You’ve probably seen the workout classes advertised for ‘ski conditioning’, or ski workout. Usually these classes end up being a large amount of squats, lunges, box jumps and situps. While that’s not necessarily bad for conditioning, it doesn’t get specific. What kind of ski fitness you develop is an important factor – are you a telemark skiier? A mogul skiier? A big country skiier?
Which one you are can make a big difference in specific things you can do to make your first day the most enjoyable.
Let’s go through some of the popular skiing styles right now:
Telemark skiing.
Telemark skiing integrates lunging with rotation of the upper body. You MUST integrate the rotation in or you fail to effectively use the hips in the same way.
Mogul skiing.
Moguls skiing requires a different ski fitness, with the movement being similiar to a squat with sideways force applied. ever jumped forward up onto a box? ever jumped sideways onto a box? you probably jumped forward more than you jumped sideways. But if you think about it, in Moguls you arent jumping OVER the snow-packed mounds of doom, you are bouncing sideways off each of them. A true functional exercise would tap into this side to side motion.
Back Country Skiing
This backcountry method requires much technical skill and different muscles. Some might call it ‘off-piste skiing’. Ever tried skiing uphill? with the big ol’ reverse pizza wedge it can be a real challenge. if you dont practice muscles similar that you woudl use in ice-skating or rollerblading then you will fail to train your muscles to work the way they will need to work.
There are many more applications that can be applied to the different kinds of skiing and the different needs that different situations on the mountain requires. If you would like to take part in a ski conditioning program there are many offered by large gyms in the Denver area. If you live in the Denver area and would like to try our more specific ski programs simply get in touch with info @ fitnessbyatlas dot com
ski conditioning boot camps are running in the Denver area now! Go to www.fitnessbyatlas.com to get dates and times and to contact us with questions.
Yours in health,
Jamie Atlas
