Drill Proper warmup for skiing

[crgildart]

This time of year the warm up is Superstar headwall. You get a littler skate and a deep breath and then push off.

Do you have to schlep your gear farther because you can't click in and skate to the bullwheel from the parking lot? That's something.. And carrying it back to "cool down"..

 

[Snuckerpooks]

I approach my ski warm-up just like I do for golf. Stretch, check myself, check something I'm working on, go.

• Stretch when I'm putting gear on
• Hit the bunny slope/easy blue. Do some stem turns of various
• Have a specific drill that is difficult but want to improve at

After two warm-ups on the easy slopes, progressively ramp up free skiing while having those ski thoughts at the front of my thoughts.

 

[Tony S]

I used to see ski youth racing teams warm up on the slide side at Mt Rose

The key word being "youth."

I tell them that skiing is an athletic activity

100%. This is kind of a big deal imho.

 

[slidingmike]

Do people really still stretch on cold muscles before exercising? Hopefully they're at least dynamic stretches.

I have a friend who was an olympian back in the 90s, still does cold static stretches before skiing. Old habits die hard, even when they're terrible for your body.

 

[Brian Finch]

Do people really still stretch on cold muscles before exercising? Hopefully they're at least dynamic stretches.

I have a friend who was an olympian back in the 90s, still does cold static stretches before skiing. Old habits die hard, even when they're terrible for your body.

Funny thing about that concept...... The study that kicked off the "Don't Stretch Cold!!" notion looked at elite 5k runners. The group split in half, the first batch (control group) did a 5k on a treadmill & ran some silly time of ~ 15 minute IIRC. The test group stretched for 16 minutes & then ran the same 5k on the treadmill.

Now, I don't know anyone who can stretch for 16 minutes, but after they did the test group ran a statistically slower pace of only 3% less.

So, none of us are elite 5k runners & I'm willing to give 3% of whatever that is to take my body into ranges it may encounter. The test group also doubled their exercise time w/ stretching. So. I'll use stretching and mobility work to increase a persons overall activity.

How I warm up is a daily (twice if I can) set of full body joint circles with some tension. These are referred to as Controlled Articular Rotations. I do this to take my muscles thru full range & spread the body's WD40 - synovial fluid across as much of my joint surfaces as possible. Typically, I will take a slow run first & do this on the top of the hill. I like to think of the joints in gravity sports as a mountain bike suspension fork - a couple slow hits overcomes any initial stiction and gives you more suspension. If / when a "hot spot" or sticking point is found, I spend more time on it prior to my run. Most ppl will learn their habitual hot spots. YMMV.

 

[slidingmike]

It's certainly far past a single study on marathoners. Of course, you'll want to get a doctor's take on it, such as:

Stretching is not a warm up! Find out why

Learn why stretching your muscles is an important part of your exercise routine and how to do it safely.

www.mayoclinic.org

But @Brian Finch it sounds like you're warming up properly first, and doing all the right things. I still see way too many people boot up, walk to the base of the lift, and immediate start cold stretching.

 

[cantunamunch]

In an era of fitness wearables with body temp measurement, you'd think we'd know what is and what isn't a 'warm up'