Getting fit for skiing

bandit wrote:
2. Flat sections can be crossed using skating steps on skis, with minimal use of poles.

Definitely a skill worth working on. I cringe when I see people poling over long distances. I can't imagine how hot and sweaty that must be. Yet some people seem to think skating is for athletes, when in fact it's a lot less work.

Trencher

Trencher wrote:

bandit wrote:
2. Flat sections can be crossed using skating steps on skis, with minimal use of poles.

Definitely a skill worth working on. I cringe when I see people poling over long distances. I can't imagine how hot and sweaty that must be. Yet some people seem to think skating is for athletes, when in fact it's a lot less work.

Trencher

I love that part :D Maybe I should take up ice skating

I'll tell you what ladies (and gents), I've discovered that hula hooping on the wii fit is not just a game :-P

Hold your stomach in and it works the core muscles, squat slightly and it works your quads, try to beat your record every time and it leaves you exhausted therefore working on your cv. Genius.

I gotta say, I've been doing it a few days now and I can't believe the difference in my stomach and waistline. It's my new love :P

Actually, I'm much better at doing that skating action than I am at ski-ing! I used to roller skate a lot when I was a child, plus I can also ice-skate :D. In fact, I'm so good at it that I challenged my ski instructor to a race one day. It was the only thing I was actually better at than him. I don't think that was the cause of the problem with my arms.

And Bandit, you obviously haven't been up the drag lift at La Rosiere that literally does dangle you by your arms while your skis are still (just) in touch with the snow. :shock:. Our ski instructor was very doubtful about taking us women up it, because it is so steep. And I'm not sure if it was that one, or another one, but one of them also has a very sharp bend in the middle of it. But I was okay on those, because I'd been doing arm exercises by the time I went on that holiday.

Thinking about it, the holiday I had a real problem with my right arm was the first one I went on after I broke my shoulder, so maybe that is the explanation.

It was a really bad break, of the greater tuberosity (the lump at the top of your humerus that goes into your shoulder) and my arm was completely paralysed for about a week, before I could start to swing it a bit. I had to do 3 hours of physio per day after the break had healed, for about 12 weeks to get my arm back, starting with gentle exercises using those stretchy elastic bands etc. and pulling my bad arm up with my other arm using a pulley. And I don't think any of the exercises included pushing down with my arm, like you do if you're trying to get up after you've fallen over. So I suppose whatever muscle it is that does that didn't get a chance to repair properly.

I know I can remember nearly being stuck in the bath in Zell am See because I couldn't push down with my bad arm to get out of the bath.

The osteopath said it was a miracle I'd got back the use of my arm, after a break like that. Apparently most people never fully regain the use of their shoulder. It's okay now as long as I'm not doing something like painting a ceiling for a long time.

It's my other arm that's causing me problems at the moment, after I damaged it moving a very, very large flowerpot. I had to have several sessions with the osteopath for that as well.

Ally

snowb4ndit wrote:I can't ever remember having aching arms during a skiing holiday but then I'm a bit lazy and will avoid flat runs and drag (as in pully) lifts at all costs, so no excess use of arms for me.

:D

I was talking about the rope tows of which I think there are only a few left now!

AllyG wrote:Actually, I'm much better at doing that skating action than I am at ski-ing! I used to roller skate a lot when I was a child, plus I can also ice-skate :D. In fact, I'm so good at it that I challenged my ski instructor to a race one day. It was the only thing I was actually better at than him. I don't think that was the cause of the problem with my arms.

Ally

I used to roller skate and ice skate all the time until I was about 18 and I learned to skate on my skis easily too. It must have some influence. :D

Snowbandit,
I think I know what you mean by the rope tows. There was one in front of our hotel in Obergurgl, which you needed to use to get back to the hotel if you wanted to ski back. It was a very curious old-fashioned looking thing, and quite hard to use.

We must go for a skating-ski together some time :D I am going to drive to Swansea over the holiday because they have a temporary ice-skating rink there just for the Christmas holiday. I'd like to teach my younger daughter to ice-skate. When she was very little she used to be able to skate with me in between my legs. I used to ice-skate at that indoor rink in Queensway, in London, when I was a child, and I used to have my own ice-skates that I'd bought ultra cheap in Portobello road.

Ally

AllyG I have skied La Rosiere a few times over the years, and have been all over the resort (it is quite a small place). I can think of no drag lift that is so bad there.Perhaps conditions were poor with insufficient snow depth?

I do know what it's like to have a broken shoulder. My collarbone was broken by a speeding Dutch woman in VT. It took 16 weeks to knit, (during which time, it just gets left to slide back and fore over the break)and a year to regain the use of the muscles in the shoulder, and another 2 years for the bone collar to be reabsorbed by the body.
It was quite apparent to me, while I was ice climbing last week, that there are still significant proprioception problems with that side. That is despite constant weight training to aid muscle memory.
So, no bingo wings, just lack of control.