Best Ways to get Ski Fit

I'm sure everyone has felt the unreal tiredness off a hard day's skiiing at one time or another, I know I have. I have also experienced the burning thighs that just seem to sap your energy. At times I have been skiing down a run when all of a sudden I become so physically tired that suddenly i am not skiing down but geting down as best i can..and it isn't fun anymore.

Some of us are not lucky enough to live in or near ski resorts so when we do get to ski we want to ski every mine of every day..or i do anyway. If you are not fit for skiing you are more likey to injure yourself I doubt anyone would disagree wih that.

Well I haven't suffered from the above in man years...why Max I hear you ask. I'll tell you.

I keep myself ski fit all year round and quite simply it gets easier every day. Ok I admit if you are going on one 2 week ski holiday a year you don't have to be ski fit all year round but it suely makes things easier than starting a couple of months before you go and with better results i think.

So what do I do.

Squash.....Fantastic for the thighs, all of that lunging about really strengthens your legs, sheds the weigh an gets the old hear pumping. Of course squash is not a game that you want to just jump in to, you want to be reasonably fit before you play.

Badminton .... Another great one for the legs, again loads of lunging, probably kinder on the knees than squash and a bit more forgiving if you are not as fit, but make sure you get a good partner who will run you about otherwise what's the point.

My top pick though is spinning......Low impact for knees, great for strengthening your Quads, glutes and calves, and you will sweat like a madman. I'll admit Spinning is not fun at first but from your first time of trying you seel that it has benefits.

If you can get into a habbit of doing one or more of these on a regular basis you will feel better and ski longer.

Of course if you are not used to regular rigorous excercise take it easy to begin with and work your way up.

Anyone else have some ski fit tips

Spinning - the work out of the Devil!

I do a lot of road cycling and had always thought that spinning would be a cinch - how wrong I was! When you're cycling on the road you don't have an instructor shouting at you to 'keep it going'. My favorite part is when she shouts "2 more minutes" and then two minutes later she shouts "1 more minute"! My heart monitor hit it's highest rate during a spinning class!

Having said all that it is a great workout and can easliy be done by all. You can control how much effort you put into it which also makes it good for beginners.

Please excuse the slightly overweight skier here, but what on earth is spinning?

Think exercise bike, think gym, think music :shock:

Having said that, it's quite popular with us 'mannly' folk too!

Spinning is sort of like Aerobics on a bike, but that is not a good description just the best I have at the moment.

Spinning is the sort of excercise that before you try it you will think is pants and for girlies. The day you try it your predjudice will do a 180 let me tell you.


I remember my first time trying it, Now I am a big strong fit guy and I went along to do a spin class. It was full of women and one old bloke. "This is going to be easy", I told myself...

7 minutes into the warm up I was dying, sweating like a pig and desperately wanting to go home but there were all of these women and the old bloke just running along like it was nothing...I hated them all but I couldn't stop.

Let me tell you I hated spining the first few times I tried it but it took 7 minutes for it to gain my respect. The reason I went back again and again is because as soon as you try it you'll know it is doing you good...a great deal of good.

Where I go there is one instructor who gets of the bike and comes around and checks your resistance, If it is too low she'll turn it up for you. lol

But in no time you will get in to the swing of things and burning 500 calories a session like the rest of us.

The best thing about spinning though is hat no matter how unfit you are you can still have a go and you will get fit quickly. It's great for you knees as well if you have knee problems.

Max,

Spinning is best! It will give you stamina on those long downhill runs.
And if you do the following technique you will get even better results:

Try to pull your leg instead of pushing on the pedals.
That will give ya a burning in the thighs.

Hey Prometues

Yes Thanks for that. I have tried that and I'll be honest I haven't managed to make it through a complete class by pulling up because as you say it BURNS!!!!!!

But I will continue trying lol. But yes the best way to protect against thigh burn on skis is suffer the burn in Training and Spinning deffinately gives you that lol

Thanks again

Cheers

Max

Sounds like fun?! lol I'll have to give it a try as I hate that feeking you get in the afternoon after a really aggresive day and as said before, you jst want to get down in one piece!! I'll have to takea mate along for moral support!! thanks guys