Snowboarding!

[Ravi]

We've had a monster series of storms in the Pacific Northwest...and all that Seattle rain is, you guessed, massive powder in the mountains! Went snowboarding at Crystal Mountain yesterday...they've had almost 4 feet of snow in 4 days! Waist deep powder...I could've gotten lost in it!

 

Anyway...I feel much stronger on the board since I've been doing lots of squats and deadlifts. Able to push it through more runs and make turns I would normally wipe out on...who said lifting isn't practical!

 

Bring on the squats

 

I've also realized that my low-back is a weak spot on my body (spending all day in a sumo squat on a snowboard is a great way to find your weakness!)....need to work on that.

[Guest]

The back may have something to do with your older training on the bike. Most cyclists have pathetic lower back muscles. Anyhow cross training is a great way to find weak spots...nothings better to find a weak spot than trying something that doesn't have much to do with how you train.

[Ravi]

I hear ya! My core is pathetically weak...embarrassingly so considering all the tri-related activity I was doing for years. I think all those miles running and biking actually made my core weaker than if I had done no training at all, sat on my couch and eaten potato chips all day!

 

At least that's what I tell myself when I see those svelte yoginis cruising through "boat pose" or set after of bicycle crunches during yoga class...while I am struggling just to hold my legs up straight! I guess this is first hand proof that the body is highly adaptive to training....and not training.

 

If you don't use it you will lose it

[Guest]

Its definitely worse to ride a bike than do nothing when it comes to the lower back. The biggest problem isn't just that you aren't using your lower back muscles...its that they're stretched out completely and forced to do nothing for hours on end....not so good for you.