http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyk09nC3Et4

Fernando
http://www.primalfitness.co.uk

Firstly, congratulations on placing second at the British indoor boarder cross championships. All that hard work is paying off then!

This time I am going to get straight to the point.

Squats: A brilliant lower body exercise (when executed correctly).

I would recommend alternating between back squats, front squats and box squats. Please check the following article and video for proper technique, and tips on how to correct common flaws.

http://www.primalfitness.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=119

There are couple of things from your post that I would like to comment on:

Squat Technique: My first observation Donnie, is that you are inclining your feet on a plate. If your aim is to lift as much weight as you possibly can raising the heel does have some benefit (i.e. for powerlifting). However, if your aim is functional strength and injury prevention, (as in our case) I don’t think is the best thing to do, as it will not help with developing ankle mobility.

The reason that you feel more comfortable with your heel elevated is that the ankle does not have to flex as much as if you where flat on the floor. Remember, that we are going to spend a lot of days in Davos with our ankles attached to the board doing the crazy things that you have ready for us, therefore we need to mobilize and strengthen our ankles before the season.

Warming up: Foam roller and tennis ball; BRILLIANT!

I would advise caution when performing any twisting movements. The lumbar region should be trained for stability rather than mobility. If you do perform any twisting, ensure the movement comes from the hips rather than the mid section.

When warming up, focus on gaining maximum mobility in the ankles, hips, thoracic spine and shoulders. The knees, lumbar spine and scapulas should be trained for maximum stability.

By the way FYI amigo I am 74Kg and my back squat it is 155Kg you do the math!!

That’s all from me!

Fernando
http://www.primalfitness.co.uk

Where to start without making it incredibly long and boring.

For the purposes of this article, lets just focus on the joints of the lower body – The ankles, knees and hips.

Whether you are walking, running, jumping or snowboarding, these joints must work together to produce movement and power.

Flexion and extension of your knees and hip is what keeps you on that board regardless off the trick you are trying. Injure either of those two and you’ll need to come back on the next plane from Switzerland or Germany!

Some joints are designed to be mobile, others to be stable. This function alternates as you travel up the body – Ankles = Mobile, Knees = Stable, Hips = Mobile. If one of your mobile joints is stiff, and lacks the necessary range of motion, your more stable joints will have to compensate for this inadequacy. I.e. If your ankle or hips are tight, your knees will have to compensate – This is the most common cause of knee injuries in boarders.

Add in the fact that ankle mobility is already considerable restricted by your boots and you can see how this can quickly become a problem!

Your hips should therefore become the focus of most of your training… The power to make a perfect 360 actually comes from your hips, and you need sufficient mobility in the hips to safely absorb the impact when you land after catching some big time air.

A well designed training program should focus around ensuring adequate strength and mobility around the hip joint, while simultaneously developing strength and stability at the knee joint.

The following are just a few of the muscles that originate/insert, flex/extend the hip and knee joints: Quadriceps (Rectus Femoris, Vastus Lateralis, Vastus Intermedialis, Vastus Medialis), Ilipsoas (Iliacus,Psoas), Sartorius, Pectineus, Tensor Fascie Latae, Gracilis, Priformis, Gemellus Superior,Obturator Internus, Gemellus Inferior, Obturator Externus, Quadratus Femurus, Hamstrings (Biceps Femoris long head, Biceps Femoris short head, Semitendinosus, Semimembranosus), Gluteus Maximus, Medius and Minimus.. and I can go forever.

As you can see there are a lot of them. In order for them to work properly they need to be activated and work in balance with one another. Due to the “fabulous” technology (escalators, lifts, cars, conveyors at the airports, bottoms that open the door for you..) some of those muscles get lazy making other work harder. When the imbalance develops is when your bad karma begins!

To make matters worse, we tend to go to the gym and actually work on the muscles that are working and make them stronger, and the already lazy/weak muscles continue to get weaker, thus exacerbating the imbalance. You might look like an Adonis, but you are not necessarily working out smartly, you are not addressing the problems, and ultimately you are not getting ready for the next season.

You take your imbalanced body to the slopes put it on a snowboard and demand it to go fast, jump high, land hard, twist or even worse try that crazy trick that you saw on TV last night when you were getting drunk in the bar. You just had that coffee with rum on the slope at 10 am so you are indestructible! Come on bring it on! Then you wonder why you get injured?

So what do you need to do? Well, Get off the cross trainers and static bicycles (spinning lovers!), don’t go near a smith machine to do your squats, and forget trying to lift monster weights on the leg-curl machine. To keep your joints healthy and prepared avoid any machines that isolate your joints a provide stability to your movements.

Snowboarders need to bring the past to the present. To develop power and mobility in the hips stick to full range of motion Deadlifts, Squats, and cleans, multi-joint, free weight compound exercises that’s what you need! To develop strength and stability around the knee, include plenty of single leg work too – Lunges, Step Ups and Single Leg Deadlifts are all great choices.

If you live around Manchester just come to Primal Fitness and we can improve your mobility, flexibility, strength, endurance, power, stamina. If you don’t live around Manchester sign up in our forum and you can ask questions (www.primalfitness.co.uk)

Donnie, Stretches? Well. that is a subject where there is a lot of discussion and controversy (It is a subject that requires an entire article) . I am just going to tell you where I stand. I normally use the foam roller and the dog ball(harder version of the tennis ball) and roll from my Achilles tendon up to my shoulder blades before my training. This process, called Myofascial release (sounds dodgy but it is not!), is a form of soft tissue therapy intended for pain relief and increasing range of motion and tissue quality. Techniques include manual massage for stretching the fascia and releasing bonds between fascia, integument, muscles, and bones. The fascia is manipulated, directly or indirectly, supposedly to allow the connective tissue fibres to reorganize themselves in a more flexible, functional fashion. I use the foam roller because it is much cheaper than paying a masseur to do it for me every time a train! (I’d rather save the money for the snow season in Davos)

I normally do not stretch statically before training but that depends on what type of training ( again we have leave that for another time). Normally general public shouldn’t stretch statically before a regular workout, but should do the dynamic warm-up as you suggested in your article – you’ll just have to take my word on that!

The best time to do static stretches is just before go to bed when you are going to leave the body relaxed for several hours so that the muscles can adapt to their new length.

Donnie your case is different as you are actually recovering from a injury and in your case it is good for the rehabilitation of the muscles.

I promised myself not to be as long as Donnie but there were few points to mention and I could not keep that promise, apologies!

In a nutshell what to take from this:

1) Think what you do and try to be as active as you can.
2) When going to the gym try to pull, push, drag things. Try to exercise with compound movement, multi joint exercises. Do mobility activation exercises. GET OFF THE MACHINES!! BE MANUAL!!
3) People from Manchester area Primal Fitness is the place to get fit for Davos and the Synergy boys next season! (People from other cities I am sorry that you don’t have Primal Fitness but you can ask us questions in our forum)
4) Start your workout with foam rolling and dog balls!
5) Look after your body through the year and it will not let you down on the slopes in Davos next season!

This is all from me for now!

Fernando
Primal Fitness