The best Ski Exercises/Workouts For Skier Legs
Hi All..
This is a Old blog post from my other Web site, ( That will be slowly closing down due to a Brand re Name coming Soon)
But the information Here is still relevant...
As It’s the skiing Season I am hoping some of you maybe thinking about getting you ski legs in before you go away..
Trust me you will need to do some prep before going away.
You really Don’t have to miss a powder day with an injury or weak legs So that you can’t ski more than a half day! Just because you might not of done the best exercise to strengthen them up.
Every single time I read a skiing magazine, watch one more so called “professional” or see a Personal trainer that only been on skies maybe a few times, suggesting ski-specific exercises, I have to cringe when I see several of the workouts suggested!
So isn’t the goal of an effective skier fitness training routine to reduce injuries while simultaneously building incredible strength and endurance in your legs and core?
Yes of course that’s the goal… we all want to keep skiing as long as possible, avoid the dreaded “jello legs” that might cut our day of skiing short to maybe get to the Apres Ski.
The trouble I have actually viewed with conventional exercise regimens that are being recommended for skiers are that they not simply make use of ineffective exercises/workouts that do not carry over that well to real skiing movements, but also may even be setting you up for an injury.
For example, if you’ve seen workout routines that are recommending machine leg presses, machine leg extensions, and machine leg curls, please run screaming from that workout recommendation as fast as you can!
It will only set you up for injury, and won’t even help your goal of strength and endurance that’s actually applicable to skiing/snowboarding movements. You need to develop the Fast Twitch Muscles, rather than the Slow twitch ones, As Skiing is a very active sport and theses fast twitch muscle will be used a hell of a lot more.
The exact same could be claimed if you see trainers recommending smith machine squats or any smith machine exercises whatsoever… they should all be avoided as smith machine movements follow unnatural movement patterns (not biomechanically correct) that could develop excessive stress on the back and possible injury there and/or in the knees.
Now I see and hear this the most often, mainly because of ill education or just laziness to pick out this exercises just because other are doing it,
This is what the WALL SQUATS (aka “wall sits or Ski sits” )? Well, although almost every skiing fitness program in existence seems to recommend this exercise for skiers, I just don’t find it to be optimal. But I will say that it’s a slightly better option compared to the machine-based exercises that I mentioned previously.
However, wall squats are still not a genuinely reliable exercise that carries over directly to strength and endurance throughout the entire range of motion that the legs use during skiing. This exercise can be mildly effective since even an isometric exercise held for endurance in one joint angle will still carry over to a slightly wider range of motion, but I actually have loads exercises/workouts that are FAR MORE reliable compared with wall squats.
One of the other major faults that I’ve found with typical ski workout fitness routines is that they often neglect achieving a proper joint strength balance (proper strength ratios between quadriceps, hamstrings, etc).
Although skiing demands a lot of work from your quadriceps and less work from your hamstrings and glutes, it is still vitally important for injury prevention to maintain proper strength ratios between all of the muscle groups of the lower body and also make sure the small stabiliser muscles around the joints are properly strengthened. This is yet another factor that’s lacking in most skier workout programs. Do you Wish to know all of the specific exercises that really work in developing rock solid legs that will never quit on you on the slopes?
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