Building strength

[Swede]

Some interesting insight and examples on advanced excercises for alpine racers to build need based strength.

Pritchard: Some of my favorite movements for the alpine athlete

It's important to remember that athletics often require an array of strength, power, mobility and stability across multiple planes of motion. Often times we can get carried away with the weight on the bar or the speed at which we are training but neglect which direction we are going.

skiracing.com

 

[Tricia]

I get SkiRacing in my inbox and love to read it but I missed this one. Thanks for sharing, this is a good one for sure.

I loved the beginning of the article where he says...
I grew up skiing in Colorado but was hesitant to even acknowledge my experience as relevant after witnessing the level at which these athletes perform.

That's how I've always felt about my skiing in relation to those around me. It's truly humbling to ski with some of the people we ski with. I can only hope to use some of these excercises to increase my core strength to ski like a better version of me.

 

[Gary Stolt]

Every year I try to get my body ready for skiing. Running, back exercises, leg exercises, biking, etc. Just over a month ago, I had a ruptured appendix and corresponding surgery, and some after surgery complications. Building Strength back is going to be a main goal between now and ski season.

 

[Swede]

Every year I try to get my body ready for skiing. Running, back exercises, leg exercises, biking, etc. Just over a month ago, I had a ruptured appendix and corresponding surgery, and some after surgery complications. Building Strength back is going to be a main goal between now and ski season.

Hang in there. Injuries are not only a physical set back to overcone ...

 

[KingGrump]

Every year I try to get my body ready for skiing. Running, back exercises, leg exercises, biking, etc. Just over a month ago, I had a ruptured appendix and corresponding surgery, and some after surgery complications. Building Strength back is going to be a main goal between now and ski season.

Oh no, Mr. Bill.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery. Hope we can make some turns together next season.

 

[Rod9301]

I think, that before anyone does the advanced exercises, basic strength is more important.

Leg press at 3-4 times the bodyweight, hamstring [email protected] bodyweight, once you do these, you can do the advanced ones

 

[Gary Stolt]

I think, that before anyone does the advanced exercises, basic strength is more important.

Leg press at 3-4 times the bodyweight, hamstring [email protected] bodyweight, once you do these, you can do the advanced ones

Not sure I can drink (curl) enough beer to equal 1.5 times my body weight, but I'll try.

 

[oldschoolskier]

Simple core exercise couple of crunches a day, nothing excessive, simple lower body strength (ie stairs, two streps at a time, up and down adds coordination), upper body (simple 500ml bottles of water while pumping arms on the stairs).

If you’ve got time and money do more, but for the rest, use the K I S S principal for exercise, just make it fun and do it often in light doses. Saves joint injury and gets you ready.

 

[cantunamunch]

Building Strength back is going to be a main goal between now and ski season.

You were just told to Make it Fun. Time to go shopping for bike kit

 

[martyg]

Nice movements.

Just be aware.... We are all a study on one. The contents of an article on what one person is doing may not be what you need - especially if the article outlines elite level racers. In most cases recreational skiers could benefit more from mobility drills, and eccentric movements. We are not managing g-forces at high speeds, but rather tend to be absorbing terrain.

If you love weight workouts, for example (as I do), and love the heft of a loaded Olympic bar, you probably don't need more resistance work. If you don't have PhD level people picking your workouts apart, that thing that you hate to do is probably what you need more of.

 

[oldschoolskier]

Both my kids swam very competitively, with my son getting elite training. Heavy training with weights does as much harm as it does good. While it building defined muscle and more importantly added strength, it also causes premature joint wear and injury. This is especially true for younger athletes as cartilage is not yet fully hardened. As for us older athletes the same is true just at a slightly reduced rate.

A new view is starting to show in sports of light specific training to balance required strength. Heavy training only when required for rapid development under guidance to ensure minimal (still going to happen) wear and side effects.

Self body mass training is a good balance as wear matches strength and weight.

Again for us mere mortal athletes, we’re in it to enjoy and last the day(s) while improving (or not lossing) our skills. Don’t get sucked into over training for the sake of training.

 

[François Pugh]

Not being a competitive skiing athlete, being active in the martial arts and having been blessed with freakishly strong legs (until undiagnosed diabetes and injury did a number on me a couple of years ago), I never really had to train for skiing, but I've done lots of physio re-hab.
For what it's worth her are a few nuggets I've picked up over the years.

