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A challenging speed/plyometric/core course is a great way to introduce some spice and variety into your triathlon training program, giving your mind a mental break from the long base training sessions and giving your body a chance for force and power development sets, an often neglected portion of multi-sport training.

This particular workout begins with several dynamic stretching and warm-up exercises, which is a necessity for any type of high intensity training. While gentle stretching may sometimes be sufficient for a slow endurance run, more ballistic stretching is beneficial for explosive training. After a dynamic warm-up, you will move on to power and plyometric box training. Force application potential will be highest early in the workout, which is why you perform these sets prior to the speed sets. Your speed work will focus on two primary characteristics of fast runner: a center of gravity that continually “rolls” forwards and a high leg turnover rate. Finally, your last set will include several triathlete specific core exercises, designed not only to improve buoyancy potential in the water, but also pelvic and abdominal stability for the bike and run.

Dynamic Stretching

Lumbar Circles - relieves head/neck tension and improves low back mobility.

To perform lumbar circles, stand as tall as possible with feet in neutral position. Bending to the side with the trunk, allow the body to “fall” to the side, keeping the arms hanging at the side and the body limp like a rag doll. Circle the torso in front of the body, keeping the head and arms relaxed, and back around to the other side. All movement should originate from the spine, not the head. Perform 5 repetitions, or “circles” in each direction.

Scorpion - improve hip joint mobility, relax thoracic spine, stretch hip flexors.

Lie on the stomach with both arms in a “T” shape out to either side. The head rests on the ground, facing to the right. Lift the right leg off the ground and move it across and over the body towards the left hand. When you do this, you will feel your hip “open” and the knee naturally point up towards the sky. Hold 15-20 seconds for each side. Repeat for the opposite side.

Cobra - improve low back mobility, stretch inspiratory muscles around rib cage.

Lie on the stomach with feet pointed “shoelaces down” and the hands planted in a pushup position. Keeping the hips as close to the ground as possible, push the arms into extension. Look forward and keep your breathing relaxed. Hold 15-20 seconds.

Cross Legged Stretch - stretch IT band, hip abductor muscles and glutes.

Lie on your back and cross your legs like you are sitting in a chair (outside of right foot on top of left knee. Reach through the triangle that is produced by the right thigh/shank, and left thigh. Hold onto the left thigh. Pull on the left thigh, causing the right leg to open into the stretch. Hold 15-20 seconds. Repeat for the opposite side.

Hip Twist

Lie on your back with both arms in a “T” shape out to either side. Keeping the left leg straight, bend the right leg to about 90 degrees and move it across the body towards the left side, while trying to maintain the “T” shape with the hands by pushing the right shoulder into the ground. Hold 15-20 seconds. Repeat for the opposite side.

Warm-up

Power Skip - improve ground reaction force, hip extensor mobility, and elastic recoil.

Perform a regular “playground” skip, but push as hard as you can against the ground with one leg with driving the other leg as high as possible, so that you achieve a bounding motion with each skip. 1 set of 30-40 yards.

Bounding - improve ground reaction force and elastic recoil.

Run with a bounding motion, driving the foot as hard as possible into the ground, and driving with the arms like a sprinter. You should feel like you are running as fast as possible with a “pause” in mid-air. 1 set of 30-40 yards.

Carioca “Grapevine” - improve inner/outer thigh mobility and lateral ground reaction force.

Facing one direction, move the right leg out and away from the body, then drive the left leg across the right leg. Push off the left leg as hard as possible while swinging the right leg out to the side again. Travel 30-40 yards in one direction, then repeat in the opposite direction, this time leading with the left leg and swinging the right leg across the body.

Long Low Backpedal - improve hip flexor mobility and ground reaction force.

Bend forward at the waist to almost 90 degrees. Then run backwards, maintaining a “low” bend at the waist and pushing as far out behind as possible with each leg. 1 set of 30-40 yards.

Plyometrics - 1 set of each

Jumps Onto Box

Choose a box or platform that is elevated 15-20 inches. Swing arms and jump up onto box with both feet. Land as softly as possible, then step off, and repeat. Perform 30 reps with both legs. For a more challenging workout, raise the box height, or jump with one leg rather than two. If jumping with one leg, perform only 15 reps per side.

