Your best teachers are often your students, which is true when it comes to body awareness training, because as you guide them it causes you to think, “That’s great advice, but do I do that?”
The best running book I ever read, ‘Running With The Whole Body,’ by Jack Heggie, showed me how to shift load, during running stride recovery, from my hip flexors to my spinal spring. Recently, I was giving some swimmers advice, at their request, and I recommended that they watch Swim Smooth. A couple of days later after a swim, I noticed, once again, that my hip flexors, notably my psoas muscles, were very tight again, as I climbed out of the water – they always were after a long swim. I thought, maybe I can fix that by changing the way I kick, which at that point was from the hips, engaging my psoas muscles for a gentle kick, but of very long duration (1,000s of times/workout).
I watched Swim Smooth for the nth time, and noticed that the kick came largely from the quads. I adapted this to my swim the next time in the pool, and my swimming (even after 65 years of this great sport) was immediately more relaxed. I also found that I could develop better timing, and my body was slightly higher in the water. Furthermore, my psoas muscles did not tighten up so much. Excellent, because I need them for the bike and the run (though less for the run, now, thanks to Jack Heggie).
Never too late for an old dog to learn new tricks, and this is increasingly important if you want to be active into old age.
I do!
Wishing You Happy Laps!
Speak Your Mind