In the Media
2006-03-27, The Edmonton Journal
New Year, New You: Week 10
Chris Zdeb: journal staff writer, Edmonton
Bobbi Robbins’s workouts were ratcheted up this week by trainer Alexandra Senkow.
“I started running intervals on the treadmill and they’re not going very well, I don’t like them. But then I didn’t like the bike either,” Robbins says.
Senkow, however, says Robbins did “phenomenally well” on the treadmill. “Her level of fitness is going through the roof. I’m really impressed with the type of progress she’s seen.”
Senkow also gives Robbins high marks for starting to plan now for how she will continue to work on her fitness once her free training sessions end in two weeks. (Robbins will actually do a workout under Senkow’s supervision in the weigh room at Ross Sheppard High School where Robbins works as a teaching assistant and expects to do some of her workouts after her time with Senkow is finished.)
The highlight of the week was Robbins’s fiancé, Todd Chaffey, stopping by Defining Eve to help demonstrate some partner-assisted stretches both hope to benefit from.
“The wonderful thing about partner-assisted stretching is that it enables you to relax the opposing muscle (the one opposite the muscle being stretched), because you’re not trying to engage that muscle to support yourself in that position. Sometimes it can provide you with a deeper stretch,” Senkow explains.
But be careful not to overstretch the person, which could injure them or injure yourself, she warns.
If the partners have some instruction in partner-assisted stretching they can help to align each other correctly, Senkow adds.
And they’re more likely to stretch the muscle they’re targeting.
Warm up before stretching
“For example, when people do a hamstring stretch on their own by putting their foot up on a bench, often they’ll have a tendency to turn their hips to the side because their hamstring is so tight,” Senkow says. “They’re not actually then stretching their hamstring straight on, and the stretch then transfers and becomes an inner thigh stretch.
“When you have your leg being held in a fixed and rigid position by a partner, you’re going to tend to stretch the exact muscle you want to stretch.”
Senkow recommends doing partner-assisted stretches after a workout when your body is warm, to prevent muscle injury. You can also warm muscles passively, if planning to do stretches before bed, by taking a hot shower or sitting in a hot tub before hand.
Starting weight: 199 pounds. Week 10: 192 pounds.
Bobbi Robbins won 12 weeks of personal training with Alexandra Senkow, fitness director at Defining Eve personal fitness studio, in The Journal’s New Year, New You contest.
PARTNER STRETCHING
- Ball stretch for lower back. Todd Chaffey starts by lying on a mat on the floor, bent legs resting on a stability ball. His fiancé Bobbi Robbins gets into a squat position and lifts the ball and Todd’s legs with her legs, not her back, bringing Todd’s feet towards his head. How close your feet get to your head depends on your flexibility. The ball should be raised until the person being stretched feels mild tension, not pain, says trainer Alexandra Senkow. That’s one of the basic rules of partner-assisted stretching. Hold the stretch for about 30 seconds. Lower ball and repeat.
- Gluteal stretch, also know as the soccer stretch. Bobbi lies with hips square and back flat on the mat, legs bent. She presses the sole of one shoe against Todd’s thigh for support, and crosses the other leg so that the calf rests against the knee of the supporting leg. Todd stands in a forward lunge position to keep his back straight and applies some pressure against Bobbi’s foot to deepen the stretch.
- Back rotations bases on yoga posture. Small rotations of the knees help loosen the back, Senkow says. Bobbi lies on her back on the floor, her knees bent. Todd pulls in his core muscles and bends over to hold Bobbi’s legs together by the calves. He slowly circles her knees, rotating the hips several times before gently dropping the knees to the side until Bobbi feels a stretch. Todd, by supporting her lower legs, prevents the stretch from ending with a stressful motion.
- Lower back stretch, spinal rotation, based on Thai massage. Bobbi lies on her back, with one leg extended, and the other bent on the side and underneath it. Todd supports her bent knee with his own extended leg. He then slowly walks his palms across Bobbi’s back, gently pulling her shoulder over to the side, until his fingers almost reach her spine and holds the stretch for about 30 seconds. This is an advanced stretch, Senkow says. And while it feels great, partners may not want to attempt it without some formal instruction in partner-assisted stretching. You could injure yourself or the person you’re helping stretch, she says.
