A Philosophy of Strength and Health

I stumbled upon the official IOC YouTube channel tonight. Check it out. It is a wealth of HD video from London and past Olympic games. I've embedded two things US people didn't get to see if all they had was NBC's televised coverage. First up is the closing ceremony remix of "Running Up That Hill" by Kate Bush, one of my favorite songs of all-time. Second is the FULL replay of the women's 800 m freestyle final, featuring Katie Ledecky and Rebecca Adlington . NBC cut the Kate Bush segment from their closing ceremony broadcast and as all swimming fans know, they NEVER show an entire 800 or 1500 m distance race. Track coaches and fans rejoice! Watch the full 10,000 m without commercial interruption or your favorite NBC commentators. All sport fans can search by sport / event and get highlights or full event replays. Kate Bush: Running Up That Hill Women's 800 m Freestyle Final

There are days when I grow weary of the hype. Bad ass . Beast mode. Fire breather. Give me a break. Whatever happened to the dignified pursuit of self-improvement and excellence?

One on one or big groups. From age 17 to age 67. A good coach understands athletes have varying learning styles and abilities. He or she uses demonstration, verbal cues and drills to get the athlete to the desired performance outcome. A good coach appreciates the process and where an athlete is in that process when giving direction. It warmed my heart this morning to watch my husband direct swimmers of varying ages and abilities in a positive, enthusiastic and effective manner. He wins respect from his athletes not by screaming, shaming or showing them just how much more he knows than they do. He wins their respect by teaching them and giving them the tools to become better, regardless of their age or ability. He leads them by his example and demeanor. That is a good coach.

A little less intensive style of alligator crawl, using a PE scooter on the rubber floor. This allows for a similar or greater ROM than the traditional low crawl, with a lighter load on the shoulder girdle if the athlete is not able to do the super-low crawling style. And it's pretty darn fun. Now I just have to get Mitch to slow down and be a bit more deliberate!

From the TED website: Most people instinctively avoid conflict, but as Margaret Heffernan shows us, good disagreement is central to progress. She illustrates (sometimes counterintuitively) how the best partners aren’t echo chambers -- and how great research teams, relationships and businesses allow people to deeply disagree. Here is the direct link: http://on.ted.com/Heffernan

Here we see that arm length is inversely proportional to shorts length with Mitch and George. Mitch has a wingspan that is 4" longer than he is taller. George's wingspan is about 2" shorter than his height. Shorts length an ongoing topic in boys volleyball. The blue shorts that Mitch is wearing were his uniform shorts for the USA Youth Boys National Team NORCECA volleyball competition in Mexico this summer. He was proud to wear them. My basketball guys were, of course, mortified to think that someone might wear shorts that did not go below one's knees. Of course, none of these guys will ever have the challenge of playing on court in long sleeves and "bun huggers ." I'll leave my feelings on that topic for another day. It seems the FIVB will not be persuaded to change inseam length for the men in international play. Mitch and the rest of the USA men will not let that deter them from pursuit of excellence. This little classic shows they have a sense o...

Last fall a local triathlon coach referred one of her clients to me. He'd been in physical therapy for some hamstring issues that were hampering his running. Things weren't getting better and she thought he'd be up for an evaluation with me. D had been running marathons and half-marathons for quite a while. In his early 50s, he was in great shape and potentially looking to try a triathlon or two, in between marathons. But for the last 4 months, he'd not been able to really run at all. The guy who used to be able to walk out the door and hit 6-10 miles without a problem couldn't finish a mile without both hamstrings "locking up" and forcing him to shut it down. It was killing him. He thought he was washed up. A few things caught my attention in the evaluation. First, D had been working with a local personal trainer, but the leg work consisted of leg presses and a few walking lunges, with some scary heavy barbell deadlifts thrown in on occasion. S...