Pre Skiing exercise?

[jackh707]

Hey, wondering if anyone could recommend some specific exercises to work the same muscles as when your skiing. Going in just over a month, and haven't been for a few years. I used to suffer with shin splints after a long day skiing.
Currently cycle, do weights and play hockey and I'm pretty fit. Any advice?


cheers

[RemainAllHoof]

On another thread, I noticed someone said they did lunges while holding dumbells in each hand! (This cross thread reference is, I guess, as useful as the women's shoes/coat cross thread reference is funny. )

[andrew311]

jackh707 said:

Hey, wondering if anyone could recommend some specific exercises to work the same muscles as when your skiing. Going in just over a month, and haven't been for a few years. I used to suffer with shin splints after a long day skiing.
Currently cycle, do weights and play hockey and I'm pretty fit. Any advice?


cheers

Ah at last something I know about in the fitness forum!!

For core strength and everything else in your body, pilates and swimming. Swimming has the added advantage of building up cardio fitness too.

If that's too much commitment, a bosu ball is good for core strength - anything where you are required to keep your balance works your core muscles. But these more gentle methods really need to be done every day if you want it to be effective.

For quads and glutes, do many reps of ballet pliés. If you keep your feet flat on the floor during the plié and you go low enough, these will also keep your calves stretched. Do them slowly - the slower you go, the more control you will need and the harder your muscles have to work to hold position. Of course, pliés need to be done with the correct upper body posture for them to work properly.

Squats/lunges are good but your upper body posture needs to be correct to avoid damage to the lower back.

Cycling for building up bulk and endurance in the quads but not much else.

Something that is often overlooked are the foot muscles. It's easy to keep these strong by simply rising onto your toes and then lowering again - all at a slow speed. This also works the calves if the position is held on tiptoes.

And, obviously, stretching, stretching, stretching after exercising.

TBH mate it's difficult, being fit is a huge help, it's no help to you here but the best way of gettting ski fit is you guessed it to Ski, ski, ski!!! A Blonde Australin women talking about 4 good ski exercises here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh_Hms_1tn0

It depends a bit what sort of level you're at too, If you go off piste allot (as I do) I do a rotation of my legs to help build those muscles to turn in deep snow, you might find a demo with a google but I basically stand on one leg and set of rotations in a circular motion. At first you may struggle but with time you'll be doing loads-I find this a great exercise.

[jackh707]

andrew311 said:

TBH mate it's difficult, being fit is a huge help, it's no help to you here but the best way of gettting ski fit is you guessed it to Ski, ski, ski!!! A Blonde Australin women talking about 4 good ski exercises here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh_Hms_1tn0

It depends a bit what sort of level you're at too, If you go off piste allot (as I do) I do a rotation of my legs to help build those muscles to turn in deep snow, you might find a demo with a google but I basically stand on one leg and set of rotations in a circular motion. At first you may struggle but with time you'll be doing loads-I find this a great exercise.

That video is pretty useful, thank you. Will deffo be doing a few of those exrcises (in the privacy of the garden). I do a bit of off piste if the powders good, but I'm not terribly experienced off piste, will happily follow my more experienced mates though. I like mucking around in the snow parks quite a bit. I'm just hoping too get there and make the most of the weeks skiing.
And my core is pretty good, I do a bit if planche stuff.

Cheers.

[andrew311]

By the sounds of it you'll be fine. Last couple of years I've ran out of fitness before I've ran out of ability towards the end of the day so I'm on a big fitness drive myself and starting off on a poorer foundation than it sounds you have! I skied a season in Banff and it's the best shape I've ever been in.

Get yourself some off piste leasons, it's a whole new world of fun, then you can get a guide and the sky's the limit. Where you headed to?

[F40LOUD]

I'm a qualified level 2 instructor with 6+ seasons competing under my belt. The advice about swimming is gibberish. Perfect for getting fit, and joint flexibility, but youll do cock all in one month. Serious skiing and boarding puts a completely different load onto your muscles than other sports. My best workout i took from team USA when i was training with them in a gym in QT, NZ is as follows. Bear in mind this could prevent you walking properly for some days (especially stairs) if you aren't in good shape and don't stretch afterwards.

Build up to heavy squats with a bar/squat rack with good technique descending to thigh paralell- go for around 6 reps as heavy as you can manage. Then take the weight off and go straight into squat jumps unaided onto a 3ft platform. When you cant jump that high, change to a 2 foot platform and keep going. Then a 1 foot platform. By this time you'll be on fire. Then adopt the lowest ski position you can manage with weights in either hand for as long as possible before collapsing onto a bench you have pre-placed below you. Youll be in absolute bits. Then do it again twice more.

You can finish with other leg work such as straight leg deadlifts, curls, and extensions, but the squats are the key. Finish with a forced stretch where you fight against someone pushing against the stretch for 10 seconds and then relax(look up how to do this and get a gym instructor to show you as its dangerous if done wrong). Then go back two/three days later and do it again even if your legs are sore. This workout builds on your strength, explosiveness, ability to recover, and improves your ability to deal with lactic acid -all key to skiing. No other workout other than two weeks of hard skiing comes close to this - trust me, i have tried plenty of others. I can't help with your shin splints - perhaps get a podiatrist to look at your boots. You shouldn't be getting delamination of your shins when theyre clamped inside your boot unless something isn't right. You can only fix shin splints really with rest, and slowly building up your running distance. Some barefoot shoes will also help you get your shin splints better. have fun.

