Fischer Marathon Prep Workout: Muscle Factor Strength

Strength is an important part of a skier’s training. The following workout is a relatively new addition to the GRP strength-training arsenal. It's called the "Muscle Factor Model" and it's designed to create different stimuli in the muscles within the same workout. As you will see this workout includes a varying number of reps, activating and overloading muscle fibers, which in turn increases adaptability and growth.

Craftsbury juniors demonstrating pull-ups with bands. This is a great way to get those 20 or 40 reps!

For this workout you can choose as many or as few exercises as you’d like, but I’d recommend no more than three or four per session. You will do four sets of each exercise. The first and second sets are ten repetitions, the third set is twenty reps, and the fourth set is between twenty and forty reps. As you move through the workout (you should either decrease the weight or increase assistance for each set). If you choose to do more than one exercise, you should spread the work throughout the body - I recommend picking one or two each for upper body, lower body, and core. (I’ll offer some suggestions for exercises that work with the Muscle Factor Model, but generally any exercise where you can either increase assistance (dips, pull-ups, etc) or decrease weight (bench press, squat, etc.) will work.)

A few notes on warm-up: before you get started with this workout, warm-up for at least ten minutes running, biking, or erging before doing some dynamic stretching. For any of the exercises with heavier lifting (squat, bench press, etc.), it is a good idea to do the motion unweighted a few times to work on mobility before you add weight.

Example 1: Bench Press (can use dumbells)

Set 1: 10 reps with 50lbs
Set 2: 10 reps with 50lbs
Set 3: 20 reps with 30lbs
Set 4: 30 reps with 20lbs

Example 2: Dips

Set 1: 10 dips on a dip bar
Set 2: 10 dips on a dip bar
Set 3: 20 dips on a dip bar with elastic band for assistance OR bench dips
Set 4: 30 dips on a dip bar with a thicker elastic band OR bench dips, perhaps with knees bent and feet flat on the floor.

Lower body exercises:-

– squats
– jumping squats (can start with weight then decrease to no weight)
– step-ups (with dumbbells)
Upper body exercises:
– dips (on a bar with or without elastic bands for assistance or bench/ chair)
– bench press
– lat pull downs
– push ups (can be assisted from knees or a bar placed about chest height on a squat rack)
– pull ups (with bands of varying strength for assistance)
Core exercises:
– situps (can hold weight for increased difficulty)
– kettlebell swings

For more information about the Muscle Factor Model, visit The Training Science Website.