rikytheripster Posted December 1, 2003 Report Share Posted December 1, 2003 hey all am gonna b off boarding soon and need some tough training to build legs of steel. anyone have any workout routines? my upper body is good but need the legs built. cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vahur Posted December 1, 2003 Report Share Posted December 1, 2003 Squats would be probably easiest and most effective way (although I try to avoid them due to my knee problems, instead uphill running on sand slope :P will build up legs and helps general/cardiovascular condition also) Good source for exercises is: http://together.net/~ronjav/sbtp/index.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Gendzwill Posted December 1, 2003 Report Share Posted December 1, 2003 Squats, deads, lunges, wall sits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vahur Posted December 1, 2003 Report Share Posted December 1, 2003 As subject says.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason_watkins Posted December 1, 2003 Report Share Posted December 1, 2003 something I recently saw in a skiier mag: Stand on one leg. Now, do a squat, making your chest/shoulder touch your knee. Bend your knee and waist as nessisary to do this, but keep your shin more or less upright and don't bend your ankle. So do a few of those, then switch legs... repeat until you start to feel it. If you want something a little intensive, grab a dumbell and hold it straight up, arms over your head. Now do the same motion, holding that dumbell with your arms straight, so that at the bottom of the squat movement your arms are horizontal holding it straight out in front, your back is parellel to the floor, and your knee is touching your chest/shoulder. I tried this with a 30 pounder the other day and man was that intense. Works all those little bits of muscle to keep your balance instead of just letting you power through each lift. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Gendzwill Posted December 1, 2003 Report Share Posted December 1, 2003 Sorry, should have said squats,deads, lunges, wall sits. The wall sit link says try to hold for 30 seconds - if this is all you can do, your quads need more work for riding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vahur Posted December 1, 2003 Report Share Posted December 1, 2003 Not being native English speaker, the understanding of specific terminology without explanations can be little difficult. Provided links provide enough explanation, thanks! The wall sit link says try to hold for 30 seconds - if this is all you can do, your quads need more work for riding. Damn, if skiing requires 30 sec. of wall sitting, then I will drop snowboarding and pick up skiing instead: last time I measured I got 3 minutes, but I'm not sure, that it will be sufficient for carving whole day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Gendzwill Posted December 1, 2003 Report Share Posted December 1, 2003 Yeah, 3 minutes is about my limit too. For comparison, I hear Canadian national ski team guys can do around 10 minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vahur Posted December 1, 2003 Report Share Posted December 1, 2003 For comparison, I hear Canadian national ski team guys can do around 10 minutes. Well, then more squats and sand slope running is in order. Tomorrow, promise :) And 1 more post to become member, instead of junior one :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest north east will Posted December 1, 2003 Report Share Posted December 1, 2003 this might be oriented more toward serious racers or maybe not. is anyone doing power cleans as part of a snowboard work out? i was taught they are good for building explosive power which isnt exactly what you need for snowboarding. just curious will Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted December 2, 2003 Report Share Posted December 2, 2003 I'm no expert but I think that in additon to strength training (squats etc.), and lactic acid tolerance? (wall sits), plyometrics really help. They give your muscles power, which is the ability to fire quickly while under load. Exactly what you need on the slopes. In the gym, your body is fairly static, and you isolate a muscle group. While riding, nothing is static (except the skiers you pass :D ) Strength is definitely necessary, but if your muscles can't fire when needed to keep edge pressure on rough terrain, or to regain balance when your edge starts to break loose, it won't matter how big those quads are. http://www.exrx.net has some examples. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest north east will Posted December 2, 2003 Report Share Posted December 2, 2003 so that sounds like a yes to power cleans Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Gendzwill Posted December 2, 2003 Report Share Posted December 2, 2003 Originally posted by Chris In the gym, your body is fairly static, and you isolate a muscle group. Depends on the exercise. Squats and deads don't isolate - they require coordination of a bunch of muscles with emphasis on the legs, and build a lot of core strength. Many people believe that if you do squats, deads and benches, you don't really need to do anything else for general strength. Those are the big 3 powerlifting exercises. Of course if you want hyoooge bis, tris delts etc then you have to add the isolation bits, but we're just talking about general strength for riding here. This is all assuming you do these with free weights. If you use machines then there's more isolation going on. Neil PS Wallsits do isolate - it's all quad baby. Stay there until they jello-ize on ya! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason_watkins Posted December 2, 2003 Report Share Posted December 2, 2003 will: I read somewhere that skiing and snowboarding are supposedly an even mix of glycosis, anerobic and aerobic respiration. But in my own experience, my heart rate is rarely raised much boarding... so I think it's amost entirely anerobic. I think focusing on burst power and quick recovery might be just the ticket. After all, we've got the lift ride up to replace some ATP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellowjonny Posted December 2, 2003 Report Share Posted December 2, 2003 Jason, Very funny If what you wrote were true i would be out of work instead of a endurance racer and coach. Carving is one of the ultimate muscular and cardiovascular endurance sports out there. I would have any of my clients who wanted to carve powerfully all day long do 6 weeks of aerobic base then start doing strength and aerobic strength exercise. One indoor machine that i use alot for carving is the Concept 2 erg--high damper setting 3 minutes hard 3 minutes rest. Jason try wearing a HR monitor next time your on the mountain. adios Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest johann Posted December 2, 2003 Report Share Posted December 2, 2003 I'd reccommend some focused hamstring work with all that leg development. Sure there is some hamstring work going on with the Squats and Dead Lifts but If all one is doing is sqauts, deads and wall sits they're headed up the road to some muscle imbalance injuries. Little extra balance things one can do are no weight squats