Winter Sports Exercises

Oct 08, 2015

Winter sports often demand more total body strength and conditioning because of the intensity of sport and nature of the season (like increased resistance through snow).  For example, skiing can place stress on the knees if motion is not controlled properly, and snowshoeing can be taxing on cardiovascular and muscular endurance.  Conditioning exercises for control and endurance can help avoid injury and pain.  Try incorporating the exercises below into your regular workouts, along with a routine stretching regimen.

Two-Way Lunge:

  1. Two_Way_lung_Exercises.jpgBACK LUNGE: Slide the left foot back, coming up onto the toes, and bending the front knee to get into a lunge position. Keep most of your weight on the forward leg as you return to the starting position by sliding the rear foot forward.
  2. LATERAL LUNGE: Slide the left foot out to the side and bend the front knee to get into a side-lunge position. Keep most of your weight on the bent-knee leg to return to the starting position by sliding the left foot inward.
  3. Perform 3 sets of 10 per direction per leg.
  4. Be sure to keep the bent knee directly over the foot, not falling inward nor going beyond the toes.  (Hinge at the hips, stick buttocks out, and keep abdominals drawn in.)

Use a furniture slider (if on carpet) or towel (if on hard floor) as a sliding surface underneath the sliding foot. If you do not have a sliding surface, you may simply step into and out of the lunges.

Quadruped Arm & Leg Raise:

  1. Quad_Arm_leg_Exercises.gifStart on hands and knees with hands stacked directly under shoulders and knees directly under hips.  Draw abdominals in, and push up through shoulders to lift between shoulder blades.  Find neutral spine (straight line from head to tailbone).  This is the start position.
  2. Raise left arm as close to parallel to ground as possible without losing form in step 1. Return arm to start position.
  3. Raise right leg as close to parallel to ground as possible without losing form. Use buttock muscles to lift leg without rotating hips or trunk. Return to start position.
  4. If you are able to raise both arm and leg separately without difficulty, then you can raise opposite arm and leg at the same time (see bottom picture).  Again, maintain good spinal alignment.
  5. Perform 3 sets of 10 per side.