Snow Fitness
A complete Snow fitness workout is a combination of cardiovascular fitness, weight training, and explosive or plyometric.
Weight -Bearing Workout
Here is a weight training and exercise program you can undertake in your own gym. By doing a movement specific exercise program in the weeks before ski/boarding season you can reduce your risk of injury by 80%, reduce aches and pains and, increase your fun on the slopes this winter.
Here is a list of the muscles you should focus on and some exercises to help you do that.
Anterior Tibialis/Shin
Exercise- Low pulley dorsiflexion, rowing with your feet strapped in firmly, walking on your heels, or standing on a step and dropping your heels down. The tibialis is used to pull your body forwards to keep you from falling backwards.
Soleus/Lower Calf
Exercise-Seated Calf Raises-because most skiing and boarding is carried out with the knees bent, the gastrocnemius/upper calf, cannot effectively operate. The soleus is often used to stop you falling forwards.
Quadiceps/Front Thigh
Exercise-Compound exercises- Squats, leg press, lunges and step ups. Isolation exercise-single leg extension. The quads should be strengthened to protect the knees and are constantly used when going downhill.
Gluteus Maximus/the Booty and Hamstrings/Back Thighs
Exercise-Compound exercises-Squats, leg presses, lunges and step ups. Isolation exercises-Butt blaster, TRX hamcurls, Cable Ham curls and Extensions. Bending at the hip is maintained by the glutes and the hamstrings contracting to maintain stability and absorb shock.
Hip ADDuctors/Inner thighs and hips
Exercise-Low pulley adduction, lower leg raises lying and seated hip adduction machines and standing multi-hip machines. Adductors are used especially by beginning skiers to control the width of the ski track and legs.
Hip ABDuctors/Outer thighs and hips
Exercise-Low pulley aBDuction, side leg raises, seated hip abduction machines, standing multi-hip machines and TRX plank with ABDuction. ABDuctors are the hip stabilizers and assist in steering.
Hip Rotators Internal and External
Exercise-Low pulley hip rotation, isometric hip rotation strengthening exercises in a doorway. The hip rotators are the fine steering control muscles essential for all levels of expertise.
Erector Spinae/Low Back
Exercise-Back contractions, supermans, alt arm-leg raises, back extensions, dolphins, TRX back extensions. In the flexed trunk stance means the lower back muscles work overtime so strengthening these muscles will reduce back ache
Rectus Abdominis and Obliques/The ABs and Side Abs
Exercise-Plank, curls, crunches, oblique crunches, sit ups, hip raises, cable wood choppers and rotations, TRX plank, TRX crunches. pikes, and scorpions-ooh!. Strengthening the ABs supports the spine from the front for balance, control and power
Latissimus Dorsi/Upper back
Exercise-Lat pulldown, bent over rows, Cable or TRX Rows. Use of the Lats is more “ski” specific for heavy poling.
Triceps/Upper outer arm
Exercise-High pulley tricep pushdown, tricep kickbacks, skull crushers, french press, and TRX high tricep extension. Also ski specific for poling and board specific for getting up after strapping in.
Biceps/Upper inner arm
Exercise-DB hammer curls, reverse pulldown, concentration curls, low pulley row. Biceps assist in forward movement through elbow flexion and stabilize the shoulder joint.
Reps and Load-When doing muscular conditioning exercises, you need to remember two things. You need both strength in movement related muscles and endurance in postural muscles. The ideal reps and load are a multi set system of: heavy resistance and low reps for strength and, lighter resistance and increased reps for muscular endurance.
GET moving!! Find your ski buddies, family, the unlikely and likely and start a ski fitness program together. It really does make it fun and the numbers show accountability and camaraderie make adherence easy! This stuff really does work!! :-)