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Extreme Measures

Design for your “extremely” special client a whole-body functional training program that integrates not only strength and power through movement and balance but also body awareness through instability.

In the fitness industry, there is growing evidence of a paradigm shift toward athletically oriented training. Athletes’ acceptance of sport-specific conditioning has contributed to functional fitness, prehabilitation, and active rehabilitation and postrehabilitation.

Elements of sports conditioning are evident in many personal trainers’ programs. Just as elite athletes train for performance, regular clients now pursue fitness goals more practical than developing good-looking physiques. They want to move well and enjoy injury-free activity. Trainers, too, are enjoying this shift in thinking; it allows them to dip into their athletic
toolboxes and apply more complex drills to inspire clients and produce superior results.

“Extreme” sports—such as snowboarding, skateboarding and rock climbing—require more than “extreme”
training or repetitive skill rehearsal. Neophytes eager to achieve competence in the skills required for these popular sports may be either too young to have a solid foundation of athletic skills or old enough to have been locked into a linear system of movement and isolation training methods. Those who train well enough not just to be competent but to excel are rewarded with the ability to participate in sports that are exciting, fulfilling and, for many, addictive.

Today, many personal fitness trainers have clients who participate “recreationally” in extreme sports; other exercise professionals face the challenge of preparing athletes to push their physical limits by trying new tricks and techniques. I have received from trainers many requests for advice on sport analysis and sport-specific recommendations, especially because these trainers often have little background in these formerly fringe sports that are rapidly becoming mainstream.

To avoid the “observe, memorize and replicate
exercises” (OMR) training principle, a basic assessment of the biomechanics, physiology, time/motion relationship, performance variables and unique demands of extreme sports helps provide the ingredients for an exercise formula that transfers well to performance of these sports.

3 Extreme Sports

To have an idea of how to train your client for extreme sports, you need to know exactly what he is getting himself into. Here is an overview of three popular extreme sports.

Snowboarding

Freestyle snowboarding, which has roots in skateboarding, includes half-pipe, super-pipe (a more extreme version of half-pipe) and boarder-cross maneuvers. The half-pipe and super-pipe are long,
U-shaped courses groomed into the snow; the athlete is required to travel from one wall of snow as high as 15 feet and across a transition area 15 to 25 feet wide to the opposite wall of snow (also as high as 15 feet) to “catch air” (go airborne) and perform tricks. In the boarder cross, athletes race downhill over various jumps and turns.

In addition to freestyle snowboarding is slope-style freestyle snowboarding. In this event, competitors ride over a series of man-made jumps and handrails and are judged on the quality of the tricks and maneuvers that they perform en route.

Finally, freeride snowboarding takes place over natural terrain as one rides trees, cliff drops and
powder lines.

Boarding sports, including both snowboarding and skateboarding, feature an array of techniques and tricks that involve catching air, carving long turns, switching stances, jumping, spinning and grabbing the board while continuing forward, and spinning one’s whole body 180 to l,080 degrees (a triple rotation)!

Skateboarding

Skateboarding also features subspecialties. These include street skating (skating on streets, curbs, benches and handrails), “vert” skating (skating on ramps and other vertical structures), half-pipe (a U-shaped ramp with walls 2 to 8 feet high) and vert ramp (a half-pipe with steep, perfectly vertical sides).

Rock Climbing

Rock climbing is a highly technical and tactical sport that can be learned indoors or outdoors. Climbers source the best route up steep rock faces, often selecting tiny nearby holds and cracks instead of stretching beyond their range for a better hold.

Two Training Systems for Extreme Sports

Key focus areas in training for dynamic, unpredictable sports include anaerobic energetics, multijoint strength, speed, agility, balance, quickness, reaction time, balanced flexibility and highly tuned proprioception. For extreme sports, these components can be combined into two main groupings: Linked System Strength™ Training (which combines multijoint strength, braking strength, explosive power, coupling and rotary power into one training style of complex exercises) and Performance Balance™ (which blends dynamic balance, core stability, agility, quick reactions, and proprioception and body awareness).

Linked System StrengthÔäó Training

To execute extreme-sports techniques, an athlete needs integrated coordination of his entire body: a linked system that
harmonizes athletic actions. However, typical strength training isolates specific muscle groups, developing the body in a piecemeal approach. This is often done with the body completely unloaded and sitting stationary on a machine while moving one isolated body part through a controlled range of motion (ROM), usually in a strict linear or single-plane movement.

