Fitness for the Outdoor Enthusiast
You are the sort of person who sees the outdoors as an amusement park. Come winter, you embrace the snow, and participate in winter sports. You hike in the fall, mountain bike in the spring, and kayak in the summer. Perhaps you stay in shape at the gym. But while your workout might keep you in good condition, is it a program that can enhance your athletic skills?
Lets look at a few aspects of fitness essential for sport specific training.
Dynamic Balance: Every sport requires its participants to stay in transitional balance from movement to movement. This is quite different from the static balance experienced by standing on one leg in a Yoga posture. Dynamic balance is often neglected in traditional training programs. Being either extremely strong or hyper flexible without having a dynamic sense of balance can be detrimental to sport performance
Multi-Directional Movement: Athletic activities occur in many planes of movement. You extend, you flex, and you rotate. There is no seatbelt holding you in to keep you in alignment. Traditional weight machines work the body in a linear fashion. In sport, this sort of movement is unnatural.
Agility: Being agile enables you to expect the unexpected, and react appropriately. Visual fitness is related to agility. If you can’t see it, you can’t react to it!
Dynamic Strength: In sport, the highest amount of weight you can lift on one repetition is less relevant than your ability to maintain your strength from movement to movement.
Dynamic Flexibility: Fluidity of athletic movement is dependent upon transitional flexibility. The ability to wrap your legs around your head in a contortionist’s position is less important then the smooth connection between movements.
Cardiovascular fitness appropriate to your sport: This is a tricky subject. Some sports require explosive bursts of energy; others require long-term steady state endurance. While its important to train the energy system utilized in your sport, having good cardiovascular endurance will keep you alert throughout the day. Performance will improve, and injuries will be prevented.
Articles: Outside Online
This entry was contributed by Lisa Mercer.