Maintaining fitness during ski season

[HDSkiing]

I work full time as a Ski Instructor teaching a wide variety of students working 5-plus days a week, currently on day 5 of what will be a 8 day straight run of 8 plus hours a day (writing this as I prepare to go up the mountain).

I lose weight and probably some upper body muscle as my regular off season 4 day gym routine is replaced by skiing. But in the locker room I will often do a series of pull-ups from a convenient I-beam in between classes and for cardio if I’m on the beginner hill I will skate up it while the student/class rides the treadmill (a real burner at 10,500 feet where the base is)

After the holidays I will be on a regular 5 day a week schedule and will go to the gym on my 2 day break (upper body only). I find that my fitness level, including cardio increases, but then again I am super active on ski’s just moving around the beginner area or teaching more advanced students up the mountain.

Skiing offers a wide variety of ways to get/stay fit from skating up hill to bashing moguls non-stop to making maximum dynamic short radius turns.

If you get up to the area early, before the lifts open, stretch then skate around the base area or up the bunny hill then jump on the lift. Repeat as needed to boost your cardio/leg strength!

 

[luliski]

Gravity rules.. once legs are in shape let the hill and gravity work for you.. Yoga to stay limber, sleep and eat right..

Gravity is the problem. I don't get enough of a workout skiing!

 

[luliski]

I work full time as a Ski Instructor teaching a wide variety of students working 5-plus days a week, currently on day 5 of what will be a 8 day straight run of 8 plus hours a day (writing this as I prepare to go up the mountain).

I lose weight and probably some upper body muscle as my regular off season 4 day gym routine is replaced by skiing. But in the locker room I will often do a series of pull-ups from a convenient I-beam in between classes and for cardio if I’m on the beginner hill I will skate up it while the student/class rides the treadmill (a real burner at 10,500 feet where the base is)

After the holidays I will be on a regular 5 day a week schedule and will go to the gym on my 2 day break (upper body only). I find that my fitness level, including cardio increases, but then again I am super active on ski’s just moving around the beginner area or teaching more advanced students up the mountain.

Skiing offers a wide variety of ways to get/stay fit from skating up hill to bashing moguls non-stop to making maximum dynamic short radius turns.

If you get up to the area early, before the lifts open, stretch then skate around the base area or up the bunny hill then jump on the lift. Repeat as needed to boost your cardio/leg strength!

I like to skate, but I don't usually do it unless I have to, so maybe I'll try to find more opportunities. Moguls are also a good idea. I probably need to do more mogul runs.

 

[Lorenzzo]

I'm skiing 110-120 days, I try to focus on core, flexibility, cardio and upper body strength during the ski season. The real work for me is during the 3 months prior to the ski season. The trainer I see about once a month did a great job designing my program. I was a little sore the first two days skiing and then in gear since.

Skiing does eat up my reserves so during the ski season I'm doing cardio and core 3-4 times a week, upper body once a week and flexibility almost daily.

 

[Tom K.]

Someone mentioned cross country skiing, which is something I considered doing last season. Our ski lease is close to Tahoe XC. I may try it this year, if there's enough snow at lake level. I just need to either get or rent gear for the season.

If nordic skate skiing is an option.....problem solved. I know of no better overall workout. Maybe it doesn't mean you don't have to do ANYTHING else, but given limited time, I know of no better choice.

Consider getting a combination skating lesson/equipment package for the year. Learning to skate without a lesson or two is foolish. Also, some places offer very good prices on the gear at the end season.

 

[Monique]

If you ski bumps, glades or crud and will lap them all day then that's another level. IMO, fitness is relative and unique to what one wants to do.

That's what my weekends look like mid-season, 2-3 full days of bumps, glades, crud, steeps, and powder when I'm lucky. I don't think you have to be *that* fit for it. I mean, I haven't been. I've skied like that when I wasn't doing anything else for the week. I'm more than a little overweight and my conditioning is pretty poor.

Maybe my technique isn't as bad as it seems ...

One thing we haven't talked about is recovery. Recovery in some form is really important, too. Overtraining is real, and it sucks.

 

[at_nyc]

Someone mentioned cross country skiing, which is something I considered doing last season. Our ski lease is close to Tahoe XC. I may try it this year, if there's enough snow at lake level. I just need to either get or rent gear for the season.

Cross country skiing will give you the equivalent of running. But that's only provided you got proficient in technique. If you're limited by technique to "shuffling" around, or walking up the hills, you're only hiking, not running.

I'd actually suggest you try classic striding first. But instead of just shuffling around, take a lesson specifically on how to get maximum glide out of your kick and how to "run" up the hills (instead of herringbone). Graduate that to skating up the inclines. And eventually skating skiing if there're skating lanes near you.

