Spyder - get in shape for winter

There’s a reason they’re called skier legs. It takes a lot of work to get through a powder run, ski moguls or make a great turn. The leg group is hardly overlooked, but what is, is focusing on muscles in the front and back of your legs. Both are equally important to having a successful ski season.  The trick? Be sure to include a mix of exercises that will work your Quads, Glutes and Hamstrings. When properly executed, squats, lunges and leg press are great ways to get in shape, but including bursts of exercise movements that are powerful and explosive will both increase your heart rate and mimic hop turns helping to maximize your workout.  Check out our recommended workout below.

Leg Day:

3 sets of each, if you are feeling strong, try 5 sets.

Jumping lunges: 20x (Each leg should do 10x)

Burpees: 10x

Air Squats: 20x

Mountain Climbers: 20x (Each leg should do 10x)

Box Jumps: 10x

One Leg Box Step up: 20x (Each leg should do 10x)

1 min. jump roping

For a lot of us, the mountains are our home. This is where we want to be all the time, whenever we get the opportunity. We inherently bike, hike and run the very trails we ski each season because we can’t get enough of the outdoors! Staying in shape all summer long gives us a leg up for the winter season. However, if real life happens and you haven’t had the opportunity to get aerobic exercise in each day, here’s a way to get in shape quickly! 

Aerobic:

Intervals: 30 seconds of high-intensity intervals with 20 seconds rest in between each interval.

Get your heart rate high and let it drop again. 

Hill Sprints: 10x hill sprints with 30 seconds rest in between each sprint

Short and Longer effort sprints: 20 second sprint with 20 seconds of rest followed by a 40 second sprint (Repeat 5x)

As skiers, we all know how important the core is to have a successful ski season. Not only do we find balance in our core, but our core can also dictate the rest of the body’s movement when skiing. We recommend doing this core workout three times a week!

Core: 3 sets of each.

Plank: 30 sec.

Bicycles: 30 x (15x each way)

Toe Touches: 30x

Supermans: 30x

Russian Twists: 30x (15x each way)

Side Plank Leg Raise: 30x (15x each way)

As extreme athletes, we are used to pushing our bodies to the max. It’s easy to overlook small pains and aches in pursuit of our passions, however; to have a great season you have to take care of yourself! Take days off if you need, be sure to stay on top of stretching and icing and listen to your body if it says it’s had enough. You control your season: work hard, be safe and remember- you’re limitless!