The best exercises to prepare for the ski season

You are probably looking for the best way to prepare yourself physically to be able to enjoy the slopes and the snow like never before. Here you can find some of the best exercises to prepare you for the ski season.

Physical preparation in sports as specific as alpine skiing or snowboarding is fundamental. The altitude, the cold and the technical movements on the snow require that our physical condition is adequate to enjoy every turn. It is essential to prepare our body to withstand a snowy day without discomfort and reduce the risk of injury, but what are the best exercises to prepare for the ski season? In this article we show you a compilation of the best exercises to get in shape and glide down the slopes this winter with confidence, safety and a good adaptation of your cardiovascular and muscular system, but first, we explain why it is important to get in shape and be very prepare with the best exercises for the ski season.

Why is physical preparation important before the ski season starts?

You are probably wondering: do I need to prepare myself physically to be able to enjoy the ski slopes this season? The best way to be ready is to maintain a regular level of physical activity throughout the year, but if this is not your case, don’t worry as we are going to guide you so that your physical preparation is suitable for enjoying alpine skiing this winter. Are you ready to know more about the best exercises for the ski season?

Physical preparation is fundamental to be able to enjoy any sport as well as for your general wellbeing, given that physical activity and health are an almost inseparable binomial.

High-intensity efforts at high altitude in a cold environment place great physical and physiological demands on the body. As you know, the biggest downfall of any ski trip is getting injured and having to stay in your room while your family and friends enjoy the day’s skiing. So be physically prepared to reduce the risk of the ski season and snowboard injuries as much as possible and enjoy the mountain!

Alpine skiing and snowboarding require specific physical preparation that will allow you to enjoy the snow to the maximum and avoid injuries.

In addition, physical qualities such as coordination, agility, balance, speed, flexibility, power, strength-endurance and explosive strength will help you improve your performance on skis and reduce fatigue.

On the other hand, it is necessary to be aware that practically all winter sports have certain characteristics that invite us to prepare ourselves physically a few months in advance, given that having healthy habits helps us to ski better. Is very important to know which are the best exercises for the ski season to be prepared very well.

The altitude, the cold and the specificity of the movements we make on skis or a snowboard require our body to be specifically prepared, and for this, there is nothing better than doing exercises to prepare for the ski season.

It is not trivial to point out that ski resorts have their base at least 1600 m above sea level and their summit can exceed 3000 m, as is the case in the highest ski resorts in the world. As you know, the altitude factor influences a reduction in atmospheric pressure forcing your body to adapt to lower oxygen levels at high altitude.

In addition, the faster you ascend, the more likely you are to suffer from acute mountain sickness or altitude sickness. However, don’t be alarmed by this fact. Altitude sickness occurs at altitudes above 2,400 meters and below, you will simply feel more exhaustion while you are physically active skiing or snowboarding down the slopes.

Theoretical basis for preparing the best exercises for skiing in the winter season with a focus on the cardiorespiratory and muscular system.

Below, you will find a theoretical basis based on scientific publications that will help you to understand and assimilate the functioning, needs and objectives that you should pursue in your planning. The training you should apply in your routine to prepare your body for winter will include specific exercises to prepare for the ski season. These will be divided into two specific blocks, the preparation of the cardiovascular system and the muscular system.

Aerobic training

The cardiorespiratory system includes the heart and lungs. It is responsible for supplying oxygen, nutrients and other substances such as hormones that are essential fo the body’s cells and organs. It also meets the body’s demands linked to physical activity, helping for example to prevent hypothermia by maintaining body temperature.

To get the most out of skiing or snowboarding, you need to be physically active on a regular basis.

Regular aerobic exercise such as brisk walking, running, cycling, skating, swimming or rowing will help you gain endurance, feel better in your day-to-day life and also is the best exercises for ski season. In this way, predominantly aerobic exercise – which is low to medium intensity exercise performed over long periods of time – will help you gain endurance and delay fatigue when you’re skiing. To put it simply, you will have a stronger and more powerful heart.

From a more technical point of view, aerobic exercise provides a multitude of cardiovascular benefits and will improve your performance on the slopes:

• It increases systolic volume: the amount of blood expelled by the heart at each systole and is expressed in ml of blood per heartbeat.
• It increases the volume of the heart chambers (more blood flows in and out of the different chambers of the heart).
• Increases the thickness of the wall cavities (the walls of the heart become wider).
• It decreases the heart rate both when you are at rest and when you are skiing.

