The Weekend Warrior

It has been a while since thephysiocoach has posted, as I have been very busy being a weekend warrior outside on the long summer days of Alaska.  My busy life of balancing career, caring for an elderly dog and family responsibilities during the week cut into the time available for exercise.  The weekend is typically the time I log most of my training.  

Is the “weekend Warrior” style of training safe?  There are increased demands placed on our bodies with the bulk of training occurring over two consecutive days.  We can look at the principles of stress and recovery and if your high load is occurring on the weekends, you will require more time for recovery.  The body responds well to gradual increase of loads to tendons, ligament, muscles and bones.  I often say if you do too much to fast you will become injured.  There are benefits of being a “weekend warrior”  with improved volume of oxygen consumption and lowered heart rate that could equal that a more frequent training program, if total weekly training volume is the same.  

It is difficult to endorse cramming all your training volume into a couple days.  There are clearly benefits and risks.  

Common “weekend warrior” injuries:

1. Ankle strain, sprain, tear
2. Hamstring strain, sprain, tear
3. Groin strain, sprain, tear
4. Shin splints: typically a musculotendon overload problem in the front compartment of the lower leg
5. ACL strain, sprain, tear
6. Shoulder strain, sprain, dislocation
7. Elbow strain, sprain/Tennis elbow: which is a tendon overload problem

What can we do to mitigate the risks?

Strength training and endurance training are necessary to maintain health and fitness.  Incorporating both of these components into a training program can be very helpful in management of load and recovery of the bodies’ tissues. 

The biggest problem is TIME!  How do we fit in extra workouts during the week?

Components of a “weekend warrior” program

1. Fit in at least one exercise session during the week
2. Sport specific
3. Interval training 
4. Proprioceptive training/body awareness /balance
5. Power training/resisted exercise

How can you incorporate these types of activities into your weekly exercise routines? 

Weekend Warrior training principles:

1. Choose one balance, plyometric, resisted exercise per workout
2. Vary training weekly
3. Choose one high intensity workout with full recovery between intervals
4. Variation of intensity of training (Do not always moderately train) long slow distance days or high intensity interval day 1x per week

The “Weekend Warrior” Workout

1. 5 min warmup:

Jump rope

Jumping jacks

Run

2. 25x 

Pullups

Pushups (w/elevated feet)

Dips 

Shoulder W

3. 100x squats

Split squats

Single leg squats

Squat jump with change of direction 90 degrees

Reverse lunges

Dead lifts

Single leg dead lifts

4. 60-100 contacts

Lateral hops

Box hops

Burpees

5. Core 3×30 sec rest 1 min between sets

3 way plank: front & lateral

Hanging leg lifts

Russian twist (weighted ball)

Suspension training hip/knee flexion in plank position

Do this work-out in the middle of week, on the weekend you will perform this as a superset.  2-5 perform 3x with 1 min rest interval between supersets, in addition to 20 min of interval training using cardio method of choice.  

Interval training will include 5 x of high intensity cardio above 80% of HR max for 1-2 min with full recovery between intervals.