Your Own Fitness Project

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Six moves to help you stay strong outside the gym.

Triathlons and marathons are now year-round sports and destination activities. The Grass Roots Fitness Project has developed a training program that enhances functional range of motion and core stability while reducing overuse injuries that may occur from pattern overload. Not everyone belongs to a gym, or wishes to, so these are moves you can do with very little equipment indoors or out.

It is important to choose exercises that fit the sport you do. Marathon runners run and over time increase their mileage. In much the same way triathletes will take to their disciplines (swim, bike, run) and over time increase their training distances. This training paradigm is essential and necessary for safe completion of the event. However, at the amateur level the benefits of weight training for endurance events are at best misunderstood or relegated to off-season conditioning programs.

Many resistance programs use machines and/or typical bodybuilding movements to strengthen major muscle groups. These typical resistance movements do not address the athlete’s need to increase functional range of motion in all planes of movement. The majority of muscles in the body run diagonally. However most of the typical lifting exercises performed with free weights or machines are mainly top to bottom. A training program that uses multi-planar movement patterns (not just up and down or side to side) to restore functional range of movement, increase dynamic core stabilization and enhance athleticism. The following movements can be performed at any point in the training season. They break the body out of the up-down box and require the body to control greater eccentric loads (which means muscles lengthening under tension) than typical machine or bodybuilding movements.

Our clients love the program. They feel that it keeps them fresh for their “Fitness Project”  and most importantly all you need to perform the program is a medicine ball equal to 5 percent of your weight. We encourage our clients to train outside where the environment serves to challenge the body as well. The training program for endurance athletes can be tailored to suit any fitness level or sporting activity. Our marathoners and triathletes are asked to perform these movements with neutral spinal alignment for 15-20 repetitions and no more than 60 seconds recovery.

MOVEMENTS

 Everything is focused on 15-20 reps for strength endurance purposes and can be done with or without a partner.  You will need a medicine ball. 

OVERHEAD SQUAT TOSS:  The squat toss is a movement designed to get you out of the back-bulging, anterior posture that running, biking and swimming require you to perform in.  It also opens up your hip flexors, which get tight from running and sitting in the bike position.  The squat toss is an explosive movement and can be performed two ways. The start position is in a squat with your chest lifted, head focused forward and the medicine ball hanging between your legs in your hands. You are then going to perform an explosive jump throwing the ball over your head and behind you trying to hyper-extend the spine in mid air. You will then walk to the ball and repeat the exercise in the opposite direction.  If you want to incorporate and challenge your reaction time you can turn around as soon as you finish the movement and try to catch the ball on no more then 2 bounces after you throw it.

SAND BAG TOSS:  The sandbag toss, like the overhead squat toss, can be done with a partner or solo. If you are performing the movements with a partner the ball will be thrown to him. If not then you can find a wall to bounce it off of or just go and get it every time you throw it. This movement is adding rotation and work in the transverse plane. Running and swimming demand rotation of the spine while relying on functional strength and flexibility in the transverse plane. The sandbag toss is done in a static lunge position. With your left leg forward and your right leg back (heel off the ground) you are to hold the medicine ball on your right side of your hip, in both hands, arms straight.  Your focus is out over your left leg.  You are going to lunge and the concentric (the part of the exercise where you are doing the work) part of the movement will be throwing the ball across the body and over the shoulder.  Perform the movement first, on your one side for 15-20 reps and then the other side.