The Why
As we enter into our late 30's and well into our 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's and beyond, flexibility for many of us, unfortunately, becomes a bit of a challenge, to say the least. The natural suppleness of our teens, 20's and early 30's begins to dwindle, and common everyday tasks from yard work, recreational sports or activities, remodeling, etc. all begin to present a broad list of range-of-motion limitations.
The maturation process is simply a fact of life, and aging can, at times, be brutal on our bodies, "if we allow it." And if we avoid training in a strategic, safe, and sustainable manner (Note: the ALLTRAIN way), and choose to live a sedentary lifestyle or exercise in an excessive, compulsive, or one-dimensional manner, we are certainly "allowing it."
Strength training, power development, and cardiovascular exercise are all without a doubt very important in maintaining a lean, healthy, high-performing body. We all want to be strong and powerful for what life has to throw at us, we want to be lean and muscular, and clearly, we want to maximize our health. And therefore, within the ALLTRAIN programming, there is a significant amount of strength and power work as well as cardiovascular exercise suggested.
But the mistake so many commonly make is putting all their emphasis on excessive strength work (and oftentimes extended bouts of cardio), but rarely stick around to work on one of the most important areas of performance, particularly as we age, and that is maintaining and increasing flexibility. In many cases, these folks end up "strong but not for long," where their strength imbalances result in injury as they simply did not possess the range of motion to handle occupational or recreational loads/demands outside of their bench press or leg press comfort zone.
The ALLTRAIN program recognizes the importance of both strength and suppleness, which is why each training session begins with mobility work to prep the body for an ideal state of training, and finishes with valuable static and at times flowing flexibility, taking advantage of a warm, pliable state to maximize results.
Watch this video where Coach Al, along with a cameo appearance from Coach Mike, demonstrate each movement of one of our cooldown variations.
The Moral
So the moral of the story...don't be too cool for "cooldown" school. Take the time after a challenging training session to calm down the central nervous system, reflect on your training accomplishments, work on your breathing, and gain and maintain the flexibility that Father Time is looking to rob us of.
The 8-12 minutes variations that we program with each BLOCK are not overly difficult, yet will go a long way in your ability to navigate the range of motion challenges life puts in front of you.
Sample ALLTRAIN "Flexibility Equation"
Thinking that 8-12 minutes of cooldown movements at the end of your session won't make a difference? Consider this equation:
4 sessions per week X 8-12 minutes per session X 4.33 weeks per month = Approximately 2-3 hours of flexibility work per month that will pay huge dividends in your high-performing, functional lifestyle!!!
Yours in Wellness,
The ALLTRAIN Team