30 min factory workout (ADTT)

[Mulletizer]

Another damn training thread...

Yeah, I know there have been a ton of threads about training recently; I have read them all (I think) and found a bunch of useful information. Unfortunately I am in a slightly tricky situation that makes getting to a gym, weights or a shower (although it is ok if I smell afterwards) tricky. Running is also off the menu.

The reason: to pay for the coming winter I am working like a monkey on speed (like a drugged monkey??) in a factory, doing 12 hour night shifts. Once I factor in my travelling time I have about enough time at home to sleep, wash and eat. So training is proving difficult...

I do get a couple of half-hour breaks and was hoping that the wealth of maggot fitness-fans and their knowledge could point me towards coming up with a good training scheme for these periods. I am really clueless about this so would really appreciate some help. I need to fit a full warm-up, stretch workout, warm-down and into one of the 30 minute break.

My goals are specifically towards my skiing:
- injury reduction
- improved stamina, strength and performance
- less fatigue throughout the winter (skiing everyday can really hit you after a few weeks, let alone months, especialy on pain sticks...)

So, not much then ;) These goals are actually all things that have been problematic in past winters spent skiing full-time...

I am leaning towards a 15 minute circuit with 10 min warm-up and 5 min warm-down. Hopefully I can get away with stretching when back on the job afterwards whilst "monitoring" the temperature levels on my machine in a quiet corner of the factory.

Does this sound good? I'd prefer to be using weights but they are a no-no at work. Any help with exercises? I'd really appreciate that because I am an exercise JONG. Was planning some skipping, press-ups, crunches, sit-ups, single-leg dips. Beyond them I really have no clue. Also have no idea about exercises that "balance" the opposing muscle groups to these ones. Any help/advice would be really appreciated. I've looked at several sites but figured - if I want to get strong for skiing I should ask skiers.

Thanks a bunch. Mullet.

[motown_fatty]

I would consider a jump-rope and some powerbands. The jump rope is a great warm-up and, if done hard enough, can be good cardio in a confined space and the power bands can be used for flexibility and strength training. Best of all, they easily fit into a small bag.

We used the Jumpstrecth brand (resistance can be as tough as you want) for football in college. If they provide enough resistance for a bunch of oversized hogs, they will definitely provide what you need for ski training. http://www.jumpstretch.com/Benefits_of_Bands.htm

[gonzo]

paging oarhead...

you want a circuit of bodyweight/plyo type rigs. rowers have these down to an art...

[snowsprite]

Originally posted by motown_fatty
I would consider a jump-rope and some powerbands. The jump rope is a great warm-up and, if done hard enough, can be good cardio in a confined space

Very much in agreement w/ motown_fatty. For my cardio kickboxing class we do about 10-15 min of intense jump-roping for starters. After about the 1st five minutes I feel like I'm gonna have a heart-attack...and I'm in pretty decent shape. Never underestimate the punishment a simple jump-rope can mete out if used properly!

Try varying how you jump as well..i.e.: start out moderate pace and then really push yourself (and get those knees up). Also try front and back kicks, double-time jumping, etc.

Good luck, sounds like a helluva schedule you've got there!

Sprite

[dubu]

if you got some stairs.. well you know what to do.

[DJSapp]

Consider ankle and wrist weights during your shift if you move around a lot.

[CantDog]

For crew we would do these death circuits. I'll go dig up the sheets this afternoon.

Or you could just lug in an erg and do a 2k piece...

[girlski0912]

Everyone has some great suggestions, I'll add some more...Core strength is key and can be worked on without getting all stinky. Wall sits, squats (done properly), and lunges (SHIT TONS) are great for quick isolation of your key muscle groups. Jumping into Plyometrics is a great book with a list of exerices that you can put together and do sets of them in your 30 hour breaks. If you get the book, look under the sections that they recommend for soccer especially.

[joshbu]

So a few related tips:

- Watch what you eat too. I know how easy it is to eat crap when you're working 12 hrs a day. The fast food temptation is a bitch. Fight it. Keep away from junk carbs and foods high in saturated fats. One strategy I used with some sucess is to cook up a huge mess of food on Sunday and then drop it into gladware in the fridge. Plus a daily multivitamen just to be sure.

