Ski season is upon us! Unfortunately in the office that can also mean an upswing in injuries. The most common injury we treat for our skiers are related to the knee. When you have seasonal sports, it’s particularly hard to keep yourself in shape and protected. This can be especially true when you’re only going once or twice a year. Even more so when you’re hurtling yourself downhill on a slippery slope! Weather and snow conditions can change at any moment. That’s why we want to make sure you’re confident in your ability to take on whatever the mountain may throw at you. Whether this is your first time down the mountain, or just your first time in a while… We picked 5 exercises that are perfect to help you prepare for the ski season and keep you healthy throughout.
Our 5 Favorite Ski Exercises:
Ankle Dorsiflexion Mobilization
Our lower bodies work in a chain, one aspect impacting the next. Our first ski exercise is working on dorsiflexion of the ankle joint. Dorsiflexion is the ability to bend your ankle, or if you’re sitting, to flex it up towards yourself. Without the right flexibility in your ankles you won’t be able to get into a strong and stable skiing position. This exercise is really important to do before and after a full day of skiing. You don’t only need the flexibility before you ski, you’re going to want to restore it after being in those stiff boots all day!
Brettzel 1.0
Our 2nd flexibility exercise is an office favorite because it tackles 4 aspects of flexibility in 1! You are going to be improving movement in your hips, quadriceps, hip flexors, and spine. Since skiing requires a lot of work from your hips and quads this is a stretch you’re going to appreciate doing before and after your ski runs!
Single Leg Glute Bridge
Next we wake up our glutes and hamstrings with single leg glute bridges. Your glutes are so important for skiing because they will help you stabilize yourself all day long. Single leg bridges don’t just work on your lower body muscles but help you improve core stability. When people think about skiing they generally don’t think core. Think about how your hips and lower body move side to side all while independently keeping your upper body strong and straight. That’s all made possible with your core! You need to be able to stabilize your spine to protect it while skiing. That’s why it’s really important to make sure lifting up through your hips doesn’t come from arching your back.
Modified Single Leg RDL
Building more on the single leg glute bridges, we take single side stability one step further with modified single leg RDL’s. You may be thinking… OK but why all this single side stuff? When I’m going downhill I move my feet and legs together. Your skis are independent of each other which requires each of your legs to function by themselves (even if they feel like they’re moving as a unit). These are particularly great because they directly correlate to your downhill position. You will have slightly less bend in your knee but as you assume your RDL position there is an undeniable resemblance between it and how you go down your ski runs! That all day side to side action needs strong hip stability. This exercise is perfect to strengthen and stabilize your glutes, hamstrings, and helps improve your balance.
Curtsey Lunges
Lastly we work on strengthening the quads. I’m sure if you’re a regular (or maybe not a regular) skier you have had some sore quads after a few trips down the mountain. That is because you’re using quad activation A LOT! While doing these its’ important to make sure you keep your hips square and forward. You also need to focus on slowly lowering down. This slow lowering is an eccentric contraction and will be the reason you improve your quad strength.
To get the most out of these ski exercises, do the ankle mobilizations and hold the brettzel 1.0 for 30 seconds per side. For the single leg glute bridges, modified RDL’s, and the curtsey lunges, do 10 repetitions per side. You can do all of these exercises for 3-4 rounds!
For Detailed Explanations of Each Exercise, Watch The Full Ski Exercises Video
When Should I Do These?
The beauty of these 5 exercises is that you can do them before and after you ski (maybe not the strengthening after!). What is most important is to make sure you’re strong and stable enough to make it multiple times down the slopes. Fear of injury should be the last thing on your mind. Not having the constant thought of “am I strong enough for this” will make your day 10X more enjoyable! We strongly suggest you do these 2-3 times a week for at least 3 weeks before your first skiing excursion. If you’re planning more than one ski trip this season, continue doing these exercises in between!! That will help make sure you’re able to take on whatever wintery conditions are thrown at you!
We hope you love this routine and it helps you stay safe and healthy this ski season! Let us know how you found these exercises by reaching out on your favorite social media platform!
The Perfect Off All Season Training
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