Thursday, May 17, 2012

Non-Climbing Day Workout

I've been working on finding a good balance for working out on climbing days and non-climbing days, and after some juggling and research I finally created a workout routine for days that I'm not climbing but still need to work out.  I focus specifically on core, since climbing is a lot of core.  Therefore, I created two diagrams- one that shows my entire climbing workout, and one that focuses specifically on the core workout I'll be doing.

Most of the workouts are pretty self-explanatory, and the moves in the core workout that aren't can be looked up on youtube or any fitness blog.  For example, hip thrusts are just what they sound like- laying on your back with your feet on the ground, and thrusting your hips up, using your glutes and hips.

The purple sheet, titled my "Non-Climbing Day Workout", has other workouts that are more geared to my ballet training.  I'll go over quickly what they mean.
20 Scissors- Lie on your back, and put your legs up with toes pointed in the air.  Open them as far as you can, then bring them back up to criss-cross at the ankles before opening again.  When you open and close them, that counts as one.  Legs have to be kept straight, toes always pointed- no cheating!
5-5-5 Pushup series- 5 pushups with elbows going out to side, 5 pushups with elbows in to body, 5 pushups with elbows out to side again.
Jenelle's Leg Lifts- Go on all fours.
     1- Keeping leg bent, left leg up to 90 degrees and back down- do 10 times.  Do the same thing on right side.
     2- Shoot left leg straight up, kicking as high as you can.  Use lower back and butt muscles to best effect- do 10 times.  Repeat on right side.
     3- Repeat #1, but on 10th lift, leave leg up and straighten and close your leg 10 times.  Repeat on right side.
32-32-32 or 16-16-16- This is a series of releves, a ballet step.  A releve is where you stand in ballet first position (look it up if you don't know what it is), then push up until you're balancing on the balls of your feet. The combination is as follows:
     1st Set- Releves into plie, or bending the knees after each releve.
     2nd Set- Releve up and down with a straight leg, or push up to releve and then come back down on your heels without sinking into bent knees (plie).
     3rd Set- Releve up, then come down until your heels almost but don't touch the ground.
I do 32 of each set if I'm in ballet flats or socks (or barefoot), and sets of 16 if I'm in pointe shoes.  The key to releves is to think "Up!" every time you push up to the ball of your feet, squeezing your stomach, butt, thighs, knees, and calves at all times.  It's good to do this to music- one releve for each beat.
I always end each session with at least 20 minutes of stretching.  It's always best to stretch after your workout, since your muscles are then warmed up and easier to work on flexibility.

One last note- I climb 3-4 days a week for training, and do these workouts on non-training days (plus bike commuting to work).  If I'm teaching ballet for a few hours on a particular night, I use that as my workout instead of the at-home ones.  With all this, I try to take at least one full day off per week (not counting bike commuting).  It gives your muscles a chance to recuperate, build back, etc.  I try to put a non-climbing day between each climbing day to give my tendons a chance to repair as well.

Well, there's my workout.  Use it for your own if you'd like, and let me know if you have any questions. :)

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