Resistance Stretching for Strength
Reported January 06, 2009
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — Most people think the more candles on your cake, the stiffer your body — but Dara Torres is proof age is just a number. At 41, she became the oldest woman to qualify for the Olympic swim team and went on to win her tenth medal. Torres credits a new stretching technique to helping her stay strong and limber.
Andrew Higier has been rock climbing for 10 years. He’s scaled mountains all over the world, but the sport he loves has tested his body.
“[I’ve had] everything from torn tissue to tendons to breaks,” Higier told Ivanhoe.
Higier used to turn to physical therapy, but now a few simple moves help him heal and prevent injuries. It’s called resistance stretching.
“My recovery time is so significantly less than it had been in the past,” Higier said.
Instead of holding a stretch, the technique works muscles as they’re lengthened, increasing flexibility and strength.
“It is a full body workout,” Cat Fitzgerald, Higier’s trainer and director of Hara Health in Coral Gables, Fla., told Ivanhoe.
Fitzgerald pushes and pulls Higier’s limbs as he contracts his muscles. Stretching a muscle takes twice the force as strengthening the same muscle.
Higier’s injuries have been cut in half since he started resistance stretching. Lee Kaplan, M.D., Chief of Sports Medicine at the University of Miami in Miami, Fla., says the technique may be especially helpful to aging adults.
“There is also limited range of motion as we age,” Dr. Kaplan told Ivanhoe. “We start to get tighter. Working in some of the elements of these types of programs may be very beneficial.”
Now, Higier never misses a warm-up.
“It’s actually part of my regular routine now before I climb,” he said.
Fitzgerald says while resistance stretching increases strength, it won’t make your muscles bigger. If you want to bulk up, stick to lifting weights. Each session typically costs $150 an hour. Fitzgerald recommends performing the stretches with a highly trained instructor. He trained as an apprentice for about 20 hours a week for five months.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Cat Fitzgerald
Director
Hara Health
Coral Gables, FL
[email protected]
http://www.harahealth.com
