So you arrive at your first chair lift and have a nice leisurely ride up to the top. Taking in the panoramic views, enjoying the crisp fresh air instead of the polluted concrete land you’ve just arrived from, you start to get excited about the first run of the trip. You set off down the slope taking it easy, putting a few turns in and listening to the crunch of the compact snow beneath your skis. Picking up speed your ski legs kick into gear and you thankfully remember how to ski again! Reaching halfway down the slope at near terminal velocity your legs feel skeletal and are in fact officially on FIRE!!! The feeling of fire is insatiable and the burn only gets worse so you stop for a short break to put out the fire occurring in and around your new luminous ski pants and think to yourself...if only I’d prepared!
This is a common feeling and most people just turn up for their ski holiday with very little physical preparation hoping for the best. The result is that skiers burn out quickly, need more rest than they’d thought (thinking they’d be cruising the slopes non stop like James Bond) and ache more than they should have to. So for this blog I’m going to kick off with 3 exercises that I think will help improve your strength and endurance for your ski holiday.
The aim of these exercises are to target those muscles that are most commonly used in skiing, and to mimic the type of movements you perform when skiing. Obviously the best training for skiing is to ski! Not all of us have the advantage of growing up in the French Alps and whizzing down the slopes at 4 years of age or even to get to the snowdome 2 or 3 times a week. I'll Save the snowdome talk for another day. We want to improve your leg, core and back strength and endurance so you can ski down slopes with more confidence and less of that annoying leg burn so you can focus on your technique and most importantly- HAVING FUN!
Down to Business.
The first exercise is a lateral hop and modified wall sit complex. This is basically one exercise followed by another to make it that bit more difficult. With the lateral hops you want to be jumping from one foot to the other continuously (If you’ve got space and soft ground you can do this in ski boots)-just don’t do it on Mum’s kitchen floor! Bending down to absorb the impact and jumping to the side about 3-4 feet wide onto the other leg and repeat. This exercise is a way to mimic ski movements on non frosty land.
When finished go straight into the modified wall sit. Just your bum is in contact with the wall with your legs at a right angle and back off the wall in a ski-esque pose. Hold for a maximum time, aiming for a minute and then longer. Combine these two exercises together. For example 30 seconds of lateral hops followed by a maximum wall sit, then rest for a minute. Repeat this sequence 5-10 times or more or less depending on your requirements, to make it harder decrease the rest time and/or increase the time for lateral hops.
The next is the Plank for super core strength. This is a great stabilisation exercise which predominantly improves abdominal and lower back muscular endurance which are important factors in skiing. Simply hold the position (be a plank, hips not too low or too high) for a maximum time then rest and repeat 3 times. When you can reach 1 minute add some sort of weight – wear a weight vest, a pint of milk on your back( with lid on) or a small person.
Now for Squats, a simple but super effective exercise for quad, hamstring and bum strength. The aim is to keep your back as upright as possible, squatting directly down low and pushing back up all the way. Keep your knees in line with your toes and push through your heels. To start with aim for 10 repetitions with your bodyweight, when you can do this happily with good technique you can add weight. Using a barbell, dumbbell or kettlebell or anything for that matter, perform the squat from 3 to 10 repetitions for 5 sets and increase the weight where possible.
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| Bodyweight Squat |
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| Weighted 'Goblet' Squat |
Warm up for 5-10 minutes before the exercises to get you ready, anything from a fast walk to walking up and down the stairs will do. You can perform these exercises 2-3 times a week as far in advance as you can before your ski trip. Progressively increase the weight, time or intensity of the exercises to make them harder and to improve you strength and endurance. For example perform all in sequence – squats – lateral hops-wall sit-plank then rest and repeat.
The 2011/2012 ski season starts in less than 2 months! So what are you waiting for? Move that body and get ready for your ski trip!
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