A Workout plan before Hitting the Slopes

Not only is skiing a fantastic all over body workout, most people consider it such an enjoyable pastime that they don’t even consider it working out. Skiing demands a lot of the body and you will want to be at a certain level of fitness in order to enjoy a full day of skiing. The ideal exercise to build up a ski-ready body will strength your core and legs while providing all over toning so that you can avoid injury.

Injury is common in skiing because your body will be forced to move in certain ways (unless you like falling!) and people end up straining body parts that were not ready for such demands. It would seem very odd for someone who hasn’t run a mile in months to say, “Hey, I am going to go for a 4 hour run this weekend.” But when someone who hasn’t worked out in months says they are going skiing all day on Saturday, no one questions them. Unlike walking where you can simply slow down your pace if needed, when skiing down a slope you may have to apply all of your strength to one body part if you hit a sharp turn and those with untrained legs will most likely pull a muscle (though this is better than running into a tree).

Many workouts that focus on developing a body for skiing involve using large weight machines like the hip sled, squat machine or the leg press. If you are already in pretty good shape and have a good understanding of how this equipment works, or if you have hired a personal trainer, this sort of workout can work for you. But a much better method is to do exercise moves that depend on resistance from your own body in order to tone and flatten. Moves likes lunges and squats with free weights force you to use other muscles, like your core and arms, to stabilize yourself. These are natural movements and will help you when you have to make a sudden move while skiing. Depending on weight machines to tone your body doesn’t teach your body how to stabilize itself nor does it do much for overall toning. A weight machine will help you focus on a very targeted area of your body, but it will not encourage the muscles and body parts around that area to work. And since skiing is an all over body activity, it is a good idea if your workouts are also.

Combinations of exercises like wall squats, traditional squats, standing jumps, lunges, torso twists, and hip extensions are the kind of workouts you will want to look for. On days when you do light to moderate cardio (20 to 40 minutes at no more than 70% of your max heart rate) you could add these toning exercises to the end of your workout. Days when you do very intense cardio are not ideal days for toning since your body will be fatigued and therefore much more likely to injure itself. Do 10 to 15 repetitions for each exercise and do 2 to 3 sets of about 5 of the exercises. This means you will end up doing 10 to 15 sets of exercises total. This level of intensity will allow you to do this workout 4 times a week without extensive resting periods. After doing this workout for a few weeks, you will be able to enjoy an entire day of skiing while enjoying a toned body.