Hi,
I'm a 43 year year old male with a blue belt in tkd. I'm in fairly good shape but always had a problem with flexability. I now have extra time to work out and want to spend it wisely. The secrets of stretching video says to do a lot of running. Is an elliptical crosstrainer o.k.? (I really like it). 30 minutes 3 times a week good or is twice a week o.k? (3 miles) Also for weight training, are the Nautilus machines any good, such as the hip adductors and abductors, leg extensions, etc? The YMCA that I go to has brand new Nautilus equipment that I really like. Can I weight train right after the crosstrainer? With my current schedule I have 2 hours mon, wed, and fri in the afternoon and 1 hour in the mornings on tue and thur.(plus tkd class from 7-9 tues and thur evenings and downhill skiing from 4-9 wendsday nights). Also, I have a heavy bag at home that I like to kick on and a wheel leg stretcher, are those safe to use? Can I incorporate all this into a good stretching program? Any info will be appreciated.
Tim
tcollatz@hotmail.com
how best to spend time stretching
-
Nightshade
- Posts: 16
- Joined: Jan 16, 2004 01:36
Re
Okay, let's start from the top. As usual, I'm not Mr. Kurz, but hopefully I can help a bit.
The elliptical crosstrainer. In my opinion it's not as good as running, but it's certainly better than nothing. It's benefit is that it avoids the joint impact that running on a hard surface would have, but from my perspective that is not enough to overcome it's downside. The downside is that you have a preset motion for your feet, meaning you cannot lengthen your strides and it's more difficult to speed up the movement of your legs. Note more difficult, not impossible. I know the things can speed up, but without the pounding of the ground I've also found it more difficult to regulate my speed. But that's just personal experience. I suggest finding a good soft surface (a rubberized track at a local college or high school or your YMCA, perhaps) and running on that. Besides, the outside air is better for you. But again, even though actual running is better than the eliptical trainer, the elliptical trainer is definitely better than nothing.
As for the amount per week, definitely go with 3 times a week. Twice a week is enough to get some benefit, but if you can alternate your strength workouts (neuromuscular system) with your aerobic endurance workouts (vegetative system) and be working out six days a week, you're going to have better and faster results.
Weight training machines are, in a sense, more dangerous than free weights, not to mention a whole lot less effective. The danger comes from the fact that weight training machines are designed to be "safe," meaning that they have pulleys that help you out, they are built so that you can only lift the weight in one way, etc etc. Meaning that they don't build up your stabilizing muscles like free weights do. Meaning that you have less functional strength, it's easier to get a strength imbalance between muscle groups, leading to injuries. Just bad news altogether. Stay away from machines and use the freeweights, if they don't have freeweights then try to find a different gym; or work at calisthenics (trust me, you don't necessarily need weights to get strong). Oh, and stay the hell away from leg extensions. I've a friend who lost cartilege in his knees due to the damn things, and I myself had knee damage from them as well. It epitomizes the downsides of a machine: limited range of motion (ROM), highly isolationist exercises (selects one particular muscle and works it hard) which lead to you adding more weight faster than your joints can keep up leading to injuries, and really lousy benefits to actual functional strength. Hit the freeweights, mate.
Weight training right after aerobic training is not a good idea. I suggest waiting about twenty four hours between those two workouts, just because doing a high intensity strength workout right after a medium-high intensity aerobic workout is going to decrease gains made from both as well as increase time needed for recovery. Blech. Instead, alternate days.
I'm not sure what a wheel leg stretcher is, but it sounds scary. You don't really need any apparatus to design a good stretching program, instead focus on strength exercises for the muscles you're working on stretching (for legs, do squats, deadlifts, ab/adductor work, etc) so that they don't spasm on you while you're trying to stretch em out. That'll lead to faster flexibility gains.
I suggest reading Mr. Kurz's columns on stretching and training at http://www.stadion.com/column.html, they really offer a good basis for training right.
I hope all that helps, and as usual if I'm mistaken in anything please correct me.
-Shawn
The elliptical crosstrainer. In my opinion it's not as good as running, but it's certainly better than nothing. It's benefit is that it avoids the joint impact that running on a hard surface would have, but from my perspective that is not enough to overcome it's downside. The downside is that you have a preset motion for your feet, meaning you cannot lengthen your strides and it's more difficult to speed up the movement of your legs. Note more difficult, not impossible. I know the things can speed up, but without the pounding of the ground I've also found it more difficult to regulate my speed. But that's just personal experience. I suggest finding a good soft surface (a rubberized track at a local college or high school or your YMCA, perhaps) and running on that. Besides, the outside air is better for you. But again, even though actual running is better than the eliptical trainer, the elliptical trainer is definitely better than nothing.