Do the loops as if it's your "run of the day". Keep track of the time and hopefully see the improvement which will serve as a good motivation and reward.

Skinning will also help in the cardio, I would think. Couple thousand elevation gain at 6000'+ must have an effect on your cardio condition.

But both skinning and cross country skiing will take you away from downhill skiing.. So those will only work if you enjoy it.

I also thought about finding a place to swim after skiing. There is a pool and a masters program in Truckee, but I had trouble finding their schedule and didn't pursue it. It is also surprisingly difficult to swim after skiing. I would actually rather run.

You mean to say it's difficult to get motivated to swim, not the actual swimming part, right?

Then, mix it up with "running" on alternate days, including the kind of "run" mentioned above..

 

[tch]

I'm still with an earlier poster who raised the issue of the definition of "fitness". There are LOTS of different views/definitions. Endurance cardio fitness -- like marathon running fitness, is very different from ability to cycle through aerobic/anaerobic intervals -- like basketball or hockey player fitness. Which of course is different than muscular fitness -- like football player fitness. Then, of course, if you're looking at muscle fitness, does one mean muscle strength -- or pliability or explosiveness?

I think it's really important to figure what kind of "fitness" you are discussing and want to maintain. And is this definition appropriate for your circumstances? There's a reason distance runners, football players, and tennis players all have/maintain different training regimens. Even in one sport, say swimming, the regimen varies depending on the event: 50M butterfly swimmers work out slightly differently than those who are competing in the 1500M freestyle.

Think carefully about what you want your body to do and how you see "fitness". You need to decide if the two are congruent or complementary. Then, you can decide how you want to proceed.

Finally, one cannot maintain peak fitness in too many ways. Overall fitness probably means reasonable fitness in a variety of ways.

Just my $0.02 after 50 years of trying to be "fit".

 

[ZionPow]

I work ski patrol 5 days a week during the season. Our days are 9.5 hours minimum and 10.5+ hours on avy mitigation days. I think I get plenty of exercise carrying equipment on the mountain, pulling loaded toboggans, hiking during avy mitigation, digging while practicing partner rescue and skiing as much as possible. I do lift weights for upper body 3 evenings a week during the season. During the off season I mountain bike 3-5 days a week and lift weights. I add a preseason workout in the fall:

https://www.fitnessblender.com/vide...itioning-workout-strength-and-cardio-training

 

[jack97]

One thing we haven't talked about is recovery. Recovery in some form is really important, too. Overtraining is real, and it sucks.

I only do leg blaster for negative movement training and a light spin the day after to flush out the lactic acid. When I start feeling run down, I back off.

Sometimes I change up my cycle routine or ladder training and balance training to break the monotony.

Think carefully about what you want your body to do and how you see "fitness". You need to decide if the two are congruent or complementary. Then, you can decide how you want to proceed.

Finally, one cannot maintain peak fitness in too many ways. Overall fitness probably means reasonable fitness in a variety of ways.

I have become a cheap sob in my old age..... for me fitness means I can last the whole day or two on the slopes to max out the value of a lift ticket or pass. My thought process is I can rest on the car drive home. My other aspect of fitness is I don't have to buy new clothes for ski or work, I get mad at myself if I have to buy new pants b/c its getting tight at the belt. Mulligans go only to buying clothes b/c of the hip and shoulder girth going wide.... that's just due to aging.

 

[luliski]

Thanks everyone for your ideas. I'm still thinking about what fitness I want to maintain during ski season. I've decided to let the swimming slide during ski season because the workouts are either earlier than I want to be up on an off-work day, or so late that I can't get to the mountain in time to ski afterwards. I will still swim occasionally for 30 minutes before work. Today I did the whole hour swim workout after only swimming once in January,,and it almost killed me, but I think that once I start going regularly again, I'll be ok.
I really like running because it's so convenient and has always been easy for me. But as I get older I've noticed that starting running again after too much time off has gotten harder and harder! So that's what I'd like to maintain during ski season. I've been running just 30 minutes every other day, including on days I ski. I think this might work out better than trying to maintain swimming fitness, and will fit my schedule better.

 

[Jed Peters]

I do Various classes at my local CrossFit affiliate probably 5 days a week. In the last week, I’ve done 4 CrossFit classes, two “boot camp” classes, skied a full day, done one session of weightlifting (barbell class) and one gymnastics specific class that involved handstands, tumbling, and bar swinging/pull up work.

 

[SpauldingSmails]

I train in my garage. I have a squat cage with a pull up bar, a back extension/sit up bench, an adjustable incline/flat bench, a punching bag, an EliteFTS Prowler 2 (yes! who wants to touch the hem of my garment?), an inversion table, some little dumbbells, and a bunch of martial arts gear and assorted toys.

