athlete and you're looking to improve your performance, I hope you're already stretching, but if you're not, definitely pay attention!

A few years back, a study on the subject of stretching and athletic performance made headlines, but not because stretching was found to helpful (or harmful, for that matter). Rather, it suggested that stretching did not appear to have any particular effect on performance at all. Athletes that stretched before a running race seemed no better protected against injury than those who did not, and moreover, there was no measurable difference in how well they did in the race.

You can imagine the flurry that this caused in the community of exercise professionals! On one hand, you had stretching naysayers strutting triumphantly, cheering “Ah HAH! This is proof that stretching is pointless!” On the other hand, you had those of us strong proponents of proper stretching shaking our heads, knowing that the study did not prove any such thing.

The reason? Well for starters, stretching is more cumulative than instantaneous in its benefits; just as your endurance on race day is largely a culmination of your running training in the preceding weeks, so to is your muscle mobility linked to the amount and quality of your stretching in the weeks that lead up to an event. But the more notable flaw in the study is the fact that they chose *static* stretches prior to the athletic event. One of the first things you learn back in Physiology 101 is, when a muscle is stretched in a static manner (most yoga postures, for example), the very mechanisms that help promote flexibility – namely, the inhibition of the nerve impulses that normally cause a muscle to contract (which is what helps allow the muscle to relax and stretch)….. are the very mechanisms that work against athletic performance. When engaging in any high-intensity athletic activity, the purpose of the warm-up is to help ready the body for the activity. This means you want to increase blood flow and oxygen to the working muscles and joints, and it especially means you want to stimulate the muscles and muscle fibers, not to relax them. And while you also want to establish your full range of motion (read: your flexibility) so as to avoid injury, it’s crucial that you choose a method of stretching that will accomplish this task without negating those other pre-event preparations. Thus, dynamic stretches – high knee kicks, dynamic arm circles, even sun salutations -- are a much better choice prior to, say, a 10K race than, say, sitting down and doing prolonged hurdler's stretches for your hamstrings, which is more akin to the type of stretches used in that flawed study. Or, if you do engage in some such static stretches prior to an athletic activity -- I for one would not survive a race without some pretty intense calf stretch holds -- make sure you follow those stretches with some dynamic stretch movements to better stimulate your muscles and joints for the action ahead.

Still, by and large, you're probably best off leaving most of your static stretches for the end of the workout or race, when your body is warm and the stretch can now help relax and elongate muscles that have become tight and short, thus helping your muscles better recover from the activity. But indeed, your warm-up should still include some form of quality dynamic stretches to help loosen the body and refresh the range of motion to your joints and muscles.

Now, for the question of how often to stretch. Obviously, there are many factors that will affect a person’s frequency in stretching. Ideally, some form of stretching should be performed every day. On the extreme other end, a weekly stretching routine – but a good-quality one, of at least 30 minutes in duration and with properly executed stretch holds – can be of great benefit, if you’re consistent in following through with it and don't rush through the stretches (a huge mistake made by many). If at all possible, however, a happy medium is 2-3 times per week. If you’re already exercising in other capacities, this is relatively easy as you can simply tack on a few helpful stretches at the end of your workout. If you’re not regularly exercising, try to set aside at least 1-2 sessions of 10 to 15 minutes in duration. Just a handful of good quality stretches can make a huge difference!

You can see some good examples of stretches if you click on the photos link at my primary website, www.treeoffitness.com.

Greetings!

No, I'm not some kind of flexibility freak or stretching snob! I am simply passionate about all the benefits that stretching and other forms of exercise can provide the body and mind, and being a dancer, I also love exploring the many sculptural shapes the human body can assume, both as art and as the penultimate expression of good health and youthful mobility. I'm also of the firm belief that a flexible body begets a flexible mind; by working on stretching and breathing and relaxing, you help to condition your mind to adapt and be resilient to all of life's unexpected twists and turns.

But I'm also passionate about all sorts of other topics, from wine tasting to cooking, the Italian language, running and skiing (though ask me if I'm much good at any of those things.... the jury is still out on that one!). So while many of my posts will undoubtedly relate to fitness and flexibility -- my areas of professional expertise, you can be sure I'll be straying off topic on more than one occasion.

Thirdly, being one who has always kept a record of some sort -- my exercise and food logs have been a daily part of my life for over ten years, just for example -- I'm using this blog in part as an extension of my record-keeping, as I'm always working towards some goal or another, setting new ones, etc. This part, I imagine, won't be the most exciting aspect of my blog, but I promise to try sprinkling those details that make for interesting reading, like the Saturday night I sheepishly took a grocery run to avenge a craving for pastry, only to have my entire line at the checkout stall due to the need for a price check, and with everyone commenting on how good the treat I was buying looked. Oh Earth, swallow me now!

Finally, I'd like to offer some behind-the-scenes peeks at the life of a fitness professional. Like everyone, we have our challenges, from life's everyday hurdles to having to stay in shape despite the abundance of crave-inducing food around every corner. And while part of our choice of occupation has to do with our joy of exercise and healthful eating, it doesn't mean we don't have our bad days. But in our case, keeping a fit body isn't just a function of pride and self care, it's part of our job! Lots of great stories and insight to pass along.

With that in mind, I hope you enjoy reading what I have to say! Now if you'll excuse me, it's time for my daily split-ercise. Kidding! Actually I'm just going for a cup of coffee...

Ciao.