Why Invest Your Time Warming-Up And Doing Stretching And Mobility Exercises? - Part 1A
© Clive Maxwell Prestt
Ping, aaah, ouch, oooooh, oh no! No! No! No! You've pulled a muscle (or worse, done your Achilles tendon in). Oh no, no training, I might not be able to run in the race I'm training for, and at best I won't do so well because I will have missed training. Blast! You could be left wondering, like Marlon Brando in 'On The Waterfront', "I could have been a contender. I could have been someone. I could have made something of myself. I could have been the greatest!" Well, I suppose I am still the greatest in the six inches between my ears, but ....
The content of this article applies to all sportsmen, not just runners so a big welcome to those who are reading one of my articles for the first time. I hope that many of you already do flexibility/mobility stretching exercises and will feel reinvigorated after reading this article. I could write reams but I have tried to extract the main elements, providing some theory and discussion of debatable points, and then the practical advice. I have had to give a disclaimer just to cover myself and Suite101.com legally. But as you can see from the following graphic, I speak from some experience - I am 44 year old now and here I am aged 14 in 1973!
Focus Question: Why is flexibility often neglected by sportsmen and women? What happens to your body's natural flexibility as you get older?
Flexibility, cardiovascular conditioning and resistance training are the three broad objectives to focus on as you maintain your body for the rigors and enjoyment of sports, but it has to be said that those who concentrate on cardio-respiratory fitness often neglect the importance of flexibility in a general training program. The 1987 memory of a guy I saw running a 10 000 metre race in London with a short stride, low knee lift, stiff back, hunched shoulders, and my coach saying to me "He's a typical road runner just doing the track race to help his club. He's no mobility. He doesn't do any stretching." He would have got more pleasure from his running had he taken time out every day to do some stretching exercises. It would have allowed him to exercise aerobically with greater ease. The man I remember so vividly must have been in his mid-thirties. The joints of the body have a natural tendency to lose mobility from adolescence onwards and normal forms of exercise become more difficult to perform, unless you exercise regularly. By putting all the main joints in your body through their full range of movement every day helps maintain their function.
