To put it simply,  getting fit before you go on a skiing trip means you’ll get more out of your time on the mountain and reduce your chance of injury. Most skiers who take regular trips know the feeling of their skiing ‘just coming together’ as they’re about to go home. This is frustrating, partly due to re-familiarising yourself with an activity that you do infrequently, and partly waiting for your muscles and joints to get used to working together in a co-ordinated fashion.

Pre Season program:
A pre-holiday exercise program will at the very least prepare your body to work efficiently in the range demanded of it, and at the best give you the physicality to take your skiing to a higher level. We’ll start by showing you a basic exercise program that grows increasingly demanding as the season approaches. Later in the program we’ll feature specific exercises targeting some different styles of skiing. For example, backcountry skier dropping cliffs will put different demands on his body than someone who likes jibbing rails, and over time we’ll show you specific exercises that will fine tune your fitness to your style of skiing.

The  Program
Our first step to preparing for winter will start with some stretching and mobilisation exercises. Every 2 weeks in the run up to the season we’ll add in more elements, working on balance and co-ordination and moving towards strength/endurance training as winter approaches. As mentioned we’ll throw in some specialised exercises for more advanced skiers once you have your basic fitness.

The program has been designed to be progressively more demanding as it develops. It’s important to start with stretching and mobilisation to get the muscles and joints used to working in the range required when skiing and getting fit to ski. Once we have some flexibility we’ll introduce elements to improve your balance and co-ordination. From this stable base you can start to build strength and endurance adding in more demanding exercises that mimic the stresses of skiing. If you decide to start strength training before have good joint stability or decent flexibility, then chances are you’ll end up at the Osteopaths!

Words: Mike Nixon, City Osteopathics
Photos:Pally Learmond