WANT TO FEEL LIKE A SUPERHERO? WORK PLYOMETRICS INTO YOUR WORKOUT REGIMEN
By Mark Aiken marathoner and triathlete, I’m active in the spring, W
summer, and fall before turning my attention to snowsports. Running, biking, and swimming certainly don’t hurt my skiing; if anything, showing up to the slopes in shape and strong could give me a head start and help me stay injury-free (knock on wood, please!). But I don’t think these activities do much to specifically improve my skiing either. So last fall, a group of runners I work out with before work on Tursday mornings wondered how we could more directly help our on-snow performance.
avid, if not passionate, skier, we began to wonder how to stay motivated.
THE LEAP INTO PLYOMETRICS Te answer: plyometrics. We scrapped the weekly speed workouts in lieu of something most of us (certainly me) had never done. While our usual summer activities didn’t do much for our skiing, other than generally put us on the hill feeling fit, we felt that plyos might have a more direct correlation. Tere have been plenty of articles written about plyos – and there’s lots of how-to info on the Internet, but I decided to conduct some ski-specific research. I spoke with two experts about plyometrics and skiing (one who works with elite athletes and the other with recreational skiers like me). Read on for an overview of how plyos apply to skiing and for my experience last fall.
As one component of our overall fitness schedules, all spring and summer the group met at 6:15 a.m. every Tursday for informal speed workouts at a local high school track. One person in our group would scribble a speed workout on a scrap of paper and the rest of us – armed with our own stopwatches – would sprint at our own best speeds and comfort levels. As summer became fall, however, and nobody in the group had running events on the horizon, we began to lose interest. With nearly everyone in the group an
72 | 32 DEGREES • FALL 2015
WHAT ARE PLYOS? Commonly known as jump training, plyos train tissues to fire more explosively. “Plyos are exercises that emphasize the elastic components of muscles and tendons to facilitate explosive movements,” says Justin Smith, co-director of Athletic Performance at the University of Vermont. Smith, a registered strength and conditioning coach with the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), has a Master’s degree in Sport and Exercise Science and a Bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science. He is responsible for strength training, conditioning, and nutrition for UVM’s varsity ski team (and other varsity teams). “Developing coordination, balance,
power, body control, and reactivity – all of these can be gained through even basic plyometric exercises,” says Smith. “With
hat we do as athletes in the off-season – or don’t do, for that matter – affects our on- snow performance when the snow flies. A
skiers, the big things are to increase their rate of force development and to help them react quickly.” In other words, plyos give skiers the ability to make explosive moves in a dynamic sport and make corrections when they get out of position. In skiing, things happen fast, and the more quickly a skier can react to situations the better, says Smith. “Tese abilities improve performance and also prevent injury,” he adds. For example, a skier might fall into the
back seat at the end of a turn; leg and core muscles that are trained to fire quickly will help him or her make corrective movements. Skiers or snowboarders who bank into the center of a turn might make fine adjustments to find better balance; if their muscles have been trained in making quick, decisive movements, they might have better success. Plyometrics are broad jumps, tuck
jumps, box jumps, and medicine ball throws. Bounding, leaping, and one- or two-footed hops and jumps fall into the category of plyos. Smith’s athletes, who compete for a program with a tradition of winning NCAA national championships and who often come with World Cup- level experience, generally combine plyos (their explosiveness training) with strength training and weights to maximize the development of the muscles and tendons. My group of recreational athletes just did straight plyos. Smith’s advice for recreational athletes
and plyo neophytes is twofold: one, warm up before working out. And two, says Smith (using terms to which he knew snowsports enthusiasts would relate): “Start with green-circle exercises and work up to the more challenging black diamonds,” he says. My Tursday group did just that.
HOW WILL PLYOS HELP YOU? Scott Bevins, a certified life coach, manual therapist, and functional medicine practitioner, works at
Dealer.com, a Vermont- based technology company that provides
ISTOCK
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124