TRAINING
I've been active all my life which I believe has played a huge role on my current shape, I spent the early part of my childhood skiing and in my teens I picked up racing motocross during the summer. Motocross racing is an all out sprint from start to finish and is called one of the most physically demanding sports in the world. Skiing was also physically demanding as I would spend everyday of the winter skiing from open to close.
These activities set my fitness base for the years to come.
As I progressed into my 20's I was maintaining a solid yet untrained physique, built by motocross, skiing and snowmobiling. I had some other base training in the form of swimming, my mum has believed it to be a great activity for strengthening, elongating and balancing the body for as long as I can remember and I would have to agree.
At this time I had a fairly classic young adult diet, I lived in Whistler and was beginning my professional skiing career. I would have a sandwich, chocolate bar, bag of chips, gatorade for lunch and ate out most meals due to simplicity after massive filming days in the mountains.
It wasn't until I dislocated my hip in 2013 that I began to explore the realm of physical training more seriously. I had gotten my first bike from SCOTT SPORTS the year before and was pretty interested in cross-country/enduro mountain biking, which proved to be a great recovery tool, that summer I was also introduced to Crossfit and was instantly hooked, mostly because I enjoyed the strenious activitie it provided and the loud metal music they played at the box, it got me pumped!
At this point I was mostly interested in recovering my hip and pushing myself.
My diet was still ok, mostly going out to eat and choosing decent options.
The years went on, I continued bike riding and weight training without any real structure and always gave it everything I had.
In 2015 I injured my back skiing the hill and wasn't able to ski for a month or so. I used the time to practice yoga and read about Yoga philosophy, this gave me a very grounded spiritual head space which I was able to channel during back to back AK heli trips in the spring. The first trip with Stellar Media in Haines with Sam Cohen and Tanner Hall, I felt on top of my game and at one with the surrounding world, at peace with the environment, appreciating the current realty and letting go. For the second trip I joined TGR at Fantasy Camp, I felt much the same way and skied the best I have to this day.
As always Alaska presents many down days, so I did as any human would and hung around during days off, usually making a mix of good and poor food choices, meals where always fine, it's the snacking in the form of oreos, choclate bars, chips etc that catches up to you.
And to boot, during the fantasy camp trip we had a cook tent full of all the goodies you could get at anytime.
When I came home I hopped on the scale and came in at 180lbs which at the time I had never seen before. I recall always being in the 160 range growing up.
This prompted me to feel conscious of my weight which set off a turn of events where I became much more aware of proper food intake, not that I didn't already know how to cook and eat healthy food I was just on the go and wasn't prepairing food for myself.
I spent the next summer diving deep into the world of diet and intermittent fasting as I was looking to shed some weight with the goal of becoming shredded. At the time I was fully into mountain biking, focused on increasing my skill to a high level and also pushing hard on the uphills. I woke up early, drank coffee and rode extremely grueling rides fasted.
I felt strong and shed a lot of weight during the first half of summer, getting down from 180 to 152. This took an extreme level of discipline, from everyday fasted riding to controlled food portions.
I was in great shape at this weight, super lean and still maintained some muscle, though that of an endurance athlete.
By the end of the summer going into the fall, at 152lbs I became irritable and tired, I wondered about different fatigue syndromes and overtraining.
I loosened my grasp on the diet and intermittent fasting protocol, allowing healthy versions of foods I hadn't been eating, such as fruits and oatmeal. I had followed a very low carb diet.
I gained weight again as my body rejuvenated itself.
At this point my focus shifted to lifting, as the whole point of the past process I had been on was to become shredded and I realized that though I had lost a lot of weight, muscle had also gone with it.
So in 2016 I started a weight training program, resembling that of a body building routine.
I have focused heavily over the last 3 years on weightlifting and have seen and feel dramatic changes.
I returned to the 170 - 175 range and gained muscle quickly.
Through this process I continued riding mountain bikes in the summer and as always skiing during the winter.
Now, in 2018, I continue to follow a skiing, mtn biking, yoga, weight lifting, motocross training program while composing my diet of sauted vegetables, rice/noodles, lean meats, eggs, olive oil, butter and half and half.
Training in each specific practice.
