martin
Pictured is champion Muay Thai fighter Joe Sampieri conclusively answering the question for Martin Rooney if flexibility is important for athletic success.
Coach P.,
Great to hear from you and thanks for turning to the Parisi Speed School as a resource for your training challenges.
As you have probably figured out, flexiblity is usually the last thing the kids want to work on. This is not because it isnt fun, but usually that they dont really understand the benefits completely. It is the same reason why young athletes commonly dont eat well either. They have not yet understood the importance and the future implications if the training is not performed.
Why running and lifting are so popular with the kids is that they can see relatively immediate results in a quick pump or a sweaty fatigued body. All they might think they are geting from stretching is a reminder how tight they are.
Let your kids know that great flexiblity is as important as strength, speed and nutrition if they ever want to reach their potential. Let them know that improved flexibility will also help prevent injury (and that this is the real reason we train) and can improve performance.
Tricks to get them to do it that we use is through our dynamic warmup. The kids are getting a great workout, but they are also improving dynamic flexibility at the same time. You can check it all out on our Warmup Method DVD.
I hope this helps and stay the course. Even though they might know it, it is important and they will thank you for it later.
Martin Rooney
Director
Parisi Speed School
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Pictured is NFL Player, Eric Downing finishing his dynamic warmup with some high hamstring kicks. At 315 pounds, Eric proves you can be big and flexible.
Mike,
Great to hear from you and thanks for using the Parisi Speed School as a resource for your training. Your question is a common misconception.
Just because you are a bigger, heavier athlete doesnt mean that your flexibility has to be poor. Oftentimes, bigger athletes dont move around as much or through as large of ranges of motion as leaner, smaller athletes. This is not due to structure or size, but to just lack of hard work. As you can see from the picture of Eric, exceptional flexibility is possible for any athlete, you just need to work at it.
I hope this helps and I hope that Eric is a motivation for you. There have been few athletes that have ever been in the facility that were either bigger or more flexible than him.
It is possible, now get to work.
Martin Rooney
Director
Parisi Speed School
Pictured are a number of Parisi athletes going through a AIS routine following a core training session.
Wendy,
Great to hear from you and I am so glad to hear that not only are you using a number of the things from our DVDs, but that the team is also improving.
As for your question, this is one of the most common paradigms that we encounter everyday with American athletes: they think stretching is synonymous with warming up. As the other post in this section stated, there is a difference between static and dynamic work.
My advice is to get them convinced that dynamic is the way to go first and then end with a static form of stretching. We use the stretching ropes and a form of Active Isolated Stretching here at our facility. It calms the athlete's nervous system down at the end of the workout, allows the kids to feel like they are doing some focused work here, and this is a great time as a coach to review the session and upcoming goals.
I hope this helps and good luck this season.
Martin Rooney
Director
Parisi Speed School
Pictured is high school All-American Tahira Williams performing the cobra exercise for posture and upper body flexibility. Tahira will be playing basketball at prestigious UConn this fall.
Helen,
Great to hear from you and thanks for using us as a resource to help. This is a common complaint for many of the parents I deal with on a daily basis. Hopefully this answer will be able to explain a little bit about what is going on and give you some exercises on how to help alleviate the issue.
First off, the problem you describe is usually caused by constant positioning in improper postures and not haing balance in strength training. Common causes for the poor posture are improper sitting, poor upper back development and sometimes over development of the anterior muscles of the upper body.
The great news is that this problem is most commonly a functional disorder not a structural one. What this means is that many athletes like your daughter can still get in the right posture, they just lack the strength or motivation to do so. The bad news is that if she does not do something about it, it can eventually become structural and we dont want her bent forward and effectively shorter for the rest of her life.
What to do. Yes, stretches can be important, but there are also a number of muscular exercises she needs to perform.
For stretches, she can do the "corner stretch" for the anterior muscles of the chest or shoulders. Here, she faces into a corner with her hands at shoulder height and then leans in toward the hands with the head and chest kept up. This should be held for 20 seconds and then repeated for 5 reps a few times a day.
For exercises, besides classic lat pull downs and rows to balance out the upper back with the anterior muscles, the "cobra drill" which is pictured above is a great drill to work on posture. This is performed by lying on the chest and lifting the chest and head while rotating the thumbs to the sky. This reteaches the athlete to control the postural muscles of the upper back and neck.
Finally, your daughter must be conscious of her posture at all times both sitting, standing and lying down (and as we all know, kisd spend all their time in these positions). The more she works it, the more normal proper posture will eventually feel until it becomes permanent.
Good luck,
Martin Rooney
Director
Parisi Speed School
Parisi Speed School and Martin Rooney,
I am a mixed martial artist and am now working on jiu jitsu. What kind of stretching can I do. In the past month my legs and groin are getting tight and my low back to. Thanks and I think your book is awesome.
Gabriel
Pictured are Martin Rooney and 2 time world jiu jitsu champion Gregor Gracie working on the guard position in jiu jitsu. As seen from this position, the athletes are constantly in flexion postures at the hips, knees, elbows and low back. Proper flexibility is critical to avoid injury and imbalance.
Gabriel,
Thanks for writing in and I am glad you are enjoying the site and the book. Also glad to hear that you are working on the jiu jitsu as well. It is essential for a complete MMA game.
As for your flexibility issue, this is a very common one that I have seen with athletes starting out that are not addressing their flexibility correctly.
As you are probably seeing, not only is flexibility important to the ground game, but when you are starting out in jiu jitsu, you usually use tons of strength that can strain muscles as well. That coupled with all the new positions your body is being put in can lead to these issues.
I suggest not only a dynamic warmup before you roll, but also some extension static work following your training to achieve balance. I suggest the classic lotus position from yoga where you are on your stomach and press up on extended elbows so that your hips stay down, but bring the chest as high as possible. I would also stretch the hip flexors and groin too.
Get on this and you will see results.
Best of luck,
Martin Rooney
Director
Parisi Speed School
