Fitness: Prepare Your Legs and Core for a Race in 3 Weeks

Below are links for an article called "Prepare Your Legs and Core for a Race in 3 Weeks!!" by Chris Herrara, Zach Railey’s trainer.

Dr. Chris Herrera owns a company called “Jaguar Professional Training” located in Florida. He also coaches a number of sailors that are on the US Olympic sailing team including John Dane and Austin Sperry (Star) , Sally Barkow (Yngling) just to name a few. In addition he also trains athletes in other sports as well including but not limited to baseball, soccer and football. He has supplied a number of article to the USA Finn Association, of which this is one.

His website can be found at:  www.jaguarpt.com

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In a perfect world, every sailor would have ample time to prepare for a big regatta. Training would last 6-8 weeks and would take sailors through a variety of exercises to target both the muscular and cardiovascular system in order to prepare him/her to race to their fullest potential.

Unfortunately this isn’t always the case. With school, family, and other work commitments, sometimes you must do your best to prepare your body to race in under a month. Below is an outline with the rational, exercises, descriptions, pictures, and videos to assist you in training your lower body and core properly and safely with only 3 weeks ahead of you.

WEEK 1

To gain the best results in only 3 weeks, you will want to work on your muscular endurance with a focus on the quadriceps, hips, core, and a little hamstring work in order to build a good base and stability.
 

Monday, Wednesday, Friday

* Note that the exercises are in 2 separate groups, so the first set of all group 1 exercises should be completed and followed by 60 seconds of rest. After that, repeat group 1 exercises for set 2 and 3 and move on to the exercises within group 2, then all exercises within group 3. If the resistance column states: “Fill in” this means you must find the appropriate weight for you. The best way to do this is to start light and find a weight were you are able to complete the required repetitions were the last 2-3 repetitions are extremely hard. This is very important because in order to train your body to build muscular endurance you must keep the training characteristics “sets, reps, and weight” in a certain range based on your Periodization (**Periodization is defined below)

* A variety of exercises are described with pictures and video at the end of the article.
 

* Periodization- is manipulating training intensity and volume while working with the seasonal demands of sailing.

Stretching after the workout is important to help reduce the chances of muscle tightness and will help re-align the muscle fiber that was just broken down from the workout. Five important stretches are pictured at the end of the article.

Tuesday and Thursday

On Tuesday and Thursday complete a 30-minute session of cardiovascular exercise by doing intervals on either a spinning bike or rowing machine. Intervals can be described as switching back and forth between two different intensities for a set period of time.

For this week’s cardiovascular sessions complete 8 intervals that consist of: 2 minutes at a high intensity (approx. 70-80% of max heart rate, see pop out box for review on how to calculate max heart rate), and 1 minute at a lower intensity (approx. 60-70% of max HR). This means that you will go hard for 2 minutes followed immediately by 1 minute at the lower intensity to equal 1 interval. So, total interval time will be 24 minutes. Along with the intervals complete 3 minutes of warm-up before and 3 minutes of cool down after all the intervals. This will total to 30 minutes of exercise.

Saturday and Sunday focus on stretching, getting rest, and working on boat and sailing techniques.

WEEK 2

Week 2 is a progression and combination of WEEK 1’s exercises with an increase in repetitions to train the muscles to fire longer over a given period of time with a set amount of weight. Resistance workouts will also be on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Cardiovascular workouts will be on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
 

Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday

As the event gets closer you cardiovascular preparation will increase. This week the cardio program will consist of 8 intervals of: 3 minutes at a high intensity (approx. 70-80% of max heart and 1 minute at a lower intensity (approx. 60-70% of max HR). This will increase to a total 38 minutes of cardio and keep your heart rate at the higher intensity for a longer period of time mimicking heavy winds and tough conditions.

Saturday and Sunday continue to focus on stretching, getting rest, and working on boat and sailing techniques.

WEEK 3

Week 3 is a progression and combination of WEEK 1 and 2’s exercises with tapering down exercises starting on Wednesday in order to allow the body to physically rest and be prepared to peak for a Saturday race start. Resistance workouts will be on Monday and Wednesday. Cardiovascular workouts will be on Tuesday and Thursday. Friday is a complete day for stretching and rest.
 

Tuesday and Thursday

As the event is only two and four days from your cardiovascular sessions, your program will consist of 10 intervals of: 3 minutes at a high intensity (approx. 70-80% of max heart and 1 minute at a lower intensity (approx. 60-70% of max HR). This will total 46 minutes of cardio.

Pop out box for review of max heart rate

80% of max HR= (220-age) x 80%