Q. As a high school athlete what can I do to be ready for this upcoming school year?
A. I am excited that you are smart enough not to wait to get in shape until you go back to school! You have about one month left before the first day of school. If you are already part of a team, you might have started your school training already.
My daughter Frankie, who as a freshman made the North Rowan High School varsity cheerleading team (Go Cavaliers!) has been working out almost all summer. (Way to go, Coach Sharpe!)
Try to run five days a week for at least 30 minutes. (Try to push yourself after 5 minutes of warm up.) The better your cardiovascular health, the faster you get in game shape. Try to work out with weights at least two times a week. Have one day of rest in between. Work your full body.
If you really are working on strength and size, you need to go to at least five or six days a week but you do a split workout.
Example:
Monday ó Chest and triceps
Tuesday ó Back and biceps,
WednesdayóLegs, Shoulders and core.
Repeat for Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Sunday ó rest
This way, you work each body part twice in a week.
If you have five days, start the first week with chest and triceps, back and biceps, legs and shoulders and core, chest and triceps again, and back and biceps.
The following week, start with back and biceps, legs and shoulders and core, and chest and triceps, back and biceps, legs-shoulders and core.
Then start with legs-shoulders and core etc. Still with me? Don’t forget your runs.
n For full body, pick two chest, two back, four leg, one shoulder, one biceps, one triceps, two abs exercises and two lower back exercises.
n For split workout, pick five for the big muscle groups: chest, back, legs. Pick two for smaller muscle groupsóshoulders, biceps, triceps, abs and lower back.
n For the chest, you can pick: (lists are not limited to)
Bench press, Incline press, decline press, dumbbell press flat bench, incline dumbbell press, decline dumbbell press, chest expanders (also called pullovers), cable crossovers, dumbbell flies flat bench, incline flies, decline flies.
n For back, you can pick:
Dead lifts, Lat pull wide grip to chest, lat pull reversed grip, lat pull “V” grip, chin-ups or assist chin up, cable row wide grip, cable row narrow grip, one arm dumbbell row, one arm cable pull.
n For legs, you can pick:
Squats, leg press, hack squat, thrusts, lunges, lunge squats, leg extensions, leg curls, knee ups, seated calf raises, standing calf raises, “donkey” raises, adductor, abductor, kick backs.
n For shoulders, you can pick:
Dumbbell shoulder press, side lateral raises, front lateral raises, bent over flies, barbell upright rowing, barbell military press, barbell shoulder press, shrugs.
n For biceps, you can pick:
Barbell curls, dumbbell curls, cable curls, seated concentration curls, standing concentration curls, hammer curls.
n For triceps, you can pick:
Reversed and shoulder width grip bench press, “skull crushers”, triceps rope push downs, triceps bar push downs, one arm triceps kick backs, seated one arm overhead extensions, seated both arm overhead extensions.
n For abs, you can pick:
Sit-ups, crunches, obliques, leg raises, knee ups, wellness ball crunches, wellness ball obliques, reversed sit ups, sit up bench.
n For lower back, you can pick:
Prone (on stomach) leg lifts, prone arm lifts, back extensions, wellness ball extensions, plank (works total core).
Again, these exercises are not limited. You might know some other great exercises you can do.
I hope this will help you get ready for whatever sport you are going to do.
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Ester Hoeben is associate director of the J.F. Hurley Family YMCA. Contact her with health and fitness questions at 704-636-0111 or eburgess@rowanymca.com.