If you’re like me, you can already taste the snow in the air and are anxiously waiting for that first powder day. So there is no time like the present to prepare your body for that day.
To be a proficient skier you need to focus on leg power, core strength, quickness, flexibility, endurance, balance and agility. In other words you need to prepare for a sport that requires being an all-around fit athlete. Start your training sessions with a good cardio workout, with leg strength like running stairs. Running up will give you power and endurance while running down will create the same eccentric muscle contractions and neurological firing that skiing does. This is something that the muscles don’t get during a "normal" workout. After you have mastered running down try bounding from side to side mimicking the lateral movement in skiing. This will improve your eye-foot coordination, which is also very important in down hill skiing.
In the next part of your workout, grab a soccer ball or any ball and just kick it around. This will help to loosen up tight muscles while increasing flexibility and training eye-foot coordination. These types of exercises are called plyometrics. Plyometrics is a jumping or bounding exercise and can be done anywhere, on a staircase, jumping over logs or a rope tied between two trees. Jumping up and down off of a picnic table will work or just do standing tuck jumps in an open space. Keep in mind that this type of workout should never be done more than twice a week.
The idea is to coordinate the environment and your time constraints to a fun, balanced workout that is exciting and challenges the body with variety. In the long term your fitness and body will be better for it and you’ll be much happier on the slopes this winter.
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