I wanted to see about mixing up my gym days a bit so feel free to drop some nuggets. I do the Davies Ten shoulder routine for overhead sport athletes and it's served me well for a long time, but have been quite negligent of directly attacking my core and legs. That's what I'm mainly looking for here....some low back friendly core and leg routines that allow me to keep my posterior chain engaged with good back support. Thanks all....
Two recent additions to my dryland routine are stretch cords and plyos:
Stretch CordsSeem to act differently than weights, and there's a bonus with freedom to try plenty of movements. Also works stability groups in joints. The type of muscle fibers required I haven't figured out, but like gravity resistance, it's probably related to load and the speed of the movement. Anyhow, it feels different than moving mass around, and provides a nice alternative or compliment to weights. Sometimes I add a few cords in various places of weight machines (and free weights) in addition to the weight for an added effect near the end of the movement.
PlyometricsDepth Jumps: Hopping from a 10 - 30" platform and rebounding with a jump within a fraction of a second from landing. The land loads the muscles and tendons, which is the preload for the jump. I find a location with a series of platforms at various heights (bleachers) and use static objects forward of view to gauge jump height, like a baseball field fence about 20' away and a building much further back. I place a mark on the fence at achieved peak heights. The goal is to start from a low platform and gradually increase the depth of jump in relation to achieved vertical increases. People usually stare at the strange exercise. If asked, I tell them I'm catching insects.
This helps my race starts, which is most of the race in a 50
I also made up the plyometric pushup: It's just a old school "girls pushup" (aft supported from the knees instead of feet), but start by kneeling upright. While keeping things straight, you land and quickly bounce, with a push, back to vertical. Seems to work better with a tethered stretch cord pulling you back up. This exercise is done at home for obvious reasons.
Hoping this will help upper body speed.
Two recent additions to my dryland routine are stretch cords and plyos:
Stretch CordsSeem to act differently than weights, and there's a bonus with freedom to try plenty of movements. Also works stability groups in joints. The type of muscle fibers required I haven't figured out, but like gravity resistance, it's probably related to load and the speed of the movement. Anyhow, it feels different than moving mass around, and provides a nice alternative or compliment to weights. Sometimes I add a few cords in various places of weight machines (and free weights) in addition to the weight for an added effect near the end of the movement.
PlyometricsDepth Jumps: Hopping from a 10 - 30" platform and rebounding with a jump within a fraction of a second from landing. The land loads the muscles and tendons, which is the preload for the jump. I find a location with a series of platforms at various heights (bleachers) and use static objects forward of view to gauge jump height, like a baseball field fence about 20' away and a building much further back. I place a mark on the fence at achieved peak heights. The goal is to start from a low platform and gradually increase the depth of jump in relation to achieved vertical increases. People usually stare at the strange exercise. If asked, I tell them I'm catching insects.
This helps my race starts, which is most of the race in a 50
I also made up the plyometric pushup: It's just a old school "girls pushup" (aft supported from the knees instead of feet), but start by kneeling upright. While keeping things straight, you land and quickly bounce, with a push, back to vertical. Seems to work better with a tethered stretch cord pulling you back up. This exercise is done at home for obvious reasons.
Hoping this will help upper body speed.
