Whether you are an expert or a beginner in skiing, staying fit is of upmost importance. You can enjoy skiing to the fullest only if you can tackle the challenges that you face on the slopes. And for this, you should be both physically and mentally ready. This post lets you know about the factors on which skiing depends and how you can train yourself for them.

Crucial Factors of Skiing

Skiing is a whole-body workout which requires a basic level of cardio training. In order to enhance your strength for skiing, you should work on various fitness training rather than just focusing on one cardio workout.

Fitness trainers are of opinion that flexibility, endurance, stability, and balance are the vital factors to ski safely on the slopes. An individual should follow a fitness program which focuses on each of these factors.

  1. Make your body Flexible

You should improve the flexibility of your body, especially your hips and knees, so that they can effectively respond to the unforeseen situations on the slopes. You must practice the five yoga poses featured by ESPN. The chair pose will help strengthen your legs for the toughest run. The bow pose is really helpful to open hip flexors and relax the whole body. These poses will make your body more flexible to avoid injuries.

  1. Are you Able to Maintain Balance?

For a beginner it’s really important to gain balance. If you’re able to balance yourself on a particular surface, then you would be able to stay stable and improve your skiing performance. Leg strength is required most for the balance and it should be improved for the protection of the knees.

Initially a novice skier should focus on standing on your skis in an upright position.

  1. Upgrade your Strength and Stability

The varied surfaces on the slopes are one of the biggest challenges while skiing. Core strengthening is the key! There will be a great improvement in your performance if you’ve a strong core. One of the simplest ways to upscale your strength and stability is running on diverse terrains. Choose a rough trail or muddy surface for running. This way your legs and ankles would become familiar to different surfaces and ensure your stability that would eventually prevent injuries.

  1. Endurance Matters

Whatever plan you choose to go downhill or stop for a rest break or to click pictures, an interval is necessary. Why? Well, endurance is must. Interval training is a combination of high to low intensity cardio intervals which help you build endurance to resume skiing with a greater strength. You can concentrate on 5-10 intervals each of 30-60 or 60-120 seconds. Give yourself recovery time of about a minute. If you want to analyse which muscles work the most while skiing, join swimming sessions. Once, you know the most used muscles, start your training accordingly.

  1. Do not Miss Cross-training

Make sure you are cross-training. It is a combination of workouts which will help provide your body with flexibility, strength, stability, and endurance. The yoga poses will work to improve your strength, flexibility and balance while strength training will enhance your stability and endurance.

Skiing is a combination of balance, cardio, and strength training which not only avoids injuries but also boosts your performance. If you are planning for a ski holiday, follow the above tips to train yourself in advance for an amazing ski experience.