Movement Prep: Dynamic Stretching Before You Workout

In October of last year we published our first strength piece — Get in Shape for Ski Season — featuring variations of fundamental lower body movements. While one can, with focus, tangibly improve strength over a six week time frame, Benny Profane’s comment was right: skiers are made in the summer.

A long-term approach will improve the daily movement of living as well as your skiing.

This series will be structured like one of my training sessions. Movement prep; lower body; upper body; core strength; stretching post workout.

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Tune Your Body for Skiing

Winter is just around the corner. Time to tune those skis, and if you haven’t already started, tune your body. A well designed fitness program can help you get in shape for ski season.

Judging by the topics in the NYSkiBlog Summer Sports forum, skiers are active paddling, cycling and hiking. However, if you’re not hitting the gym to lift weights, you’re missing a key component.

Weight training is beneficial for all the ski disciplines. In this video, Ted Ligety demonstrates massive core strength that keeps him off the snow, and leg strength and hip mobility that enable him to work magic around those gates. We might not be skiing as fast as Ted, but we can still benefit from regular gym workouts.

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Making Rounded Ski Turns


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It seems to me that the art of making properly rounded ski turns has been lost by much of the skiing public. Other PSIA Level 3 certs I talked with have confirmed it: they have never spent so much of their teaching time working with clients to make round turns.

I attribute this, at least in part, to the increase in the amount of tip and tail rocker on the skis being used by everyone. Rocker makes it easier to twist skis quickly and the result is that all the turning force comes right at the apex of the turn.

Our self-preservation instincts push us to get around that corner as quickly as possible so the response is to twist to get the started and finished post haste.

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