- Don't discount your rest days. They whole point of working out is to rip muscle fibers so they grow back stronger. That means you have to give them an opportunity to grow back stronger. Try to get 8 hrs of sleep a night, and if you have a day off, resist the urge to pile on a bunch more workouts. Use your day off to recuperate fully (both from work and the workouts.)

- Skiing, (unfortunatly from a training perspective) requires muscluar strength, endurance, and balance. Don't discount the balance stuff. So I think I would do two 30 minute workouts a day: 1 resistance workout at high intensity and 1 balance/core strength workout at low intensity.

Good luck!

[Oarhead]

Shit, I wrote a fucking book at it all got erased.

OK, here is the short version:

Use and exercise ball instead of a chair, your balance improves and all of the tiny core muscles that get missed in ab training get developed further. Core strenght is something that can be worked on without a sweat-up and can be done constantly. A German study found that between international and national level athletes the only significant differnce in abilities was in core strength, not fitness. Cool stuff. I did not have a chair in my little apartment for 2 years, instead all I did was sit on my exercise ball. I would eat my dinner cross legged, read, you name it. By the end of it my abs and core strenght were awesome and my injuries were non-exisiting. My body was a lot more stable.

Use a wobble board - you can build your own. A plank of wood 2 ft by about 10 inches. Hammer a half cylinder in the middle so that it looks like a mini teeter totter. Learn how to balance it perfectly. Then throw a ball at the wall so that it come back to yourself and try keeping your balnce. Throw the ball so that it starts getting further from your body. Start doing squats with no weight and gradually build up to doing lighter weights (phone books hold out in front of you are not bad but see if there are any sand bags aroun, usually factories ahve these things lying around for some reason).

Move up to a circular wobble board.
http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/return2fitness/products/wobbleboard51_large.jpg

All of these things you can do while still working, not just in your 30 minute window.

Body circuits are great, use your body against you. Stairs are awesome, I did a lot of one-legged jumping up stairs and it really helps with strength, power and balance (muscular as well and fall-over balance). I started doing every second step and by the winter I was doing every 4th step. Stair ascension by jumping and staying in a squat position is another good one.

In your workout do some super slows. These are exercises that take about 10 seconds to complete along with a 2 second hold at the bottom. SInec you don't have extra weights, your body weight will do. You can use these for squats, one legged squats, lunbges, ham-string stretches, calf raises, push-ups etc. They should really burn.

Try to superset the exercises. This means that during your 'rest time' between sets do a different exercise that gets a different part of your body. IE if you were doing squats, then between sets do push-ups so that your legs are still resting even though a different part of your body is being worked.

Muscles can only contract therefore you need a differnt muscle to return the limb to the original orientation. Biceps pull your lower arm to the upper arm but the triceps (back of the upper arm) pull the arm straight again. Sometimes opposing muscle groups are working simultaneously for complex tasks or sometimes they work so that they give a joint some extra stability (like in squats, both your hams and quads are activated). This is called co-contraction. Due to the inter-relationship of the muscles, it is important to balance them. If you do not, you can get injured. example: In rowing your chest strenght is the shits, the back is completely overdeveloped in relation. If you let this imbalbance go too far then you can end up getting stress fractures in your ribs just by coughing too strongly (like if you were sick) since the chest can't counteract the back's power. (I have done this and it sucks).

If you avhe any more querstions you can PM me.


ONLY 3 MORE DAYS UNTIL UTTER DOMINATION BEGINS. GO BOYS!!
http://www.rowingcanada.org/images/news/photoarchive/2003_World_Championships/m_eight_action.jpg

[Mulletizer]

Wow, thanks for all the info very much. There's loads there that I had not thought of. A few quick reponses:

Stairs - no, haven't got any at work.
Wrist/ankle weights - I do loads of heavy lifting for work already...
Jump rope - yes, definitely
Jump into Plyometrics - will order a copy
Ergo - not a option. Thank God ;)
Food - I generally want to eat the whole time at work so splurge on fruit. Have a small sugary snack (eg piece of shortbread) and a sandwich on top of the fruit. And I don't drink when I'm working so that's helping me. :D
Balance tools - yes, great idea. will try to come up with something

Interesting that rowing has been mentioned. I coxed at a top school level until I grew. Ironically, when the crew did circuits I was put on an exercise bike; I generally turned it around because the sight of all those guys sweating in their lycra was too grotesque. So I never really knew what their circuits were. One of that squad (who I never actually steered) got a gold in the eight at Sydney. Fricken impressive.