Fitness pros serve up tips to build a stronger base and prevent common injuries

Get your muscles warmed up before an active day on the slopes this winter. (Getty Images)

With colder temperatures and some areas almost ready to open, ski turns are just around the corner. That also means it’s a good time to get into ski shape before the season starts to help prevent injuries and to maximize your day on the slopes.

As a ski instructor, I try to keep myself in shape during the offseason by cycling and hiking, and adding ski-specific exercises closer to winter, relying on some favorites from my college ski team days like wall sits, hops and lunges. No matter what kind of shape you’re in, though, the first day on the slopes can be taxing, with the all-too familiar thigh burn and breathless turns. A few weeks of exercises that address ski muscles and the moves on the hill can go a long way for more stamina on your ski trip.

I’m hardly a fitness expert and my workouts aren’t as disciplined as they could be, so I asked a couple of pros to share some of their favorite strengthening strategies to help build a better base for the ski season.

“Even if you are cycling thousands of miles, you are not working muscles the same way that you do when you ski,” said “Ski Fitness” author Sue Kramer, who has a master’s degree in kinesiology to better understand how the human body moves when applied to a ski setting.

As a training examiner for Professional Ski Instructors of America and a race coach at Bromley Outing Club, she has analyzed the ski techniques of elite skiers for decades. In other words, she could be the person who gives me and other instructors like me the thumbs up or down on a technical ski exercise.

In skiing, she says, it’s important to incorporate isometric and eccentric movements when your muscles lengthen to resist forces. For example, walking down a set of stairs wouldn’t go well if you didn’t resist gravity.

“It’s huge for what we do in skiing — every time you turn using your outside leg, you are resisting forces,” Kramer said. “Think about how many turns you do in a day — usually it’s hundreds,” she said.

Kramer’s top tips

By working on key muscle groups like quads, glutes, hamstrings and abdominal muscles, you can develop a good base to be able to ski stronger and longer this season. It’s good to do exercises in sets of three, with five to 10 reps per set, depending on your fitness level.

Here are some of Kramer’s top tips:

Squats are big for training and work the key muscles groups. Do a squat slowly on the way down and go up quickly to work eccentric or fast-twitch muscles, generating power over short periods.

Side lunges: Hop and land on the right foot to go to the other side by pushing off and generating power. “Side lunges are also really important because when we ski, we go from side to side and push off from the left to pressure and steer the left foot to turn right,” she said.

Jumping jacks also are a favorite. “When you land, you use muscle control, so the landing is purposeful,” Kramer said. Also try some hops and jumps by making a box 4 feet square and jump forward and back, left and right. It’s a great activity because it works your legs the same way as when skiing. Even hopscotch is a good one and something the whole family can enjoy together.

Balance is important to develop sensory awareness in joints like the knees, hips and ankles. Kramer suggests incorporating balancing exercises into your daily routine. For example, stand on one foot while brushing your teeth or when stirring chili on the stove. Balance can go a long way for people starting out to feel less intimidated by the sliding effect, she said.

Core. When working on the core muscles, Kramer said to build a good core base all around the spine. “People think just about abs, but everything that supports and protects the spine is important,” she said. For example, a “Spiderman” plank or push-up can activate more muscles than typical moves.

ACL Strong tips

If you are looking for the equivalent of your own personal trainer at home for specific ski exercises, you might consider the ACL Strong injury prevention program, which has been on my radar ever since it came out a few years ago.

“The program is designed to give you strength and stability to ski longer without getting hurt or wearing out your knees,” said Dr. Leslie Desrosiers, a physical therapist who also has a master’s in kinesiology. After seeing an increasing number of high school athletes suffering ACL tears, she developed injury prevention programs, including the ACL Strong program to help skiers and snowboarders avoid injuries on the slopes. “It’s important to do the right exercises with good form, and have the right progression to increase capacity for your sport,” Desrosiers said.

ACL Strong’s quick and easy workouts are designed to slip into one’s day and cover strength, mobility and balance. The idea is to give people 15- to 20-minute components of exercises they aren’t normally doing to improve neuromuscular control, which aids in both injury prevention and performance. ACL Strong emphasizes using smaller stabilizing muscles that teach the brain and body to communicate quickly.

It’s an eight-week program progressing through stages that also will develop reaction time, agility and body control. The exercises involve multiple planes of motion (i.e. lunge with a twisting move) instead of just linear (like running and walking), because when skiing you are weight-shifting and rotating in multiple planes, especially in trees and moguls.
Exercises also are designed to keep muscles strong to protect the knee joint. “The program starts by establishing foundational movement patterns, then build on that with strength and balance, and then adds sport-specific variations to help you train more like an athlete,” Desrosiers said.

Although it might seem pricey at $397, the price is for lifetime access. There are videos and descriptions for all learning styles, and Dr. Desrosiers has an “Office Hours” program if members need extra help. As someone who has dealt with an ACL injury myself, this is something I have wanted to start implementing into my regiment.

If you don’t train prior to the season, be mindful of limitations and don’t ski beyond them. “The best thing you can do is start out easy and get accustomed to the equipment, snow and altitude,” Kramer said.

After talking to a couple of fitness experts, I’m motivated to add a more structured approach to my preseason training. Kramer’s advice of doing a few tuck moves while watching TV also is a fun idea, and I’ve already started the ACL Strong program. Stay tuned for my results.