When you need to whip your body into winter sports shape and prep for ski or snowboard season, there’s no point doing single joint exercises such as biceps curls or calf raises. After all, when was the last time you did a biceps curl motion while skiing? Instead, utilize full body exercises that incorporate multi-joint movement for a combination fitness and lung boost. Here are 5 exercises that fall into this category:
- Clean and Jerk – Using a barbell or dumbbell, explosively lift the weight from the floor and up to your shoulders, then press the weight overhead by splitting your legs into a lunge.
- Deadlift to Press – Using a controlled motion, lift a barbell or two dumbbells from the ground, then press overhead. Return to the starting position in a slow and controlled manner as you push your butt our behind you.
- Squat-Thrust-Jumps – Squat down, kick your legs out behind you, kick your legs back up into a squat, then jump. These are also known as the dreaded “burpee.”
- Swing Squats – Holding a dumbbell or kettlebell, swing a weight with a straight arm halfway up, drop down into a squat, then explode and extend the weight above your head.
- Woodchopper – Begin by holding a medicine ball or dumbbell diagonally across your shoulder, then with relatively straight arms, chop across you body until the weight is outside the knee area, as if you’re chopping wood.
Perform 3-4 sets of the exercises above, using 8-12 repetitions and only enough weight to allow you to maintain good form. Try the entire sequence as a circuit for a killer winter sports prep workout. Videos of these exercises (and many more) are in the exercise library at PacificFit.net.
Written by Ben Greenfield
