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Fitness:
Training
for Skiing and Snowboarding
By Luigi F. Rende
It's hard to think of the ski season with Indian summer looming, but if you want to shred, rip and carve, now is the time to begin training for the upcoming ski and snowboard season. In any conditioning program its important to understand the intensity level of your particular activity, and match the speed and pace of your sport.
Aerobic fitness is very beneficial for snow sports; it reduces your chance of injury due to fatigue and also helps you stay on the mountain longer. For maximum benefit, aerobic activities should be done at least 2 to 3 times per week for 15 minutes or longer at 65 to 75% of your maximum heart rate. Most aerobic activities are low to moderate in intensity, and predominately stress and develop slow twitch muscle fibers.
Anaerobic activities, such as skiing and snowboarding require short intense bursts of energy so specific pre-season training is needed. These exercises are shorter in duration, lasting from 10 seconds to 2 minutes, requiring high-energy output. Anaerobic training can include sprints/interval training, weight training and plyometrics. Each of these stress and develop the fast twitch muscle fibers. Finally, we will discuss the importance of balance.
Sprints & Intervals
Timing and focus are important when performing anaerobic sprinting and interval training. You should work on a 1:3 or 1:5 work-to-rest ratio. That means that if you are doing a 30 second hill sprint, you need to rest from 1 1/2 to 3 minutes to be effective. Usually the shorter more intense intervals require more recovery time. It is important to take the allotted time for recovery, to insure high-energy output on every exertion and prevent against injury.
When anaerobic training you must thoroughly warm up and stretch. Due to the intensity, you should limit these interval workouts to twice a week. I recommend those activities that use muscles involved in skiing or snowboarding: running (track or hill sprints), bicycling (especially mountain biking), or in line skating.
When starting an interval-training program, begin with 2 minute long intervals. Pick up the pace during your workout, rest for at least 2 to 4 minutes, and repeat it four to five times. After two to three weeks, start to shorten the intervals, but make them more intense. But remember, stay within the allotted work-to-rest ratio.
Weight Training
The benefits of weight training are well documented. It helps develop pure strength, power and muscular endurance, components to help improve performance and prevent injury. Muscle groups that should be targeted by the skier and boarder are those of the hip, lower and upper back, front and back of the legs, chest, and shoulders. Ideally, the exercises should work multiple-joints at once.
Lower Body
Parallel
Squat
Leg Press
Lunge
Leg Extension
Leg Curl
One-Legged Squat
Upper Body
Chest
Press
Bench Press
Lat Pull Down
Military Press
Seated Rowing
Power Development
Power
Clean*
Push Press*
*Requires proper instruction
Weight training should take place two to three times a week. Start with two upper body and two lower body exercises per workout. For proper development, make sure that if one of your upper body routines works the chest muscles, the other should work the upper back muscles. Your core lower body exercise should be the squat or leg press, and leg curls or extensions should be done at every workout, preferably one leg at a time. Advanced exercises include the lunge or one-legged squat.
The power development exercises should be done only after instruction and a good strength base has been developed. Make sure to properly warm up and cool down, strengthen the low back and abdominal muscles, and STRETCH!!!
Plyometrics
These exercises help develop overall body power. They include a variety of hopping, bounding, jumping, and throwing exercises that build explosiveness, quickness and agility. If you are new to these, don't do more than 100-foot contacts in one week, they are not recommended if you presently have a foot, ankle or knee problem. For best results, these exercises should be started 3 to 4 weeks before the season starts.
Examples of plyometrics are box jumps, tuck jumps, bench jumps and depth jumps. The best exercise used by skiers and boarders is jumping over a box or cone with both feet together, in a good athletic stance. These types of muscle contractions closely mimic those used on the slopes.
Balance
Probably the most important component you can develop is balance. If most of your training has been done on either a bike or in line skates you're in good shape, these activities simulate the balance and weight shift demands of both sports. Riding single-track, technical descents help develop timing, balance and weight shift skills needed on the slopes -- one of the rewards of those grueling hill climbs!
In line skating helps develop lower body fitness and strength, but is also simulates skiing better than any other activity. If you can carve a turn on skates, it will carry over to your turns on the snow. The athletic and ski specific stance and rhythm developed while in line skating is very close to that used in downhill skiing. The same is true for skateboarding and snowboarding. I cannot stress enough, when doing either one of these activities please wear protective equipment.
These are just a few ideas to make your ski or snowboard season more fun and healthy. Today's equipment has been developed for your enjoyment and safety, so practice your technique so that you can tackle more challenging terrain. If a new board or skis are in your future, make sure a fit body goes along with them.
Luigi F. Rende, MS is a Certified Athletic Trainer and Director of The
Center for Sports Medicine in Schenectady. He is an active skier and mountain
biker.
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