Skiing and snowboarding season is right about the corner
Many of you are planning winter madness on the ski slope. What should I do to not spend my long-awaited vacation in the hospital emergency room? How to avoid the sentence: "Today I do not go skiing because everything hurts me"? The answer is one and very simple: physical preparation. Regardless of whether it is your first or tenth season with winter sports it is necessary to be well prepared. An appropriately strengthened body will allow you to enjoy your vacation without unwanted adventures.
How to do it?
Exercises should begin at least 4-6 weeks before the planned leave. Such a series of preparations will allow you to achieve the desired results. Of course, the longer the preparation period, the better for you and your health. The basis for preparation for the winter season is training aimed at strengthening the muscles of the lower limbs and the muscles of the so-called Core. You choose exercises depending on your training advancement. Beginners should start with basic exercises and the correctness of their implementation should be consulted with the trainer. Proper repetition guarantees you safety and increases the efficiency of your training.
Muscles of the lower limb
Let's start with the muscles of the lower limb. People who have not had contact with both the gym and winter sports to this time should start with multi-joint exercises on flat surfaces such as squats or stoppers. Exercise without or with light weight. The moment you master the correct technique and increase your muscle capabilities to exercise, we add accessories: stabilization berets, Swiss balls, half-balls, resistance rubbers. Adding this type of accessories will allow you to imitate the conditions that will meet you on the slopes. Squats with half-balls or berets imitate riding on uneven ground. In the training plan, you can also run out of exercises that maintain muscle tension.
During skiing and snowboarding our muscles do not relax even for a moment, which is why this group of exercises is essential in your preparations. Well-known "chair" or keeping the squat standing on the berets are exercises that cannot be missing in your training plan.
Core and broadly defined abdominal musclesore
The other muscle group you will need to work on is core and broadly defined abdominal muscles. They are mainly used for stabilization and you should focus on such exercises. Similarly to exercises for the lower parts, choose exercises to your level of proficiency. Begin with basic exercises for simple and oblique abdominal muscles. Flexing the abdominal muscles, the plank on the knees or side slopes are a good start. Do not forget to control the technique. Thanks to this, you can be calm about the condition of your spine. With the increase of possibilities, we increase the difficulty of exercising. We weave more and more dynamic variants such as "mountain climb" or torso twist in a V-sit. For this last exercise, you can safely use the medicine ball as an additional load. The above-mentioned exercises are only a fraction of those you can apply. They form the basis and the starting base, and all modifications depend on your imagination and training options.
Balance
There is one more aspect that is very important in the context of preparation for the winter season. Balance. Moving on uneven ground often with high speeds and among many other skiers provokes various unforeseen situations. We must be ready to react. Strengthened muscles will help us, but also a good balance. Doing exercises in unstable positions or with accessories that cause instability will increase your sense of balance. In addition, once everything starts to come out and the exercises on one side or on the berets cease to be a challenge, close your eyes. We cut off reference points in this way, and thus our proprioception has much more work. Thanks to this, we work intensively on deep feelings.
Summary
All the above-mentioned training methods have been used for many years in the motor preparation of beginner skiers. Once you have mastered them and will not cause you a problem, you can be sure that you are ready for the first time in the season. Remember that the specialist part of your preparation has been described. Work evenly over the entire body. Do not forget about warm up. It is very important and well carried out will allow you to achieve better results in training. If you've never practiced ask the trainer for help. He will tell you what to do and make sure that you do everything correctly and effectively. We're getting to work because winter is coming!
