Getting fit for skiing

Tony_H wrote:
All you need to worry about is your core strength and leg muscles. For me getting a sweat for 20 minutes every day is good enough, by whatever means possible ) . That might be a brisk walk, a short run, chasing around London with a briefcase up and down the escalators, or just some simple exercises at home. What I do ensure is that for at least 6 weeks leading up to skiing I work on strengthening my quads and core muscles a little by doing some stretches, crunches, and leg lifts. I dont feel the need to do much more than that TBH. If I was 24 stone, I might perhaps see it somewhat differently.

I don't run or chase around London with a briefcase, but the rest of the above is exactly what I do. Mainly because I don't want to ever be 24 stone. :lol:

AllyG wrote:Tony,
How do you know I'm not planning on ski-ing like a 'pro' over moguls and down the slalom? :D

Ally

Erm.........

I agree with both Tony & Ally to a degree, I'm not a fitness fanatic by any stretch of the imagination but want to feel fit enough to ski for a week without killing myself.

My legs usually suffer more than anything which is why I've started with the jogging and stretching. And with just 6 weeks and 2 days until my train leaves, I've actually got just enough time to sort myself out :D

Dont overdo it. Remember, beer is for drinking and cakes are for eating, mountains are for skiing and life is for living.

Bo selecta 8)

I've found that, as long as you keep something up ie: not being a sloth, fitness comes back pretty quickly [she says hopefully :shock:]

Nelly,

With 6 weeks to go you should be fine if you keep going with the exercises :D.

It was my arms that ached the most the first time I went ski-ing again as an adult :(. I'd completely forgotten to do any exercises for them. And, of course, I kept falling over and it's really exhausting pushing yourself back up all the time especially if you're practically on the flat on a blue. Plus, the drag lifts can actually drag on your arms if the slope is steep. And, carrying skis about - from your apartment and up steps to the gondola etc. is surprisingly tiring. Even just ski-ing with your arms out in the driving wheel position makes them ache after a bit.

So, now I've added arm exercises to my routine, from that ski exercise book.

Ally

If you really want to get fit for skiing any training has to be dynamic. It needs to simulate the stresses on the body that you get while skiing. Running will help, it will do some good for the legs and be great for cardiovascular fitness... However, running on the flat will not challenge the muscles enough to prevent muscle pain from the first days skiing. Running on a mixed route with uphill and downhill will help more. Downhill running will simulate the stresses of skiing better then flat running, and uphill running is a good way of building up power in the legs.

For people who are already relatively fit, then doing some squats, lunges and single leg squats will be quite beneficial. Technique is crucial and make sure you get a full range of motion. At the start do the squats in groups of 3x12, once you have got that dialled then start upping the number per rep till you are going close to fatigue.

For people who are able to do technically perfect squats and want to inject something into the preparation for winter then Plyometrics are the way to go. This should only be attempted if the technique with the non dynamic versions of the exercises is perfect.
Squat Jumps, Dynamic Lunges, Drop Jumps and Squats on a balance board can all be included here.

I've just kicked off my ski season, and despite being fairly fit I still felt my legs quite a bit after the first few days. I didn't do any specific training before the season this year, but in past years I have and it helped a lot. This year I've just been mountain biking until the snow became too much to bike and enough to ski. :-)

It's okay, I do plenty of different sorts of running. I run uphill on a road, downhill through a bumpy field, back up the same very steep hill in the field, some on the flat in the field, and back down the road - and all in my wellies!

And, I'm working my way through my exercise book.

I do those exercises when I'm watching telly and the ads are on. It's surprising how many squats etc. one can do during the ads :lol:

Ally