McClatchy Washington Bureau

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Can you s-t-r-e-t-c-h your way to Olympic gold?

One swimmer from Parkland, Fla., thinks she can.

Dara Torres, at 41 the oldest woman to qualify for an Olympic team, has made it to her fifth Olympics where she hopes to earn her 10th Olympic medal. She's focused on winning swimming's shortest and fastest event, the 50-meter freestyle. Her time today is faster than the world record she set in 1983.

She has attributed much of her success to her two personal stretchers and the method they employ: Meridian Flexibility System, A K A resistance flexibility and strength training.

The routine involves pushing and pulling the limbs while a person strenuously resists. Think Gumby, with a backbone and resisting the stretch.

Unlike traditional weight training, which contracts the muscle, meridian training simultaneously contracts and elongates the muscles through the push and pull.

The meridians, according to Chinese medicine, control the energy centers (or chi) in the body. The exercises take the body through the muscles' natural range of motion.

Read the complete story at miamiherald.com.