5 most important exercises to get the most from your next ski trip.

Winter is here and that cold weather brings the ski season to life. This article will outline important exercises to complete to get the most enjoyment and success out of your next trip.

There is no doubt about it, skiing and snowboarding are challenging activities. The biomechanical movements required to successfully engage in these activities demand skill, balance, stability and strength.

The regions of the body and respective exercises outlined below are those in which are highly dependent on controlling skiing manoeuvres. These exercises will encourage greater range of motion within the major joints of the body and enhance muscular performance for a large majority of muscles required for ski activities. Greater range of motion combined with muscular strength provides great stability potential to improve function so you can ski with better ability and for a longer period to have loads of fun. Completing these exercises successfully will prepare your body well to reduce the likelihood of injury.

To account for everyone, the exercises below only require bodyweight and will provide sufficient stimulus to keep all the important muscles activated.

Please note: The table below highlights 5 different body regions with appropriate exercises attached to activate and strengthen those areas. There is no expectation to complete all of them and you would be aiming to choose 1-2 of them per body region to gain the upmost benefit. They vary in degree of difficulty so make sure you research each exercise before conducting them in order to prevent injury and to get the most out of them.

Most of these exercises are available on our website :

mdhealth.com.au – knowledge bank – exercise sheets

HAPPY SKIING!!!

EXERCISE

Lumbar Spine (lower back) + Core
Bird dog
Modified planks (side plank, kneeling plank, high plank with shoulder taps)

Hip/Pelvis:

Bridges (double/single leg)
Real clams
Squat (regular, split squat, sit to stand)
Hip clock

Knee:

Lateral ski jump
Forward/reverse lunge
Wall squat/sit

Ankle:

Calf raises (double/single leg)
Tibialis anterior raises
Single leg stand – balance

Shoulder/Shoulder blade:

Scapula push up
Push up (kneeling or regular)
Prone Y or T raise

Do you have any questions?

• Call us on (03) 9857 0644 or (07) 3505 1494 (Paddington)
• Email us at admin@mdhealth.com.au
• Check out our other blog posts here

Our clinical staff would be happy to have chat if you have any questions.