Newsletter

1. The Importance of Water
2. Stomach Strength Routine
3. Hitting The Track/Stairs
4. Importance of Strict Technique in Rollerblading

Water: A Substance to Abuse!

The most important nutrient in your body is plain water. Even your bones are 25% water. The muscles that drive your performance are 75% water. The brain that steers your limbs is 76 % water. The blood that carries your nutrients is 82% water. And the lungs that provide your oxygen are near 90% water.

The quality of your tissues, the performance, and their resistance to injury, is absolutely dependent on the quality and quantity of water you drink. And you have to drink it constantly. Light exercise in a temperate climate uses half a gallon of water a day in breath, sweat, and urine. Athletes in heavy training use over 2 gallons a day. A 165 lb. athlete is mainly composed of 50 qt. of water. In heavy training, he has to replace all of it every six days. If you would like to find about how much water you need to take in daily to stay hydrated go to: www.bottledwater.com.

The main thing to remember about water is drink as much as possible or your body can't perform.

Stomach Strength Routine

I cannot even start to explain to you how much strong abs and lower back will help your skiing performance. They will also help you lift better. A strong stomach will help you perform squats and presses correctly. Here is a simple stomach/low back routine:

• Crunches 2 X 30
• Ankle Touches 2 X 30
• Leg Raises 2 X 15
• Back Extensions 2 X 15

To perform Ankle Touches: start out the same way you start a sit up or crunch. Instead of moving your shoulders to your knees lay your arms by your side. Use your hands to touch your ankles without taking your back off the ground. You should feel it in your sides. To perform Back Extensions: Lay on your stomach and put your hands behind your head. Raise your chest slightly off the floor.

Hoping Hitting the Track/Stairs!

Two of the best facilities we have around are the high school tracks and the Pine Mountain ski jump stairs. For those of you who plan to complete the Medals Test you must start running sprints. A good running routine to use at the track is:

• Take one warm up lap
• Stretch (5-10 min)
• Sprint 1 lap
• Walk 1 lap
• Sprint 1 lap
• Walk 1 lap
• Then finish by doing 8-10 40-yard dashes

There are many good ways to train on the Ski Jump stairs. One-way is to run them as many times as you can. Another way is to time yourself running up and down once. To add extra difficulty to these two routines use a weight vest.

Another way you can use the stairs is to do polymetric exercises. Try some of these on the first set of stairs (The newer ones).

• Hop with both legs
• Hop with one leg and then the other
• High up the steps
• Skip up the steps
• Do High Knee crossovers up the steps
• Run Backwards
• Hop side to side down the stairs

Importance of Strict Technique in Rollerblading

It is extremely important that you rollerblade the same as you ski. You don't want to train all summer and find out that all you really did was learn bad habits. Make sure that when you are rollerblading you are keeping your upper body quiet and are in a good athletic position. Also make sure that you are looking ahead and not at your feet. It could be very beneficial to your body if you look where you are going. Also make sure you wear all of your protective gear. Remember we want to be heathly when ski season starts.

Letter From RJ:

I hope your summer training is going well. The weight room attendance has been excellent. For those of you who have not made an effort to be there, it will show this fall. I am excited for the snow to fall, but there is still a lot of work to be done. We need to condition our bodies for the winter stress to come. I hope this Newsletter gives you some more ideas for training variety. If you are having a problem in your training please email me. I will try to help or give you ideas to overcome your weaknesses. Everyone is different so I can help you customize your workout. My Email address is: rjlawrence@hotmail.com Good Luck the rest of the summer and train hard.