Ski-Conditioning Many people neglect to get into shape before a ski holiday. Generally when we go skiing we head straight from the office onto the slopes and dive straight into a week or two of intense physical activity. It’s not surprising that most ski injuries and general aches and pains are the result of inadequate preparation. If you really want to make the most of your annual ski trip this year, it is sensible to spend some time conditioning yourself beforehand. Why suffer on the slopes when you could feel stronger, ski for longer and wake up without those sore and aching muscles?

Ski Fitness - Ski-Specific Training

Ski – Specific training, should not be ignored, as skiing is for most people a recreational sport that they participate in once a year. For this reason most individuals are poorly conditioned prior to their skiing activity, and pay the price with sore muscles, reduced time on the slopes and injury.

As the name suggests, Ski-specific Training works on specific body muscles which are crucial in Skiing.

Your skiing fitness program should begin a minimum of 8 weeks prior to your time on the slope.

The key areas to look at are : muscular strength, and endurance, especially the muscles in the legs. It is important to have a full body workout, but for the purpose of Skiing, the leg muscles such as quadriceps, hamstrings, calf muscles, and shins have to be focused on. Most of your endurance will also rely on your legs and how long they will hold out. Good leg strength is essential to turning faster & harder.

Flexibility, having a good range of movement in your joints will enable your body to adjust to any sudden changes in your direction and also help prevent injury when you fall.

Aerobic training will enable you to ski longer, as fatigue results in poor concentration ending in injury from crashing.

If you want to get your money's worth out of that expensive lift ticket, you'll need plenty of cardio endurance. Most of us hit the slopes and plan on skiing all day, even if it's been months or years since we last skied. By afternoon, you're so tired that you lose focus. And this is often when injuries and accidents happen.

Knee exercises are also very important since knee injuries are one of the most common lower body injuries in Skiing.

Specific leg muscles exercises

Ski Jumps – left to right – this first exercise builds muscular endurance in the major leg muscles, and also helps to strengthen the muscles which support lateral movements.

Squats ( with & without dumbbells ) – Glutes & quads
Builds strength & stamina in upper legs to stay in crouching position on the slope.

Lunges ( with & without Dumbbells ) – Glutes/quads/hamstrings

Side lunges - It is important for slalom skiers to improve their lateral strength. Side lunges laterally load the hips and core, and also train you to counter the lateral movement.

Pivoting Calf raises – Gastrocnemius & soleus
Builds up ankles, helps keep them injury free.

Toe lifts - For Shins – Tibialis anterior/ Peroneus longus

Shins are particularly helpful when correcting your body weight. They help to pull the body forward.

Box jumps - This is a plyometric exercise to help build functional strength in the joints, which really helps to avoid injury. It is also an excellent cardio-muscular endurance exercise. Squat jumps are dynamic and intense.

Squat thrusts - Glutes, hamstrings and the quads, and also provide a modest upper body workout.

Horse stance ( static squat ) - The horse stance is a simple but very effective exercise done in kung-fu schools. Develops very powerful legs.

Exercise ball work

Reverse plank – core / spinal stabilizers

Press ups – pectorals / triceps / deltoids

Reverse plank knee tuck ( progression of reverse plank )

Single leg Lunges – quads / hamstrings ( progress with dumbbells)

Back extensions / prone sky diver - Giving a strong flexible back that will help turning & twisting.These exercises hit one of the most important areas for a slalom skier — the lower back & core. The key to this exercise is to let your lower body relax, instead of letting your hamstrings and glutes take over. Think about spinal extension and rotation, not hip extension. (Use the wall for support)

Rolling plank – Abdominals, hip flexors, shoulder extensors

Ab Crunch - Abdominals, neck flexors

The fact that skiing takes place on a nearly frictionless surface makes exercise ball exercises for skiing particularly helpful. All movement must originate from the core and without a stable core you will lack the strength necessary in your legs to make turns. Building core strength, specifically abdominal and lower back muscles, will help a skier or snowboarder avoid the overuse of leg muscles as the body starts to fatigue.

Good technique requires proper weight shift and balance. Balance is the ability to maintain our center of mass over our base of support.  Working on balance helps a skier or snowboarder develop specific muscles and a sense of body awareness necessary for the dynamic movements on the slopes.

Core Stabilty

Triangle crunch – Abs & Obliques – improves balance & builds strength.

Toe reaches ( alternate sides ) – Strengthens the obliques as well as the rectus abdominus.

The plank ( as with the exercise ball ) – strengthens the spinal stabalizers & the tranversus abdominus

Medicine Ball work

Press ups on medicine ball - by having one hand on an unstable surface you will also improve the strength in your shoulder stabilizers, which will aid in preventing slalom's common shoulder injuries. Performing this exercise on a single leg also works the erector spinae (lower back) muscles.

Dead lift to military press – Excellent full body exercise..works legs, glutes, shoulders, arms back & core.

Hill Running: What it does for you

In hill running, the athlete is using their body weight as a resistance to push against, so the driving muscles from which their leg power is derived have to work harder. The technique to aim for is a "bouncy" style where the athlete has a good knee lift and maximum range of movement in the ankle. They should aim to drive hard, pushing upwards with their toes, flexing their ankle as much as possible, landing on the front part of the foot and then letting the heel come down below the level of the toes as the weight is taken. This stretches the calf muscles upwards and downwards as much as possible and applies resistance which overtime will improve their power and elasticity. The athlete should look straight ahead, as they run (not at their feet) and ensure their neck, shoulders and arms are free of tension. Many experts believe that the "bouncy" action is more important than the speed at which the athlete runs up the hills.

Hill work results in the calf muscles learning to contract more quickly and thereby generating work at a higher rate, they become more powerful. The calf muscle achieves this by recruiting more muscle fibres, around two or three times as many when compared to running on the flat. The "bouncy" action also improves the power of the quads in the front of the thigh as they provide the high knee lift that is required. For the athlete, when competing in their sport/event, it can mean higher running speeds and shorter foot strike times.

Hill training offers the following benefits:

• helps develop power and muscle elasticity
• improves stride frequency and length
• develops co-ordination, encouraging the proper use of arm action during the driving phase and feet in the support phase
• develops control and stabilization as well as improved speed (downhill running)
• promotes strength endurance
• develops maximum speed and strength (short hills)
• improves lactate tolerance (mixed hills)

Stretching

Stretching is vital for sports such as skiing, as keeping your joints supple will reduce risk of injury if you fall, twist or turn unexpectedly. The plyometric exercises (ski jumps, jump squats) will help make the joints stronger, stretching will make them more pliable.

As mentioned earlier, most accidents occur in the afternoon, this is due to both poor fitness levels in skiers, and the fact that as a recreational sport, most participates avoid both eating and drinking regularly. Maintain your food and fluid intake whilst on the slopes, preferably hot meals or such foods as flapjacks, and warm drinks.

 

Train well before you go ski-ing, and you will get more out of your sport.

Contact James for your personalised pre-ski-conditioning-programme.