What kind of work-out of exercise should I do to loose that inner-leg fat and to get a strong gluteous maximus.  I run cross-country and my legs are still chubby!

Another thing to keep in mind, when doing cross-country, running or any other type of continuous long duration activity, you are working on your "heart" muscle (cardiovascular system), not on your leg muscles. The load on your legs is so minimal that you are not getting training adaptations (i.e. increase in definition, leaner, firmer, strength,etc..), you are only training your legs to have more endurance. So, cardiovascular exercise IS NOT training your legs. To get firmer legs and glutes, you need to do exercises like squats, deadlifts, leg presses, leg curls, step-ups, lunges, these exercises will help you get firmer and stronger legs. Running and cross-country are mostly just good to increase your cardiovascular endurance.

Once again, even if you do tons of exercises, you cannot spot reduce but muscles helps to firm-up.

I was surprised to read about the dangers of sliding.  Maybe I'm a better coach than I give myself credit for, but I've can't remember any sliding injury other than some scraps. Of course, once a player develops a serious scrap, they keep re-opening it by sliding on the same spot. Just creatures of habit. Do you see sliding as big problem. What is your opinion of the break-away or ground-flush bases. I haven't seen any movement towards either.

Sliding is one of the most important cause of injuries in softball. Proper sliding technique is for sure one of the most important injury prevention strategy. You must be doing a good job at teaching your players the fundamentals of sliding. Is sliding dangerous? Yes It has risk but what are the risks of not sliding and entering in contact with a player? Sliding in itself is actually preventing a lot of injuries by avoiding contact with players. You have a chance of getting injured when you slide but your chance of getting injured is much smaller than if you don't slide and get into a collision. So sliding is not a big problem, It is actually a very good thing for the game to prevent injuries. Break-away bases are better at preventing injuries because they are giving where ground-flush bases are not.

~ Ms. Softball for the TWSL // 



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