Are You Skiing This Season? - Ski Training Revisited

Have you booked your ski holiday for this year? If the answer is Yes - Our next question is 'Have you started your fitness training?' If you think - ' Well I'm okay I'm not skiing till the end of January, or early February' you might be interested to know that we would be advising you to start your training sooner than you think!

Our reasoning? Well you have to remember that it takes 4-6 weeks to build muscle, add in some missed sessions for the Xmas holidays, factor in potential missed sessions for the inevitable winter colds/flu and you might be surprised to find that ski holiday is closer than you think....

We've reprinted below our ski-tips article from last year which had a few slightly different exercises.

We also currently like the Ski Club of Great Britain advice and Work-out with Chemee Alcott Just be careful with some of the core abdominal exercises if you are starting from a low level of strength or fitness.

We will be posting in the coming weeks on more ski-related topics.

Physio Solutions - Recommended exercises to get fit for skiing

As regular skiers we’ve focussed on the greatest difficulties that we’ve encountered over the last few years and how specific exercises could address them.

1. Balance and Weight Transfer

This is key in controlled skiing and especially carving. This exercise picks up problems and aims to even out weight-transfer between sides. You’re combining a single leg squat with a side-bend and then an upper body rotation. The long lever caused by holding a ski pole or stick above your head increases the balance challenge.

2. Single Leg Weight Transfer

This is a variation on the above exercise with stability and balance being challenged with leg movement. Ensure that your knee stays directly over the foot and doesn’t collapse inward.

3. Get Those Knees Working

Bounce turns increase knee flexibility, power and balance. Try and keep the knee bend as you bounce and keep your balance as you change direction.

4. Triceps

Don’t forget to work hard on your triceps strength and power – this can make or break your holiday when there’s any poling involved!

5. Getting Up from the Ground in a Skiing Position

Hopefully you won’t need to use this one too much but it's always good to be prepared! It’s often reported by patients as the one thing that they have trouble with - getting up when your feet are fixed in skis requires good strength in the legs (from a fully flexed knee position) and also the trunk side flexors. It does get better with practice and remember to do if from both sides.

If you've any queries on any of these exercises or any aspect of ski fitness, preparation or injuries please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.

We'll be expanding on this article on our INSTAGRAM page as well as posting other ski-tips information and of course actual pics - hopefully not of exercise 5 in practice!

Article written by Francois-Xavier Armengaud & Helen Skehan

"Just wanted to say a big thank you for straightening out my back, didn't believe it was possible and now I feel great, you're a star!"

Jo