Three Exercises to Get Ready For The Ski Season
Fortunately it looks like the ski hills are set to open for the 2020/2021 ski season! I wanted to pass on a few exercises to make sure some important muscle groups are ready to work and support you the best they can. These exercises are gentle and effective. Regardless of your activity level these are easy to start and can be made progressively harder by adding more sets, repetitions, and weight.
Disclaimer: With this said, it is important that you check with your Physiotherapist and Family doctor to make sure these exercises are safe for you.
Additionally, if you are currently injury free and clear to exercise, please do not complete any exercise if it causes pain or discomfort.
First we are going to get our core muscles fired up.
To do this I want to introduce planks. Sounds easy right? With proper form this exercise becomes more challenging, and for the more experienced weighted plates can be added to increase the level of difficulty.
To set up, come down onto your forearms and extend both legs behind you. It is important that your neck stay in line with your spine, your core muscles are turned on ie. tight tummy, your hips are neither sagging nor too high but in a straight line with your spine, and for your lower body, think about trying to touch your heels to the wall behind you and squeeze those glutes tight. This will ensure your body stays in a strong plank position.
If you are new to planks try to hold for 10-15 seconds at a time for 3 sets. Give yourself a minute or two to rest between each set. As your body adapts and becomes stronger, this time frame will become easier, your goal will be to try and hold this up to 60 seconds.
For the more experienced, placing or having a friend place a 10kg, 15kg, or 20kg plate on your back while you complete a plank hold will increase the level of difficulty. Start out light to see how your body feels with an increased load and continue from there. You should only think about adding weight if it is easy for you to maintain the plank position for 90 seconds x 3 sets.
Next, our big glute muscles. It is important to keep this large muscle group of our posterior chain working and strong. Posterior chain is a term used to refer to the muscles located on the posterior aspect of our body.
I want to pass on an isolated glute exercise, meaning an exercise that targets the gluteus maximus muscle group on it’s own, as opposed to targeting it in a compound movement ie. squat, where there are a number of other muscle groups working together through the movement. This exercise is gentle and a good place to start if strengthening and conditioning training is new to you.
You are going to lie on the floor on your stomach. You are then going to bend your right knee to approximately 90 degrees. Once your knee is in the 90 degree position think about squeezing your right glute in order to lift your knee off the floor up to 3” inches. Then gently lower. If you are new to training, start with 10 repetitions x 2 sets on each side (Left and then Right), each evening before bed. This will make sure that once you are done the exercises these muscles can rest and heal while you do during sleep.
For the more experienced, 15 repetitions x 3 sets x 2/day (Left and then Right) will make sure these guys are getting stronger.
Lastly, our feet! These guys support us all day whether in ski boots, at work, or walking around the city. The importance of strong feet can not be over emphasized.
What we will be working on today are two forms of the same exercise. One is an isometric exercise, meaning it is very gentle and a second that involves using a band, but tougher.
The muscle we are going after is called your tibialis posterior or tib. Post. for short. This muscle and it’s tendinous attachment directly support the medial arches of your feet. To set up this exercise. Start by sitting on the floor, stretch the Right leg out in front of you.
Make sure you point the toe, like a ballerina, of the Right foot.
For extra support, bring the Left leg up and over the straight leg, so the inside of this foot is touching the outside of the knee of the straight leg. This will ensure you are not having larger muscle groups jump in.
Now gently push the inside of your Right foot against the door frame and hold for a count of 6 seconds. Rest then repeat another 4 reps. Then complete the same set up for the Left foot.
If you did not get any cramping or discomfort with the exercise above give this exercise with a gentle thera-band a try.
With the same set up gently wrap the thera-band around the ball of the Right foot. Anchor the ends of the band to a stationary object; bannister, bottom of the couch, bottom of the kitchen table. With your toes pointed and moving only through the ankle joint, pull your foot towards midline against the resistance of the band.
Test out completing 1x20 reps x1/day before bed. Consistently keeping your feet strong can help prevent ailments like shin splints, achilles tendonitis, and plantar fascitis.
Good luck on the slopes! If you have any questions, please feel free to send us an email.