The off season training for skiers

You are well prepared. Couple months of great workout, quality sleep, healthy food, and you are on the slope. One week of fantastic skiing, or even two. Maybe you will go to another ski trip. If you are really lucky, you have time for three ski trips in one season, but that’s it. May is here. Season is over.

Summer. It’s hot. Seaside. Beach. Shade. Enjoying your time. Maybe visiting some new country. You will definitely try local food and drinks. Street food, restaurants, bars, maybe your friend from university lives there, it’s nice to have dinner at his place. You deserved to relax. During summer, pace is slow even at home. Family, friends, gatherings, vacations.

September. Tasks at work, traffic jams, schools started, and all of a sudden you have zero free time. It’s hard even to meet your friends on weekends. You sleep late, wake up early, ordering food, constantly hurrying somewhere and the only thing on your mind is- rest. Usually that’s scrolling or binging.

It’s time to book your new ski trip. It’s time to start preparing your body. It’s time you realize you did nothing for months.

Preparation will be even harder, because you also have component of disappointment:

Why is this squat so hard? I was easily doing it last year… even with heavier weights.

We were all in this situation at least once. This is what you should do so it doesn’t happen again.

Why is the off season important

Skiing demands a unique blend of strength, endurance, balance, agility and mental focus. Without training on regular basis, these skills can diminish over the off season, leading to higher risk of injury and decreased performance when you return to the mountains. Off season training ensures that your body remains in shape, so you can start the ski season strong and make your body even better than last year. Not to mention that you will avoid early-season aches and pains that usually come with jumping back into skiing too quickly.

If you are into a good training routine during entire year anyway, you can also use off season to improve some specific part of exercises, whether it’s cardio, whether it’s strength, mobility, etc…

Types of workout you should focus on

Strength training

Strength of your body is one of the key things for you to enjoy the slopes. If your ski technique is not that good, strong body will always be helpful to cover the mistakes, and if you are an amazing skier, strength will be there to allow you to ski full day and on all types of slopes.

Focus mostly on core and legs exercises. It’s hard to gain results, easy to lose them, and most people are trying to avoid it because there are no „beach benefits“. In the mirror you look pretty much the same.

I would always go with multi-joint exercises rather then single-joint. Multi-joint exercises like squats, deadlifts, lunges are activating entire body, which is extremely beneficial for skiing where you are definitely using your full body. No one can ski with just strong quads.

I recommend 2-3 sessions of strength training per week.

Cardio training

Strength and cardio are two sides of the same coin, since skiing is very demanding in terms of cardiovascular endurance. Strong muscles are fantastic, but you will get full benefit only if your lungs don’t give up quickly.

Activities like road/mountain biking or running on uneven terrain (woods, beach) can be very benefitial. Not only you will have good cardio workout, but also better ankle stability, leg strength and balance. If not, even gym cycling and treadmill running can get you to wanted cardio result.

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) can be particularly effective because skiing involves bursts of high-intensity effort followed by short recovery periods.

Hiking, especially on steep or uneven terrain also increases your cardio capacity and engages the legs, core and stabilizing muscles similar to what’s required in skiing. If it’s long enough it also builds endurance and mental toughness.

I recommend 1-2 cardio workouts per week.

Mobility and flexibility

Mobility and flexibility are the part that we are keen to forget but we shouldn’t. First of all they are crucial for injury prevention, and after that, through movements in full range of motion it allows you to perform deep turns, absorb shocks and maintain balance on uneven terrain without overloading your muscles or joints.

Focus particularly on your hip and ankle mobility.

You can do it in form of deep stretching every night, or if you want real deal, start practicing yoga. Yoga sessions will give you much better flexibility and mobility of entire body, as well as calmness of  mind and relaxation.

Even one yoga session per week can be beneficial.

Plyometrics

If you are really a passionate skier, you should sometimes include plyometrics into your off season workout routine. Plyometrics, also known as jump training are exercises that involve explosive movements to develop power, speed and agility. It’s very beneficial for skiers because it mimics the rapid, forceful movements you need on the slopes.

You can do box jumps, lateral jumps, depth jumps etc. Be aware that plyometrics exercises can be very demanding, so make sure you are well warmed up, and also that you have enough breaks between the sets.

During off season it’s enough that you do plyometrics once per week incorporated with strength training.

For all of you padel players

Many of my clients who are into skiing, are also into padel and the other way around. I’m not sure why, but for some reason padel and skiing have similar vibe and I completely agree with that.

The question is: Can I keep myself in shape during off season by just playing padel?

Padel and skiing are distinct sports with different movement patterns. Although there are some aspects of padel that can complement skiing fitness and help maintain or enhance certain skills needed on the slopes.

Playing padel improves agility and quick reflexes, skills that are very important in skiing. The constant movement in padel is helping you build legs strength and endurance. If you are playing it hard, padel is serious cardiovascular activity which will definitely help you on the slopes. Coordination and balance are also components that can be developed through padel and are important for skiing.

Explosive power, mobility and flexibility are things that you will not get from padel. At all. That is why if you decide to only play padel during off season it would be useful to think about adding yoga session, or at least deep stretching. Explosive power is something that you do exclusively during strength, so if you will stick with padel only, just be aware you didn’t do explosive workout, so you can additionally focus on that when you start skiing preparation.

Padel is great, we all love it, and it will give you some benefits but I have to disappoint you- it’s not enough to keep your body in shape till next season.

All in all...

It’s very important to keep your body active even during ski off season. No one regrated having strong body, better cardio capacity, more mobility, flexibility or explosive power. Plus, when the time comes and snow covers the mountains- you will be ready.