Hey anyone have any good core workout routines for wakeboarding? Upper/lower abs, obliques, hams, quads, low back.... I think that's it!?!?!

check out crossfit.com

cross fit is pretty a pretty insane workout, definitely a good idea. <BR> <BR>Ive found basic strength training combined with some plyometrics to be useful for me for wakeboarding. I do moderate heavy weights for full body movements couple times a week. Squats, deadlifts, clean and jerks. This gives me my strength, especially the deadlifts and squats. <BR> <BR>Then to develop explosive strength for legs I like to do plyometric routines couple times a week and some sprint work. <BR> <BR>Works pretty well for me, I think the strength aspect of working out is neglected a lot by wakeboarders.

The Core and Plyo workouts from P90X will kick your a$$!

^^^^^^ 2nd that

I have been doing crossfit for about a year now...it's sick; but be prepared for people to look at you like you are crazy when you go to the gym. Last night's work out was dead lifts and hand stand push-up's (those will get some looks). Heck, just the warm up is a work out in its self. <BR> <BR>The crossfit warm up that I do is as follows: 3 sets 10 reps of back extensions, push ups, pull ups, dips, sit ups, &amp; no weight squats. Then check crossfit.com for the workout of the day.

I find a lot of core workouts don't target hams, glutes, or quads though. It mostly targeting abs and lower back. Don't get me wrong, I know that planks and similiar isometric exercises include using those muscules, but shouldn't core routines include some exercises that specifically target upper leg muscles?? Maybe I should do the exercises that target hams, quads, and glutes after the typical "core" exercises (crunches, planks, side bridges, etc.)?!?!?!?! Any thoughts? <BR> <BR>I had a look at the workouts at crossfit. A lot of the exercises look pretty intense for a guy with a nagging back injury. They had some videos for core exercises but my computer wouldn't open them for some reason.

Glutes are technically part of your core. They can control the alignment of your pelvis along with their antagonist, the hip flexors. They are also the key to a strong back, and solid lower body. Train them to be very active, and you'll be solid. I also do a lot of oblique training. Train your obliques to stabilize your pelvis, and you'll feel amazing. Make sure you do an equal amount of back flexion, and extension exercises. Don't just do abs. My favorites are torso rotations. No one does enough transverse exercises. <BR> <BR>P90x and Crossfit are awesome workouts, BUT, if you have any imbalances, (tight hams or quads for example) you can really do some damage. Most people that come to me have underactive glutes, and overactive quads from improper form. Doing heavy dead lifts with these imbalances can cause you big problems. I would recommend getting a couple of sessions with a trainer before jumping into either program. I started p90 a couple years ago. If I knew then what I know now, I would approach it differently.

Try slack lining.

<b>J-Rod</b>, there is a machine at my gym that targets the torso. I wasn't really sure what muscles it targets because "torso" is kind of a broad-ranged term. So is it safe to say that it primarily targets transverse abdominals?

The core's function is essentially to keep you standing upright. Most exercises work your core if you are doing them correctly. When doing any exercise just avoid doing machines and do free weights. Free weights allow your muscles to work how they are designed for you where machines lock you in. Just keep the weight low until you have the form and strength. Also a lot of free weight exercises work your core. For instance try doing shoulder press or military press standing up instead of siting down. Everyone's advice is good. Just remember there are many ways to work out. For wakeboarding I found exercises that mimic what your are doing work best for me (squats, box jump, dead lifts, bent over rows). Just keep your workouts balanced. Ok rambling over.

Obliques rotate the torso. Trans ab stabilizes the spine.

Try some yoga, that develops a bit of core strength and will be easy on your back. I know what youre thinking, and i used to think it too whenever someone would suggest yoga to me, but it really does help your flexibility and add strength to your core. Plus it is fairly relaxing. <BR> <BR>I don't care what anybody says about lifting weights, nothing has ever prepared me for wakeboard season. I will always be sore after the first time i ride for the season. So just ride more and consider that your workout! haha

^ no matter how much you dont like to hear it, its true. there is VERY little benefit you can gain from lifting weights in terms of wakeboard-specific muscles (although i still do it because a six month off season in chi-town is quite depressing), because its hard to find an exercise that duplicates the exact strain and load from being pulled by a boat/cable. there are back workouts that target muscles CLOSE to the primary wake-muscles and make you feel like you can ride longer during your first ride of the year, but this actually wears out your primary muscles more and you are more sore as a result from riding longer than if you havent worked out all winter. <BR> <BR>I am by all means not a workout/fitness expert, this is just my personal experience based on having to start from scratch (riding muscle wise) every six months for the last 9 years. just gotta push through the soreness.

Try TRX at Fitnessanywhere.com. All exercises hit the core with less impact than P90X. The best work out is the Force work out or Train Like the Pros dvd. Another one that looks great is ropes gone wild at <a href="http://www.artofstrength.com/ropes" target="_blank">http://www.artofstrength.com/ropes</a>

"there is VERY little benefit you can gain from lifting weights in terms of wakeboard-specific muscles" <BR> <BR>Disagree wholeheartedly. Replace "very little" with "tremendous" and I would tend to agree. If I slack in the spring on my hams, I pay for it all season, period. Sometimes I pay for it with a blown ACL, sometimes I pay for it with sore knees all the time, but you never get off easy from incomplete preparation.

I happen to have my handy new flip cam on me yesterday. <BR> <BR>Here's a Standing Isolated Hip Torso Rotation. They can be done sitting, standing, standing on a bosu, a ball, standing on one foot, or you can integrate the hips. This is the neglected, and most important plane. <BR> <BR>Point your hips at the mirror and hold them still while you rotate the torso. Very difficult at first, but the coordination is important. <BR> <BR><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dz6vasLfCqM" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dz6vasLfCqM</a> <BR> <BR>Tom, hook up with a trainer that can help you learn exercises specific to your life style. <BR> <BR>I filmed a bunch of full body exercises yesterday. I'll post them here in a couple hours.

