Skiing: A Good Exercise

Skiing on your weekend may be your passion but to get more mileage out of your ski weekend you need to be physically in superb condition. The right kind of exercises will help you to ski more on your ski weekend. Learning about why and when to exercise and what are the exercises to be done, will help you get in perfect shape faster.


Agreed that you need practise to become a good skier but exercise helps you to develop a fine tuned body which can perform easily all the intricate twists and turns that you need to make while skiing on your ski weekends.

Skiing is a physically taxing sport and if you hit the snow before you attain the correct level of physical fitness, you may suffer injuries. Exercise also helps you to reach advanced levels of skiing quickly. To have better control on your skis on ski weekends, you need to exercise as it helps to build muscular strength, increases your muscle and cardiovascular endurance levels, and improves your balance.

Exercises should start at your home at least two months prior to your ski weekend dates. However, if you are undergoing a ski-related conditioning program during the summer months, you can shorten the fall program to about six weeks. It is always better to exercise on non-consecutive days since this will allow 48 hours between your successive work-outs and the muscles will have ample time to recover. This is a lot of work but it will show results too. Your ski weekend will be spent more safely and you will be able to manoeuvre your moves more easily. All of it will be worth the time and energy spent.

Downhill skiing on ski weekends causes muscle tightening, inflexibility and even cramps. Therefore, doing warm up stretching exercises before and after skiing will help prevent discomfort.

If you have planned a ski weekend then it is advisable that you exercise on Tuesday and Thursday. Exercising throughout the season along with skiing will help you to increase your strength and your skiing will improve substantially.

It is absolutely essential that you do not stop your exercise routine after the skiing season gets over. You need to maintain the level of physical fitness that you achieved during the ski weekends as it will also benefit you in your daily life. By doing so, you will be in better condition when the season begins again and acclimatise more quickly to the physical requirements of the sport.

Flexibility, endurance, strength, balance, and power are the five essential elements that you need to work on if you want your ski weekends to be spent safely and happily. A good range of movements which depends on muscle elasticity are essential for becoming a good skier. Muscle elasticity decreases with age but can be regained through proper stretching exercises.

Your respiratory system should be in top condition as skiing requires a lot of stamina. Lap swimming, brisk walking, jogging, treadmill, cycling and inline skating are good exercises for this. Muscular strength and stability can be enhanced by exercising quadriceps, hamstrings, hips, calves, ankles, abdominals, hip flexors, glutei, and lower back. To improve your reflexes you need to do squats with weights, lateral jumps and sprints.

Remember a good exercise routine means a great ski weekend!

By: Billington James

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