Health & Fitness

Can You Hang with Dara Torres?

6 Bosu Push-Ups
Flip a Bosu ball upside down—with the flat part facing up— and do a push-up. 15 reps; 2 sets.
 
Lower Body
7 Weighted Bosu Ball Squats
Flip the Bosu ball upside down and stand on the flat part and with your legs shoulder width apart and a 40-pound weights in each hand do a squat. 10-15 reps; 2 sets


ON THE STRETCHING MAT
Torre’s secret weapon is resistance stretching: a trainer positions a muscle in the shortest possible position and continuously contracts it through the entire range of motion for that muscle, while Torres provides resistance. She typically stretches for two hours three times a week, and will do shorter sessions up to four times a day when she’s racing. She mostly works with two stretching trainers, Steven Sierra and Anne Tierney of Innovative Body Solutions. They compiled this breakdown of a typical stretching session.

1 “Mashing” to loosen her up - 45 minutes
• Mashing is deep tissue massage using the trainers’ feet! One trainer works Dara’s legs while the other simultaneously works the upper body.  Mashing can be very intense and goes deep into her muscles to release knots and adhesions quickly – this allows her muscle to contract better and flushes toxins.

2 Lower body – 30 minutes
• The leg is divided into 8 major muscle groups and stretched in this order: Calves
Quadriceps, central, medial and lateral hamstrings, glutes, iliacus (adductors), tensor fascia lata, and abductors.

Note: All Resistance Stretching stretches are using Dara’s resistance – very different from other forms of stretching where the leg is lengthened and then held in position in order to ‘stretch.’

• The same routine is repeated on the each leg.  If imbalances are found, then problem-solving is used (balancing muscle groups). i.e. if the lateral quadriceps is not stretching, Anne and Steve would target the medial hamstring first, and then return to the lateral quad).

• After both legs have been worked along the 8 major muscle groups, Dara does double leg stretches (one of the benefits of having a 2-person stretching team – another reason why Dara’s training is like no other)