Last Updated on 31st July 2019 by Steve
Incorporate these exercises into your regular workout routine to help keep your body in shape for the next ski season.
Ignore the rainy weather of spring or autumn and help alleviate the effect of all those summer barbecues and festivals.
Making a weekly diary using some of the indoor exercise routines below and adding a couple of days outdoors on foot or with a bike means your body will adjust quickly to those first few turns on skis in the winter.
Squats
Squats are the classic ski exercise, building up the vital quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves. For variation, do them with weights, do jump squats, do them with one leg (pistol squats) or add a side or front kick.
Lunges
Lunges are great for strength and balance – two attributes that you are definitely going to need on the slopes. As well as quads, they also help exercise the part of the glutes which support the hip joints. Mix up forward lunges, reverse lunges and lateral lunges (pictured). There is even a ‘ski lunge’, which is a kind of reverse crossover lunge.
Crunches
Moving on to the important core strength and stability, crunches of all forms are a favourite exercise in people’s summer routines. Try traditional crunches, elbow-to-knee crunches (pictured), bicycle crunches and scissor kicks.
The Plank
Oh yes, the plank is a fine part of any summer workout for skiers (even if you privately swear at it). And naturally, there are all kinds of useful variations, such as side planks, elbow planks (with arm raises) and plank jacks. Or, if you are fed up with planks, try the related climber variations.
Swiss Ball
Incorporating a Swiss ball or an exercise ball into any workout helps increase the amount of muscles used and aids with balance. Having an unstable surface as part of your exercise means that your body uses all kinds of muscles to compensate for tiny movements caused by the exercise motion.
Of course, adding all these routines into a summer ski workout won’t particularly help you to keep your overall levels of fitness at a healthy level.
Many ski instructors head off to become windsurfing, surfing or tennis instructors in the summer months. But there are other simple sports which are available to just about everyone which will help keep you in shape until the winter rolls around.
Why not supplement your indoor workouts with regular bouts of walking/hiking (up and down hills or mountains is preferable) or biking (again choosing gradients that you can master)?
Add a decent indoors or outdoors summer ski workout to your daily routine and you won’t just be the one impressing your ski school class with your levels of stamina but will improve your all-round health throughout the year.
