a 20 min workout to maintain progress when you have no time
Hectic schedule the last couple weeks? Traffic? Internet's down? Dog shit on the sofa? There are times when our schedules get super chaotic and our normal routines get thrown out of whack. A lot of time when this happens, the first thing to get sacrificed is time dedicated to training, which can result in detraining a loss of the physical and behavioural momentum we’ve built so far.
The easiest way to prevent this from happening and instead continue to crush your training is to micro-dose exercise.
Looking for a full skateboarding focused workout program? Click here!
Exercise affects the body in a “dose-response” relationship - exercise is the dose and the body responds by building muscle, strength, power, mobility, conditioning, balancing hormones, etc.
In order to get the most of this relationship you need to dose the body consistently and try to minimize large gaps of time without the dose.
A micro-dose of training is perfect in those scenarios when you aren’t going to have time to get your full week of workouts in.
Fortunately for us, in 20 to 30 minutes you can get a quality workout done if you're pushing the pace and choose the right exercises.
the circuit
With training there's no perfect workout or combination of exercises to achieve the results you desire. This is actually fortunate, because it means that as long as you have a general structure, you can choose whatever exercises you want that work for your ability level, time, access to equipment, etc.
The idea with these exercises and the circuit is not necessarily to drive short term progression like a week of full workouts would - a “macro-dose” if you will. Instead, it's designed to promote long term progression by giving the body just enough to keep the physical and behavioural flow going until life balances back out.
These are bang for your buck movements that were chosen because they train multiple different physical characteristics within one move. Twenty minutes of work with these five moves and you've hit the majority of the physical characteristics you need for skateboarding.
Check the video above for the exercises.
set-up
As far as setting up this circuit you just need whatever weight you will be using, a timer, and some space to move. Set your timer for 20-30 minutes and work through each exercise taking each set to 1-3 reps away from technical failure.
What's technical failure? Basically the point in each set when fatigue has built to the level that it would be impossible to do another rep with perfect form. Training past technical failure forces the body to compensate and move into shitty positions, putting unnecessary stress on the joints.
Each set should take 3-4 minutes so try to give yourself only as much rest as you absolutely need to get the most out of the short amount of time you have to train.
If you're looking for a workout program designed specifically for skateboarding, click here.