Exercises for Snow Skiing

Properly conditioning your body in the off-season is an excellent way to get the most out of your ski season. Far too many people approach skiing as something to do a few times a year, and pay the price with sore muscles, reduced skiing time and potential injury. There are many exercises that can make your skiing more enjoyable.

  1. The Legs

    • Start with lunges. Work both legs equally, doing both forward lunges and side lunges. As your strength builds, add free weights to the exercise, holding a dumbbell in each hand, or doing them with a barbell on your shoulders.

      Jumps are another exercise you can do with minimal equipment. Do side-to-side jumps and vertical jumps to make your legs stronger.

      Work the calves. Start with calf raises; do this simple exercise by standing on your toes on a raised step and raising yourself up on the toes.

      Use exercise equipment to get better lower-body workouts. Weight training drills that work your quadriceps and hamstrings, such as leg presses and leg curls, are ideal.

      Use an exercise band, putting one end around a table leg and the other around your ankle, to work the adductors.

    The Core

    • Work the core extensively, as it is very important to your skiing ability. If you don't have any equipment, sit-ups are very effective. Do the normal one of both elbows to the knees, and then do alternate sit-ups with the right elbow going to the left knee, and vice versa; this exercise should start while lying flat to get the most core work.

      A fitness ball can greatly help your core work. Try doing the abdominal stabilizer exercise. To do this, sit on the ball with your legs about shoulder-width, then lie flat on your back on the ball with your arms crossed until you feel your abdominal muscles get tight; hold for three seconds, exhale and repeat.

    Upper Body

    • The arms are not as important in skiing, unless you are doing backcountry touring in which you ski up the slope before skiing down. However, you should make sure your arms are well-toned.

      If you don't have free weights or exercise machines, push-ups are a great arm-builder. Do one set with your feet on the floor and another set with your knees on the floor.

      An exercise band can also be helpful to do tricep extensions and bicep curls. These exercises can also be done with dumbbells.