<p>Agree! One can be as flexible as a chunk of sculpey and yet be very clumsy at the same time - just look at me. 
Thatās why I do the stupid stork stands on my bosu ball. Agree with MOfWC: for runners, strong glutes and core can do wonders. Instead of carrying my butt along on my runs, it really helps to make it carry the rest of me. :D</p>
<p>TRX and kettlebell with stair climbing between sets today. Did 20 minutes on the elliptical and followed that with 3.0 mile walk on the tread mill (itās still in the 20s todayāso I didnāt want to go outside).
Re stretching/flexibility: I donāt usually take time to stretch unless itās part of a class like yoga. When I work with my trainer, we always do some type of warm-up exercises before doing TRX or other weight training or kettle bells. As for flexibilityāI can put my palms on the floor and walk my hands out and keep my feet flat, but I could do that before I started working out. I canāt do the arm thing people have described.</p>
<p>Since Iāve got a bad ankle, I really make an effort to work on balance. My gym used to have a Bosu class, which was a good way to work on balance exercises and pretty challenging. The instructor left and no one has replaced her.</p>
<p>Gretchen Reynolds, the Times reporter, has written a lot about stretching ā well, sheās written the same thing several times. It does seem like dynamic stretching, warmups that work your muscles through movement before intense workouts, is better than static stretches. In fact, some studies suggest that static stretches worsen performance.</p>
<p><a href=āhttp://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/03/reasons-not-to-stretch/[/url]ā>http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/03/reasons-not-to-stretch/</a>
<a href=āhttp://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/the-right-reasons-to-stretch-before-exercise/[/url]ā>http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/the-right-reasons-to-stretch-before-exercise/</a>
<a href=āhttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/sports/playmagazine/112pewarm.html[/url]ā>http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/sports/playmagazine/112pewarm.html</a></p>
<p>My trainer wants me to do static stretching ā 30 seconds of each thing. Not as a warmup, but to increase flexibility.</p>
<p>I have always done some stretching. And lots of exercises for core and balance. Iām sure Iām more limber than if I did none of that.</p>
<p>All good things in moderation. To optimize results, you gotta add a mixture. Dynamic and static stretching. </p>
<p>In response to the dancer friend, sheās a good example of unbalance strength and flexibility. She may even permanently damaged her ligaments by overextending them.</p>
<p>Thanks for the thoughts about my shoes being too small. I think they probably are. They have stopped making the model of shoe I like, so I will have to see what I can find. I will look for the silicone toe protectors, too.</p>
<p>MaineLonghorn, this is what I used:</p>
<p>[Toe</a> Caps Injury Injury Recovery Recovery at Road Runner Sports](<a href=āhttp://www.roadrunnersports.com/rrs/products/PRO009/protec-athletics-toe-caps-4-pk/]Toeā>http://www.roadrunnersports.com/rrs/products/PRO009/protec-athletics-toe-caps-4-pk/)</p>
<p>You can also look up on running forums like RunningAhead what folks use when they have problems with their toes/shoes.</p>
<p>Another night where if I wasnāt streaking, I would have gone home straight for the beer! Crazy day at work and it was 36 and light rain- and dark. I had stuff for indoor and outdoor, but opted for some fresh air. It was lonely but nice out on the path. I opted for a low heart rate run, so I was very slow, but comfortable and dressed right. 4.2 done. I saw a group of 4 deer and my headlamp caught their eyes and made them glow. I stopped to enjoy it- 4 sets of glowing eyeballs in the dark, misty rain. Thatās why I run.</p>
<p>Iāll try this again and see if I can avoid deleting it before I hit the POST button:</p>
<p>Some of my favorite ab exercises after planks:</p>
<p>a) Stabiity ball planks. Same as regular planks, but with the elbows on a stability ball. Either stationary or, for intense burning abs, roll the elbows forward and side to side (stir the pot).</p>
<p>[Swiss</a> Ball Stir the Pot - YouTube](<a href=āSwiss Ball Stir the Pot - YouTubeā>Swiss Ball Stir the Pot - YouTube)</p>
<p>b) TRX planks. I love this variation. The instability of the feet moving just a bit fires the abs like crazy.</p>
<p>[Mastering</a> The TRX Plank: TRX TV November Week 1 Movement - YouTube](<a href=āMastering The TRX Plank: TRX TV November Week 1 Movement - YouTubeā>Mastering The TRX Plank: TRX TV November Week 1 Movement - YouTube)</p>
<p>c) Body saws. Similar to the TRX plank, this one is a regular plank position, but with the feet on ValSlides (or towels on a slick wood floor). Rock backwards and forwards. Abs on fireā¦</p>
