With the Winter Olympics going on currently in Vancouver, it brings a broader appreciation to some of the sports that we do not get to see televised that often and to get to see a few of these athletes that are usually forgotten during non-Olympic years. Some of the best athletes for Team USA are two skiers, Lindsay Vonn and Bode Miller and short track speed skater, Apolo Ohno. The thing that sets these three athletes apart from their competition is not only their ability to be on the podium after most of their events they compete in, but is how they do cross training in alternative ways to improve their overall strength and fitness. For example, Apolo Ohno enjoys mountain biking while Bode Miller spends a day of basketball shooting and basketball training as a training tool.

This article will focus on some of the off snow or ice training that these three Olympians do to make them better than their competitors that may only do ski or skate training. It has been proven that athletes that are more fit in an all around way, will suffer less stress induced injuries in addition to have more strength and flexibility that helps them in whatever sport that they are doing.

Lindsay Vonn is the Vancouver Olympics it girl with an unbelievable amount of talent in alpine skiing. Her story became enormous news when she got an injury to her shin only weeks before the Olympics and she wasn’t sure if she could even compete. So far, she is on track to competing and completed 3 of her 5 events winning a gold and bronze in 2 of them. She says she is more fit this season than any other due to the intense cross training she has put in. She does a lot of circuit training alternating strength exercises with cardio training that works her stamina in addition to her strength.

Bode Miller had a great deal of pressure to bring home the gold at the last Winter Olympics in Italy and did not come through saying his easygoing training methods were the reason. Since, then he has made it his mission to be in better shape and more prepared for this Olympics. He enjoys adding other sports to his training regimen to keep things new and to constantly challenge his muscles in different methods. He plays full court basketball one day and then do interval sprinting and core work on other days. With 3 medals to his name this time around it seems to be working for Miller.

This is the 3rd Olympic games for short track skater Apolo Ohno and he has just became the most winning skater at the Olympic Games passing Bonnie Blair’s record of 5 medals. He is more confident than ever having lost 20 pounds to make a comeback and to improve his physical state. He enjoys doing outdoor workouts like sprinting up a mountain wearing a weighted vest or doing a long cycling ride to challenge his leg muscles the way they need to be for skating.

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