Ski Training

Like most people who enjoy skiing, I neither live in the mountains or ski anywhere near as much a I'd like to. A couple of weeks a year, if I'm lucky, depending on workload and let's face it, finances.

It was never in any part of my planning to get fit for skiing - yeah, perhaps I'd wear my ski boots around the house for a few days before I went, but that used to be about as far as I'd go - which in hindsight was always pretty stupid!

If you take the same attitude as I used to, then you probably ski the way I used to as well. I'm sure you know what I mean.

Once again you've been away too long and for the last 10 months or so every squeaking supermarket trolley wheel sounds like a chair lift, and the smell of cold diesel fumes bring you back to the smell of the snowcats out first thing in the morning pisting the runs.

It's one of your first days back in the mountains again and you're one of the first up to the top of the lifts. Beautiful blue skies, crystal clear fresh air, fantastic snow condition and the mountains spreading out below you, beckoning you down onto the nearly empty slopes.

You start off down the first slope - perhaps a simple blue run to get warmed up, a few sweeping wide turns and then down into a tuck to get up a bit of speed. You've just swept passed a ski-school when you hit a couple of bumps and your legs take the impact. Then the inevitable. You stand up and swing to a halt in a spray of powder, looking back up the run as if waiting for someone! In truth, your legs have had it!

Your knees have started to ache and your thighs are burning! You have to cruise down to the bottom of the lifts to let you legs recover! Yeah, OK, so after a few days you've got some strength back in your legs again - just in time to go home.

That's if you're lucky. A few years ago I turned up in Italy for a 2 week holiday, unprepared as ever, and hit a patch of blue ice mid slope and severely sprained my ankle. Game over. I spent the second week sitting on the hotel balcony watching other doing the skiing. I knew that if my legs hadn't given out, that I'd be on the slopes with them!

The moral of this little tale?

Always prepare and train before any strenuous exercise, but especially skiing where there is far more pressure on the legs than in most of our everyday lives. If you're a soccer or football player or athlete, then perhaps you can get away with it - but most of us who don't train only get away with it for a little while...

I know that I was lucky and my lack of preparation could have resulted in a far more serious accident, especially late in the day when we're all trying to get that last run on the day.

Training programs are available which not only give you legs with steel like properties, but also improve joint strength and mobility, allowing you to ski much harder for much longer. You'll be skiing like a hero instead of a wimp!

Suitable ski training will undoubtedly improve your ability and will keep you safer on the slopes. Who knows, it may even save your life?