[Beardy10]

Squats on these kind of discs are a great exercise for sking

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXDBeM-id7g

Don't need to have weights invloved.....going down into a squat and holding it for 20 or 30 seconds and then moving your weight from left to right for another 20 or 30 seconds is a great way to replicate what happens on the slopes. Obviously have to work up to it.

Also jump squats going up a straircase and then doing reverses back down are a good one to replicate. Three times up and down a normal household staircase will get you going....

Core exercises are definitely good....a Bosu or Swiss ball is greta for that. Lunges involving weights too.

[Asterix]

I concur with F40 having been a BASI II Alpine (and Nordic) instructor in my past.

The explosive exercises are particularly good - then again, it also depends on the level you ski at. I find that 99% over estimate themselves and try and ski too hard at the beginning of a holiday.

Take it easy for the first day, cruise about learning the resort and build it up slowly - remember you'll also be working at an altitude you're not used to and this can sap even the fittest person if they're not acclimatised.

Also, and I can guarantee F40 will agreed with me, why not book in a lesson or to. The best way to become less tired and less prone to injury is to improve your technique. Doesn't matter what level you are, you always, always can do with a lesson.

I used to race with the Army and every season we had 'boot camps' where we'd train with the British and Austrian national teams (I'd have already done plenty of stuff in Norway by early November so was pretty fit) before starting the season - brutal stuff but always being coached, always going through analysis always learning.

[Du1point8]

anyone looked at these to improve core muscles?

http://www.vibration-trainer-review.co.uk/ijoy_hum...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2007/jul/24...

[jackh707]

Asterix said:

I concur with F40 having been a BASI II Alpine (and Nordic) instructor in my past.


Take it easy for the first day, cruise about learning the resort and build it up slowly - remember you'll also be working at an altitude you're not used to and this can sap even the fittest person if they're not acclimatised.

Also, and I can guarantee F40 will agreed with me, why not book in a lesson or to. The best way to become less tired and less prone to injury is to improve your technique. Doesn't matter what level you are, you always, always can do with a lesson.

Cheers for the advice all, some nice pearls of wisdom, particularly this^ I will try to take my time. The last time I went, I only managed 2 half days of skiing at the end of the week because my legs weren't up to it, but that was a few years ago, and my fitness is much better now.

Im going to Val Thorens ( I think someone asked^), never been before, but I've been to Les Menuires a few times so I should know the pistes a little, as it's further down the mountain. I upgraded my ski pass to the 3 valleys as well, so if I get bored I can pop along to meribel etc...

[andrew311]

jackh707 said:

Cheers for the advice all, some nice pearls of wisdom, particularly this^ I will try to take my time. The last time I went, I only managed 2 half days of skiing at the end of the week because my legs weren't up to it, but that was a few years ago, and my fitness is much better now.

Im going to Val Thorens ( I think someone asked^), never been before, but I've been to Les Menuires a few times so I should know the pistes a little, as it's further down the mountain. I upgraded my ski pass to the 3 valleys as well, so if I get bored I can pop along to meribel etc...

You'll enjoy VT and the 3V great ski area even though it's France..... TBH Strange that your legs weren't up to it with your stated level of general fitness, maybe technique? So maybe leg work is the way to go?

Since everyone is chimming in with their credentials I'm CSIA Level 3 (Canadian quals) but doesn't mean much really.......

[jackh707]

andrew311 said:

You'll enjoy VT and the 3V great ski area even though it's France..... TBH Strange that your legs weren't up to it with your stated level of general fitness, maybe technique? So maybe leg work is the way to go?

Since everyone is chimming in with their credentials I'm CSIA Level 3 (Canadian quals) but doesn't mean much really.......

Well.. that's my level of fitness now, I use to be a bit tubbier last time I went, looking at it, about 5 years ago. I do walk like a retard though, with both my feet splayed out like daffy duck. It makes it harder to keep my skis parallel, snow plow when I first started was a bit of a nightmare.

[andrew311]

jackh707 said:

andrew311 said:

You'll enjoy VT and the 3V great ski area even though it's France..... TBH Strange that your legs weren't up to it with your stated level of general fitness, maybe technique? So maybe leg work is the way to go?

Since everyone is chimming in with their credentials I'm CSIA Level 3 (Canadian quals) but doesn't mean much really.......

Well.. that's my level of fitness now, I use to be a bit tubbier last time I went, looking at it, about 5 years ago. I do walk like a retard though, with both my feet splayed out like daffy duck. It makes it harder to keep my skis parallel, snow plow when I first started was a bit of a nightmare.

That explains it a bit more then. The plough or 'pizza' as they call it across the pond! Really doesn't cut it when you go steeper and or faster. Can you head to an indoor slope for some lessons, tbh how you walk shouldn't have much bearing on how you ski unless you have a genuine disability. I haven't seen you ski so it's hard to comment too much, but it's all about completing your turns.