ing the highest possible levels of athletic achievement? Pick your poison. Strength is required to
withstand the forces of ski racing, but without flexibility, that strength can’t be applied to technique.
But then again there are reflexes, balance, and vision that all come into play — and all are on the
decline. “All the components are interrelated,” said
Knowles. “It would be a mistake to isolate any particular one.”
An inverted DynaDisc
provides an unstable
platform for Bill Knowles
for a tucking exercise
designed to build balance
and strength.
And now the good news
Masters ski racers should not despair; there’s
much that can be done to stay in the game, and
at a surprisingly high level of performance. Glass
stresses that consistency is the key to maintaining physical prowess. “Put together a routine and
stick to it,” says Glass. “You don’t have to labor
for hours, but if you start missing workouts, you’ll
be paying double the next time around. If you’re
consistent and disciplined, you don’t have to give up the activities
that you love.”
Knowles is an avid proponent of cross training. “Play still trumps
gym workouts,” says Knowles. “Tennis, biking, hiking, and squash
— all promote coordination, agility, cardio-conditioning, and
strength building. And they’re fun.”
No one would deny that strength is one of the important elements
to the equation. “Build strength through resistance training,” says
Glass. “Any form of resistance training is beneficial — squats using your body weight, weights, hiking, biking — they’re all good.
Knowles adds: “Gates dictate the shape of the turn, and shaping
the turn requires strength. Of course, technique is a factor, but to
get faster, racers must get stronger. Specifically, masters athletes
must maintain strength in the range of motion required for their
sport, and this requires flexibility.”
Maintaining flexibility is a classic case of use it or lose it. “Elastic
movement doesn’t have to be lost,” says Knowles. “Our joints will
inevitably stiffen with age, but with a well-directed stretching rou-
tine, Pilates, and yoga, you can work with musculature to make up
for stiffening joints.”
Knowles also recommends using
water workouts to maintain flexibility.
“It’s easier on the joints and with the
absence of gravity, you can focus on
elasticity,” he says. “Maintaining elas-
ticity is a long-term investment that
will pay dividends throughout one’s
athletic career.”
Glass recommends stretching be-
fore and after exercise, and before going to bed. “The rate of
recovery is 50 percent better if you stretch before sleeping,” he
says. “Our bodies shut down into a vegetative state when cells
are easily repaired.”
Expanding the anaerobic envelope should also be a part of all
masters athletes’ physical routines. “Our maximum heart rate will
decline if we’re not consistent in pushing ourselves in training,”
says Glass, recalling he was sick for a month and couldn’t do any
physical activity. “It took eight months to get back to where I was
before the illness.”
Glass recommends any activities that get the heart rate up to 80
percent of maximum, such as interval sprints, mountain biking,
high-level squash or tennis. “Without oxygen fueling the muscles,
they will tire more easily,” he says, “affecting endurance and tech-
nique and in the case of ski racing, safety.”
Balance requires a certain elasticity of movement. If you can’t bend
and twist into various positions to remain upright, you’ll tip over.
And like all the components of athleticism, balance can be main-
tained, if not improved, over time. The emphasis on propriocep-
Bill Knowles demonstrates one-footed half-squats on a DynaDisc for balance and strength building.
tion (the awareness
of the position of
one’s body in space)
can be seen in every square foot of
Knowles’ facility. DynaDiscs, Swiss balls
and Bongo Boards
are everywhere, and
most of Knowles
workout routines
include a balance
component. Squats on the squishy DynaDiscs, kneeling or standing on Swiss balls and tossing medicine balls while perched on
one foot are all part of the routines.
Masters athletes should take solace in the fact that there is one
area of athleticism where they are improving with age — “athletic
intelligence.” Glass notes: “The only area where we get better with
age is mentally. Our sense of tactics improves and with an increased understanding of our own physiology, our training can be
more specific.”
With the advantage of an expanded awareness of our own bodies, Glass and Knowles encourage masters athletes to train and
compete intelligently. “Don’t run every day,” says Glass. “”Mix it
up. Most of us have injury issues, and we need to make adjustments in our workouts. All masters athletes would rather burn out
than rust out, but on the other hand, we want to keep doing what
we love for as long as possible. I guess we’re not very good spectators.”
Bill Knowles performs squats against a wall while supported by a Swiss ball for leg strength with reduced stress on knees.
