It’s that time of year again when it starts getting darker and the nights are getting cooler that we are reminded of the winter that is coming. The approaching winter season means that it is time to start thinking about our winter sports again. Downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, hockey… Though we’ve been keeping active and fit throughout the summer with our summer sports, we forget that our winter sports require different body movements, and therefore, different muscles. How easily we seem to forget about the sore back and bum muscles we feel after our first day of skiing and the tired legs that can barely get you out of bed the next day!
Imagine being able to get on the slopes and on your first day, feel like you’ve been skiing all summer! You feel strong, agile, coordinated and most importantly, pain-free. With proper pre-season training, this is a reality. By choosing ski specific exercises, you can simulate your winter sport indoors so when the time comes to perform, you’re ready to charge! Not only will you be feeling fit and having fun, you’ll also be saving yourself from unwanted injuries. And speaking from experience, you don’t want to get injured! One small mistake can put you out for the whole ski season and possibly into the summer as well. I had a big crash skiing two years ago and blew my knee. The recovery from that injury has taken a long time; in hindsight, I possibly could have prevented it from happening.
“Blowing your knee” is a common downhill skiing injury and even more common in women. Women tend to have wider hips than men, which makes it harder to gain equal muscle balance in the thighs. Usually, the inner thigh is not as developed as the outer thigh and this causes strain on the knee joint. If you combine a muscle imbalance such as this with a high impact sport such as skiing, the chances of you damaging your knees are greatly increased. But being aware of this problem and taking steps to prevent the muscle imbalance from happening, can make all of the difference.
Whether your sport is downhill skiing, hockey or any other winter sport, you can’t possibly go wrong with doing some sport specific, pre-season training. It seems that we tend to care more for our vehicles than we care for the far more complex “machines” of our bodies. You take your car in for a tune-up just before the winter approaches and your even put on tougher winter tires to ensure minimal risk on the treacherous winter roads. Why wouldn’t you take your body for a tune-up and put on “tougher winter thighs” to ensure reduced risk on the treacherous steep ski slopes?
You’ve got three months to get your body in prime condition for your specific sport. If you need help setting up a program or are not sure what specific exercises you could be doing to get you in shape, seek some professional advice from one of the personal trainers at the Trail Aquatic Center. You may even want to go for a fitness test to find out what fitness level you are at and then use those results to mark improvement as you continue with your fitness program. Fitness testing is an excellent motivational tool because the process of monitoring your progress can be very rewarding and exciting as you start to see changes in your physique. Six weeks on a fitness program will show visible improvements and the longer you stay with it, the more results you will notice.