It is winter and you are looking forward to skiing with your family on the slopes. What are the best exercises you can do to prepare you for this. Unlike what many think, skiing takes a lot of energy and training, not an activity to be done without prior experience or preparation. This preparation will have to be started weeks earlier, even from summer or autumn to allow for time for them to work.
The following are four exercises you can do to prepare you for the slopes.
1. Deadlifts
Deadlifts are one of the best four strength training exercises of all time. They strengthen the muscles, including the hamstrings which you will use a lot in skiing, preventing them from damage. The knee joints are hence worked on as well, reducing the possibility of knee pains developing a common complain among skiers. It is done by lifting a heavy bar at your legs while your legs are straight and hips are bent, eight times in a set for four sets.
2. Single leg eccentric leg press
Most of the activities in skiing are eccentric in nature. This workout helps to imitate some of the forces your body will be under when skiing, like downward movement. It also helps to prevent injury that might arise when your body moves its body weight from one leg to the other very quickly, as strength imbalances in the legs are dealt with. Do not make the leg press too heavy, then guide it down with one leg for about two legs, pushing it back up again with both feet when it has reached the bottom. Perform this four times on each leg for four sets.
3. Squat jump
This exercise enables your thigh and butt muscles to be more explosive, thereby increasing the speed at which you ski and how hard and good your turns are. Squat down and then quickly jump as high as you can from that position, returning to do four repeats for four sets.
4. Medicine ball Pump squat
This exercise is very similar to squat jump and builds similar muscles in the same way. Hold a 50 pound medicine ball to your chest and sink down into a squat. Do little bounces, up and down short pump squats in this position without moving your legs for about a minute, then stand up. Repeat it two more times.
Image courtesy by: openturismo.com
