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Ski Specific Exercises?


Badger

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I haven't seen this topic pop up recently so I thought I'd ask, to get some fresh answers. Is anyone trying to get ready for the summer season with some ski specific exercises, and if so, what are you doing?

I've only been in a course a couple of times, but have realized that I'm not strong enough to keep the handle pinned against my hip. I've also had some sporadic issues with getting out of the water, that I think started when I was at my heaviest weight. So this winter I made a commitment to get stronger and lose some weight. I'm about 6 weeks into a half-marathon training program, have been doing a lot of "cable rows", lunges, and core ab/back exercises. Since the start of the year, I've gone from 180 lbs to 167 earlier this week. I'd like to get to 155 (I'm 5'8") by Memorial Day.

Any other exercises you do specific to slalom skiing?

Edited by Badger
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Like Edwin stated....C2 rower seems quite popular. The other h20ski sites have lots of p90x followers. I'm a few weeks into the p90x program and very impressed/obsessed. It has plenty of core work & plyometrics to get the legs in shape. I've quickly learned where my weaknesses are, and my balance and flexibility are improving daily. This is the first thing I have ever found that has helped stretch my hamstrings. Like you, I'm looking to be (10-15 lbs) leaner this summer, and am interested to see how it effects water activities.

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Yep, P90X. It works. It covers it all. But, I think it'd be really tough

to do the half-marathon preparation and the P90X routine.

But, once you're through with that, you might look into it. With all the

work you're putting in now, you'd be able to step right in.

Lots of pull-ups, push-ups, "lawnmowers," lunges,

squats, and core-strengthening exercises. And,

corkscrew curls, among many others, will get your

forearms burning. Then, there's jump training/

plyometrics (wow!), and even yoga for balance and flexibility.

Great overall fitness program.

Edited by srab
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In the gym do rows(not the cardio type, the weighted type - cardio is great but you want strength), and some deadlifts. Those will help you keep your arms in and hips up. Of course you should be offsetting those and doing a balanced workout so be sure to work your chest core arms and some legs too. But the back is huge for skiing. Another nice thing about deadlifts is it wil hit your grip pretty hard

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I have not skied much in the past 10 years or so. I'm 31 and I ended up letting myself get to 300lbs and developed high blood pressure (157 over 108). Oct. 1 2009 I changed my outlook on life. I decided to quite eating poorly, drinking, and being lazy. I have had a Bowlfex and Treadclimber for a few years. I dusted them off and I am now solid, strong and weighed in this morning at 240 lbs. I use the Treadclimber for 50 to 60 minutes every other day. I burn 1000 - 1300 calories doing this. When I first started on Oct 1, I could barely do 12 minutes! The next day I use the Bowflex and usually spend over an hour doing every single excercise I can come up with. I love both machines, they have been a life saver for me. I am now off my blood pressure medication and well on my way to hitting my 220lbs goal.

I was skiing 28 off at 36 mph ten years ago and my goal is to make it there again this year. If not do even better.

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Thumbup.gif Great job. Keep up the work.

I have not skied much in the past 10 years or so. I'm 31 and I ended up letting myself get to 300lbs and developed high blood pressure (157 over 108). Oct. 1 2009 I changed my outlook on life. I decided to quite eating poorly, drinking, and being lazy. I have had a Bowlfex and Treadclimber for a few years. I dusted them off and I am now solid, strong and weighed in this morning at 240 lbs. I use the Treadclimber for 50 to 60 minutes every other day. I burn 1000 - 1300 calories doing this. When I first started on Oct 1, I could barely do 12 minutes! The next day I use the Bowflex and usually spend over an hour doing every single excercise I can come up with. I love both machines, they have been a life saver for me. I am now off my blood pressure medication and well on my way to hitting my 220lbs goal.

I was skiing 28 off at 36 mph ten years ago and my goal is to make it there again this year. If not do even better.