Optimal movement occurs through a linked system called the kinetic chain. Exercise creation for extreme sports is based not on muscle training but on move-ment training to fire muscles in the correct sequence and build body control within movements. Multijoint lifts, cross-body actions, contralateral lifts and complex exercises predominate in this system. Proper muscle sequencing through full-body actions arms the athlete to transfer greater power through the body and produce more efficient movement while expending less energy.

Core rotation (working in a transverse plane) always incorporates a weight shift from back leg to front leg and from hip-drop phase to drive-up phase. It begins with a strength emphasis and controlled speeds and finishes with quick countermovements focused on power initiation. Core rotation itself is part of the sport technique and, as a physical tool, helps transfer angular momentum to optimize power through the kinetic chain. Using rotary movements, cross-body lifts and contralateral exercises helps link the lower body and upper body.

Snowboarding requires great leg strength, particularly eccentric strength, for negotiating high-speed turns, landing big jumps and working against gravity and inertia on steep slopes. Explosive power and quick coupling enter the equation to create “pop” off jumps and shift quickly from edge to edge. Making sharp downhill turns and spinning during jumps and tricks depend on torso rotation.

Eccentric leg strength also helps skateboarders absorb the impact of landing after tricks and jumps. Similarly, explosive power with quick coupling is needed for the high, powerful ollies and nollies (jumps performed by tapping the tail or nose of the board on the ground). Considering that most tricks stem from the ollie, the technique that makes the board and rider airborne, power and
coupling are especially important.

Rock climbers need strong legs to drive their bodies upward. Their training should stress force production from the lower body and concentrate on the toes and ankles. If a climber relies well on her legs, her arms should not be fully fatigued when she reaches a difficult
summit. Grip strength and endurance and superior hip mobility are also vital tools in the climber’s repertoire.

Rotational mobility and strength help the climber both to reach across the body for holds and to transfer force to draw the body up into position. Moreover, high-density workouts for strength and endurance can prevent fatigue from impeding mental clarity.

For specific exercises, progressions and a workout plan, see “Linked System Strength™ Training Exercise Inventory” on page 28 and “Extreme Sports Exercise Program” on page 36.

Performance BalanceÔäó

The body contains receptors, sensors and “mini-brains” that compute each part’s position. Each joint and muscle reads its position with regard to the rest of the body and works cooperatively with other muscles in the kinetic chain to produce sport movements, tricks and injury-
preventing reactions.

Balance and body awareness are highly trainable. However, your client’s body must be out of balance for you to train balance! The neuromuscular and sensory roles of detecting imbalance, computing the correct reaction and coordinating corrective movements require exercising out of balance to facilitate improvement.

The body functions as a unit, muscles firing sequentially to produce desired movements. Some muscles contract to help produce movement; some contract to assist with balance; some contract to stabilize the spine and hold it in a safe, neutral position. Other muscles fire either to adjust whenever the body recognizes a shift in position or to correct an error such as loss of balance. Core stabilizers and spinal erectors contract isometrically to stabilize posture and resist forces of instability.

The unstable and unpredictable
environments of extreme sports demand extraordinary feats of strength and balance. Preparation requires focus on secondary fitness characteristics, such as dynamic balance, proprioception, body awareness, coordination, agility and reaction skills. Balance leads to control, which facilitates visual awareness and proper decision making, success factors critical for the extreme sports discussed here.

What’s the bottom line? Your client
is only as strong as his weakest link. Strength imbalances and deficiencies are easily identified during exercises performed in unstable conditions. Such weaknesses train up to the level of the strong parts. In this way, balance training not only aims to improve body control and regain balanced body position but also considers balanced strength and flexibility throughout the body, factors equally important for performance improvement and injury prevention.

Acute or chronic injuries, strength imbalances, limb-length discrepancies and repetitive technical flaws can contribute to flexibility imbalances or minor problems in one area of the body and affect other muscles and joints. For example, as a protective mechanism, the body compensates for a tight left adductor muscle group by shifting more body weight to the right side. After repeated workouts and competitions, this compensatory shift may lead to a damaged right knee or ankle. This injury would be blamed on one obvious sport action, but, in truth, the body would have been set up over time to be injured. Likewise, most sports injuries can be traced back to problems in other areas of the body.

