Strength & Conditioning

Strength and conditioning exercisies are used by all sorts of athelets to improve their performance. Generally, they are used as a bit of injury prevention, strengthening muscels to avoid such things as ankle sprains. In orienteering, it is important to be able to bash through forests and run on rocky terrain at speeds, and strength & conditioning could be the answer.

To start out, then doing exactly the sort of thing that we showed you is great. We (DrongO) do those once a week over zoom, 60 seconds for each exercise, with a 2 minute rest in between each of the 5 sections. You might want to start by doing each for 30s and work up from there. It's generally not recommended to do anything with weights whilst you are still growing as it can damage you, so just body weight exercises are ideal for the moment. There is definitely plenty of technique to doing body weight exercises properly, but at least if you do them "wrong" then they are unlikely to cause you any harm, they just might not help as much as they otherwise would.

I'll try to list and give a short explanation of a typical set of exercises. These aren't supposed to be cardio exercises - you'll probably get a bit out of breath but it's not meant be a high intensity session, it's to focus on strength, you've already got running/cycling/swimming to get cardio practice. If you feel like you can't do an exercise properly or it feels very difficult, just do it for less time or do an easier version of it - in the next session you might find it easier! The exercises should be slightly challenging, but it's more important to get them right than to ramp up the difficulty too quickly, since they won't benefit you if you do them wrong because they're too hard.

Here is almost the list as the exercises we went through (Helen changes them slightly now and then), but this is the ones we were doing a couple of months ago:

CORE - for planks you can go off your knees instead of feet for an easier version

1. Plank shoulder touch (plank position, lift one hand off the floor and touch opposite shoulder, replace the hand, then same with the other hand)

2. Plank one leg (plank position, lift one left off the floor, replace it, then the other leg)

3. Backwards plank (keep a straight line from feet to shoulders, keep your hips up, squeeze your bum)

4. Side plank + leg lift (side plank, slowly lift top leg up and down)

5. Side plank + leg lift other side

6. Front plank knee to opposite elbow (plank position with straight arms, bring knee towards opposite elbow, try to keep hips in same position and don't lift or twist them. Knee doesn't need to touch elbow)

BALANCE

1. Aeroplane (standing on one leg, bent at the hip, other leg out behind you, arms out to the side)

2. Aeroplane other side

3. Eyes closed one leg balance (if you are going to fall over, open your eyes to regain your balance rather than putting your other foot down, then close them again once you're stable again - after some practice you'll be able to do it without opening eyes at all)

4. Eyes closed one leg balance other side

5. Calf raises (can do half the time with a straight leg and half the time with a bent leg)

6. Calf raises other side

GLUTES - it's pretty common for people to have weak glutes, they are the most powerful muscle in your body and essential for running, but they become weak (or we just forget how to switch them on) when we spend a long time in a sitting position, so these are good to counteract that!

1. Backward lunges (start standing upright, step one leg behind you and lunge to get both knees at right angles, then push back up with your front leg to get upright again. Make sure you stand up fully - squeeze your bum at the top so you aren't still bent at the hips. You can alternate sides or switch sides half way through the time)

2. Single leg squat (if you have a mirror this can help - try to keep hip-knee-ankle in a vertical line, push your knee outwards because it will automatically want to drift in. These can be hard to start with, you might want to start holding onto something, or with your other leg on the ground to take a bit of the weight. This should not hurt your knee, if it does then take some weight off with the other leg or don't squat as low)

3. Single leg squat other side

4. Overhead squat (squat with legs apart and arms above your head - imagine you're holding a bar between your hands)

5. Single leg glute bridge (lying on the floor knees bent, straighten one leg into the air, then lift hips up and down using the other leg. You might want to start by doing this with both legs at once)

6. Single leg glute bridge other side

"LYING ON THE FLOOR"

1. Swimming (this is from pilates, lie on your front, wave arms and legs alternately up and down)

2. Sideways leg lifts (lie on your side, lift upper leg up and down. Can try to rotate knee outwards very slightly. You should feel your bum muscles working)

3. Sideways leg lifts other side

4. ITYW (lie on your front with your shoulders just off the floor. Move your arms first forwards above your head to make an "I" shape, then to the side "T", then at 45 degrees "Y", then bent either side of your head "W")

5. Clam (lie on your side, knees at about right angles, hips at about 45 degrees, keep feet together and lift top knee up and down. You should feel your bum muscles working)

6. Donkey kick (on all fours in a kneeling position, alternately straighten each leg out behind you. Try to keep the rest of your body - hips, shoulders, and arms - entirely still, so just the leg you are kicking is moving)

CORE

1. Butterfly legs (sitting balanced on your bum, cross your legs over each other, then cross them over the other way, and keep swapping which way they are crossed. Feet stay off the floor)

2. Bicycle crunch (lying on your back, keep your back flat on the floor. Feet make a cycling motion and you pull opposite shoulder towards each knee as each knee comes towards you)

3. Deadbugs (lying on your back in an upside-down crawling position, arms straight upwards, legs at right angles. Aim to keep your back entirely still. Move left arm above your head and straighten right leg towards the floor at the same time, then return to original position, then same with right arm and left leg. Then repeat)

4. Russian twist (sitting blanaced on your bum, touch the floor to one side of you, then on the other side of you, and keep swapping sides)

5. Bird dog (on all fours in crawling position, lift left arm and right leg off the floor and pull left elbow and right knee towards each other, then return to original position and repeat on other side. Keep alternating sides)

6. Leg waggles (similar idea to deadbugs, keep your back flat on the floor and back should not move. Arms are not involved. Can try with legs starting at right angles then flattening each one towards the floor, then if this becomes easier you can start with straight legs and lower each one down and up again).

If you can do a session like this consistently once a week then that'll definitely help. Optimum is 2 or maximum 3 times/week but that can easily get boring, and it's better to manage it once a week every week than to try doing it more often and then giving up because it's too difficult to fit it in!