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There’s always an excuse not to exercise: foul weather, a packed daytime schedule, the shorter daylight hours of fall and winter, to name just a few. To keep you from feeling your destiny is with reality TV instead of the outdoors, we’d like to offer a different solution: An indoor, total-body routine that’s flexible and sport specific, making you faster and stronger when you do get outdoors.
“If people want to excel in multi-sport activities, they need to achieve a high level of fitness that is sport specific,” says David Musnick, M.D., author of Conditioning for Outdoor Fitness, 2nd Edition (The Mountaineers Books 2004). “You’re going to enjoy your activities more, and you’re much less likely to get injured.”
The following offers a complete menu of multi-sport exercises, broken into four categories: core flexibility, lower body, upper body and aerobic training. Many of the exercises target more than one area (all the better to do them quickly and get on with life), and all of them can be performed at home or your local gym. Start with one or two moves from each category and, as you master those, add more. Before long, you’ll be passing others on the trail.
Core Flexibility
Core training is the complete integration of shoulders, torso and hips, notes Mark Verstegen, a trainer to world-class athletes and founder of the training Web site, www.coreperformance.com. “Core strength and balance are so critical for the multi-sport athlete—on a trail, up and down, over rocks—you have to be able to react quickly and not hurt yourself.” The following exercises can be done at home.
Inverted Hamstring: Stand straight and extend your arms straight out to the sides. Tighten your abdominals, lift your right foot slightly and balance on your left foot. Now tilt your entire upper body forward from the hips. Keep your arms extended to each side, and lift your right leg so it’s parallel to the ground and in a straight line with your torso. Hold a few seconds, then return your right foot slowly to the ground. Repeat six times per side, progressing to 10. You’ll work your core, stretch your standing leg’s hamstring and strengthen your back, glutes, hamstring and lower leg muscles.
Great For: trail runners, climbers, hikers, mountain bikers, road cyclists, surfers, skiers
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| Inverted Hamstring: Start |
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| Step 2 |
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| Finish |
Forward Lunge with Hamstring Stretch: Step into a lunge position with your left foot forward. Lower your upper body toward the ground and place your right hand on the ground. Keep your hips low and hold for three seconds to stretch hamstrings, inner thighs and back. Now place your left hand on the ground, and extend both knees so your hips lift and both legs straighten for more leg and back stretching. For more of a stretch, lift your front toe. To return to the starting position, lift your upper body to vertical while bending your front knee and pushing your hips forward slightly. Repeat three to five times on each side.
Great For: backpackers, runners, climbers, telemark skiers
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| Forward lunge: start |
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| Forward lunge: finish |
Lower Body
Because much of what outdoor athletes do involves the lower body, try these moves, which also challenge balance and sometimes your upper body, too. “Combining multiple body regions in one exercise is a great way to limit your workout time and get everything done,” says Musnick.
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| Lateral Bound |
Lateral Bound: Stand on the left leg with the right foot lifted slightly off the ground and your hips lowered. Swing both arms to the left and then, as you swing them to the right, push off with your left foot and spring laterally, landing on your right foot with the left toe just touching the ground for balance. Repeat in the other direction, doing two sets of 6 reps, and increasing to 10 reps as you get stronger.
Great For: skiers, trail runners, hikers, mountain bikers, road cyclists
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| Balance squat |
Balance Squat: This builds balance as well as powerful lower-body muscles all at once, notes Verstegen. Stand with your feet next to each other. Lift one foot just off the ground. Now push your butt backward and lower slowly as if you were trying to sit in a chair behind you, while extending your arms in front of you. Keep your standing knee from going in front of your foot, and avoid hunching over. Return to standing and switch sides. Repeat six times on each side for two sets.
Great For: surfers, climbers, backpackers, telemark skiers
Walking Lunges: Lunges target the entire body and require good balance. Stand with your feet together. Step forward with one leg into a lunge position, keeping your knee above your ankle. Draw the rear leg slowly forward to re-join the front leg and return to a standing position. Then step out with the opposite leg. Take six steps across the floor (maintaining balance), then turn around and take six steps back. Gradually increase to 8—12 reps. To add difficulty (while looking somewhat silly), hold light hand weights and simultaneously do bicep curls, tricep presses and overhead presses while you walk.
Great For: runners, hikers, paddlers, skiers, swimmers
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| Walking lunge start |
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| Walking lunge finish |
Upper Body
A strong upper body helps you scramble up a trail, paddle a wild river, surf and rock climb. Try these moves either in a gym or at home with rubber tubing or a band. Aim for two to three sets of 6—10 reps.
Seated Row: A basic exercise for back, biceps and legs. Vary the row by pulling the machine pulley or rubber tubing toward you with the elbows either close to your body or turned up and to your side. Avoid leaning forward with your upper body.
Great For: paddlers, climbers, adventure racers, swimmers
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| Seated row start |
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| Seated row finish |
Ball Push-ups: Start in a push-up position with your hands on a stability ball in front of you, fingers facing down its sides. Keeping your abs tight (to avoid rolling) and your body straight as a board, lower yourself as far as you can, aiming for your chest to graze the ball. Keep your back and body straight. Push back up to your starting position.
Great For: paddlers, climbers, trail runners, swimmers, surfers
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| Ball Push-Up start |
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| Ball push-up finish |
Aerobic Training
The base of any training program is aerobic fitness. Try two weekly interval sessions to optimize cardiovascular fitness, Musnick says. That could mean something as simple as 1 to 2 minutes of high-intensity bursts smattered throughout a regular workout. As a rule, shoot for 30-minute workouts three to four times a week. When you’ve mastered that, increase workout times by 5 minutes each week until you can complete 60-minute sessions.
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| Stairclimber |
Hill Climbing: Lots of different equipment can accomplish this. If your gym only has an elliptical trainer, use it and work up to a run. To build balance and increase cardiovascular and upper-body gains, don’t hold onto the arm rails. A piece called the StepMill by Nautilus—resembling a mini-escalator—can kick your butt, especially if you run intervals. A full-body climber (VersaClimber) is not for the meek. Another possibility is Cybex’s hybrid stepper/elliptical called the Arc Trainer. If you can’t get to a gym, try running stairs at the local high school stadium for 30 minutes.
Great For: backpackers, climbers, skiers, mountain bikers, runners
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| Indoor cycling |
Indoor Cycling or X-Biking: Whether you attend a spin class or work at home with a cycle trainer (see page 88 for an example), make sure you include some speed and hill intervals. Another newer option is the X-Bike (www.x-biking.com). The X-Bike has a handlebar mechanism that rocks side to side with varied resistance to simulate mountain biking, forcing you to use core and upper-body muscles. The company even offers cool music mixes to cue climbs, intervals and downhill cruises.
Great For: mountain bikers, road cyclists, runners, hikers, adventure racers
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| Treadmill |
Treadmill: Treadmills get a bad rap for being mundane, but nothing is more helpful for replicating an outdoor workout, especially if you crank up the incline and give it a real heave-ho. Pump your arms, and you’ll target back, shoulders, arms and chest, while working glutes, hamstrings, quads, calves and all those shin and foot muscles. Try 1 minute of walking or running speed intervals, or wear a weighted pack for a 30-minute hiking workout. Who cares if the folks at the club snicker?
Great For: runners, hikers, climbers, skiers, swimmers
Last Updated: Feb 24th, 2006 - 14:18:11
© Copyright 1999-2006 by Hooked on the Outdoors
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