Oof. My trainer has added another set of workouts to my schedule.
So now, every week is to include:
2-3 days of skiing
2 hot yoga classes
2 strength sessions
2-3 (short) heart rate sessions
For the heart rate and strength sessions, there's a warmup that takes me 12ish minutes. And I have stretches and small exercises I do several times a day for my knee.
OY.
I'm allowed to sub skinning for a heart rate session ;-) And I can do yoga + strength OR heart rate on the same day, but I am to avoid strength + heart rate on the same day.
I'll have a lighter "rest" week every month-ish. I also have a massage scheduled every other week in the evenings.
Does this even sound possible??? When I'm skiing, I don't have access to the gym or yoga classes. I could however theoretically do the heart rate workout on a ski day, if I'm not completely exhausted and my knee is behaving. But you know - I also have to work, take care of the dogs (ie make sure they get out to potty at a minimum), eat decent food, and occasionally see my husband! Who travels for work regularly. I may need to hire some dog-letter-outers ....
I think I need to start getting up super early on a regular basis. There's a 6:15 yoga class 15 minutes from the house. I could do that and then drive straight to the gym, do the lifting workout, and get to work by maybe 9:30 ...
Last season, my knee didn't allow me to ski enough to get any kind of workout (strength OR cardio), but the skiing hurt my knee enough to keep me from doing anything else on those days. My trainer is doing a ton of good for my knee. It's a slow process, but I'm hoping that will no longer be the case over time. But OMG.
I want to emphasize that this workout is personalized for my goals and my body and my limitations. This workout is not intended for anyone but me. My workout will be changing as my requirements change. So don't use this as a basis for your workout, and definitely don't do any weight lifting without some instruction.
This is the warmup for strength and cardio workouts. I modify a bit - I don't do jump rope or burpees, but I do jumping jacks with arms not going above shoulders.
My strength training looks like this:
Before anything else - deadlifts. Four sets with 3 minutes between each set.
Then the following in pairs (like, do exercise A then B, repeat three more times. Then move on to the next pair. Four sets for each pair):
- Lat pulldown + Hammer*. For now, I skip the hammer because it's irritating my shoulder.
- Ring pushup** + Decline Situp***. For now, I skip the pushups.
- Press**** + Row*****
- Shoulder clock******
Then for the heart rate days, I have two options. I will have more once my shoulder is solid again. For each, I do all of the exercises one after the other, then wait a bit, then do them all again, for a total of three times. I gather this is what's meant by a "superset" or "compound set." These don't take much time - the warmup takes longer.
Option 1:
- Kettlebell swings
- Lateral jumps
- Toe touches (legs elevated)
- Jumping jacks
Option 2 - "jump roping without a rope":
I am instructed to switch the specific foot pattern frequently to avoid irritating my knee. Seems to work.
- Two foot hop
- One foot hop (80/20 weight distribution)
- (Other one foot hop)
- Bring knees up high
Note, I can do the warmup and Option 2 at home. I could do Option 1 at home, too, if I bought a kettlebell. This would be handy as my gym is 20+ minutes from my house (but on my way to work).
OH ALSO. Since my trainer does MAT and is generally good at fixing problems, I asked him if he had any input on my angulation - specifically, why is my mobility more limited on one side than the other? We didn't have time to get into it today - have an appointment next week - but he did have me do a couple of things, and he has some ideas.
Footnotes:
* My coach calls these "hammers." It's a great oblique/core workout. Unfortunately, it still irritates my shoulder.
** Ring pushups - you can control the difficulty of the pushup by putting your feet forward or backward from where the rings hang. It's easier if you take a step or two forward. Using rings also makes pushups a lot easier on your wrists and shoulders, because they can move freely rather than having to track exactly.
*** Decline sit up
**** Press - basically a standing military press. It's preparation for more complex lifts. Currently I'm doing it with a very light bar so that I'm practicing the movement without risking my shoulders
***** Row -
https://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/two-arm-kettlebell-row
****** This is a shoulder PT exercise, basically. It involves a stretchy band attached to the wall, and pulling my arms back and to the side in various positions. At first I found the top two positions almost impossible, but now I can do all the positions comfortably, and feel a nice burn in my shoulders by the end of each set (and I'm sore around my shoulder blades - in a good way - the next day).
