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POSTED IN 01/10
Ian Harvey
Contributing Editor
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There has been much information out there regarding strength training for elite athletes. I feel this information has led to some confusion.
I believe masters athletes over 40 should not do such explosive and specific training for skiing in the weight room. They should use the weight room for a balanced general strength regimen and do specific strength on the skis (or roller skis) such as double poling and skiing without poles.
If a person is 40 or over and wants to stay active and healthy, he should engage in a regular balanced general strength training routine. Such a strength routine helps prevent “mysterious” knee, back and shoulder injuries sometimes caused by turning around, getting up, picking something up, carrying something or some combination of these.
Such strange and very frustrating injuries can keep us from doing what we love to do, be outside skiing, hiking, biking, running and enjoying the outdoors in general.
We skiers transform easily into “race horses” where the slightest unusual movement or activity can tweak something and mess us up. We should resist becoming this and try to be healthy, fit and balanced if we want to avoid consistent injuries.
General benefits of engaging in a balanced general strength routine are general injury prevention, improved body composition, general health and balance (especially important for athletes like us who participate in a repetitive motion type activity) and increased bone density.
I mentioned general health and balance, which is a big one, but one important part of this is building a healthy and strong back.
OK, I think we can all agree that this is a good thing. Here are some general tips that address common mistakes.
First the routine needs to be balanced.
The body can be likened to a tent (the old fashioned kind with the tent pole, lines and stakes). If the front of the body is worked a lot and is shortened, thick and strong, the effect is similar to tightening up the tent poles on one side really tight. The lines connecting to the tent on the other side (the back) will become long, weak and tight. Furthermore, the tent becomes imbalanced and no longer enjoys structural integrity (it is leaning over).
The same happens to our bodies. Cross-country skiers use the muscles of the abdomen and outer chest (put your left hand on your chest close to your right shoulder and then rotate that shoulder forward and see the muscle jump - this muscle gets used a lot), which makes the muscles strong, thick and eventually shortened.
Couple this imbalanced use and strengthening of the body with the posture commonly used when skiing (rounded upper back) and these same muscles become even shorter. This is why cross-country skiers all have tightness and sensitivity between the shoulder blades.
We need to loosen the tent lines in the front (lengthen the muscles in front through stretching and good posture) and shorten or tighten the lines in the back by strengthening, thickening and shortening the muscles in the back, especially the muscles that counterbalance the cross-country skiing muscles.
Second, vanity is an obstacle that some need to overcome.
Vanity can lead to us trying to develop the “beach muscles” and ignore the muscles and exercises that will balance us out. The beach muscles are not the ones we want to focus on.
Vanity will also tempt us to use improper form, which inevitably leads to injuries and a limited training effect.
These are major mistakes and the athlete would be better off doing no general strength at all than trying to impress people in the gym.
The main goals of regularly engaging in general strength are to strengthen the body and joints as well as to balance the body out.
Most cross-country skiers need to have their shoulders “moved back”, the muscles behind the shoulders strengthened as well as the muscles on the outside of the shoulders, the muscles between the shoulder blades strengthened, their lower back strengthened and their hamstrings strengthened.
I recommend dividing strength into two workouts: one for the front of the body and one for the back and legs. I generally do 2-3 sets of 8-12 repetitions on upper body exercises and 12-20 on legs.
There are different methods of designing a training session. Some focus on a muscle and hit it in different ways and from different angles until it is really worked and then move on to another.
Others use one muscle and then during the recovery phase for that muscle, move on to an antagonistic or at least unrelated muscle so the muscles recover more before being worked again.
I think if you want to get fancy, doing your workout one way sometimes and the other way sometimes is a good thing. The bottom line though is the basics - get in there regularly, with good form, and don’t sweat the details too much. This should be seen as a tool that can enhance long-term health and fitness and not as training for skiing.
I recommend doing 2-3 workouts per week. To be clear, I mean if doing two per week, that would be one front of the body workout and one back and legs workout per week. The workouts should not be long and grueling. It should last 20-45 minutes depending on the number of sets done. I do only one set on some of these exercises.
Front of Body Workout:
I recommend starting with the bench press (4 sets). The first set should be a warm up set with lighter weights. Then go 2-3 different bicep exercises (1-2 sets each).
I recommend doing one with the palms up, one with the thumb up (hammer style), and one with the palms down (reverse curl).
It is critical not to move any part of the body except the forearms. If the torso, shoulders, or upper arms are moving much, you are recruiting other muscles, can injure something, and will not get the desired training effect in any case. Reduce the weight and do it properly.