In season I decrease the volume and intensity of training from over the year. I've been experimenting with longer blocks of programming and some periodization and moving away from using small (three to six week) templates that repeat. I've focused my year round training on helping me ski better/ski without injury. Last winter I used a three day a week template. By template I mean a repeating but progressing microcycle or summated mesocycle, for example 5/3/1. For winter programming I am not trying to progress, only maintain, because progression would require more recovery. This is what I use for winter maintenance:

Session one: Strength - submaximal and circamax loads in a cluster set (for efficiency and conditioning). For example, some kind of squat (front or back) single or triple followed immediately by one to five pull ups and then a thirty second rest for ten to fifteen sets. All the variables changed session to session but the exercises involved a squat, pressing or pulling (horizontal or vertical), and some kind of lower body pull/hinge like power cleans or deadlifts.

Session two: Conditioning (both anaerobic lactic/alactic and aerobic but perhaps not in the same session) - methods include prowler sprints, prowler long walks, various tempo intervals, and sprints at 70-80% with proper mechanics. Sprinting even at submaximal effort is taxing because of the mechanics. It isn't just 'running really fast'. Occasionally, I'd use a barbell complex for conditioning.

Session three: Hybrid/SPP - a potential mix of strength and conditioning, but mostly higher volumes of unilateral, rotation, agility, and eccentric work. The leg blasters, leg lactate complex, quadzilla movements would be done on this day. This is the most dangerous day because the eccentric DOMS sneaks up and if I don't know what day I'm skiing I could end up prefatigued! It happened one night my first time on powder skis, in a snow storm. I almost left after the first run but I pushed through at least two hours.

*note: I am able to monitor all intensity and volume (and other variables) by measuring time, heart rate, heart rate variability in the mornings, bar speed, and of course by using a training journal every single session.

All sessions are one hour. Warm ups are typically twenty minutes, consisting of multiple circuits utilizing multiple methods. I use kettlebells, a steel shot, carries, bands, and other toys. I have some spinal stability (AKA 'the core') sequences involving various bodyweight and banded movements. Overall, I try to cover the most important attributes to get me to injury-proof as much as possible. Performance is good too... but coming home intact is even better.

 

[luliski]

Wow, very scientific! I work three 12 hour shifts a week, so while that gives me more days off for skiing, I have trouble fitting workouts in on work days. That was why I originally asked for advice about fitness during the season. I'm a pretty lazy skier, so I don't think skiing helps my aerobic conditioning as much as running, swimming or cycling. I think I've figured out that I'll just run regularly during ski season and also do some fire work. When the season's over I hope to do more strength training too.

 

[Monique]

I wish I could run - I would definitely do that because it's so dang convenient. All you have to do is step out of the house!

 

[luliski]

[QUOTE

I wish I could run - I would definitely do that because it's so dang convenient. All you have to do is step out of the house!

Have you seen the Elliptigos? I know lots of injured runners who use those. They might not be great if you live in a hilly area, though.

 

[Blue Streak]

I suspended my regular workouts at the beginning of ski season and concentrated on après skiing.
Three months into the season I have skied 40 days and gained over 10 pounds.
Skiing clearly causes weight gain.

 

[Wilhelmson]

I've been a little lazy with the workouts this winter but my back feels great!

 

[Corgski]

As discussed earlier, this very dependent on individual needs, however I will throw out some generalizations.

Exercise can get complex if dealing with injuries or you are approaching a very high level of strength and fitness and basic routines have become less effective (small minority). Otherwise, feel free to keep it simple.

Cardio has been dropping in status recently and if you are only doing cardio because that is what everyone says you are meant to do, you can probably feel free to drop it. Of course you may have good reasons to do it, maybe training for a specific activity or very specific health requirements. It has even been demonstrated to be ineffective for weight loss (there is probably some form of deviation in these studies in that it may be effective for some while causing weight gain in others). I saw a recent paper making the case that normal strength training was a more effective cardio exercise than actual cardio exercise. Running is such a source of injuries that unless you are young or have good running genetics, you may want to limit it.

If you are middle aged and older, you may want to consider dropping back on most of the other stuff and focus almost exclusively on strength, more so if you are a woman. I am assuming that we are all reasonably active people here, this may not be a good recommendation for someone totally sedentary. This may also not apply to the small minority that is already naturally very strong.

 

[Monique]

Have you seen the Elliptigos? I know lots of injured runners who use those. They might not be great if you live in a hilly area, though.

I'm not sure what I think of those!

I saw a recent paper making the case that normal strength training was a more effective cardio exercise than actual cardio exercise.

My trainer has been following this theory for years. It worked for me when I stuck with it - but he was also clear that major fat loss requires dietary changes.

I think I'm proof that lots of exercise ain't going to do it if you're not willing / able to change diet.