Ontario Alpine Ski Team member Patrick McConville
Well, we got a little taste of it last week…that snow on the ground last Tuesday was a great reminder that ski season is just around the corner. For the Ontario Team members that train at Revolution Conditioning, their season has already started as they are out in Colorado at their early season training camp. Lucky!
GOLD!
Before we get to the ski exercises I want to send a shout out to Team RevCon athletes Scott Moir & Tessa Virtue who won their second GOLD at the ISU Grand Prix event in Paris, France over the weekend. They skated magnificently! The next test will be in early December when the travel to Japan for the Grand Prix Final where they will compete head-to-head with their American rivals for the first time this year.
Big 3 Skiing Exercises
I remember my Dad having us all do wall-sits before every ski season so our legs would be ready to keep up with him. My Dad was a first chair-to-last chair skier. When we were really young we didn’t even stop for lunch. On the way up to Blue Mountain, we would stop to fill the Mountain-family station wagon with gas and my Dad would have us pick out our lunch…any two chocolate bars we wanted! No wonder I loved skiing!
Our goal was to get there early enough that we could get the ‘pole position’ or the parking spot closest to the lifts. We did it on more than one occassion 🙂
Anyway, today I am going to give a you a few less traditional exercises that will have your carving those beautiful sweeping turns all day long.
Here’s how to do the exercises…
If you cannot see the video in the player above, just click on the link below…
http://youtu.be/uuzxNgdHvIQ
Yeah those a stretch pants! Skiing with my Dad in Colorado circa 1988
Single Leg Squat Off A Step
- start with a small step (6-10″)
- make sure you sit back with your hips
- keep your knee pointing straight ahead
- maintain a level pelvis
- do 2-3 sets of 8 reps on each leg – when that is easy, add dumbbells.
Single (or double) Leg Hip Thrust
- start with a double leg hip thrust first
- make sure your set up is stable so your shoulder bolster (box/bench) will not move during the exercise
- focus on using your glutes
- do not hyper-extend your back at the top of the movement
- do 2-3 sets of 15 double leg – when that is easy, go to 2-3 sets of 8-12 single leg reps
Single Leg Hop & Stick
- start with a very small hop
- make sure you are jumping and landing with perfect knee alignment
- make a soft landing by flexing at your hip, knee and ankle
- get your balance before starting your next rep
- do 2 sets of 6 on each leg – hold the balance for 4 seconds
Add these exercises to your current routine or work on them twice per week as a stand-alone workout.
Happy training – happy skiing!
Cheers,
M
PS – your try-out session is on us – if you want to sample one of our semi-private group workouts or just come in to talk about your fitness and performance goals, just call or email 519-266-6595 x 1 or info@revolutionconditioning.com