A snowboarder makes endless adjustments to accommodate changing terrain, jumps and tricks and needs a highly trained proprioceptive system; laying down motor engrams can help make this autonomic. (The three stages of motor learning are cognitive, associative and autonomic. Learning and rehearsing reactive movements help make a response autonomic, as opposed to having to think first and move second.) A snowboarder also requires reaction skills for unexpected changes in terrain. On the mountain, she needs the agility to change direction quickly by transferring her weight from edge to edge in an instant.

Similarly, a skateboarder must make automatic adjustments because of his
ever-changing body position, the technical demands of tricks, and skateboard
construction and design. The athlete needs both dynamic balance drills and instability integrated into other exercises as a high percentage of his overall
training volume. Agility must also be emphasized to ensure that his body weight is quickly transferred and that his body position is altered properly on the board in mid-flight. Not all movements and tricks will be executed perfectly, so heightened reaction skills will help the athlete survive another fun day on the board.

For specific exercises, progressions and a workout plan, see “Performance Balance™ Exercise Inventory” on page 34 and “Extreme Sports Exercise Program” on page 36.

Other Important Performance Indicators

Feet

In snowboarding, the feet are strapped to the board in boots that support the ankles. Conversely, a skateboarder’s feet are free of constraint; the shoes worn allow a broad ROM about the ankle to aid the performance of tricks, many of which feature flipping and spinning the board and require amazing foot and ankle control, coordination and stability. Conditioning programs for both sports must focus on ankle strength and prehab exercises.

Rock climbers need to be strong from their toes to their fingertips and able to generate force from their feet at various angles and mechanical disadvantages. Involving the toes and ankles in leg exercises is particularly beneficial.

Anerobic Energetics

Athletes who participate in boarding sports draw from the body’s ATP-PC
system to perform tricks and from a blend of anaerobic and aerobic energy supplies during freestyle and freeride snowboarding and street skateboarding. During vert skating competitions, skaters complete tricks every 2 to 3 seconds for 45 seconds, placing high demands on their anaerobic glycolytic systems. Both riders and skaters should train anaerobically by using functional exercises with a super-high number of repetitions or
exercise supersets. Emphasize developing the athlete’s ability to generate power, handle instability and coordinate actions under fatigue.

Climbing is also very strenuous but is more continuous. A climber can intersperse a climb with long, purposeful ascents and rest periods. Proficiency of technique, degree of difficulty and continuous
climb time all determine the aerobic-anaerobic continuum.

Physical Training for Psychological Edge

In addition to physical prowess, these three sports require strong psychological characteristics. In plain terms, these are called guts! Confidence is paramount to attack technical and tactical demands without hesitation. Maintaining acute focus during relaxation is also beneficial. Challenging snowboarders’, skateboarders’ and climbers’ athletic abilities during workouts (within frameworks that make sense for their respective sports) while allowing the athletes to conquer challenges not only gives them the physical tools that they need to succeed but also builds their confidence in their abilities.

Teaching nervous system activation warm-ups and encouraging athletes to use them before participating in their sports enhance their mind-muscle
connection and readiness to perform.
In extreme-sport training programs, scheduling balance exercises first stimulates the nervous system before the workout,
fostering a higher-quality workout and enabling the athlete to experience a
difference in alertness and performance. (See “Dynamic Nervous System Activation to Do Before Working Out or Participating in Extreme Sports” on page 32.)

Exceeding Extreme Demands

Extreme sports undoubtedly impose extreme demands on an athlete. Your challenge is to package your client’s training to meet and exceed those challenges.

Designing a whole-body functional training program that not only integrates strength and power through movement and balance but also integrates body awareness through instability is the general focus for extreme-sports training. Blending funciton and multijoint sequential muscle firing and incorporating the techniques, tactics and tricks of these sports into exercise variables will set you and your client on the right course to sport-specific results. Enjoy coaching your athlete to extreme personal success!

Linked System Strength™ Training Exercise Inventory

For all linked lifts described in this section, start with a slow, controlled tempo during the acclimation phase and progress to a power-up, control-down tempo. Next, train at a power-up, fast-down tempo. Finally, add quick coupling to eliminate the pause between the concentric and eccentric phases; triggering the hips generates the most power from quick coupling. Always use the power-up, control-down movement speed for subsequent new multijoint exercises so the client can learn and adapt to new movements safely. See “Extreme Sports Exercise Program” on page 36 for details on the appropriate numbers of sets and reps.

