Here in the Mid-Atlantic, our ski season is short, our goals are high, and most of us have full-time jobs, families, pets, and other hobbies that impinge upon the ability to ski every day of the winter on man-made snow in Pennsylvania with 600 feet (generously counting) of vertical drop.
Ski season is coming (2 months!) - if you want to hit your goals this year, you'd better start now.
You have goals, right? Set yourself up for success. Don't be just a winter athlete. It just doesn't work like that.
1) Find a fall sport that gets you strong and builds aerobic capacity.
Picture December 27th, the Monday after Christmas. Hundreds of beginner children show up with new skis. The people at 3pm paid just as much as the morning folks - do you want to be the one to let them down? Are you going to be that instructor... you know, the one that stands at the bottom of the class, yelling at them, rolling their eyes and sauntering up the hill to help them put a ski back on? Or are you going to be the one who can hoof it up the hill and coach each student?
Get on a bike, sign up for a 10k running race in November, join a master's swim team, a basketball league or a tennis club. Do what you enjoy and are willing to make time for.
2) Stretch.
At least a few instructors I work with every year want to be better skiers and are being held back by their flexibility. In particular, if you've been told you tend to rotate your upper and lower body simultaneously and in the same direction (i.e. using whole body rotation instead of leg rotation to generate rotary movements), it could be you I'm talking about.
Go to a yoga or pilates class once a week, get those hip flexors, IT bands and groin muscles pliable. Increase your range of motion and you'll notice it when you ski short turns and bumps.
3) Do plyometrics.
You know when you ski the bumps and they just push you around. Sometimes it would be nice to have some explosive power to push back - plyometric activities are the way to build that power. If you don't know what plyometrics are, look it up. If you like toys or need structure, buy a Bosu ball and do the skiing video for it. Hey, if you wind up doing hop to shapes in the bumps with me, you'll be glad for this power.
Do some jumping. Structured jumping where the eccentric muscle contractions are controlled. Jump up, step down. You'll be less sore. Cycling can also pretty good for developing explosive power. As a bonus, it's aerobic and relies on some of the same large muscle groups (quads, hamstring, calves) that we use on our skis.
4) Lose 10 pounds.
This is obvious. Just do it. To lose weight, calories in < calories out. Two years ago I decided to lose a couple pounds to race bikes faster. That meant I got to buy new ski pants, too. But aside from that, for me the trick was letting all snacks have protein (and lots of low fat protein - cottage cheese, greek yogurt, hard boiled eggs, etc) and being careful about the calories I take in during the day. Light lunches, tuna salad made with nonfat sour cream, egg white omelets, fresh fruits and veggies. All the stuff you know you should do but probably don't.
Exercise can be an appetite suppressant. I sorta had to train myself for that though. The tendency is to inhale after a hard workout, and it's really easy to take in more calories than you put out. A small, nutritious snack is my post-workout routine now.
Studies have shown (here's an article with simple recommendations for primary care physicians when they advise weight loss in individuals) that one of the best ways to lose weight is to track what you eat. I use myplate on the Livestrong site - it has a lot of foods in the database and you can add your own recipes, track your weight and calories over time, etc. Don't lie about your portions or the intensity of exercise to yourself on here or it won't help. I'm still surprised sometimes when my snacks add up to 600, 800 or more calories over the course of a day, whoops!
5) Get some core strength.
We sometimes get to ski in cruddy snow. In December, that could be the snow gun that's blowing a little too wet halfway down. Core strength aids dynamic balance - I think of it as giving your legs something to balance against to counteract the forces from the snow-ski interaction. Do you want to be able to ski through the sticky stuff or land on your face in it?
This how really good skiers control their fore-aft balance in varying terrain - visualize a good bumps skier at your mountain. Not a zipper liner, but one who can ski slushy bumps. Their torso and upper body moves in a controlled way to aid balance - core strength is critical to facilitate those movements. A less precise skier will bend at the waist and their upper body will flop around a bit, so when they hit the firm bump in the field of slush piles... well, their nose hits their knees and perhaps a ski or two comes off, flipping them head over bump.
Pilates and yoga are great for core strength. So is swimming, but I sink like a rock. Take a class, find a video online, or figure out whatever the right way to do crunches is. Here's a hint - when you lose a bit of weight and get some core strength, your February bathing suit session (hey, ski instructors don't go to the beach! - so how about your Killington/Seven Springs belly dancing or tattoo contest look!) will inspire way more confidence.
