Saturday, January 19, 2013

Weekend Workout #3

This weekend will be focused on explosive exercises that will help improve your skiing.  If you don;t ski, these will also make for a great high intensity workout.  If you have not been doing any running, jumping or high intensity work, I would not recommend that you perform this workout.  For those of you who have, this will make for a great addition to your training, and one that you should include frequently if you ski or run.

Make sure you warm up very good; either jogging for 5-10 minutes easy, rowing for 5 min and doing some calisthenics for 5 minutes, or 10 minutes of dynamic calisthenics.  Most of these exercises can be classified as plyometric exercises; a movement that is explosive to generate power and speed, and that requires your muscles to exert maximum force in the shortest amount of time.

Try to complete all 6 exercises 2-3 times resting 1-2 minutes between sets.  Do them in a circuit format where you move from one exercise to the next with minimal rest.  You will need a BOSU ball, 18-24" plyo box (or step boxes), and cones.  If you don't have either of these pieces of equipment you can still do the exercises, you just need to be a little more creative.

Exercise                                             Reps
Squat Jump                                        8-12 
180 Degree BOSU Jumps                  8-10
Front Cone Hops                               10
Lateral Cone Hops                             8-12
Alternating Box Pushoffs                    6-8 each leg
Depth Jumps                                      6-8

Squat Jumps - Just as it sounds, squat down and jump as high as you can.  Land softly with your feet absorbing the impact of the ground, and immediately jump again.

180 Degree BOSU Jumps - Standing on the blue side of the BOSU, keep your knees slightly bent, and then jump as you rotate your body 180 degrees (in air) to the right and land on the ball and try to balance before jumping and rotating back to the left.  This can be a very challenging exercise, so if you are not comfortable using the BOSU you can do this on the ground.

Front Cone Hops - Set up 5-10 cones in a straight line.  Jump over one cone and immediately jump over the next continuing until the last come.  Then turn around and repeat back to the starting position.  Try to land as softly as you can in between each cone.

Lateral Cone Hops - With the same cone set-up, perform the same exercise as above but instead of jumping forward jump sideways over each cone.  Land with both feet together and when you get to the end, stay facing the same direction and jump over the cones moving the opposite direction.

Alternating Box Pushoffs - Stand with your right foot on the floor and your left foot on the top of the box.  Push off your left foot and jump as high as you can.  Switch legs in mid-air and land on the right foot on top of the box with your left foot on the ground.  Immediately jump and reverse sides again.

Depth Jumps - Standing on top of the box, bend into a 1/4 squat with feet near the edge of the box.  Fall (not jump) off the box landing softly, dipping into a 1/4 squat, and immediately jump again as high as you can.

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