Today's Workout - Nov 29, 2010

Today's workout is going to be a doozie! This evening I'm training my friend Dominik. He's an avid cross country skier, and came to me because he wants to improve his strength and stamina for this winter seasons XC Skiing.

I will be focusing on a lot of plyometric, and cardiovascular movements, and also stabilizer movements. We need to get all his muscles, ligaments, and tendons strong to push the skis through the snow.  And improve his stamina, because I know he likes to be out on the trails for long periods of time.

Now Dominik is already a very fit guy, so I will be pushing him harder than I would push a regular client. BUT you can totally adapt today’s exercise to meet your needs. I will show you how to do this.

Today's workout schedule:

1. Warm up - we will be doing basaltic warm up, as apposed to classic stretching. I actually only recommend stretching your muscles AFTER your work out, NOT before.

a) Running in one spot.

b) Jumping Jacks

Now that we're warmed up, we can move on to the routine.

2. Jump Squats - Start by simply jumping in the air and lowering into a squat position after your feet hit the floor. To increase the difficulty level on this exercise, kick your knee's up and touch your hands while in mid air. It's hard trust me! Dominik will do as many Jump Squats as he can in ONE minute.

3. Walking Lunges, with 20 lbs weights. - This can also be done sans weights. Just use your own body weight. If you live in a small condo, regular lunges can be done with the same effectiveness. Step one leg out in front, and drop your other knee to only a few inches above the ground. Use the front leg to force yourself back up to starting position. Now do the reverse. Do as many as you can in TWO minutes.

4. Swing Kicks – You can use a stool, or chair for this one. Place it in front of you, and “swing kick” your right leg over the chair/stool, followed by the left leg. Now reverse. Swing kick your left leg over the chair, followed by your right leg. Keep those knees up! Do this for one minute.

5. Twist Combo – Perfect for skiers! Stand with your feet together, and hop to the right twisting your body, and then hop twist to the left. Back and forth, back and forth. Keep your speed up! Right to left, left to right twists. Keep your arms up like you’re holding ski poles.

You should be hurting and sweating by now!

6. Static Wall Sitting Squats. This seems easy, but is very difficult. Stand with your back against a wall, slowly lower yourself to a sitting position (ie. invisible chair). Hold this position for as long as you can. Your Quads should burn like HELL! I'd say, try for 3-5 minutes.

Now here comes the really fun part. Repeat this again! Twice!

I will follow up with video clips in case some of you guys and gals aren’t sure what exactly to do.

Remember to take water breaks. It’s important to stay hydrated.