EDITOR’S NOTE: These workouts are designed by Eva Twardokens. Eva is a two-time Olympian in Alpine Skiing (Albertville and Lillehammer) and a twelve-year veteran of the U.S. Ski Team. She also is a masters weightlifting champion. As a sought-after coach and consultant, she offers seminars, functional nutrition testing, and coaching to sustain training and optimize health. Learn more about Eva and her work at her website, Eva T. Strength and Conditioning.
The program is meant for the person who is not efficiently secreting cortisol and feels tired and flat much of the time. This person is also destroyed by hard workouts – initially feeling great, but hitting rock bottom a few hours afterwards. The athlete will also have a lot of soreness and unexplained aches and pains that no amount of rolling or mobility will fix. The significant reduction in cortisol secretion affects the body’s ability to reduce inflammation, and so recovery from workouts becomes difficult.
To help you recover from fatigue and get your cortisol levels back to normal, the program incorporates five elements:
- Strength
- Sprints
- Walking
- Gymnastics
- Sport Day
The workouts will be posted six days a week. To learn more about the programming, you can read my article here. Enjoy the workouts and good luck in regaining your health and energy!
Week 2, Day 2: Gymnastics Day
Warm up: Run, row, or bike for 5-10 minutes. Floor back extensions, side planks, shoulder rolls, etc. Stretch and mobilize the shoulders and hamstrings.
Work on a straddle press to handstand or straddle press in headstand or just work on a straddle L-sit. Five attempts at each. Use the wall if needed.
Handstand or Headstand: Hold “free” (no wall) for 5 attempts. Hold for 30 seconds if you can.
Rope Climb: ¼ to ½ way up the rope.
- 1 attempt straight legs no feet
- 1 attempt no feet in a tuck
- 1 attempt no feet straddle
- 1 attempt no feet L sit
If you are a beginner just work on rope climb for 5 minutes per round.
3 strict muscle ups- no kip!
(No muscle up? 4 strict pull ups and 4 strict dips.)
Repeat for 3 rounds
Notes: Take your time and recover. Go for quality movement. See this video for ideas.