Skiing
I love skiing the hill on a powder day, I arrive first thing and ride top to bottom laps all day till close. Full throttle, keepin'r pinned is the way it goes. My legs burn like crazy shredding the mountain and I love it. This way of skiing fits the high intensity interval training method, so not only is it a sick day, but getting the added benefit of building strong sprinting muscles and lungs.
Mtn Biking
Mountain biking in the summer, round trip cardio maintenance rides and heavy DH laps.
For the most part, I spend my time riding round trip rides. I used to hit long full bore charges across locations like the Seven Summits, the longest and most demanding trail in our local network over a 3 hr period of non stop full push mountain bike riding.
Now I prefer a more relaxed approach, choosing a ride from home, an uphill climb of about an 45-50 mins before reaching the point of descent and riding to the town of Warfield where I catch the bus home. This more relaxed approach enables me to get a ride in and maintain energy for other things throughout the day.
When it comes to DH, I like to get out with the Shred Posse and role some top to bottoms. This is the same as skiing, all out high intensity training and riding. This is where the majority of health benefits come from, peak performance moments.
Motocross
I raced motocross for 6 years and pursued the dream of professional motocross for a bit. Stopped riding when I started my professional ski career and have now gotten back into it after 12 years off the bike.
I enjoy a good practice day, starting off with a warm up moto, get to know the track and the first round of arm pump.
My arm pump diminishes in the first practice moto as I begin to pick up speed and flow, this moto will last roughly 20 minutes.
The second practice moto I really get into the rythem, find the smooth lines on the track and relax into the moto and just ride. Time goes by, breathing is rythmic, a state of flow continues. This moto is the closing moto for the day.
Weight Lifting
My training isn't overly structured and when I'm in the gym I just start an exercise to warm up and let the gym take me through a routine based on what attracts me the most on any given day while focusing on full body training and isolation exercises. No matter what type of training, I always do a circuit at the highest intensity and go till I'm satisfied. This method has produced the greatest results.
Yoga
Yoga begins with a breath, breathing calms the mind, and the asanas free the body, becoming fluid.
As you can see, each sport compliments the other.
I've found the mix of training activities to be very beneficial to each sport and also to the physical composition of my body, I believe an approach such as this will keep me active doing the sports I love well into my 60s-70s-80s and beyond.
There are no limits to aging as long as one believes.
These activities set my fitness base for the years to come.
As I progressed into my 20's I was maintaining a solid yet untrained physique, built by motocross, skiing and snowmobiling. I had some other base training in the form of swimming, my mum has believed it to be a great activity for strengthening, elongating and balancing the body for as long as I can remember and I would have to agree.
At this time I had a fairly classic young adult diet, I lived in Whistler and was beginning my professional skiing career. I would have a sandwich, chocolate bar, bag of chips, gatorade for lunch and ate out most meals due to simplicity after massive filming days in the mountains.
It wasn't until I dislocated my hip in 2013 that I began to explore the realm of physical training more seriously. I had gotten my first bike from SCOTT SPORTS the year before and was pretty interested in cross-country/enduro mountain biking, which proved to be a great recovery tool, that summer I was also introduced to Crossfit and was instantly hooked, mostly because I enjoyed the strenious activitie it provided and the loud metal music they played at the box, it got me pumped!
At this point I was mostly interested in recovering my hip and pushing myself.
My diet was still ok, mostly going out to eat and choosing decent options.
The years went on, I continued bike riding and weight training without any real structure and always gave it everything I had.
In 2015 I injured my back skiing the hill and wasn't able to ski for a month or so. I used the time to practice yoga and read about Yoga philosophy, this gave me a very grounded spiritual head space which I was able to channel during back to back AK heli trips in the spring. The first trip with Stellar Media in Haines with Sam Cohen and Tanner Hall, I felt on top of my game and at one with the surrounding world, at peace with the environment, appreciating the current realty and letting go. For the second trip I joined TGR at Fantasy Camp, I felt much the same way and skied the best I have to this day.
As always Alaska presents many down days, so I did as any human would and hung around during days off, usually making a mix of good and poor food choices, meals where always fine, it's the snacking in the form of oreos, choclate bars, chips etc that catches up to you.
And to boot, during the fantasy camp trip we had a cook tent full of all the goodies you could get at anytime.