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I have not skied much in the past 10 years or so. I'm 31 and I ended up letting myself get to 300lbs and developed high blood pressure (157 over 108). Oct. 1 2009 I changed my outlook on life. I decided to quite eating poorly, drinking, and being lazy. I have had a Bowlfex and Treadclimber for a few years. I dusted them off and I am now solid, strong and weighed in this morning at 240 lbs. I use the Treadclimber for 50 to 60 minutes every other day. I burn 1000 - 1300 calories doing this. When I first started on Oct 1, I could barely do 12 minutes! The next day I use the Bowflex and usually spend over an hour doing every single excercise I can come up with. I love both machines, they have been a life saver for me. I am now off my blood pressure medication and well on my way to hitting my 220lbs goal.

I was skiing 28 off at 36 mph ten years ago and my goal is to make it there again this year. If not do even better.

Nice work Sullivan! I have been procrastinating at a weight lose/flexibility program. I could do more of the flexibility side.

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In my 7 years of skiing competitively in college I found that Pro's and Amateur's alike all agreed that racquetball is the single best training for slalom skiing. Racquetball is a GREAT workout. It strengthens your ankles and knees, it's provides great core and shoulder exercise, and it increases flexibility, coordination, agility, and stamina. Lastly, it's a really fun game to play. All of these things will also help you with your half marathon.

****If you do decide to play racquetball, WHERE SAFETY GLASSES. There is no better way to blow out a globe or detach a retina than a racquetball to the eye****

From a weight training standpoint I recommend 3 things:

1. Shoulder presses using dumbbells while standing up (better for core and stabilizing muscles).

2. Pull ups, pull ups, and more pull ups. Cable rows are good but are more isolated and don't help as much with your core. Pull ups do more for the shoulders and stabilizing muscles and are a great AB workout, especially when you vary your grips (wide, narrow, palms out/in). Go all the way up and all the way down, don't cheat.

3. Slalom handle lean. This one is easy; take your slalom handle and attach is to a structural beam in your basement. Lean on the rope as you would behind the boat for 30 seconds to 1 minute at a time. This is great for muscle memory and will help you strengthen your shoulders and forearms.

Good luck and have fun! Thumbup.gif

Edited by msuwaterski
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In my 7 years of skiing competitively in college I found that Pro's and Amateur's alike all agreed that racquetball is the single best training for slalom skiing. Racquetball is a GREAT workout. It strengthens your ankles and knees, it's provides great core and shoulder exercise, and it increases flexibility, coordination, agility, and stamina. Lastly, it's a really fun game to play. All of these things will also help you with your half marathon.

****If you do decide to play racquetball, WHERE SAFETY GLASSES. There is no better way to blow out a globe or detach a retina than a racquetball to the eye****

From a weight training standpoint I recommend 3 things:

1. Shoulder presses using dumbbells while standing up (better for core and stabilizing muscles).

2. Pull ups, pull ups, and more pull ups. Cable rows are good but are more isolated and don't help as much with your core. Pull ups do more for the shoulders and stabilizing muscles and are a great AB workout, especially when you vary your grips (wide, narrow, palms out/in). Go all the way up and all the way down, don't cheat.

3. Slalom handle lean. This one is easy; take your slalom handle and attach is to a structural beam in your basement. Lean on the rope as you would behind the boat for 30 seconds to 1 minute at a time. This is great for muscle memory and will help you strengthen your shoulders and forearms.

Good luck and have fun! Thumbup.gif

Don't forget the 12 oz curls. Oh, wait thats a wakeboarding exercise.

MSU has some great advise here. Wakes was right on w/ the deadlifts as well. I can't think of a single exercise that will provide leg, arm, back, hand, core strength, and stamina as well as well as dead lifts. They are probably the single best total body exercise. Start w/ light weight and work your way up especially if you've never done them before. The last thing you want to do is hurt your self. One tip, after a proper set of deadlifts w/ the correct weight you should completely winded. Like running a sprint.

The ladies will like how it makes your butt look too!

Edited by shade
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So, I added some pull-ups to my routine today. I will consider the deadlifts too, but is not something I've ever done. My work gym is somewhat limited so I'm not sure if they have free weights for it or not. I am interested in the P90X but typically get my workout in over my lunch at the gym at work. With two kids at home, I don't have the time to dedicate right now. Thanks for the tips.

