Resistance stretching may be effective; it's pretty new in the form that Torrres does it. But she's no more clean than, say, Florence Griffith-Joyner was. Flo-Jo claimed her unearthly times were the result of among other things, "heavy weight training", neatly eliding over the fact that it was her drug protocol that allowed that heavy weight training to be effective, by allowing her a) to lift the heavier weights; and b) to recover faster (it's in the recovery phase that muscle growth occurs).

I doubt very much if Dara Torres could do eight hours a day of resistance anything and not be crippled by it, without the recovery augmenting use of steriods, test, etc.

Whenever you hear the word "resistance", you're hearing the underlying reason for the effectiveness of strength training, weight training, and so on. To the extent that resistance training is effective, then steroid use is also effective. It potentiates resistance training, and does so enormously. "Resistance" is the word to focus on here. It almost doesn't matter whether the word following it is "training", "stretching" or "wobopaloobopalopbamboom".

Posted by: PatrickH on August 8, 2008 2:08 PM

Dara is a student/client of Bob Cooley, author of the Genius of flexibility. BC had an injury as a result of being hit by a drunk driver when he was a young man. Like so many people who excel at some skill or art he taught himself how to heal, regain the mobility he had before the injury and then some. From the pictures of Bob I've seen that is him in the background. He is an obsessive compulsive stretcher and student of stretching. One day, "Unbeknownst to me, Olympic swimmer Dara Torres, also at the gym that day for a private Pilates session, was watching us intently from the sidelines-incredulous and amazed at the results we were having. Tom and I showed Dara and her coach how resistence stretching could make her immediately more flexible. She felt surprisingly stronger as a result. After only five one-hour sessions, Dara went to a meet and set an American record in the freestyle!" What BC teaches has morphed into a philosophy of health based on TCM and western rehabilitation therapies. I don't recall which blowhard is the one into yoga but he would, I think, find the book fascinating.

Posted by: John Homer on August 8, 2008 4:16 PM

Dara is a student/client of Bob Cooley, author of the Book the Fenius of Flexibility, that appears to be him in the background of the pic. Bob taught himself to heal and regain the flexibility he lost in an auto vs pedestrian accident. One day dara was in the gym and watched him stretch another client. She was amazed at what she saw. She asked him to stretch her and after 5 one hour sessions she went out and set a world record in a swim event. The blowhard who is into yoga might find the book interesting.

Posted by: John Homer on August 8, 2008 4:24 PM

I watched the video and what struck me is how close this is to sex fetish videos. Something weird is going on with these trainer types and her -- whether they realize it or not. I think this is why MB may have linked it -- subconsciously, of course.

Anyway glad for them they get to frame all this under the banner of "athletics" and keep it legal. For now.

Posted by: Days of Broken Arrows on August 8, 2008 7:02 PM

This (small b) blowhard certainly finds HER intersting. I know male sexuality is supposed to have a large component of curiosity, but it's more than that. You could swear up and down that such and such a type is absolutly not for you and then somebody comes along who makes it all work and fit together, and whammo.

Posted by: David C on August 8, 2008 7:29 PM

I used to have a personal trainer and one of the things I liked best about my sessions was the stretching at the end. For about five minutes. Eight hours, though? Yikes.

Posted by: MD on August 9, 2008 7:57 PM






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