Here's a circuit I did yesterday. <BR><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi0VBLfnaDA" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi0VBLfnaDA</a> <BR> <BR>Not wakeboarding workout, but a good example of how to integrate "core" into your workouts. This circuit has core stabilization (challenging your form), and core moving exercises, in all three planes. It had been a while since I worked Shoulders and Legs together, so I selected excersises to challenge these two groups, integrated them, and moved fast to challenge my cardio. I used sandbags, kettlebells, and a slosh pipe. <BR> <BR>I'll work on a wake workout video and will post it later.

That was great stuff keep it coming.

..Get hooked up with a CrossFit gym in your area

Nice Jrod. The balanced arm raises look intense! gonna have to try those.

Thanks man. Once you dial that in. Try single arm. <BR> <BR>TRX was mentioned above. I use their suspension straps for all kinds of cool exercises. Most gyms consider them a liability, so they're hard to get a hold of.

You can get TRX at their website. They have a couple of anchoring solutions including a door or a fixed location. I have one set up in my garage and then when I travel, 4 days a week, I take it with me and hook it up in the hotel room. <BR>As Jarrod stated above you cant really take them to a gym like 24 Hour Fitness Center. However, some progressive gyms are ok with them. The are nice as you can literally set them up anywhere.

Just joined a new company that pays for our membership to this gym that they own. I've completed my first three "crossfit obsession" workouts here, and they have been the toughest three core wrenching workouts of my life honestly. This gym is the Blauer tactical training center as well....these guys are brutal. I dont see how crossfit couldnt help...so far its nothing BUT core. <BR> <BR><a href="http://www.crossfitobsession.com/" target="_blank">http://www.crossfitobsession.com/</a>

Church - keep it up, every workout is challenging &amp; an ass kicker for sure. I have been been training at my brother in laws gym now for two - (2) years and I can't get enough we rocked the Filthy-Fifty yesterday All I can say on that is WOW!!!!!

Crossfit is the real deal. My wife gets her certification in a few weeks and will start teaching classes soon after. As soon as my busted foot gets better I am going to start doing the workouts.

Church - Pretty cool to get a free ride at Blauer, like Racer said...keep it up. <BR> <BR>With the possible exception of that last movement, Jarrod's circuit seems like it would fit right in as a crossfit WOD. <BR> <BR>Crash and I have been working on a spot for Crossfit, but for another month or two we are going through Rippetoe's "Starting Strength". Never really knew that moving heavy stuff around could be as much fun as it is. <BR> <BR>Here's our little gym we're putting together. If you're around Modesto and want to run through a few WODs hit us up. <BR> <BR><img src="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/65919/753313.jpg" alt="Upload">

Sweet kooks really good. <BR> <BR><a href="http://www.infinityhbg.com" target="_blank">www.infinityhbg.com</a>

that tractor tire make me want to puke. flipping that thing down the football field and back was torture...

Come on Josh you know you wanna come over and get a few flips for old time's sake! Or you could just pound on with a sledgehammer like you were finally getting revenge!

the sledge hammer isnt much better...we used to do that sorta thing as a gut check AFTER work outs...it was intense

I agree with the Crossfit fans. I've been doing Crossfit for about a year and a half. It is a total body routine that focuses a lot on your core. For those of you who think it is too intense, you can go to the left side of the main page, under "start here" go to "brand-x workouts". this will open another forum. scroll down to the WOD (work out of the day) and click on it. scroll down and it will give you scaled versions of the WOD. If you have never done this type of workout before, you really want to scale in the beginning. Also read the comments on the mainpage under each WOD for suggestions. It's a great site and you can find demo videos for everything if you're not sure what the exercise is.

Yup, and some gyms like mine already have a few options to get you to that WOD. Ours is the "crossfit obsession" workout. The warmup for it is usually some real fundamental stuff with advanced moves from the WOD broken down into pieces to focus on the techniques to move forward. Then the "light" workout begins. "Light" being a freaking relative term. My first day they had me doing wall handstand holds...hadnt done one of those since like 9th grade PE class! <BR> <BR>Today (my 5th day into this) I completed a 1K row, 50 burpees (1/2 of the 100 required), and a 1K row in 18 minutes. Wow. I am sickly out of shape....this put a hurtin on me. Obviously, everyday it changes just like the WOD.

Whats a 1k row? Is that 1000 meters?

Yeah J, 1000 meters.

J-Rod: What's that song playing on your YouTube clip during the circuit work-out?

Another vote here for P90X. Plyometrics and Core Synergistics are perfect for this and it includes Yoga.

Your 1000 meter row should be in the 3-minute range brother

I second the P90X. Core workouts are awesome and the Yoga is solid!!!

Dave that's the Hilltop Hoods. Song is Hillatopa. Awesome album. Dean Smith introduced me. One of his favs. <BR> <BR>Yup, I warm up with a 5 minute row. It's usually between 1200 and 1300 meters. You'll get there. <BR> <BR>Anyone play around on a Versa Climber? It will kick your ass like nothing else. It's obliques, lats, legs, glutes (if you have them conditioned right), and INTENSE cardio. Most people can't make it to 5 minutes their first few times. We used to have battles with the trainers. I still hold the record at 924 strides in 5 minutes. :-) If I had o buy one piece of equipment, that would be it. If you can work your way up to 30 minutes, you'll be an animal. <BR> <BR>(Message edited by jarrod on January 01, 2010)