Then go to a close grip bench press (1-2 sets). This is best done using a heavy curling bar while lying on a bench (like the one used during the conventional bench press). The curling bar allows the wrists to be comfortable and not stressed.
A straight bar will bother the wrists. A curling bar cannot be rested on the traditional bench press bar supports, but you should be able to figure out a way to do the exercise anyway.
Then do two sets of overhead dumbbell presses (or a similar machine).
Then go to abdominal work. Pick your favorite exercises that work the abs from the top and from the bottom.
Make sure that during these exercises your back is not arching (for example, when most people do leg lifts, the back arches which often means that the Psoas is being heavily recruited and tightened and eventually this will probably lead to hamstring and back issues).
Most simple are crunches (barely lift shoulder blades off the floor with face up not rolling forward but having the motion going up and hip ups.
Lie on back with legs in the air perpendicular to the floor and then lift hips and legs up toward the ceiling and then let back down with no front or back motion of the legs and repeat many times.
I think that the ab wheel (this is an inexpensive tool found in most gyms where you kneel and have your hands on a “wheel” and then roll forward keeping hips and butt down so you are barely off the floor and then wheel back in and repeat) is a great finishing exercise.
Back and Legs Workout:
Start out doing a seated row. This is a pulley machine where you sit and pull a weight into your solar plexus area (3 sets). Focus on keeping the chest out and try to push the shoulder blades together. This posture is critical.
Start out with lighter weights and then increase. Then go to another type of row (3 sets). This can be free weight bent-over rows with a barbell or another seated row machine that hits muscles differently. Again, most critical is keeping the chest out and squeezing the shoulder blades together.
Then do exercises that work the deltoid muscles (shoulders) on the front, side and rear. For the front and side, I like using dumbbells and working with them with my thumb up and with good posture (1 set each).
For the rear delts, I think using a pulley apparatus with the “D ring handles” is best. Work with your palms down and grip the straight part of the “D”. Work the muscles just behind the shoulder by gripping the handle with palm down and moving it from about waist high on the left side (working with right hand) to fully extended out to the right side and just above shoulder height (2 sets).
Obviously, you need to switch hands and work the other side. Do not bend down or reach down to increase the range of motion. That works something else and might lead to an injury. Just focus on working the muscles behind the shoulder (rear delts) while keeping good posture.
Then go to the lateral pull down machine. Pull-ups can also be substituted. When doing pull-ups or lateral pull downs, it is critical to focus on keeping the chest up and on squeezing the shoulder blades (3 sets). More weight and reps can be accomplished by sagging down a bit or by leaning back really hard, but that will not accomplish what we are trying to do.
For the legs, I like doing a shallow front squat on a Smith machine. If this is not something that you are inclined to do, then skip it and go to leg extensions.
I recommend doing the leg extensions individually (single leg extensions) and with good complete movements.
Then do a hamstring exercise (2 sets). The one that I do is difficult to describe. I recommend staying away from a free weight hamstring/lower back exercise like dead lifts, Romanian dead lifts, or good mornings and just work the hamstring. I have found that many people create more problems than good with these exercises, since you have to really know what you are doing.
I’d then work leg abductors (outside of leg) and adductors (inside of leg) (just one good set each). I recommend hesitating when the legs are apart while doing the abductors and when the legs are together when doing the adductors. This reinforces what you are trying to do and keeps the form good.
Then I recommend doing a single leg press (2 sets). Most people do a double leg press. I have found the single leg press to be much more effective. This works the entire back of the upper leg including part of the hamstring that stabilizes the knee. This is a most important exercise.
Don’t work too far away from the weight (keep the seat placement honest, if you are too far from the weight, you’re working mostly the quads rather than the entire back of the upper leg).
Then hit the mat and do a bunch of supermans and any other exercise that works the erector spinae (the long muscles that go the length of the spine on both sides of it), which are really important to develop for overall well-being.
Some readers will not understand every one of my recommendations, but with these recommendations and the assistance of someone who works for a gym doing new member orientation, or with a personal trainer, you ought to be able to put something together that will enrich the quality of your life. Think, “I do the weight room stuff, so I can go out there and do that stuff”.
This selection of exercises is not meant to be comprehensive, but rather a balanced representation of basic strength exercises. I have left out for example upright rows and calf strengthening movements that are also very useful.
As you become more familiar with what you are doing and consider the goal of balancing your body, you can come up with what seems to make sense for you.
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