LS1. Standing Olympic Bar Fly Catches With Lateral Loading

Focus

Chest, full body

Setup

  • Stand with torso upright, core contracted, knees flexed and feet wider than shoulders.
  • Hold bar upright so one end sits on floor in front of midline about 2 feet in front of body.
  • Hold upper end of bar in right hand and lower into fly position, loading right leg.

Execution

  • Follow leg/hip/core/shoulder sequence to drive bar up out of fly position and toward midline.
  • Release bar and catch early in descent to other side.
  • Lower left arm into fly position, contract and brake with core, and shift body weight to left leg while flexing and loading leg to absorb weight, gravity and momentum.

Progressions

  • Beginners should pass bar from hand to hand. (This progression offers safety and less load to absorb.)
  • Advance exercise by increasing weight, decreasing time between concen- tric and eccentric phases (coupling), or lightening load while standing on BOSU Balance Trainer.
LS2. BOSU Unstable Rotary Wood Chops

Focus

Core, full body

Setup

  • Stand on BOSU, perpendicular to pulley or 8-foot or longer strength tubing.
  • Hold handle in both hands, set abs and lower handle toward back leg.

Execution

  • Follow leg/hip/core/shoulder sequence to pull handle away from back leg, out, around and across body, and up toward front shoulder.
  • Return under control, pausing in front of midline for 3 seconds before lowering to start position. Body weight should shift from back leg to front leg.

Progressions

  • During setup, accelerate coupling and power initiation to produce next rep.
  • Perform exercise with controlled tempo throughout but with eyes closed.
LS3. Medicine Ball Shoulder Step and Catch

Focus

Shoulders, full body

Setup

  • Stand and face partner with abs set and knees flexed.
  • Prepare to pass medicine ball from your right shoulder to partner’s right shoulder.

Execution

  • Just before catching ball (in air), step laterally with right leg, land and load leg just as you catch it.
  • Absorb load by braking with core while allowing some rotation.
  • To return pass, triple extension through leg (firing muscles that cross ankle, knee and hip), trigger hips, rotate core and push ball from shoulder to partner. Ensure orderly sequencing.

Progressions

  • Use heavier ball or move farther away from partner.
  • Catch ball under control and add explosiveness to return phase.
  • Catch and lower ball with greater speed, retaining powerful concentric phase.
  • Execute with fast tempo throughout, including quick coupling and power initiation.
LS4. Supine Balance Towel Pull-Ups

Focus

Back, forearms, full body

Setup

  • Position Olympic bar waist-high across power rack.
  • Drape two sweat towels shoulder-width apart over bar.
  • Place feet on stability ball, grasp towels and begin in supine position. Body should be straight from head to toe.
  • Keep neck in neutral position.

Execution

  • Contract to remain stable on ball.
  • Grip towels and pull chest up to bar.
  • Lower body under control to full range.

Progressions

  • Put just one foot on stability ball.
  • Trainer adds manual resistance (by pushing down on client’s chest) during concentric phase until client is fatigued and then contributes assisted spot (by pushing up on client’s back) to help force out reps.

Dynamic Nervous System Activation to Do Before Working Out or Participating in Extreme Sports

Physiological Measure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Psychological Benefit

warming up athletically. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . hones focus for competition

turning on the mind-muscle connection. . . . . . . activates and alerts the mind

training muscle compliance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . increases aggressiveness

producing more efficient energy. . . . . . . . . . . . . increases alertness

pumping more fluid to the joints. . . . . . . . . . . . decreases fear of injury

executing sport-specific motor programs. . . . . . .reduces performance stress

LS5. BOSU Box Step-Ups Into Towel Pull-Up

Focus

Legs, back, grip

Setup

  • Position plyometric box (or two flat benches side by side) under chin-up bar.
  • Place one BOSU on box.
  • Drape two sweat towels at varied widths over bar. (For climbers, this places more force on one side of body and works differ ent joint angles to prepare client to reach and grab holds at varied heights and widths.)
  • Stand and face box/BOSU.

Execution

  • Step onto BOSU.
  • Drive up with power but take time to balance and hold at top before grabbing towels and pulling up to front pull-up position.
  • Lower under control, landing one leg on BOSU and securing balance before releasing towels and lowering to start position.
  • Vary foot placement on BOSU.

Progression

Increase height of box/BOSU.

LS6. Standing Stability Ball Push

Focus

Core, hips, full body

Setup

  • Stand on BOSU with knees flexed and abs set.
  • Hold stability ball in front of torso.

