Sports

The OneEagle Rocky IV workout plan, and other ways to stay (or get) fit and competitive while keeping your distance

When schools closed and hunker-down orders were issued earlier this month as the new coronavirus redefined daily life, West High football coach Tim Davis sensed unrest among players.

He heard their worries on Twitter and elsewhere: How could they possibly contend for victories, championships and scholarships with no weight rooms, no gyms, no equipment?

In his head, he heard the soundtrack for Rocky IV — “the most American movie ever produced,” he said — and he tweeted this to his athletes:

Mankind went many years without the communist Soviet machine weights in your local club.

You can certainly social distance and still maintain physical readiness.

Jog, jump, push, pull, climb.

WATCH ROCKY IV!!!

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A couple days later, Davis devised an online and at-home program inspired by the workout montage in Rocky IV, where Rocky Balboa gets into fighting shape by pulling dog sleds, running up through deep snow, chopping wood and carrying yokes while his Soviet opponent works out on high-tech equipment while constantly monitored by a team of scientists.

Davis put together a five-page plan called the OneEagle Rocky IV workout, and each day last week he connected with players on Zoom to do the workouts, which range from 30 to 60 minutes.

Beginning Monday, Davis will be posting the daily workouts on West Anchorage Football’s YouTube channel.

The idea is simple, he said.

“With a 10x10-foot space and a limited amount of tools, you can stay physically active, and by the time sports start up again you’ll be in a good place, maybe even better,” he said.

As a sneak preview, Davis, 36, posted video of a “football yoga” workout he did last Wednesday in his living room. His dog, Sawyer Finn, napped on a nearby cushion and his 10-month-old son, Arlo, slept soundly off screen until the very end of the video, when he woke up and crawled into his dad’s arms.

For tools, Davis uses every-day objects in place of equipment found in a weight room or gym. For weights, he has used books, a bag of cat food, pillows from a sofa, canned goods from the kitchen. One time he did curls using Arlo as a weight.

The workouts consist of bodyweight routines suitable for people at any fitness level, he said.

“I want people to know there are no barriers to their entry level,” Davis said. “The most in-shape person can always add more weight. If you’ve never touched a weight? Do one round. Even doing the warmup gives tremendous benefit to people sitting on the couch or a chair and attending Zoom meetings. Something’s gotta break that up.”

It’s all about being adaptable, Davis said. Here are some other ways athletes and event organizers are adapting their passions during the pandemic.

In Fairbanks, a virtual ski race

The 33rd Sonot Kkaazoot, the annual spring ski race in Fairbanks, faced double trouble this year. The Chena River, where part of the race is held, was deemed unsafe to ski on, and the coronavirus meant a crowd of skiers couldn’t gather anyway.

Bad Bob Baker, who started the race in 1988, was not deterred. People should go out and ski one of the race distances — 50, 40 or 20 kilometers — on days and trails of their own choosing, he decided.

Organizers called it the Virtual Sonot Kkaazoot.

“Everything was against us, but here’s all these people jumping in there,” Baker said.

Saturday marked the end of the virtual race, and heading into the final day there were more than 60 official finishers — people who sent screenshots of their GPS routes and photos of their Garmin watches along with descriptions of their races to the Sonot Kkaazoot website.

In his online report, skier Robert Toth called his race a “Virtual Radioactive Free Of All Style Whatsoever 20 k (I hope),” which he competed Friday “in a blistering 3 hours and 39 minutes give or take a few seconds (timed on my phone).” Among the highlights of his recap:

“Encounter moose. Turned around on same part of trail. Crashed head first into snow bank when I turned to check on moose and caught a rut.”

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Baker, 62, said the record book will reflect that the 33rd Sonot Kkaazoot happened, though it might not list any winners.

“We won’t put down course records, but everybody is a winner that gets out," he said. "It’s the one place you can feel normal again. The only difference is you’re not starting with 300 other people.”

Garage workouts with Alysa Horn

A girl in Cordova stoops into a crouch, her back braced against a wall and her legs extended in front so she can dribble a basketball between her legs. A Hydaburg man who plays professionally in Europe moves backward and forward across a driveway, switching hands as he wraps the ball around and through his legs. A Chugiak woman juggles basketballs inside a garage.

Each of them — Abby Bourgeois of Cordova, Damen Bell Holter of Hydaburg and Nicole Pinckney of Chugiak — appear in ball-handling videos that are part of Alysa Horn’s Garage Workouts.

Horn works as a strength and conditioning coach at UAA and as a personal trainer through her business, Make Yourself Unstoppable. She can’t work directly with athletes anymore, so she is posting Garage Workouts — videos of her taking viewers through a variety of basketball drills.

She’s also posting 60-second ball-handling videos submitted by players from Alaska and beyond. Some are creative, some are almost hypnotic, and all are intended to motivate others to stay active and engaged — and maybe submit their own video.

“The point of it is to keep people connected right now, which is not easy because no gyms are open and we’re all trapped in our own little areas,” Horn said.

Horn, who grew up in Kodiak, has a personal connection to the pandemic. Her sister, Adriane Horn, was among hundreds of Americans who were stranded in Peru after that country closed its borders earlier this month. Adriane is back in the United States now, Horn said, and continuing her studies at Montana Tech.

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100 Miles in May, bonus edition

Ava Earl, a junior at South High, would rather be competing in track right now and preparing for the state high school track championships. But the championships were called off along with the rest of the Alaska School Activities Association’s spring sports, leaving Earl with a competitive void.

Now she’s in search of what she calls “the high milers.”

Earl is feeding her need for competition by putting together a team for the Healthy Futures 100 Miles in May Bonus Challenge. It’s a spinoff of 100 Miles in May, a key fundraiser for Healthy Futures that had nearly 4,000 participants last year.

The challenge is to log 100 miles during the course of the month. Any activity counts, including things like yard work — just keep track and organizers will convert into miles the time you spend on alternative activities, said Healthy Futures executive director Harlow Robinson. People can register as individuals or teams, and prizes go to those who log the most miles.

The prospect of a team competition inspired Earl to form “Ava’s Domination Squad,” consisting of high school runners and skiers.

“I’m hoping to grab some of the big milers,” she said, referring to athletes who do high-volume workouts.

Earl, a standout runner for the Wolverines, said she usually runs 3 or 4 miles a day. The 100 Mile challenge may inspire her to do more, especially with the track season gone.

“It’s been good for me because I personally struggle with motivation,” she said. “I’ve been exercising lot for for the heck of it, but it’s sad I can’t channel that into competition, so I think it’s going to be good for me.”

Participants typically secure pledges for each mile they record, but because the bonus month is more about staying connected in a time of social distancing, pledges are optional for the April challenge, Robinson said.

“One thing I’m hearing from people is, ‘I’m feeling really meh and so is everyone I know.’ They’re not feeling very motivated and that underscores why this is an important thing to do,” he said. “It provides motivation to stay physically active and it provides a way to stay connected, which is really important.”

Beth Bragg

Beth Bragg wrote about sports and other topics for the ADN for more than 35 years, much of it as sports editor. She retired in October 2021. She's contributing coverage of Alaskans involved in the 2022 Winter Olympics.

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