Your Best Season Yet: Preparing for Skiing/Snowboarding Season
Skiing and snowboarding require strength, balance, and flexibility. Starting a conditioning routine 4-6 weeks before your first day on the slopes can prepare your body by building strength, balance, and resilience before going up the mountain. Taking the time to prepare will improve your performance and significantly reduce your soreness and risk of injury.
Consider scheduling a PT evaluation if you are having: knee pain, hip stiffness, low back discomfort, or feel unsteady on single-leg drills. Our team can help address these issues before they show up on the slopes. If an injury does occur, Refuge Physiotherapy is here to help you get back to the activities you love.
Refuge Physiotherapy can help you prepare. Whether you're gearing up for your first day of the season or returning to sport following an injury, Refuge Physiotherapy offers personalized assessments and sport-specific training programs. We look at your strength, mobility, balance, and previous injuries to create a plan that keeps you safe and confident on the slopes all winter long.
Here are some practical exercises to help you feel strong, stable, and ready for winter:
1. Lower-Body Strength and Endurance
Split Squats- a Refuge favorite with unilateral training, targeting hip stability, single-leg strength, core activation and standing balance for absorbing turns and runs on uneven terrain (2-3 sets of 10 for each leg).
Squat Variations- start with body weight and then add resistance with goblet or barbell squats, targets quads, glutes and hips for the quad-heavy downhill runs. Focus on keeping upright posture with knees over toes (2-3 sets of 10-15 reps).
Lateral Lunges- great for improving side-to-side control, which is essential for using your edges for turns. Step to the side, sit back into your hip, push off to return to center (2-3 sets of 10 for each side).
Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift- another Refuge classic, enhances stability through the glutes and hamstrings. (2-3 sets of 8-10 for each leg).
2. Core Strength- A stable core helps you maintain balance, especially when the terrain gets challenging.
Dead Bugs- (2-3 sets of 10 reps)
Side Planks- (2-3 sets of 20-30 second holds on each side)
Pallof Press- (2-3 sets of 10 for each side)
3. Cardio Work
Interval cycling / Rowing / Incline Treadmill- to prepare you for altitude and long days on the mountain, shoot for 20-30 minutes 3-4 days/week with short bursts of higher intensity to replicate the increased cardiovascular effort of your downhill runs.
4. Flexibility and Mobility
Ankle Lunges: Knee-to-Wall- improves knee position and comfort in your boots (2 sets of 30 second holds for each side).
Hip Flexor Couch Stretch- relieves strain on the low back from crouched posture during long ski days. (2 sets of 30 second holds for each side)
Open Books- promotes thoracic spine rotation to support turns and upper body control (2-3 sets of 20-30 second holds on each side)
5. Dynamic Strength and Agility
Box Step-Downs- prepares your knees for downhill pressure and variable terrain. (2-3 sets of 8 each leg)
Jump Squats- targets glutes, quads, and hamstrings to build explosive power, focus on soft landing to build eccentric strength and control to help land jumps. (2-3 sets of 8-10 reps)
Lateral Skaters- replicates the side-to-side motion of carving. (2-3 sets of 20-30 seconds)
We are here to help. At Refuge Physical Therapy, we specialize in helping you optimize your performance, build strength, and stay healthy. During our assessments, we look at form and function combined with your strength and flexibility to make sure we are addressing all key factors. We also can take a look at your training programming and work together to optimize your plan and make sure you get the most out of this winter season!
Prepare for your best season yet! Reach out and schedule a time to come in and get a full assessment before you hit the slopes.
