- Yoga: Develop spine flexibility, flow through each vertebrae of the back, introducing flow yoga into your personal practice.
- Energy: Bend forwards knees bend and hold ankles for 6 breaths
- Chi Kung: Focus on spinal alignment and flexibility
- General Fitness: Balance the energy-expending/high impact exercise with quieter, energy-accumulating, internally rejuvenating practices like Yoga, T’ai chi, breathing and relaxation. Aqua aerobics is also good as you are in the water element; make sure you are warm to go outside.
- Gym. Now you want to make sure you can maintain the technique you developed in autumn under harder conditions, as technique tends to be the first thing to slip as the body and nervous system start to fatigue, and this is what allows injuries to creep in. Lower the loads for each exercise and perform 2-3 sets of 20+ repetitions, resting only 10-20 seconds between sets. Keep an eye on your form throughout. At the first sign of a loss of form you have to make an extra effort to regain optimal form, or stop the set. You can include more dynamic core exercises at the end of the workout now, like gym ball jack knifes and hip extension bridges.
- Skiing In late January and early February go back to a circuit format of high reps and low loads, concentrating on maintaining the perfect technique you developed in autumn for a long duration. Rests need to be minimal, so that you’re building muscular endurance but keeping the overall impact low as snow season is at its peak. Optimal balance and agility remain your goal, without losing the muscles’ resistance to injury.
Outdoors. Wrap up well for invigorating winter walks. The three areas to keep warm in winter are 1. the mid back either side of the spine (the Kidneys),warm scarf aroung the middle does this . 2. The ears, cover the ears in cold and windy weather, they are the outer representation of the Kidneys - 2 of them - Kidney shaped- either side of the body !! 3. warm dry feet, the meridian line for the kidney ends here- keep them warm !
