11/13/26 (yes, Friday the 13th..)
It’s that time of the year. Gloomy. But the good news is (hopefully) it will be ski season and we can get out of the gloom and enjoy getting exercise in the relative brightness provided by the reflection of the (even if filtered) sun reflecting off of the snow.
For those of you who are staying fit and are all ready for skiing – Good for you! For those of you who are not ready for skiing, or perhaps, not ready for much of anything, as you have let your fitness program slide, let’s get on (or back on) it.
Depending on where you are in this full spectrum of fitness, you will obviously have different needs. If you haven’t been doing much of anything (certainly not..), just get out there and start walking, 20 – 30 minutes 3 -7x/wk no matter what. If you are beyond that, add some stairs into your walk. Push your limits a little. Additionally, some lower body strengthening wouldn’t hurt. Leg lifts, runners step ups on a stair or other platform will be helpful, say 30 reps each leg, 3x/wk.
Core? Of course this is important. Make sure that you are doing something for your abs, your back, and your “side” muscles.
Ready for more?
- Squats – start with “air” squats, 30 reps, 3-5x/wk
- Sidelying abduction (lie on your side, back and legs up against a wall, lift your straight leg up, keeping contact with the wall. 30 reps, 3 -5 x/wk (too easy? Add 5# ankle weights for put a small resistance band around your ankles)
Even more? I’ve added a link to a Ski-Mag article. Some good ideas here, though I would focus on the squats and lunges, and be very cautious about jumping lunges unless you were weeks into the program, feeling good about it, and still needed more. As always, start slowly, at first ending your workouts wishing you had done more, NOT feeling as though it was so difficult you feared going back to it again.
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