And good job Sullivan!

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I have not skied much in the past 10 years or so. I'm 31 and I ended up letting myself get to 300lbs and developed high blood pressure (157 over 108). Oct. 1 2009 I changed my outlook on life. I decided to quite eating poorly, drinking, and being lazy. I have had a Bowlfex and Treadclimber for a few years. I dusted them off and I am now solid, strong and weighed in this morning at 240 lbs. I use the Treadclimber for 50 to 60 minutes every other day. I burn 1000 - 1300 calories doing this. When I first started on Oct 1, I could barely do 12 minutes! The next day I use the Bowflex and usually spend over an hour doing every single excercise I can come up with. I love both machines, they have been a life saver for me. I am now off my blood pressure medication and well on my way to hitting my 220lbs goal.

I was skiing 28 off at 36 mph ten years ago and my goal is to make it there again this year. If not do even better.

You da man. Rockon.gif Keep up hard work. It looks like your well on your way to your goal.

I just got the P90X media and need to start crackin. We did a "chubs" club at work and I went from 199 to 180 and am back to 185. I'd love to see 160 after the P90X......we'll see. Sullivan has given me inspiration to get there!

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Hey Guys,

Thanks for the encouragment and feedback. I really appreciate it. I went skiing yesterday and man was it awesome to be 60 lbs lighter than the last time I went. I can't wait to get in the course and find out if there is a rope long enough for me to get through the course again.

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Does your gym have a heavy cable station with the variable height attachment point? What I like to do is load that up to the max, set the attachment point around pylon height, put on a straight handle or something that can mimic a slalom handle, then get into my lean position and start shrugging that weight, both lifting shoulders, squeezing shoulder blades together, and flexing the arms a bit to pull the handle in towards your hip. Do this all with a slight bend in your legs and do reps both on-side and off-side. I'm 6'5", 245 these days so I can get the weight up pretty easily, but you may want to start with less. One other thing, BE CAREFUL. It's easy to lose your balance doing this and let the weight slam. Make all your motions slow and deliberate.

Once you're done with that upper body work, keep the same position/hold, but bend your legs down and up, kindof like a leaning squat. Do enough reps of this and your legs and core will be screaming after a short while. The quads and glutes feel it a lot, but your back, obliques, and abs are working overtime to keep everything balanced while doing this as well. And by this point, your forearms should be burning too.

With both of these exercises, good foot traction is key.

One other thing I've found that I like is if your gym has one of those back exerciser things. Basically, two footrests, ankle pads, and thigh pads, and your upper body hangs off and you sortof do reverse sit-ups. Well, those work great for isolating the obliques as well. Get in one sideways and do some side crunches with a 20 lb or so weight hanging in your down arm. Keep the other arm high across your chest.

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Budget / travel handle exercise: hook the handle to a fixed object (door handle in hotel room), wear some tennis shoes and lean back. Do xx pull ups and squats from the "behind the wake" pose in both directions. Not heavy but lots of reps will lessen the spring time pain. As noted, key is to have good traction. At home you can add the angled base.

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Thanks again guys. I'm going to add the "in ski position" exercises as well. I do already hit the back/core thingy that UWSkier references for both the back and sides. I'm up for an 8 mile run this weekend in the 1/2 marathon training schedule.

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Does your gym have a heavy cable station with the variable height attachment point? What I like to do is load that up to the max, set the attachment point around pylon height, put on a straight handle or something that can mimic a slalom handle, then get into my lean position and start shrugging that weight, both lifting shoulders, squeezing shoulder blades together, and flexing the arms a bit to pull the handle in towards your hip. Do this all with a slight bend in your legs and do reps both on-side and off-side. I'm 6'5", 245 these days so I can get the weight up pretty easily, but you may want to start with less. One other thing, BE CAREFUL. It's easy to lose your balance doing this and let the weight slam. Make all your motions slow and deliberate.

Once you're done with that upper body work, keep the same position/hold, but bend your legs down and up, kindof like a leaning squat. Do enough reps of this and your legs and core will be screaming after a short while. The quads and glutes feel it a lot, but your back, obliques, and abs are working overtime to keep everything balanced while doing this as well. And by this point, your forearms should be burning too.

