It is ski season again
and lots of people are doing their best to lose weight and build their fitness
ready for the slopes and the après ski. I like everyone else wanted to get in
shape for my annual ski trip so this sparked my interest about training for
skiing and the resources available on the internet. Actually good resources
about fitness for skiing was sparse and terms of quantity and quality. Clearly
their are many components to a fitness programme so I will go through what is
required including cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength and endurance,
power and balance. I will also discuss the relative merits of vibration
training, and whether there is any point in adding vibration to your programme.
The advice I am going to give today is based on the idea of a 8 week programme
(this is way too short but I am a realist).
Cardio fitness
Any activity that
involved activity for a long duration, say 6 ours per day for 6 days, is going
to require cardiovascular fitness. Add to that the fact that most skiing is
done at high altitude, meaning that oxygen will be more scarce, which means
that having good cardio health and fitness is an absolute necessity for skiing
fitness.
Also having high cardio
fitness also means that your powers of recovery will be better from each bout
of skiing that you do. This means that you will be more ready to ski again
after lunch or as you progress through your holiday.
I would suggest a
minimum of 3 cardio sessions per week, probably 1 long slow session for up to 1
hour, 1 short fast session of around 20 mins and even 1 interval session
lasting about 30-40 mins. Many of the equipment at gyms these days have
interval programmes built in. The interval programmes are also good because
they relieve the boredom of training indoors.
Other gadgets you can
try are altitude simulation equipment, such as hybreathe (a portable altitude
simulator) or one of the many altitude tents available.
Muscular Strength
Strength is an absolute
must for skiers, especially novices. Most of your time will be spent climbing
off your bottom and it takes a hell of a lot of strength to perform basic turns
if technique is not yet perfected. Quad strength is absolutely paramount but
also core strength and some upper body strength for using your poles.
Strength is the muscles
ability to develop force, which in terms of skiing means lifting more than your
normal body weight, often on just 1 leg. You will often be travelling at speed
meaning that when you perform turns you will be lifting multiples of your body
weight, and before you can actually turn you have to work eccentrically to stop
your body from collapsing (I will talk a little bit more about this in the
section on vibration training).
To develop strength
there is no alternative than to lift heavy weights, close to your maximum with
low repetitions - 2 sets of 5 reps is probably ideal. You need to train for
strength minimum 2 times per week. The exercises I would include squat or dead
lift, bench press, bicep curls and some core exercises front and back. You can
supplement with other exercises to keep your training interesting. You can also
find machines that incorporate vibration training into your strength by using
machines with Vibrex, this technology is very new so might not be available to
everyone yet.
Muscular Endurance
Once you have increased
your strength it is then time to develop your muscular endurance as when you
are skiing it will be for maybe 6 hours per day so being fatigue resistant is
important. Muscular endurance is the ability to lift a submaximal force many times.
You will be performing turns and stopping repeatedly so this could be the most
important part of your programme, we have all felt our legs start to burn when
we are only half way down a slope!
To develop muscular
endurance ideally you need to lift around 50% of you maximum about 15 times,
and I personally would do 3 sets of this per session. Keep the exercises the
same as your strength training. As a shortcut you can even put the exercises in
a circuit and include this as one of your cardio sessions.
Power
To develop power there
seems to be good evidence that this is where vibration platforms can be very
useful. Please click here for a PDF document showing different power exercises
that can be performed on a platform. I would stick to dynamic squats, dynamic
wide stance squats, dynamic one leg squats (this will also help with your
balance) and jumping on the platform. As mentioned earlier the vibration
platform will also help with eccentric strength, which is the strength you need
to stop your body from collapsing especially when performing turns at speed.
When training for power
you need to reduce the quantity of sessions you do as it is important your
muscles are fresh each time you train. I would train 2 times per week on power.
If you don't have
access to vibration training, then you can use conventional exercises, lifting
around 30% of your maximum but the key is to explode through the lift, and try
to throw the bar away (obviously it would be good to have some help with this
as safety is the most important thing. Lift about 7 reps per set and perform 2
sets of each exercise.
Balance
Everybody forgets about
balance but this is one of the most important elements of a skiing programme.
The key to good balance is having a strong internal focus. If you keep
focussing on things outside your body then you will fall easily. Keep your
attention inside your body and you will find your balance improving very
quickly. A good place to focus is on your breathing, just behind your tummy.
This is a good thing to remember when you are skiing also.
Again the vibration
platforms are very good for developing balance for example doing one-leg squats
and jumps. Also another vibration related product I cam across is called
flexi-bar. This is very good for developing balance and it will help your core
also.
Flexibility
Another frequently
forgotten element of the ski training programme is flexibility. Good
flexibility is important for proper efficient muscle action, and also to enable
you to fall with less risk of injury.
After every training
session stretch each muscle of your body (especially the ones you have been
working) and hold each stretch for at least 20 seconds to develop good
flexibility. If you are creative this is a good chance to develop your balance
and a strong internal focus.
Breathing Muscle
Training
One of the more recent
innovations is in breathing muscle training. There are now several devices such
as powerlung and powerbreathe. For extra benefit I would recommend a vibration
breathing device such as powerbreathe as this can increase growth hormone which
can enhance strength and recovery, cardio health as well as training the
respiratory system.
Programme Plan
If you have lots of
time you can phase your training to make sure you develop each component fully,
but if you only have 6-8 weeks left I would recommend 2 cardio sessions per
week (1 interval) and 2 circuit sessions per week. In the circuit sessions you
can increase muscular strength and endurance whilst also training your cardio
fitness.
Enjoy your skiing, see
you on the slopes!
Dr Paul Sumners is a
neurophysiologist at London South Bank University. His expertise is learning
and memory of respiratory and skeletal muscle systems, and performance
improvement. He is also an inventor of vibration training related devices whose
benefits are being applied to elite athletes and clinical populations. His
personal vibration training blog is http://vibrotraining.blogspot.com
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