Lateral Jumps Onto Box

Using the same box, jump with both feet sideways. Use your peripheral vision to ensure a safe and soft landing, then step off and repeat. Complete 15 reps for each side. For increased difficulty, jump with one leg.

Fast Feet

Lower the box height to about 2 inches above ankle level. Facing the box, “scissor” the feet on and off one at a time, moving as fast as possible, and swinging arms in a running motion. Complete 40 fast feet.

Lateral Ski Hops

Stand facing sideways, with one foot on the box and one foot off. Maintaing a quarter squat position, with the knees bent and torso slightly forward, jump over the box in a lateral direction, switching feet so that the opposite leg is above the box. Reverse and jump the other direction. Complete 20 repetitions.

Speed - 4 sets of each

Lean-fall-run

Stand as tall as possible. Slowly let body fall forward until your center of gravity “pulls” one leg out in front to catch your body. Immediately break into a 20 yard sprint, maintaining a forward lean and mid to front forefoot strike.

Mountain Climber Sprints

Get into a pushup position. Drive your right knee up towards your left elbow, then your left knee up towards your right elbow. Repeat 5x for each side. On the last knee drive, push against the ground and into a 20 yard sprint.

Heel-to-Butt Fast Feet Turnover

“Bounce” for 20 yards with a very small stride length and as high a turnover as possible, attempting to touch the heel to the butt with each stride. Swing the arms in a normal running pattern.

Core - 3 sets of each

Dead Bug

Lie on back with right knee bent up towards chest, right arm fully extended back behind you, and head/upper shoulders up “looking at bellybutton”. Your left arm should be extend at your side and your left leg fully extended. The abs should feel tight. Switch sides, extending the right leg, bringing the extended right arm to the side, and flexing the left leg and bring the left arm overhead. Complete 10 reps to each side.

Single Leg Bridge

Lie on back with one leg bent and one leg “hovering” above the ground. Arms should be resting at the side, palms facing down. Push through the foot of the bent leg so that your hips/torso move up towards the sky. Extend as far as possible, so that if feels like your butt cheeks are squeezing together. Complete 10 reps for the right side, then switch legs.

Side Plank Holds

Lie on your left side with legs fully extended and right foot stacked on top of left foot. Left arm should be bent at 90 degrees with your body weight on the upper left arm between the shoulder and elbow. Press the side of your body that is facing up (your right side) up towards the sky. Hold for 20-30 seconds, then switch sides.

If you have more questions about speed, power, agility, core, or other facets of specialized training for triathletes, you can e-mail elite@pacificfit.net I’d be glad to give you training advice. Specialized sets to make you a blazing fast multi-sport athlete are also included with the triathlete training package at Pacific Elite Fitness. Be sure to check out our weekly and monthly training specials - it’s time to start training smart at www.pacificfit.net!

Ben Greenfield runs Pacific Elite Fitness at http://www.pacificfit.net, an online portal
for personal training, triathlete coaching, and free fitness and multi-sport
advice. He resides in Liberty Lake, WA, where he works as director of sports
performance for Champion Sports Medicine, a training and testing lab for
athletes. Ben graduated from University of Idaho with bachelor’s and master’s
degrees in sports science and exercise physiology, and is certified as a
personal trainer and coach by the National Strength & Conditioning
Association. Ben also offers individualized personal training, multi-sport
coaching, training program design for athletes, lifestyle wellness and diet
advising, and corporate consulting for workplace fitness programs. To learn
more, visit http://www.pacificfit.net or e-mail Ben at elite@pacificfit.net

Tags: abs, coaching, core, exercise, low back, Power, speed, training, triathletes, triathlon, workoutabs, coaching, core, exercise, low back, Power, speed, training, triathletes, triathlon, workout

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Sometimes when we ask questions, we may actually have answers within us to those questions that we inadvertently do not know. But a thorough and deep probing of the mind before a question is asked can make a big difference. To an athlete who wants a peak performance, it is important that any goal realisation is based on the mind instead of the body. Consequently, you need to ask yourself these pertinent questions; What is my goal? what is my drive? How can these two work together to help me arrive at my goal?

