It’s important that skiers stay fit, before and during ski season. Whether you’re doing Alpine, Nordic, or Freestyle, you must have great quads, a strong core, and lots of flexibility. Below are some basic exercises to help you prep for ski season.
Whether you’re a beginner or double black diamond skier, your quad strength is important for injury avoidance and comfortable skiing. In fact, quads are the main focus of many skiers, especially beginners and intermediates.
Why? Because your quadriceps hurt like crazy on days one and two of any early season ski trip, so skiers will do anything to avoid that pain – including overwork their quads at the expense of other muscle groups.
The key to skiing well and skiing safely is a well-rounded workout approach that includes your:
The basic squat is a great way to strengthen both your gluteus and quadriceps. Start with no weights at all, hands on your waist, back straight, core engaged. Bend at the knees and go as low as you comfortably can. Then back up. Do as many as you can without feeling any strain in your knees. Work squats into your workout 3 to 4 times a week.
As ski season approaches, start to add a dumbbell or NuBell bar with very light weights on it – 5 to 10 pounds. Hold the bar at chest level and complete about 15 squats. Work your way up only as you feel comfortable.
If you’re really serious about squats, look into the BILT Power Stride. The Power Stride has independent pedals which can engage both legs together or individually. This helps overcome weak side overcompensation, a common occurrence in most athletes.
An important factor in sports is having core strength, and skiing is no exception. Skiing is all about movement, balance, and stability, which are easier with a strong core.
Many people mistake core workouts for sit-ups or crunches. The target muscles of core workouts are those that stabilize the spine and are from your hips up the length of your torso. Power-driven muscle movements start at the spine and the core muscles, then work outwards to the larger muscles of your extremities.
Gym Source has a wide variety of equipment that will help you achieve optimal core strength. Come by a Gym Source location and talk to one of our experts.
Plyometric exercises, also known as plyos (and sometimes called jump training) are used when you want your muscles to exert great force in short spurts. The goal is to increase power for speed and strength. Plyometric exercises include squat jumps, lateral jumps, power skipping, and box jumps. The Deluxe Plyometric Boxes are an ideal solution for plyometric exercises like depth jumps, single-leg squats, and continuous jumps.
Ski season is just around the corner. For a successful and safe year, make sure you’re getting well-rounded workouts that exercise the entire range of muscles needed, whether you’re a beginner, intermediate, or expert skier.