on the swiss ball. One of the trainers at the gym I know had a personal record of those of around 47. Don't forget the pilates or some other core work. If you're interested in off season work, cycling and speed skating will really condition one aerobically while developing leg strength. Don't forget the stretching. if you can try out bikram yoga, that'll keep the legs limber and develop some crazy balance muscles too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Gendzwill Posted December 2, 2003 Report Share Posted December 2, 2003 If you're worried about muscle imbalance, do some leg curls or stiff-legged deads for the hams. The stiff-legged deads scare me a little, so I do the curls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Wood Posted December 2, 2003 Report Share Posted December 2, 2003 Originally posted by mellowjonny One indoor machine that i use alot for carving is the Concept 2 erg--high damper setting 3 minutes hard 3 minutes rest. Yes, the erg is great! I mostly do longer sessions. What kind of stroke rate / split times would you target for the 3 on/3 off sets? Right now I'm at around 1:50 / 500m on a low damper over 6K. Thanks Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted December 2, 2003 Report Share Posted December 2, 2003 I spent a good chunk of time this summer and fall training for this season, and in the few days I've had on the snow I've noticed a huge difference. I've sessentially been rotating my gym days between lower body, upper body, and cardio. Lower body: Squats Dead lifts Leg Press Leg extension Leg curl Adduction Abduction Calf raise Upper body Bench Decline bench Incline bench Seated military Dips Lat pulldowns Seated rows Tricep extensions Bicep curls "standing dumbell raises" (bells at side, arms straight, lift up ad out keeping arms straight) Shoulder shrugs Cardio 1 hour on an elliptical trainer, vary the incline throughout, *no hands* Much of the reason for the upper body workout is to reduce the chance of serious injury in a crash. Liftig improves bone strength as well as muscle strength - both are needed to ride away from a crash. The adductions (or is it abductions? - the one where you push together as opposed to push apart) seem to be improving my knee stability greatly in addition to the groin area. Two seasons ago I was plagues with weak knees all season. Adding this exercise seems to have licked that problem. I don't do a lot of weight on squats or deads, I really concentrate on form. I do as much weight as I can with leg presses. Elliptical trainer w/ no hands is good for balance, posture, and lower back as well as cardio workout. I'm hoping that and the dead lifts will strength my glutes / lower back so I'll break at the waist less when carving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Gendzwill Posted December 2, 2003 Report Share Posted December 2, 2003 Wow, that's more than I have time for. I devote two lunch hours a week to weight training. I do a circuit twice, each exercise is 10 reps to failure more or less (except for the crunches and deads where I do more due to not having enough weight available). I don't have access to barbells, only dumbells and machines so I've had to adapt. Here's the circuit: Leg press (machine) Dumbell military press Dumbell deadlifts (sometimes I'll do lunges on the 2nd round) Crunches (machine) Dumbell bench press Back extension (machine) Leg curl (machine) Triceps extension (sometimes sub dips) Biceps curl Haven't been on snow yet this year but this workout has sure helped my martial arts (kendo and judo). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason_watkins Posted December 2, 2003 Report Share Posted December 2, 2003 Originally posted by mellowjonny Jason, Very funny If what you wrote were true i would be out of work instead of a endurance racer and coach Well of course racing is a whole different game. I didn't say "racing" or "carving like a banshee down the steepest longest trail on earth all day"... I said "boarding", just all around freeriding. What I'm saying is true in my experience, and I don't need to wear a heart monitor to know it. When I do a mostly aerobic activity, I can hear and feel my heartbeat quite clearly. When I'm boarding my heartbeat is elevated above what it would be sitting in the bar, for sure, but it's no where near where it is jogging in the city or even just walking uphill at the same altitude on the mountain. Your 3 minutes hard, 3 minutes rest cycle on that machine sounds like lactate threshold training. I'm no trainer or coach, but that's exactly what I'd focus on if I was doing an exercise program to improve my boarding endurance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skully Posted December 2, 2003 Report Share Posted December 2, 2003 I don't know if I would call this a workout or not, but I spent a lot of time on a Carveboard last year, and my time to get into boarding shape last year was much shorter than usual. Riding the Carveboard 2 to 3 days a week worked all the correct muscles for carving.... Plus - I think lugging the huge tank-of-a-board back up the hill after each run helped also. I've also done the cycling, running, weight-lifting thing, but they just don't work the right muscles for me. The Carveboard (and I'm sure any other dry-land trainer like the T-board) and plain old laps on the hill have been my best forms of getting in carving shape. My $.02:cool: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest johann Posted December 2, 2003 Report Share Posted December 2, 2003 Originally posted by Neil Gendzwill If you're worried about muscle imbalance, do some leg curls or stiff-legged deads for the hams. The stiff-legged deads scare me a little, so I do the curls. Stiff legged deadlift are great for the hamstrings and lower back. Its a nice stretch then contraction movement. Why are you scared of them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Gendzwill Posted December 2, 2003 Report Share Posted December 2, 2003 Just worried about my 42 year old back. I know done properly they're safe but I still am a little nervous, and I don't really have anyone to check my form when I'm working out. The leg curls work OK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest johann Posted December 2, 2003 Report Share Posted December 2, 2003 Originally posted by Neil Gendzwill Just worried about my 42 year old back. I know done properly they're safe but I still am a little nervous, and I don't really have anyone to check my form when I'm working out. The leg curls work OK. I can sympathize with back issues. Personally I think stiff legged dead lifts are a much better lower back workout, and safer than say hyperextensions. Biggest thing I see people doing wrong with stiff legged deadlifts: bending ones back. To really do them properly one needs to keep one's back straight as a board. Most people try to go all the way to the floor and end up rounding the back which is where the problems will happen. But if you don't have someone to correct bad form, and you have a leg curl machine do leg curls. My favorite is to superset the stiff-legged deads with leg curls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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