As for the amount per week, definitely go with 3 times a week. Twice a week is enough to get some benefit, but if you can alternate your strength workouts (neuromuscular system) with your aerobic endurance workouts (vegetative system) and be working out six days a week, you're going to have better and faster results.
Weight training machines are, in a sense, more dangerous than free weights, not to mention a whole lot less effective. The danger comes from the fact that weight training machines are designed to be "safe," meaning that they have pulleys that help you out, they are built so that you can only lift the weight in one way, etc etc. Meaning that they don't build up your stabilizing muscles like free weights do. Meaning that you have less functional strength, it's easier to get a strength imbalance between muscle groups, leading to injuries. Just bad news altogether. Stay away from machines and use the freeweights, if they don't have freeweights then try to find a different gym; or work at calisthenics (trust me, you don't necessarily need weights to get strong). Oh, and stay the hell away from leg extensions. I've a friend who lost cartilege in his knees due to the damn things, and I myself had knee damage from them as well. It epitomizes the downsides of a machine: limited range of motion (ROM), highly isolationist exercises (selects one particular muscle and works it hard) which lead to you adding more weight faster than your joints can keep up leading to injuries, and really lousy benefits to actual functional strength. Hit the freeweights, mate.
Weight training right after aerobic training is not a good idea. I suggest waiting about twenty four hours between those two workouts, just because doing a high intensity strength workout right after a medium-high intensity aerobic workout is going to decrease gains made from both as well as increase time needed for recovery. Blech. Instead, alternate days.
I'm not sure what a wheel leg stretcher is, but it sounds scary. You don't really need any apparatus to design a good stretching program, instead focus on strength exercises for the muscles you're working on stretching (for legs, do squats, deadlifts, ab/adductor work, etc) so that they don't spasm on you while you're trying to stretch em out. That'll lead to faster flexibility gains.
I suggest reading Mr. Kurz's columns on stretching and training at http://www.stadion.com/column.html, they really offer a good basis for training right.
I hope all that helps, and as usual if I'm mistaken in anything please correct me.
-Shawn
-
Bugi
Glazer & the Buccaneers
Topics containing links to people's sites are unneeded and contribute nothing as a whole, much like topics containing content like this one. You could have PMed a moderator and asked this same question and received the same Dental Insurance response. Please do so in the future.
-
Taijibeginner
Pro-leg stretcher, Versaflex leg stretcher, steel leg etc
I'm just begining to relearn/practice Chen style taiji again (I've stopped doing it for the past 6 years now). Back when I was practicing and learning it, I got discouraged with my flexibility because I coudn't perfrom the "snake creeps downward posture" where you get really low on the ground and practically do a splitting routine. Anyway, I gave up on it (taiji) and took up sit-ups, push-ups and the 2 mile run.
I've gotten really interested in taking up Chen taiji again. My flexibility still hasn't changed unfortunately....I still can't do the snake creeps posture. Today, I was looking at ebay and other websites and noticed that they're selling leg stretching machines that are supposed to flex you up so that you can kick high and do splits. Has anyone ever used any of these machines? They're pretty expensive....there's one machine called the Versaflex that's being endorsed by someone called Superfoot Wallace. Is this machine as good as the ad says it is?
I've gotten really interested in taking up Chen taiji again. My flexibility still hasn't changed unfortunately....I still can't do the snake creeps posture. Today, I was looking at ebay and other websites and noticed that they're selling leg stretching machines that are supposed to flex you up so that you can kick high and do splits. Has anyone ever used any of these machines? They're pretty expensive....there's one machine called the Versaflex that's being endorsed by someone called Superfoot Wallace. Is this machine as good as the ad says it is?
versaflex
I would stay away from such machines... not only are you wastingmoney (and a lot of it!) But you would also be wasting time (perhaps even more precious?!)
Read tom Kurz articles on the stadion home page and his book stretching scientifically and all your questions will be answered. The move you mention does not require an extremely advanced level of flexibility, and I would say if you follow his method you should be able to achieve that move in a few months!
All the best in your training!
Invest your time and money wisely!
Read tom Kurz articles on the stadion home page and his book stretching scientifically and all your questions will be answered. The move you mention does not require an extremely advanced level of flexibility, and I would say if you follow his method you should be able to achieve that move in a few months!
All the best in your training!
Invest your time and money wisely!