Sunday, June 17, 2007

Stretch it out.

ALthough I don't need to be able to do the splits to be healthy and functional on a daily basis, I have found that the more I get back to the flexibility that I had during my developmental years the better I feel. Since I am a trainer and an athlete, not a scientist, I care more about what works than why it does.
As Pavel has said many times, "do you want to understand hydrodynamics or do you want to swim? Understanding is a delaying tactic."
I have been in the deep end of the pool all my life, I just want to be able to keep swimming. The more I stretch the better I feel. That's good enough for me now.

11 comments:

leslie said...

Excellent perspective.

BJ Bliffert said...

Judging by his singlet and his shoes, I'm guessing he's a weightlifter. A forner boss of mine, close to 300 pounds and former weightlifter had the flexiblity of a mutant.

I too am to the point were the "why" it works has become a little less important, the "just because it works" is where it's at.

Mark Reifkind said...

yes bj, he is a chinese olympic lifter, very high level.

Mark Reifkind said...

thanks leslie.

Jim Ryan said...

Great wisdom once again, Rif. While I may be guilty of wanting to understand how and why in various areas of life, when it comes to bodywork and athletics for sure I agree with you.

One of my energy body work teachers said to me years ago; "Americans are the only people who want to know how it works, why it works, where is the published scientific proof that it works before they find out for themselves IF it works"

To borrow from an old commercial, "Try it, You'll like it."

Mark Reifkind said...

aki,

this is why I chose the "race track" instead of the ' academic track' years ago. Academia needs so many peer reviewed, double blind studies repeated ad infinitum before they can make a decision as to the efficacy of a method or protocol. Coaches just need to know that it works and is repeatable.
academia has always been 5-10 years behind the curve on many things.
for instance, bodybuilders knew about the gycemic index and how to use it to their advantage 20 plus years before the mainstream fitness world 'discovered' it.
I like to peruse data from many different sources but the key componenet is 'does it work'?

Christine said...

Ahh to be flexible. I just picked up a used copies of both Pavel's stretching books, maybe there's hope for me.

Mark Reifkind said...

plenty of time. it just takes lots of stretching,lol.

Royce said...

Happy Fathers Day.

Geoff Neupert said...

"The more I stretch the better I feel. That's good enough for me now."

Hard to argue with that...Of course if anyone would try, it would be me...;-)

Aaron Friday said...

If I was good with Photoshop, I would do something with that second pic. Looks like he's submitting himself with a heel-hook.

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 Thought about going back to 5x5 for a hot second then my left shoulder  reminded me why I stopped doing them before. It doesn't seem to...