Let’s take a closer look at the definitions given to the word “Drive” or more appropriately “Determination”

Determination is the ability of the mind to achieve whatever it wants to achieve; It is the will power to accomplish whatever the mind concieves; It is resolutions based on experiences, insight, wisdom, that drives the mind to successful accomplishments; It is the inner strenght drawn from the mind to accomplish a purpose.

What about Goal? It is the end result of accomplishment. It requires a vehicle (determination) to reach its destination (Goal).

As an Ace athlete, your duty is to allow your mind by training it to work in conjunction with your strenght and body. When you fail to connect these two forces, then success is not guaranteed.

In order to accomplish a feat, you will need to state a goal, then devise a way to reach that goal. While you are devising of ways to help you, you will need strong determination to carry you through. Fortitude is one factor that can help your determination. The ability from your mind to re-inforce your strong longing for your goal, consequently allowing you to develop a strong will power to follow through.

That is where action on your part is needed. It is not just enough to just think about Peak performance and not think of ways to reach it. When you think of ways, you should also bring to reality by your actions those ways you will need to reach your goals. Then success is guaranteed. As an Athlete, those ways could be rigorous and consistent exercises that will ensure mastery in a particular sports endeavour.

My summary is this: State of mind means all things. You have to make up your mind to achieve whatever you want. Then support that decision with actions that can help you to achieve what your mind decides. This is what it boils down to; State of Mind = Goals + Actions + Determination = Accomplished Goals.

Conclusively, If you think you can achieve it, then you will, if you think you can’t, then you can’t. The two situations are correct, it all depends on which side you fall in.

Joe Okoro writes about how to become an Ace Athlete in his free reports. You can sign up for his courses and get additional information by visiting http://www.coolcashjackpot.com/aceform.htm.

Tags: ace athlete, athlete, body building tips, bodybuilding, sports nutrition, weight lifting exercisesace athlete, athlete, body building tips, bodybuilding, sports nutrition, weight lifting exercises

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An increasing number of people around the world, have come to the realisation that each of us is all powerful. Each of us has the profound ability to create the life experience we choose. This is not about having control over others, it is about the power to choose and experience peace, love, joy and prosperity in our own personal lives. As with any experience, as an increasing number of people realise and practice this in their lives, the joyous awareness spreads to others. In such an atmosphere, the concept of World Peace is an idea whose time has come.

The World Peace exercise offered in this article, was created by the author in a sudden rush of inspiration on the 7th of November, 2005. As soon as it was publicised, it began gathering supporters around the globe. This is something that each one of us can do. For us to have world peace, there needs to be enough of us that resonate world peace. This is a wonderful start! It is with much joy, that I present to you The World Peace Exercise.

1. Fill a glass jug or carafe with water - preferably rainwater or bottled water,

2. On a piece of paper the size of a large coaster, write ‘World Peace’ - you can design it as you like with sacred geometry (I use the star of David - two triangles one on top of the other - one turned upside down),

3. Place the coaster on your altar - then the carafe on top of that,

4. Also place on your altar a glass goblet,

5. Every day - meditate for a few minutes, then put your hands around the carafe of water and focus lovingly on world peace,

6. Once you’ve done that, pour a goblet of the water and drink it.

7. Please note that you can put your own phrases into the water instead, personal peace is the start of world peace.

The programming of water has been around for a long time. Water, like glass and quartz is wonderful at taking on the vibrations around it. In more recent times, Dr Masaru Emoto has worked extensively with studying and even photographing the effects of focusing different intentions into water. He has shown that all is needed is to ’show’ the water a picture or words overnight, and the water literally changes form. Dr Emoto travels the world lecturing about his findings.

It is well worth trying this exercise for two weeks, to see for yourself the effect it has on your life.

Daniella Breen has been working with metaphysical concepts for well over 20 years. She has a forum for the World Peace Exercise and invites any interested and respectful parties to participate. Go to the forum at this site. Shaman Goddess

Tags: blessing, Emoto, healing, metaphysic, peace, vibrational, water, worldblessing, Emoto, healing, metaphysic, peace, vibrational, water, world

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