In addition, this type of exercise increases lung capacity and utilizes fat metabolism, promoting weight loss.

Aim for aerobic exercise at least three times a week, totalling 150 minutes of medium-intensity aerobic physical activity.

Strength training

The muscular system is the set of muscles that make up your body and that you control voluntarily. We will focus on skeletal muscles and, indirectly, on the adaptation of smooth muscles (although these work involuntarily like the heart muscle).

The main muscle groups involved in alpine skiing may differ slightly from those involved in snowboarding. Both disciplines require a global participation of all the muscle groups of the body, but the most relevant muscle groups for skiing and snowboarding are those linked to the legs, hips and trunk.

Therefore, if you have been sedentary and have not been physically active for a long time, you should start with a global training that activates all the muscle groups.

In this way, if you are starting practically from scratch, you should train progressively, from lower to higher intensity and in an equitable manner to achieve a balance in the toning of all the muscle groups. If, on the other hand, you are a keen skier and have a good level of skiing or snowboarding, you will have to skip certain generic exercises and include more specific exercises in your routines to improve your performance on the slopes.

In any case, you should know that there are different muscle groups that are essential for skiing. For all this, it is very important to know what are the best exercises for the ski season and to know how to do them well. The muscles that you should work specifically to improve your skiing performance and avoid injuries are:

• Core
• Quadriceps femoris
• Gluteus
• Hamstrings
• Soleus and gastrocnemius

Core

Core is an anglicism meaning “center” or “core”. It refers to the different muscle groups located in the hip and its main function is to stabilize the lumbo-pelvic region. This area is fundamental in the human body, as it is the point of body stabilization for any type of movement, it is the area that gives body control, posture and balance in your day to day life and in carrying out any type of physical activity. We can say that this part is also very important to work on because it is one of the best exercises for the ski season.

The core encompasses up to 29 muscles that stabilize the spine and the abdominal region. These include the abdominal muscle groups, as well as the back, the back and front of the hips as well as the lower pelvic floor and last but not least the diaphragm.

It is essential to know that a trained and stable core will improve your skiing balance, give you more stability and help you absorb impacts more effectively. Thanks to core training, you will be able to reduce the pressure and impact on your bones and joints while skiing, improving your position, weight transfer, reducing pain and the risk of injury.

There are sports disciplines that focus their methodology on the core and without a doubt, the podium goes to the evolution of the methodology created by the German master Joseph H. Pilates in the last century. Remember to use a mat and that the traditional principles of the Pilates method include concentration, control, precision of movements, fluidity and correct breathing.

Here are some basic Pilates exercises to strengthen your core and improve your fitness for skiing and snowboarding season:

• The isometric plank: maintain an upright position with your hands and feet in contact with the floor. The muscles of the abdomen, hips, buttocks and pectoral muscles should be tensed, without forgetting to breathe normally. By the way, a trick to work the transverse abdominis muscle is to push the navel towards the spine. You can do the plank with your elbows resting and keeping them at ninety degrees in relation to the pectoral or do it the same way but with your arms extended. Try to hold the position for 20-30 seconds if you are a beginner and do not exceed 3 minutes even if you are experienced. This technique has a multitude of variations to increase the difficulty. If you want to involve the obliques, you can slightly rotate the trunk to one side and the other. You can also lift alternately one foot and the other, looking for the alignment of the extended leg with the trunk or bending the knee and bringing it slightly towards the chest. Remember that all the movements are executed progressively and slowly, paying special attention that the hip does not descend and maintaining the position.
• The side plank: this is a position similar to the front plank but with variations. The most relevant is the initial position, given that instead of lying on your stomach, you will do it on your side, making it a little more complicated when it comes to maintaining balance and the support of the feet is not so natural. The basics are the same as in the front plank, straight body, tension of the muscles, angle of approximately ninety degrees of the femur with the ground and look straight ahead. Depending on the level, it can be done with the arm flexed or extended. are specifically used to flex the upper body and rotate it to one side. The side plank is very useful for alpine skiing as it specifically works the oblique abdominal muscles which are located on either side of the rectus abdominis and transversus abdominis muscles and are responsible for flexion but also rotation, actively participating in the start and end of each ski turn. There are many variations of the side plank to increase its difficulty: you can keep one leg and/or arm raised, lower and raise your hips to the starting position, bend your upper leg, perform slight rotations by bringing your arm towards the free space between your trunk and the ground, etc. We recommend that you perform each exercise in 30-second repetitions, resting and stretching between sets.