When I came home I hopped on the scale and came in at 180lbs which at the time I had never seen before. I recall always being in the 160 range growing up.
This prompted me to feel conscious of my weight which set off a turn of events where I became much more aware of proper food intake, not that I didn't already know how to cook and eat healthy food I was just on the go and wasn't prepairing food for myself.
I spent the next summer diving deep into the world of diet and intermittent fasting as I was looking to shed some weight with the goal of becoming shredded. At the time I was fully into mountain biking, focused on increasing my skill to a high level and also pushing hard on the uphills. I woke up early, drank coffee and rode extremely grueling rides fasted.
I felt strong and shed a lot of weight during the first half of summer, getting down from 180 to 152. This took an extreme level of discipline, from everyday fasted riding to controlled food portions.
I was in great shape at this weight, super lean and still maintained some muscle, though that of an endurance athlete.
By the end of the summer going into the fall, at 152lbs I became irritable and tired, I wondered about different fatigue syndromes and overtraining.
I loosened my grasp on the diet and intermittent fasting protocol, allowing healthy versions of foods I hadn't been eating, such as fruits and oatmeal. I had followed a very low carb diet.
I gained weight again as my body rejuvenated itself.
At this point my focus shifted to lifting, as the whole point of the past process I had been on was to become shredded and I realized that though I had lost a lot of weight, muscle had also gone with it.
So in 2016 I started a weight training program, resembling that of a body building routine.
I have focused heavily over the last 3 years on weightlifting and have seen and feel dramatic changes.
I returned to the 170 - 175 range and gained muscle quickly.
Through this process I continued riding mountain bikes in the summer and as always skiing during the winter.
Now, in 2018, I continue to follow a skiing, mtn biking, yoga, weight lifting, motocross training program while composing my diet of sauted vegetables, rice/noodles, lean meats, eggs, olive oil, butter and half and half.
Training in each specific practice.
Skiing
I love skiing the hill on a powder day, I arrive first thing and ride top to bottom laps all day till close. Full throttle, keepin'r pinned is the way it goes. My legs burn like crazy shredding the mountain and I love it. This way of skiing fits the high intensity interval training method, so not only is it a sick day, but getting the added benefit of building strong sprinting muscles and lungs.
Mtn Biking
Mountain biking in the summer, round trip cardio maintenance rides and heavy DH laps.
For the most part, I spend my time riding round trip rides. I used to hit long full bore charges across locations like the Seven Summits, the longest and most demanding trail in our local network over a 3 hr period of non stop full push mountain bike riding.
Now I prefer a more relaxed approach, choosing a ride from home, an uphill climb of about an 45-50 mins before reaching the point of descent and riding to the town of Warfield where I catch the bus home. This more relaxed approach enables me to get a ride in and maintain energy for other things throughout the day.
When it comes to DH, I like to get out with the Shred Posse and role some top to bottoms. This is the same as skiing, all out high intensity training and riding. This is where the majority of health benefits come from, peak performance moments.
Motocross
I raced motocross for 6 years and pursued the dream of professional motocross for a bit. Stopped riding when I started my professional ski career and have now gotten back into it after 12 years off the bike.
I enjoy a good practice day, starting off with a warm up moto, get to know the track and the first round of arm pump.
My arm pump diminishes in the first practice moto as I begin to pick up speed and flow, this moto will last roughly 20 minutes.
The second practice moto I really get into the rythem, find the smooth lines on the track and relax into the moto and just ride. Time goes by, breathing is rythmic, a state of flow continues. This moto is the closing moto for the day.
Weight Lifting
My training isn't overly structured and when I'm in the gym I just start an exercise to warm up and let the gym take me through a routine based on what attracts me the most on any given day while focusing on full body training and isolation exercises. No matter what type of training, I always do a circuit at the highest intensity and go till I'm satisfied. This method has produced the greatest results.
Yoga
Yoga begins with a breath, breathing calms the mind, and the asanas free the body, becoming fluid.
As you can see, each sport compliments the other.
I've found the mix of training activities to be very beneficial to each sport and also to the physical composition of my body, I believe an approach such as this will keep me active doing the sports I love well into my 60s-70s-80s and beyond.
There are no limits to aging as long as one believes.