Execution

  • Trainer pushes ball first to right for 3 seconds and then to left for 3 seconds.
  • Alternate for recommended number of reps.
  • Contract core, hips and adductors to hold body position and hold ball in middle. (Brake against rotation to prevent trainer from pushing ball to side.)

Progressions

  • Remove BOSU. When trainer applies stronger push, brake against greater force and add greater lateral loading on legs to shift weight more.
  • Remove BOSU. Jump in air with ball, land (absorb load) and contract core. As your feet touch floor, trainer pushes. Time a land/contract sequence.

Performance Balance™ Exercise Inventory

Most extreme sports involve speed, contact, falling and impact. Balance and a finely tuned body will help your athletic client maintain readiness for his chosen sport. Performance-balance exercises accomplish prehabilitation not only to help prevent injuries but also to improve performance and speed recovery in case of injury. Training for balance can accelerate activation of a coordinated muscle response, reducing the likelihood of inappropriate response patterns and potential injuries. The goal is to facilitate correct responses to unpredictable stimuli, a constant factor in extreme sports. See “Extreme Sports Exercise Program” on page 36 for details on the appropriate numbers of sets and reps.

PB1. Extreme Balance Board Cross-Body Squat to Lateral Raise and Hold

Focus

Shoulders, legs, core

Setup

  • Stand on extreme balance board with knees flexed and abs set.
  • Maintain balanced position, continually making minor adjustments.
  • Hold dumbbell in right hand.

Execution

  • Lower into squat, moving dumbbell across body to opposite (left) knee and keeping back straight while allowing some rotation.
  • Extend back up to standing position, reverse rotation and lift dumbbell up into lateral raise position.
  • Hold at top for 3 seconds, using legs, hips and core to maintain balanced position.
  • Use shoulder and core to hold dumbbell position.

Progression

Increase weight of dumbbell to force more power initiation.

PB2. Extreme Balance Board Dual Instability Push-Up to Knee Pull-In

Focus

Chest, core

Setup

  • Assume push-up position with hands on extreme balance board and feet on stability ball.
  • Set abs and find balance point.

Execution

  • Slowly perform push-up.
  • Return to top, pulling knees in toward chest with lower abs and hip flexors so ball rolls closer to hips.
  • Extend legs back to start position and immediately lower into next push-up.

Progressions

  • Close eyes.
  • Add more reps.
PB3. Extreme Balance Board Knock-Offs

Focus

Legs, core

Setup

  • Stand on extreme balance board in sport-specific stance.
  • Lower into athletic ready position with abs set.

    Execution

    • Trainer circles client, pushing lightly on client’s shoulders, back and arms to “knock off” client’s balance slightly.
    • Contract to resist, hold position or draw back into balanced position.

    Progression

    Trainer applies stronger and more varied pushes and pulls.

    PB4. BOSU Squat to One Arm, Cross-Body Towel Rows

    Focus

    Legs, back, grip, full body

    Setup

    Each partner stands on a BOSU, facing the other two arm-lengths apart and holding distal end of towel.

    Execution

    • Client extends arm and stretches lats to accommodate trainer, who squats and rows towel into side of torso.
    • Reversing movement, client lowers hips into squat while pulling towel back into body as trainer stands up and extends arm.
    • Partners seesaw under maximal but cooperative contraction.

    Progression

    Make exercise combative.

    Extreme Sports Exercise Program

    Snowboarding and Skateboarding

    This program emphasizes activation and balance when the client is fresh. Linked StrengthÔäó exercises are followed by Performance BalanceÔäó exercises under fatigue on Mondays and Fridays. The Wednesday workout focuses mailing on Performance BalanceÔäó exercises

    PB5. BOSY T Plyometric Jumps

    PB6. BOSY Time-Will-Tell Directional

    PB7. Extreme Balance Board Squat to Chest-Pass


Peter Twist, MSc

"Peter Twist, MSc, is the president and CEO of TWIST Performance + Wellness™. He is an exercise physiologist who coached for 11 years in the NHL and is currently partnered with the China Olympic Committee to lead the training and rehabilitation of their summer and winter Olympic teams. His company operates franchised health centers in four countries, and offers health, fitness and sport certifications in 30 countries. Peter is the recipient of the 2010 IDEA Program Director of the Year award and the 2013 IDEA Fitness Inspiration Award. He is a passionate motivational speaker at corporate events and in 2015 was inducted into the National Fitness Hall of Fame. Certification: NSCA"

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