<p>[Valslide</a> Body Saw - YouTube](<a href=āValslide Body Saw - YouTubeā>Valslide Body Saw - YouTube)</p>
<p>d) Walkouts. Start from a push up position. Walk the hands forward (or the legs backwards) to an extended position. Hold for a moment and return. The farther you extend, the more the abs burn.</p>
<p>[Ab</a> Walk-Outs - YouTube](<a href=āAb Walk-Outs - YouTubeā>Ab Walk-Outs - YouTube)</p>
<p>e) ValSlide Painful Pushaway. Same as walkout, but with hands sliding on ValSlides (or WalMart furniture movers). Yikes, this is hard. Maybe just move a couple inches at first. More extension is really, really hard.</p>
<p>[Valslide</a> Push Aways on Feet - YouTube](<a href=āValslide Push Aways on Feet - YouTubeā>Valslide Push Aways on Feet - YouTube)</p>
<p>f) Ab Wheel rollouts. Similar to the walkouts, but extending both hands at the same time. I like the version from the knees. Be careful. Itās easy to extend further than you can pull back. I roll towards a wall, which stops the wheel. Move further from the wall as you progress and can handle it.</p>
<p>[Ab</a> Wheel Rollout - YouTube](<a href=āAb Wheel Rollout - YouTubeā>Ab Wheel Rollout - YouTube)</p>
<p>g) TRX fallouts. Same thing, but with hands in the TRX instead of on an Ab Wheel. From the knees is easier. From a standing position is harder.</p>
<p>[TRX</a> Anti-Extension Fall Outs - YouTube](<a href=āTRX Anti-Extension Fall Outs - YouTubeā>TRX Anti-Extension Fall Outs - YouTube)</p>
<p>h) Stability ball deadbug. Ouch. This one can be rough on the lower back. I had to start with a towel folded up under my lower back to press against. Now, it just sets my abs on fire. The harder you press into the ball, the more it fires the abs.</p>
<p>[Stability</a> Ball Dead Bug - YouTube](<a href=āStability Ball Dead Bug - YouTubeā>Stability Ball Dead Bug - YouTube)</p>
<p>Thanks, idad.</p>
<p>Thanks, iDad. I was hoping youād include, as you did, an exercise showing Valslides because even though I havenāt purchased myself a set (or furniture movers), they seem like such a great option for home and travel workouts. Minimal equipment and space required. Full workout videos online.</p>
<p>Epic failā¦ Ran 3 miles and ran out of gasā¦ I hate 9 pm meetings, especially when I need to prepare for them.</p>
<p>Fireandrain, do you otherwise like your trainer, or has this philosophic difference led you to distrust the currency of her notions?</p>
<p>Sometimes you can get good value working with someone even if their philosophy differs, but for me, sometimes the ācurrency barometerā will give early warning signs of a poor fit.</p>
<p>Before i went on the weightloss/more movement kick last year, I had joined a gym. A single session with a trainer convinced me sheād gotten her certification online and didnāt really have the first clue about good weight resistance research. That was the end of that for me, but I have medical motivation (facet joint syndrome) to distrust anyone without a bit of rehab experience. It was in a way a good experience in that I realized I had to tailor a system for myself, independently, that I could integrate into my home life to produce lasting results through admittedly incremental improvement. (Very incremental, I might add, but for me, more sustainable.)</p>
<p>If stretching is the sole departure between you and the trainer, it might not be worth either discussion or making a change. But if underlying goal and belief in competency is at stake, it might be time to shop around A good trainer has to support your goals in order to help motivate you to achieve them.</p>
<p>MomWCā¦your deer encounter sounds lovely and far preferable to my deer encounter the other night. Roads were bad and I was driving very slowly, watching for deer on the sides who tend to sprint out to cross.</p>
<p>SOMEHOW all that looking produced in me the failure to notice there were THREE deer standing in the middle of the road patiently waiting for me to pass nary a foot from their faces on my left Seriously, they just stood there looking at me as if to say āReally? you didnāt see us standing here? Wow. Unbelievable.ā</p>
<p>They were beautifulā¦perhaps even moreso in that they just calmly stood there instead of darting into my path ;)</p>
<p>Back in my ultimate frisbee days, I found that if I didnāt keep my toenails trimmed very short, they would get bruised or even pop off during the course of a game.</p>
<p>I lost my big toe nails a couple of times before I figured it out.</p>
<p>iDad- thanks for the links. They are great.</p>
<p>Deborah- I really like my ValSlides. Iāve mainly been doing the pushaways, but will start adding in that other one where you put your feet on them. (warning- tried this last night and itās not all that easy getting in position! It was quite humorous, according to H. The things slide away from you.) </p>
