Enjoy a stronger, healthier, and more confident ski season by attending the Ski Prep Classes at Adventure Fitness Athletic Club. If you’re a member of AFAC, we invite you to join us at our Thornton gym on Friday evenings to train for the slopes. Our Ski Prep Classes will help you increase your strength and power in a specific manner to avoid injuries, mitigate impact, and alleviate change-of-direction stress while skiing.
Ski Prep Classes
Taught by Javier
Friday nights – 6:30 pm to 7:15 pm
Why do I need Ski Prep Classes?
You might be thinking to yourself, “Do I really need to prepare for skiing season? I’ve been keeping in pretty good shape all year …”
But, even if you’ve been working out regularly, Ski Prep Classes are important because they strengthen muscles that you probably haven’t used much since the last time you were out on the slopes.
After all, no one wants to call it quits after the first day of skiing because of that “everything hurts” feeling. Conditioning yourself before ski season can help you ski better, stay out longer, have more fun, and wake up the next day ready to do it all over again.
Therefore, the “prep” part of Ski Prep Classes is building up the muscle strength and flexibility you’ll need to angle, pivot, balance, and steer your way down the mountain.
More specifically, Ski Prep Classes focus on these main goals:
- Strengthening lower-body muscles that you use most when you ski (quads, glutes, hamstrings, inner and outer thighs, calves) to increase endurance
- Building up your core and muscles around your hips, which helps stabilize injury-prone areas
- Improving your mobility and balance to help you maintain better control over your skis
- Increasing your cardio so that your lungs and heart are ready to work hard, especially in short sprints
When should I start Ski Prep Classes?
You should start taking Ski Prep Classes about 6-8 weeks before you plan to ski. It will take about that long to feel physical improvements from the class.
Should I increase my cardio workouts in addition to Ski Prep Classes?
Yes. Ideally, it’s good to increase your cardio when you’re preparing for ski season, but make sure to include both aerobic and anaerobic workouts.
That’s because skiing is one of the few sports that requires both types of fitness. Aerobic fitness is the type that allows you to go long distances, similar to the endurance that long-distance runners require. Anaerobic fitness is what’s needed for short, intense bursts.
Therefore, the most effective cardio preparation for skiing is a combination of longer, sustained workouts and shorter, high-intensity sprints.
For example, after a 10-minute warmup, do:
- A 2-minute interval that gets your heart rate at 65-85% of maximum
- 2-3 minutes at an easier pace
- Repeat previous two steps, 5-6 times
- Then cool down for about 10 minutes.
You can get your heart rate up however you like — running, biking, elliptical trainers, HITT — whatever you enjoy doing, as long as you do it for 30 minutes a day, 2-3 times a week.
What exercises are good when preparing for ski season?
Ski Prep Classes will include a wide range of exercises to improve your flexibility, endurance, and strength. When you’re in Ski Prep Class, just remember to listen to your body and stop doing any exercise that causes you pain. Make sure to tell your instructor about any discomfort you experience so they can offer advice, or a modified exercise for you to try.
Class will usually begin with a warmup of 5-10 minutes of cardio, and then you’ll move on to targeted exercises, which can include any of the following and more:
- Pilates
- Yoga
- Walking lunges with rotations while holding a medicine ball
- Hip rolls
- Bridges
- Wall sits
- Sit-ups
- Push-ups
- Planks
- Bicycle crunches
- Lateral ski jumps
- TRX mountain climbers
- One-leg balances
- Steps or jump steps
- Mountain climbers
- Squats
- Lunges
- Gliders
What are the benefits of Ski Prep Classes?
The benefits of ski preparation are pretty straightforward, but are also key to helping you enjoy your favorite pastime:
- Improve coordination, agility, and flexibility
- Build strength
- Improve balance
- Increase anaerobic fitness
- Reduce the risk of injury
Prepare to Ski With AFAC
Anyone who wants to join our Ski Prep Classes at Adventure Fitness Athletic Club should contact us or stop by for a visit. You can also call Susan at 720-849-0245 or email her at susan@adventurefitness.club. Club members can register for Ski Prep Class on MINDBODY. There is a $10.00 fee for non-members.
To read more articles from Adventure Fitness Athletic Club, check out our Adventure Corner blogs by clicking here.
