Booked/Booking a Ski Holiday – Time to think about fitness & injury prevention!!

A winter sports holiday for many is a unique type of holiday, occuring for one or possibly two weeks a year if you’re lucky. While passionate skiers like to use this opportunity to get as much time on the slopes as possible, winter sport holidays can involve some long days, pushing the body to complete movements unlike anything else we tend to do in normal daily life. This exposure to sudden unaccustomed activity, especially for us unseasoned skiers and snowboarders, is a recipe for injury.

This is where targeted Sports Conditioning exercises come into play! Putting the effort in during the weeks prior to your holiday is the perfect way to reduce the risk of injuries on holiday and help you get the most out of your time away.

If you are like many weekend warriors and you spend the majority of your week sat at a desk, then behind a steering wheel and finally at the dinner table and onto the sofa, a great place to start is by increasing the amount of time throughout the day that you spend on your feet. Even if this means standing to take phone calls, when chatting to colleagues, or going for a walk every lunch time. It will pay off when you need your feet to spend a whole day in ski boots.

In addition to these small daily changes, a tailormade exercise routine including exercises such as squats, wall sits and side lunges in the weeks prior to your trip will allow you to gradually increase exposure to prolonged periods of exercise and give your ski specific muscles time to strengthen. It takes at least 6-8 weeks of structured loading to increase the strength of your muscles so it is essential to get started in good time before you leave (that said, it is never too late to get started!).

Once the basics are mastered, you can then gradually increase the amount of weight you hold when doing these exercises to make sure you continue to push your limits and strengthen to the max. Another thing to include in ski prep is balance work. Staying upright on skis and the constant shifting from one leg to the other requires some finely tuned balance skills. Including some balance work in your ski prep could be as simple as gradually increasing the amount of time you can balance on one leg. This can even be done throughout your work day to help increase the amount of time up on your feet – try lasting a whole phone call stood on one leg. Or you could get fancy and use equipment such as a BOSU ball or wobble cushion to add an extra ski specific challenge to the above strengthening exercises.

Enhancing your training to push yourself further, keep you motivated and physically challenged is a key part of your ski fitness. Our Ski Fit Package provides advice on which exercises to complete, not only saving you time but also ensuring you head to the slopes in the best possible position. While standard strenght exercises form a good base, the use of a Ski Fit programme will challenge you further, progressing your base line exercises and keeping you body engaged and strong.

Our Ski Fit package includes:
• 4 x individual Sports Conditioning sessions – perfect for keeping you accountable in the lead up to your holiday
• 2 x sports massage – to relieve any niggles or tightness before you get out on the slopes
• gym and home based workout plans tailored to you and the demands of skiing

Call 01454 540066 to book your space on our Ski Fit programme!