<p>Bunsen- I can imagine you were pretty tired by thenā¦ ugh.</p>
<p>KMC- yes, deer on the trail are MUCH better than deer while you are driving. </p>
<p>Managed to get out the door for 3 slow miles (low HR) this morning. 45 degrees and I over-dressed. Felt good to have it done before work for a change.</p>
<p>Darn, I forgot my all-time favorite brutal abs exercise. This one feels like itās no sweat for the first little bit, but keep going, either down a long hall or back and forth. Yeow:</p>
<p>[ValSlide</a> Alligator Walk](<a href=āLexington, MA Personal Trainer: Val Slide Alligator Walks.wmv - YouTubeā>Lexington, MA Personal Trainer: Val Slide Alligator Walks.wmv - YouTube)</p>
<p>3.6 mile easy run today. </p>
<p>I do static stretching after my runs, but I also do a warm up routine that includes dynamic stretching. My chiro says Iām pretty flexible, so I think it works.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I could have clarified better. When I say change of clothes, I mostly meant the undergarments, socks and shoes. When I go to swimming, I put on my swimsuit under the clothes Iām going to wear to work with my trainer, but when I get out of the pool, I shower (because I canāt stand the smell of chlorine on a body or in my hair) before I go to meet with my trainer, so then I have to add the undergarments and socks before I put those clothes back on. I havenāt been able to wear my gym shoes into the gym or out lately because of all the snow weāve had; the parking lots have been a mess. The facilities donāt look kindly upon people carrying in all the snow and salt from the parking lot onto the gym floors (so you see a lot of boots on a boot tray on the floor in the lockers rooms), so for now itās boots between the car and inside the buildings. When we donāt have the snow issue, then I do put on my gym shoes at home before I leave for the gym. </p>
<p>What I should do is just keep my gym shoes in the gym bag and not take them out when I get home. In this weather, I donāt wear them any other time, other than at the gym. </p>
<p>Anyway, yesterday I did some track walking and NuStep; also did my PT exercises at the gym, instead of at home. They have equipment that lets me do some of the exercises I do in PT but canāt do at home because I donāt have it. Decided to transition yesterday from two Celebrex a day, to one, in the morning. So I didnāt take one last night, and today when I got up, I was OK. Did water aerobics this morning.</p>
<p>I learned something from my PT on Wednesday I forgot to share. She said when you perform a movement in the water, as opposed to just air, you have seven times the resistance. I brought this up because at one point in the water class, she had us treading water (they call it being suspended). I wasnāt in the deepest part of the pool (which is only 5ā), so in order to tread, I had to sort of kick my legs out to the side to prevent my feet from hitting the bottom. That side kicking movement, along with the water resistance caused a sharp pain in my hip (it was obviously doing things it hadnāt done in a very long time, and wasnāt ready to do yet), so of course I stopped immediately. When I told the PT about it, thatās when she told me about how much the difference in resistance is. So while pool work can be easier on your joints, you also need to be very careful and not falsely believe your body can do things it canāt do when not in the water.</p>
<p>idad - how do you get your feet to slide? It seems to me like, doing that in gym shoes, theyād not be able to slide across the floor that way? I can see doing it if you were in just socked-feed on hardwood floors, but not gym shoes on rubber matting (which is what most gyms have on their floors)</p>
<p>interesteddad, those are them! Oh my gosh!</p>
<p>In pilates, when weāre doing core work, sometimes weāll bust out the gliders. Thatās one of the workouts we do! I didnāt know it had a nameā¦</p>
<p>Do you know the name of the excerise where you walk out into a straight plank position and then slide your legs up to your hands? Thereās also another one where essentially our hovering above the ground (no more than 6 inches above the ground) like an alligator and then you slide your legs up to your armsā¦almost like a spider.</p>
<p>
Itās hard to see in the video, but his feet are on these little devices called ValSlides.</p>
<p>They have a very low coefficient of friction, so they slide on just about anything.</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> Valslide - For Stretching, Toning and Slideboard Exercise: Sports & Outdoors](<a href=āhttp://www.amazon.com/Valslide-Stretching-Toning-Slideboard-Exercise/dp/B000V9TP06]Amazon.com:ā>http://www.amazon.com/Valslide-Stretching-Toning-Slideboard-Exercise/dp/B000V9TP06)</p>