Stretch, strength, core... do you? :-)

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RunningInCircles Jul 2017 3:51pm, 26 Jul 2017 1,829 posts	0 RunningInCircles Lol. Currently a self-employed fitness & nutrition coach, so freedom to train goes with the territory The run every day is just an experiment with streaking, 101 days at the moment, and I told myself I'd stop at 100, but... I have a Xorbars setup xorbars.co.uk in the back garden that I use for training just me, and I'll train on that all weathers, often at night. Used to do the same when I was teaching. Yoga is a minimal routine, of about 15 minutes of flow through a fairly well defined sequence often last thing at night. I like to indulge in more, but find little and often works for me. My actual overall training load is actually not far off what I would do when I was teaching, I just have the freedom to pick my times/places better. Less running around the school field before or after school, and not so much yoga between end of school and parents evenings I probably used to run 5 days, and just make those sessions longer. (Although I have weights etc, I have the time and space to develop the skill that I don't with people that want fast results. I often come across people that train in the "gym environment" that cannot do many moves I can, because they are using limited movement patterns and have the muscular strength in some areas, but lack joint stability and minor muscle strength limiting for example their grip. I am more into natural movement and gymnastics from a personal standpoint.)
larkim Jul 2017 3:56pm, 26 Jul 2017 2,421 posts	0 larkim I'm in the zero stretching / strengthening / other non-running group. It shows - on Monday I was off work and went to my wife's Monday running group in the park, which involved lots of mobility and stretching stuff that I would never do (e.g. lunges, "mo farah's", hops, jumps, etc etc. I can still feel it in my legs today. Confirmed to me why I don't bother - I clearly don't need those muscles for running, so why stress them out
Autumnleaves Jul 2017 3:57pm, 26 Jul 2017 10,883 posts	0 Autumnleaves I have done strength & conditioning work of various kinds for some years - currently an hour of Pilates each week plus my own work in the gym twice a week, where I tend to focus more on strength. I have tried to become far more disciplined this last year as a way to target areas of weakness (glutes & hamstrings) that are niggle prone. During my coaching course last year we were very much given the advice WM has cited and that is what I've stuck to. Personally I feel better for stretching afterwards and having suffered quite a lot of pain with over-tight hamstrings I wouldn't stop doing it - but each to their own
Fenland (Fenners) Runner Jul 2017 4:01pm, 26 Jul 2017 13,181 posts	0 Fenland (Fenners) Runner Controversial point, people only stretch and think they get benefit because they have OVERDONE the activity.
Autumnleaves Jul 2017 4:05pm, 26 Jul 2017 10,884 posts	0 Autumnleaves Maybe - but I just follow my physio's advice.
HappyG(rrr) Jul 2017 4:13pm, 26 Jul 2017 26,979 posts	0 HappyG(rrr) Fenners, I'm sorry, I don't understand. Do you mean they have overdone the running activity? If so, why would that make them think that stretching helped? I'm going to have a guess at what you mean (please correct if I've misinterpreted). There is no need to stretch and/or strengthen if you are only running "within yourself" i.e. if you can do a 2 hour half marathon (9 min per mile) and regularly run 25 miles per week and a 10 mile long run and, then if you only train on a 3 mile run at 9:30 pace you don't need to do stretch or strength. If so, then I agree with you! But obviously the above person, if they want to improve, will want to change something. Either run: more total e.g. 30 miles per week longer long run e.g. 15 or 18 miles faster running e.g. get to an 8:30 half marathon, do intervals or tempos at 7:30 min/mile Any of those above changes require strength, build up, resilience and recovery. If you just do running don't you think that any kind of increase is likely to require some complementary support such as stretch or strength? Simple Newtonian physical law, if nothing else! Larks, this applies to you too! ( ) By which I mean, you are currently building up your mileage. Take care that you don't (as Fenners says) overdo it! RIC - those bars look interesting. I only do v light, free weights (dumb bells or bars) or just body weight. And it's almost all range of movement, functional stuff - some on wobble boards, deliberately to try and recruit as many supporting muscles as poss. AL, hiya. waves. If I remember correctly, you were one of the Tracking Total Training Timers from back in 2013 too?! G
RunningInCircles Jul 2017 4:23pm, 26 Jul 2017 1,830 posts	0 RunningInCircles Sure Fenners If you have and use full range of motion, and train in a perfectly balanced manner so as to not produce any muscle imbalances, I'll concede stretching is a lower consideration. Funny thing though, most people with a full natural range of motion that I meet tend to be under 10 years old, often significantly Blind bets on a room full of people and I'm going to put money on tight hip flexors on every one, and I'll be confident on making a profit Modern living and chairs play a bigger role than the way you train for that small percentage of your time.
Autumnleaves Jul 2017 4:24pm, 26 Jul 2017 10,885 posts	0 Autumnleaves waves back - yes, I quite like keeping tabs on time - especially cross-training Re- 'over-doing' - training works partly on this basis - you overload, then recover, which is when the 'adapting' part of training takes place - so if stretching helps that, it makes sense to me. I do also foam-roll - not as often as I should.
RunningInCircles Jul 2017 4:32pm, 26 Jul 2017 1,831 posts	0 RunningInCircles Stretching can also be quite pleasant. Never had anyone complain about the assisted stretching part of a training session. If you haven't been properly stretched out by someone who knows how, you are missing out in my humble opinion. That said, I trained with regard to running for years with the attitude of "stretching is something other people do" some time back. Don't have a problem with what anyone chooses to do, if it works and it makes you happy then it is the "right approach" for you
Autumnleaves Jul 2017 4:40pm, 26 Jul 2017 10,886 posts	0 Autumnleaves Heartily agree with your last sentence RIC Used to do assisted stretching as part of my PT sessions back in the day - and actually in some ways the stretching we do within Pilates on the Reformer machines is just that. I can feel the improved range of motion in my hamstrings which has to be a good thing.