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Butcher's Dog! Regular
outdoor fitness tips from the canine on creatine. Cold wet
nose and glossy coat guaranteed.
Get Agile!
Everyone knows about the importance of
basic strength and fitness, but one crucial area of outdoors
performance that often gets forgotten is agility. We're not
talking about the ability to swing effortlessly from tiny
rock ledges, then perform a double back flip to land on the
next one up, more the fundamentals of balance and lightness
on your feet.
How come some of us are 'good on our
feet' and some aren't? Here's a few ideas to make skimming
across boulder fields, traversing alpine ridges and
scattering scree easier, safer and quicker.
Footwear Lighter, nimbler footwear
makes a big difference, so go for the lightest option you
can get away with, though don't sacrifice torsional rigidy
across the width of the boot. Choose a narrow pack that can
be cinched up close to your back and won't sway around
during movement.
Practice On scree and lin boulder
fields where there's no danger of big falls, practice
moving fast, stepping briskly from rock to rock and learn to
place and trust your feet. Use your arms for balance and
always look ahead for your next foothold or holds. As you
get better, try running across boulder fields, skiping from
rock to rock. You'll build up balance, trust and agility as
well as a feel for which holds will work best. The same is
true of scree, some 'holds' will hold better than others,
using them repeatedly develops a sixth, subliminal sense of
which will be best.
Fell Running Running on uneven
ground - moorland, rocky outcrops etc - is fantastic for
building ligament strength and resilience to movment in
three dimensions rather than the normallyuni-dimensional
motion of road running.
In the gym Wobble boards and those
big inflatable gym ball things will help you build balance
and, ahem, 'core strength', the fitness industry's latest
buzz words. Try doing weight training exercises standing on
a wobble board. Not easy, but persever and you'll develop
all round balance.
Playing Remember how you used to
weave through things as a kid? All that stop start movement
is part of developing agility and doing drills like shuttle
runs around tightly spaced cones will help you to develop
balance on the move. Alternativelyplay cricket or if you're
a dog - whome? - get your partner to throw balls or a
frisbee for you to fetch. For some more structured agility
drills see this
page.
The Result Make the effort and
delight your friends by running along the crest of Crib Goch
with your hands in your pockets. Or perhaps not.
Woof!
The Butcher's Dog
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