Getting fit for skiing

Pablo Escobar wrote:Tomorrow I am going to do 6 hours of fitness for skiing. Does skiing count as exercise for skiing? ;)

Only six hours skiing you are unfit :wink:

8-11, 11.30-2.30. Skiing all day is for people who can only manage a couple of weeks a year ;)

Pablo Escobar wrote:8-11, 11.30-2.30. Skiing all day is for people who can only manage a couple of weeks a year ;)

Agreed, two weeks of proper skiing :wink:

Pablo Escobar wrote:8-11, 11.30-2.30. Skiing all day is for people who can only manage a couple of weeks a year ;)

Errk! How do I fit into this model Pablo?

You just aren't going fast enough if you aren't tired ;)

Pablo Escobar wrote:You just aren't going fast enough if you aren't tired ;)

I do the same thing every March ski so much all day, apart from the odd liquid stop, eat, a couple of drinks then sleep like a baby :lol:

I second Trencher's post way back in this thread recommending inline skating.

Largely with skiing in mind, I went to Club Blue Room in central London, bought some skates. I am glad I did not buy online, price was no higher in store, and got a good fit. And started skating, in spite of being over 50, 4 weeks ago. A lot of the fun of skiing, without the need for lift passes or snow. And great exercise.

As a complete beginner moving slowly on rollerblades and without skill, but skating every day, I got an amazing gain in fitness in the first two weeks after buying skates. A friend with MS improved her walking very markedly after two weeks re-learning, also moving slowly. And yet unlike gym or running, but like skiing, you are so absorbed in having fun and learning technique, that time flies and it does not feel like working out.


Skating totally has the feel of working the same thigh muscles which I find get tired in skiing. Also my balance (tested by standing on one foot) has greatly improved in my first weeks of inline skating, I am sure this will have a big impact on skiing. I hear great skaters say how fast they pick up skiing.

As well as legs and glutes, inline skating works on core and aerobic fitness. Like sking, it is weak on upper body, so to supplement core work and add in upper body work I have started pressups, using this programme http://hundredpushups.com/index.html. The aim so to get to 100 pushups within 6 weeks. It will probably take me 7 or 8. You can log progress at http://hundredpushups.com/index.html (my user name is John_B in case anyone is interested to see how it goes: I was interested to check out the progress of a few others).

Oh, and beginner skaters learn to fall safely. Not sure how far this will carry over, but the knack of going with the fall rather than fighting it (learnt through skating) did seem to help me today when I slipped walking on shingle on a steep mountain path.

I keep fit all year round, but I find that a mix of strengthening and cardio in the same session really helps for those hikes to poweder snow.

My personal trainer has set me on the 300 routine, named after the actors that used it to get fit. It tends to be 6 sets of 50 reps each. You can take as long as you want to complete it, but you time yourself from start to finish. I then finish up with 30 mins cardio.