With both of these exercises, good foot traction is key.

One other thing I've found that I like is if your gym has one of those back exerciser things. Basically, two footrests, ankle pads, and thigh pads, and your upper body hangs off and you sortof do reverse sit-ups. Well, those work great for isolating the obliques as well. Get in one sideways and do some side crunches with a 20 lb or so weight hanging in your down arm. Keep the other arm high across your chest.

Cool info UW, I'll give that a try and show it to the trainer I work with, she's all about coming up with different things to work my ski specific muscles as much as possible, she not being a skier (damn good trainer though). One question - I assume that when you're doing your "leaning squats" your feet are in line as if on a ski, is that correct? Just wanted a little clarification on that point before I try it.

BTW the back exerciser thing, "basically, two footrests, ankle pads, and thigh pads, and your upper body hangs off and you sort of do reverse sit-ups" to my knowledge is referred to as a Roman Chair. If you really gave a damn what it was called...

One exersize she has me doing that I think (hope) will help with dropping my hip into the turn - bosu ball side plank dips. Put your forearm on a bosu ball in side plank position. Dip your hip to the floor then back up with your arm fully extended straight up as you're doing the exersize, 30 reps each side. Hammers the hip flexors etc.

Thanks, Ed

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Ed,

When I do the above exercises, yes, I have my feet positioned as if they were in my bindings. These exercises don't give you as much range of motion work as traditional exercises, but they will put a good burn into your shoulders.

Even so, I've still yet to find anything that REALLY gets me in the shape to keep from getting sore on the first few sets of the year.

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  • 4 weeks later...

While all that has been discussed is very very good, do not forget to strengthen your rotator cuff muscles. Most exercise programs do not hit these small muscle groups. They help to stabilize your shoulder. I went through P90X twice and did some jogging; now I am rehabbing the rotator to help out the stabilization of the shoulder because I have a small tear in my labrum. All I did is reach out to put my golf bag into the back of my truck... that's it. If this doesn't work, it’s time for surgery.

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While all that has been discussed is very very good, do not forget to strengthen your rotator cuff muscles. Most exercise programs do not hit these small muscle groups. They help to stabilize your shoulder. I went through P90X twice and did some jogging; now I am rehabbing the rotator to help out the stabilization of the shoulder because I have a small tear in my labrum. All I did is reach out to put my golf bag into the back of my truck... that's it. If this doesn't work, it’s time for surgery.

I think its time to fire your caddy.

:rofl:

Where at in your range of motion does it hurt? I felt an explosion in my should a few months ago after throwing a football (not warming up :Doh:) about 40 yards. I could really feel the pain on the backwards motion of a throw. My wife is a PT but couldn't diagnose 100% whether it was rotator or labrum without a MRI and I almost went for one. But it acutally healed itself in about 2 weeks, I guess I got lucky with just a small labrum tweak. Thought I was going to miss flag football and softball this spring, oh yeah, and some boarding!!

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This thread and the hot weather gets me thinking, and bottom line is, I forget about the exercising and start practicing for all the beer drinking :biggrin: Plus it's Friday :thumbup:

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TGIF! I am all over workin the beer drinkin muscles! We are losing one of our local riders next week. He's being shipped out to Ohio by the military. So we're having one last hurrah tomorrow at the lake.

As I've gotten older I've noticed the need to work out to stay light. I've got a history of a bad back, and was diagnose with a bulging disc in L5 S1 a few years ago. But the last couple of years have been pretty good as I've tried to keep my weight down & core strength up. This past winter I started really workin on the rowing machine, thinking that was pretty close to what I/we do at the end of the rope. This spring my strength and endurance is pretty good. Tuesday night I had a good run, maybe going 20 or 25 minutes before I wrapped it up. Still felt great & did it more because others wanted to ride before it got cold & dark. Someone else commented on his forearms really getting worked. Made me realize I wasn't feelin a danm thing. I think that rowing machine is whats doin it too. :rockon:

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