Pistol Squats - Don't load up your knees when they are bent past 90 degrees; just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Strength building - Do three sets, with between 30 seconds and a minute between sets.
Do not do heavy sets until you've been at it for a good six months. Once you're into the motion and are sure you're not going to injure yourself (if you are too stubborn you can injure yourself getting in that last rep), try to do it with the weight adjusted so that you can't quite get the last one in. Then after you're all finished your three sets of everything come back and finish off the ones you couldn't do. Adjust the weight, the time between sets, and the number of reps slightly so that last ones end up being a bitch to do. 5 to 8 Reps is heavy weight (sometimes 4), 10 reps is normal weight. Eg. if doing 10 reps and starting out increase the reps (up to 12 to 15) before adding more weight and going back down to 10 reps. After a long time, when you can do heavy weights without hurting yourself, if doing 8 reps, put more weight on and do 5 reps when 8 reps is too easy.

Be careful.

 

[cantunamunch]

Not being a competitive skiing athlete, being active in the martial arts and having been blessed with freakishly strong legs (until undiagnosed diabetes and injury did a number on me a couple of years ago), I never really had to train for skiing, but I've done lots of physio re-hab.

You are a good candidate for big gear sprints on the bike. Basically - do a 30-45min warmup ride then find some flat ground. Put it in the hardest gear you have that you can turn at 2mph. You read that right, 4mph is too fast. Now- no shifting! - punch it - shoot for at least 5mph over your warmup average. Repeat. Again. Again. If you've gone much more than 1/4 mile by the 10th rep you're not explosive enough.

 

[martyg]

Both my kids swam very competitively, with my son getting elite training. Heavy training with weights does as much harm as it does good. While it building defined muscle and more importantly added strength, it also causes premature joint wear and injury. This is especially true for younger athletes as cartilage is not yet fully hardened. As for us older athletes the same is true just at a slightly reduced rate.

A new view is starting to show in sports of light specific training to balance required strength. Heavy training only when required for rapid development under guidance to ensure minimal (still going to happen) wear and side effects.

Self body mass training is a good balance as wear matches strength and weight.

Again for us mere mortal athletes, we’re in it to enjoy and last the day(s) while improving (or not lossing) our skills. Don’t get sucked into over training for the sake of training.

Totally agree with this.

I'm 60. Was a competitive sprint athlete in a IOC discipline. Coaches back in "the day" just focused on muscles and muscle groups that were primary movers. No thought to antagonistic muscle groups, range of motion, etc. Not good for longevity. Things are different today - if you have a well trained coach who actively seeks to upgrade their knowledge base.

 

[François Pugh]

You are a good candidate for big gear sprints on the bike. Basically - do a 30-45min warmup ride then find some flat ground. Put it in the hardest gear you have that you can turn at 2mph. You read that right, 4mph is too fast. Now- no shifting! - punch it - shoot for at least 5mph over your warmup average. Repeat. Again. Again. If you've gone much more than 1/4 mile by the 10th rep you're not explosive enough.

Thanks, getting too cold for me to go biking now (fingers would freeze), but I will give that a try next bike season.

 

[no edge]

Both my kids swam very competitively, with my son getting elite training. Heavy training with weights does as much harm as it does good. While it building defined muscle and more importantly added strength, it also causes premature joint wear and injury. This is especially true for younger athletes as cartilage is not yet fully hardened. As for us older athletes the same is true just at a slightly reduced rate.

Swimming can do plenty of harm. It does not lend itself to skiing since it is not weight bearing. Unless you are a high level swimmer you can swim for hours and little training takes place. Weight training with free weights and a great coach is where it's at. Quick strong muscles plus speed work for wind and intensity.... oh, and some swimming.

 

[oldschoolskier]

Swimming can do plenty of harm. It does not lend itself to skiing since it is not weight bearing. Unless you are a high level swimmer you can swim for hours and little training takes place. Weight training with free weights and a great coach is where it's at. Quick strong muscles plus speed work for wind and intensity.... oh, and some swimming.

My point was weights are the issue and most use excessive weights which causes hidden joint damage. The newer thinking is not to over do weights, just very selective and specific workout to supplement missing strength. Elite level as mentioned may balance potential long term damage with performance increase. But skill development must come first.

As to swimming doing little training, beg to differ, generally good core, over all fitness and definitely great cardo. A little running and other activities balances things out.

 

[freeskier1961]

I have weight trained for years, takes its toll on joints. now at 60 find strengthening my core, stretching especially hamstrings one foot Bosu ball balance has helped immensely