Quadriceps femoris

The constant involvement of the quadriceps in alpine skiing means that, regardless of the training plan, we have to train this muscle group isometrically, concentrically and eccentrically. Having some good quadriceps exercises in our plan to face the ski season will help us a lot. The quadriceps is the strongest muscle in the human body, its main function is to flex the thigh at the hip joint and extend the leg at the knee joint. Its name comes from Latin, and means four heads as it has four individual portions: the rectus femoris, vastus medialis, vastus lateralis and vastus intermedius.

Its constant isometric and eccentric participation during the descent of the slopes requires this musculature to be toned. The quadriceps is the muscle that allows us to maintain the correct position during the descent and is responsible for supporting the weight of our body, as well as the heterogeneous loads that occur in the changes of slope and in the constant changes in the degree of flexion of our knees.

Below we explain the specific exercises for working the quadriceps that we consider most relevant for improving your physical condition and skiing better:

• Isometric squats: place your heels against a wall and keep your whole spine in contact with the wall. Keep your head up with your eyes straight ahead and bend your knees to a ninety-degree angle (remember to keep your knees straight at all times, looking straight ahead, avoiding leaning outwards or inwards). Hold the position for 30-40 seconds. We can repeat the exercise 4×5 times with rests between sets of less than one minute. If we want to increase the difficulty, we can do knee extensions alternating legs while maintaining balance. Remember that squats are a very complete exercise in which the hamstrings and gluteus muscles are also very active, so don’t eliminate them from your training routine for better skiing this winter!
• Chair squats: the same as isometric squats, but this time with movement and looking to sit on a chair. The arms are extended to the forehead, the back must always remain straight and both the gluteus and the abdomen must be kept in tension throughout the movement. Similarly, if we want to complicate the exercise, we can perform the exercise with only one leg, while keeping the other in extension. Perform 4 x 10 repetitions with rests of less than one minute.
• Knee extensions: sitting on a rigid, flat surface, back straight, looking straight ahead. Knee extension until the legs are parallel to the floor and hold the position for 5 seconds. To increase the difficulty, you can use ankle weights or resistance bands. Perform 4×15 repetitions.

Buttocks

The gluteus muscles are a very powerful muscle group that is very active while skiing and is made up of the gluteus maximus, medius, minimus and the tensor fascia latae.

Beyond the aesthetic aspect, it is a determining muscle group in the performance of multiple sports as it is the main hip extensor, making the leg move backwards. In the vicinity of the gluteus, there are smaller muscles with an important role in the functionality of the hip that should not be overlooked, such as the pyramidal muscle, the obturator internus and externus, geminus internus and externus and quadratus cruris. This part of the body is in constant movement when we are skiing and it is important to do some good exercises to be prepared for the ski season.

The glutes also participate in external rotation, ac as a stabliser of the pelvis and contribute to both adduction and abduction of the leg. Therefore, if we want to perform good ski turns, gain explosiveness and maintain a correct position while descending, we must work the glutes specifically.

Here are some exercises to strengthen the gluteus easily without having to go to a gym:

• Lunges: a classic but no less effective. We start the exercise with an upright position and feet together, and then perform a stride. The leg that you advance must reach ninety degrees of flexion and the leg that is behind must also be flexed. The leg in front of you should then use your gluteus to return to the starting position. Remember to keep your hips stable, your body upright and your eyes straight ahead at all times. Start with 3-4 sets of 15 repetitions with each leg. If you want to increase the complexity of the exercise, you can use extra weight with dumbbells or any object you have at home that can be used as ballast.
• Pelvic raise: Lying on the mat with arms flat on the floor, legs slightly apart and soles of the feet in contact with the floor. Lift your hips while contracting your glutes until your body is aligned. Do 3-4 sets of 15 repetitions. If you want to increase the difficulty, you can lift one leg or the other alternately, but remember that the knees must always be straight to avoid unwanted bending.
• Quadruped: Starting from the quadruped position, with hands and knees on the mat, raise one leg until it is in line with the trunk. Perform 3-4 sets of 15 repetitions with each leg. There are many variations that will involve all four portions of the gluteus, such as performing a leg abduction, doing circles or pushing an elastic band that acts as resistance.

