For any active person in the North East once the first freeze occurs, we turn our attention to ski season. If we are lucky enough to get snow prior to December it is a bonus, but the heart of the season usually falls between January and early April.
In order to prepare for skiing, one needs to find the time to strengthen their core as well as stretch the tight muscles that have been shortened by sitting for long periods of time. If you are like me and have limited time to exercise, there is a better way to prepare and it is called High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). Rather than spending longer periods of time doing more moderate exercises, it’s a system that recommends doing difficult, or intense, activities over a shorter period of time. You can perform these exercises in your home either before or after work and it’s an excellent way to prepare your body for athletic activity, as well as maintain a level of fitness that can translate to almost any sport.
Here are some of the benefits of Hight Intensity Interval Training:
Save Time: A must for any New Yorker, a HIIT workout lasts anywhere from ten to thirty minutes which is a relatively short amount of time compared to many workout styles.
Effective: Research has shown that HIIT workouts may actually be more effective because of the rapid jolt they give the cardiovascular system and muscles.
Fat burning/Metabolism boosting: HIIT workouts are very effective at rapidly increasing heart rate and keeping it there. This can help jump-start one’s metabolism and help burn calories even when they’re not getting physical exercise.
Using a heart rate monitor with HIIT: I remember reading an excellent piece in the NY Times about how a heart rate monitor can enhance the accuracy of your HIIT workout.
How to figure out your target heart rate zone:
Perceived Exertion. Rate your effort on a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 being rest and 10 being maximum effort. A 5 or 6 suggests moderate exercise, and a 7 or 8 is the vigorous exercise zone you’re aiming for.
Talk and sing test. If you still can talk while exercising, but can’t sing, you’re in a moderate zone — the pace you should use during recovery intervals. If you can speak only a few words (gasp) before pausing (gasp) for breath, then that’s the high-intensity zone.
Fatigue test. After my workout, I was pretty spent. That said, I could have done another round even though I really didn’t want to. I didn’t feel like I could push my heart rate much higher. At the same time, I wasn’t falling off my bike with exhaustion or nausea. That suggests that I was exercising in the discomfort zone and that the low and high numbers on my heart rate monitor likely represented 70 to 90 percent of my maximum heart rate.
Building muscle: For example, an individual who focuses on leg-based high-intensity interval training routines, such as jumping squats, side jumps, and frog jumps, is likely to build muscle throughout the legs, from the quads to hamstrings to the adductors. And this can help an individual manage pressure on this area, such as by playing sports that activate those muscles regularly. That said, if your primary goal is building muscle rather than burning fat and calories, weight training is the better choice.
Builds Endurance: Consistent interval training in a target heart rate zone has the effect of building a stronger and more enduring cardio-vascular system. Your heart is a muscle and the more you train it the stronger it becomes. To limit pressure on the heart and avoid pushing it past its limitations, individuals need to work towards reducing their heart rate. And unlike more casual or moderate exercise routines, high-intensity interval training sessions have been shown to help reduce heart rate, helping take pressure of the heart over the long term.
CSC+M 10-Minute HIIT Workout for Ski Season Preparation
Stretches: Perform each for about 30 seconds
- Heel and toe raise
- knee circles (clockwise and counter clockwise) and knee to chest
- Hip circles
- Quadriceps stretch
- Groin stretch (with toe touch)
- Hamstring stretch with towel assist
- Psoas stretches with a reach
Exercises:
- 10 Jumping Lunges with arm assist
- 20 push-ups
- 30 squats with body weight
- 40 bench dips: External rotation of the shoulder allows proper movement within the joint and prevents the capsule of the shoulder from being jammed upwards. Make sure you maintain shoulder position and don’t scrunch your neck up.
- 50 mountain climbers: Start in the plank position and maintain a neutral spine. Hands below your shoulders in and slightly widened. Do not allow your hips to rise. Based on your level of flexibility this will determine how far your knee will move forward. The key to this exercise is to maintain good form.
With any exercise rest is another key component which allows the tissue time to heal and grow. We recommend one day on and one day off.
If one is going to be traveling to a high-altitude area where the air is thinner on your off days you might consider 20 minutes of light jogging. This will help with respiratory endurance as well as flush lactic acid from healing tissue.
Here at the Center for Spine Care and Mobility we have developed a program to help prepare athletes for their upcoming sports season. The Kinesthetic Exercise Enhancement Program (KEEP) helps athletes by focusing on stretches and exercises that will enhance their given activity. If this is something that you are interested in feel free to contact our facility.
The Center for Spine Care and Mobility was started in 2000 and has developed into an integrated/multi-disciplinary health care facility. We offer services consisting of chiropractic, physical therapy, acupuncture, massage, and medical services. We are trained in/ have certifications in the following: Active Release Technique, Graston Technique (IASTM), Kinesio taping, Titleist Performance Institute (TPI), Gravity Fit, Dorsavi, MCGill Method, as well as cupping. We also have a department that specializes in pelvic floor issues with a natural focus on rehabilitation with physical therapy, massage, chiropractic, and acupuncture.