Disclaimer: This is just the stuff I do, and why I think it works. I'm not a doctor, a physical therapist, or have any kind of practical degree, so this is just my opinion.
Ski season is coming (2 months!) - if you want to hit your goals this year, you'd better start now.
You have goals, right? Set yourself up for success. Don't be just a winter athlete. It just doesn't work like that.
1) Find a fall sport that gets you strong and builds aerobic capacity.
Picture December 27th, the Monday after Christmas. Hundreds of beginner children show up with new skis. The people at 3pm paid just as much as the morning folks - do you want to be the one to let them down? Are you going to be that instructor... you know, the one that stands at the bottom of the class, yelling at them, rolling their eyes and sauntering up the hill to help them put a ski back on? Or are you going to be the one who can hoof it up the hill and coach each student?
Get on a bike, sign up for a 10k running race in November, join a master's swim team, a basketball league or a tennis club. Do what you enjoy and are willing to make time for.
2) Stretch.
At least a few instructors I work with every year want to be better skiers and are being held back by their flexibility. In particular, if you've been told you tend to rotate your upper and lower body simultaneously and in the same direction (i.e. using whole body rotation instead of leg rotation to generate rotary movements), it could be you I'm talking about.
Go to a yoga or pilates class once a week, get those hip flexors, IT bands and groin muscles pliable. Increase your range of motion and you'll notice it when you ski short turns and bumps.
3) Do plyometrics.
You know when you ski the bumps and they just push you around. Sometimes it would be nice to have some explosive power to push back - plyometric activities are the way to build that power. If you don't know what plyometrics are, look it up. If you like toys or need structure, buy a Bosu ball and do the skiing video for it. Hey, if you wind up doing hop to shapes in the bumps with me, you'll be glad for this power.
Do some jumping. Structured jumping where the eccentric muscle contractions are controlled. Jump up, step down. You'll be less sore. Cycling can also pretty good for developing explosive power. As a bonus, it's aerobic and relies on some of the same large muscle groups (quads, hamstring, calves) that we use on our skis.
4) Lose 10 pounds.
This is obvious. Just do it. To lose weight, calories in < calories out. Two years ago I decided to lose a couple pounds to race bikes faster. That meant I got to buy new ski pants, too. But aside from that, for me the trick was letting all snacks have protein (and lots of low fat protein - cottage cheese, greek yogurt, hard boiled eggs, etc) and being careful about the calories I take in during the day. Light lunches, tuna salad made with nonfat sour cream, egg white omelets, fresh fruits and veggies. All the stuff you know you should do but probably don't.
Exercise can be an appetite suppressant. I sorta had to train myself for that though. The tendency is to inhale after a hard workout, and it's really easy to take in more calories than you put out. A small, nutritious snack is my post-workout routine now.
Studies have shown (here's an article with simple recommendations for primary care physicians when they advise weight loss in individuals) that one of the best ways to lose weight is to track what you eat. I use myplate on the Livestrong site - it has a lot of foods in the database and you can add your own recipes, track your weight and calories over time, etc. Don't lie about your portions or the intensity of exercise to yourself on here or it won't help. I'm still surprised sometimes when my snacks add up to 600, 800 or more calories over the course of a day, whoops!
5) Get some core strength.
We sometimes get to ski in cruddy snow. In December, that could be the snow gun that's blowing a little too wet halfway down. Core strength aids dynamic balance - I think of it as giving your legs something to balance against to counteract the forces from the snow-ski interaction. Do you want to be able to ski through the sticky stuff or land on your face in it?
This how really good skiers control their fore-aft balance in varying terrain - visualize a good bumps skier at your mountain. Not a zipper liner, but one who can ski slushy bumps. Their torso and upper body moves in a controlled way to aid balance - core strength is critical to facilitate those movements. A less precise skier will bend at the waist and their upper body will flop around a bit, so when they hit the firm bump in the field of slush piles... well, their nose hits their knees and perhaps a ski or two comes off, flipping them head over bump.
Pilates and yoga are great for core strength. So is swimming, but I sink like a rock. Take a class, find a video online, or figure out whatever the right way to do crunches is. Here's a hint - when you lose a bit of weight and get some core strength, your February bathing suit session (hey, ski instructors don't go to the beach! - so how about your Killington/Seven Springs belly dancing or tattoo contest look!) will inspire way more confidence.
Disclaimer: This is just the stuff I do, and why I think it works. I'm not a doctor, a physical therapist, or have any kind of practical degree, so this is just my opinion.
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