Hamstrings

These are the muscles that form part of the posterior chain of our thighs and their main function is to flex the knee and extend the hip. You may have heard the term “hamstrings” to refer to the posterior thigh muscles but this is incorrect as it only refers to the semitendinosus and semimembranosus muscles (which insert into the tibia), leaving out one of the most important muscles, the biceps femoris (which inserts into the fibula). The participation of all the muscles that make up the hamstrings in skiing is essential, regardless of the skier’s technical and physical level, as they are responsible for recovering the position. It is therefore very important to work, with good exercises, on this set of muscles in order to get through the ski season in good physical condition.

Specifically working the hamstrings requires special attention to the execution of the movements if we don’t want to involve the gluteus too much. Here are some exercises that you can do at home to work on what is probably one of the most neglected and yet one of the most important exercises in alpine skiing physical preparation.

• Romanian deadlift: we place our feet with the same opening as our hips and our back straight. We take two weights with both hands and keep our arms extended throughout the exercise. With your knees slightly bent, lower your torso until it is parallel to the floor and return to the starting position. It is important to always keep your back straight and that the movement is done backwards, avoiding bending your knees too much.
• Good morning: an exercise similar to the Romanian deadlift. Place a barbell at the top of your trapezius muscles behind your neck and with your feet apart. Lower your torso until it is parallel to the floor and then regain your position. This can be done with weights or simply with a broom or similar. In both the Romanian deadlift and the good morning, the hamstrings work eccentrically as when we are skiing, so it is very useful given the enormous transfer of the exercise with the muscular action that we will perform while we are skiing. In addition, both exercises also work the spinal erectors, strengthening the muscles bordering the spine, from the sacrum to the skull.

Soleus and gastrocnemius (calf muscles)

The constant regulation of the degree of ankle flexion means that the ankle flexors and extensors are very actively involved while skiing. For this reason, we must specifically train these muscles to avoid injury and to gain maximum tone. To train the soleus and gastrocnemius muscles, you must perform the ankle extension movement. You will need to stand on tiptoe while raising your body or include resistance. For this, you can use machines to perform heel raises or simply use your body weight. It is also often helpful to use elastic bands to generate opposition to the extension movement.

Balance and proprioception training

As you know, in both skiing and snowboarding, balance is fundamental and this involves the nervous and vestibular system as well as the muscular system. Try to work all the muscle groups evenly, executing the exercises well and paying special attention… to your feet!

Proprioception informs us of the position of our body and the changes that external circumstances can cause in different scenarios. More specifically, the sensory pathway is responsible for sending information to the central nervous system (brain) and the efferent or motor pathway sends information from the central nervous system to the muscles. All these “information highways” ensure that we maintain a good skiing position and that we know at all times how our body is positioned.

With this brief explanation, you will understand how important it is to work specifically on your balance in order to enjoy skiing more. To do this, we advise you to do some exercises that will help you to achieve static balance first and then dynamic balance. You need to know which are the best exercises for the ski season focused on what we have just talked about, so that you can ski better.

Static balance is linked to postural hygiene and dynamic balance to the ability to control and maintain stability while moving the body. If you are a skier, you will certainly have heard about the importance of balance, but have you ever specifically worked on proprioception before the season starts? We believe that the sense of posture perception and balance should be part of your routine and training to prepare for the ski season with some basic proprioception and balance exercises on a bosu or fitball. These unstable platforms are very useful for working on balance as well as for functional training for skiing or injury rehabilitation.

Balance exercises on an unstable platform such as a bosu, whose term comes from the anglicism “Both Sides Utilized” since it can be used both on its spherical side and on its flat side. There is a wide variety of functional exercises that we can do with this type of platform that make you lose your balance. They are very efficient for developing the strengthening of the ankle and knee joint. In addition, doing exercises to improve your skiing on an unstable platform involves a multitude of muscle groups of the body to maintain your posture, working the deep and stabilizing muscles, which results in toning them through involuntary contractions. You also have the option of enjoying a OneWheel to strengthen your proprioception in a fun way.

• Skiing-oriented exercises with a bosu are very varied. The most basic is to stand on the bosu and try to maintain the starting position. To increase the complexity, you can bend your legs, perform various functional movements without losing your balance, support only one foot or introduce weight, resistance or external factors that destabilize the subject, cover the eyes or ears of the athlete, …

Note: the exercises proposed for the different muscle groups are very analytical and seek to work specifically on a particular muscle group. Nowadays there is a tendency to work through functional training aimed at performing more global movements where there is a more active participation of multiple muscle groups. If you are in good physical condition, you can perform practically any of the exercises we have proposed divided by muscle groups using a fitball or a bosu so that there is a greater transfer with the ski and at the same time work on proprioception.