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more photosFormer pro snowboarder JD Platt, of Bend, carves fresh snow while on a run at Mt. Bachelor in 2008.
Andy Tullis / The Bulletin file photo
Snow-riding workouts
Before you take to the slopes, exercise your core muscles
By Markian Hawryluk / The Bulletin
Last modified: November 24. 2009 1:25PM PSTA quick look up to the skyline confirms that Mount Bachelor has begun its base-building process. Have you?
In just a couple short months, skiers and snowboarders will begin their annual pilgrimage to the slopes. Many will arrive out of shape after a summer of inactivity and attempt to ski their way into top form. But inevitably, some of those snowriders will lack the strength and endurance to recover from a bad position and take a nasty fall with severe consequences.
Fortunately, there's just enough time to get your body ready for the challenge. What you do over the next six to eight weeks, experts say, may determine whether you have a long and enjoyable season on the slopes.
Skiers, probably more than snowboarders, tend to get ready for the ski season by focusing on their leg muscles. After all, it's your quads that start to burn as you fight to hold a turn in the bottom half of your run. Skiers, however, could learn a trick or two from snowboarders, whose movements make it clear that it's the core muscles that make all the difference.
“In skiing and snowboarding, your feet are moving on the snow, so a stable trunk is even more important than in other activities, because it provides the stability for your arms and legs to move off of,” said Scott Weber, a physical therapist with Alpine Physical Therapy and an avid snowboarder. “The goal is a stable trunk to keep your body upright and in a good position over your skis or snowboard.”
Think of your body as a stack of boxes in the back of a pickup. (Some of us have overstuffed those boxes a little more than others, but that's a different story.) As the truck starts moving, forces from the motion of the truck are transferred to the stack of boxes. If there's nothing holding those boxes in place, the stack will fall over.
Your core muscles are like the ropes and straps used to tie down cargo in the truck. When tightened, they stabilize the stack so it doesn't topple over once things start moving.
Specifically, it's the deep abdominal, deep back and pelvic floor muscles that help stabilize the body during skiing and snowboarding. Without a strong core, skiers get a feeling of looseness, as if you're “being thrown around on the slope,” Weber said. “Where you feel like the hill is starting to control you, versus you controlling your descent.”
Training focus
It's why ski and snowboard racers spend so much of their offseason and off-slope training working on their core muscles.
“Our core works kind of like the ligaments in our knees, which hold our joints together,” said Pat Robson, an alpine skiing coach with the Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation. “But instead your core is built up of a series of muscles that create a complex blanket that ties our upper body mass to our lower body. If we do not have a strong core, especially at a competitive level, we are definitely susceptible to injury not only to our upper body but to our knees and legs as well.”
Robson said competitive skiers have always worked on core muscles. As trainers have gained an understanding of how the core muscles help skiers and boarders maintain control, the training methods have become much more sophisticated.
“Trainers and therapists at the highest levels have learned to isolate certain working parts of our core, so that we can get the most optimum performance out of our core strength,” he said. “We are not just pumping out hundreds of the classic military sit-ups anymore.”
Their training involves things like standing on large exercise balls and doing squats, starting out with something to support them and then move out to an open area.
Robson said that being able to engage the core muscles is crucial for skiers to maintain proper form, and when a skier can't stay in the right position, it's often because he or she is not engaging the core muscles.
“When we see that a kid is bending over at the waist and their skis are not able to maintain an arc all the way through the turn, we generally tell them to tighten their stomach,” he said. “So they will make that connection with their lower body and they should be able handle all of the forces with a little more ease.”
The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, which trains American athletes for international competition, now tests the core stabilization of athletes in the offseason to help identify who might need extra work on core strength to help avoid injury and improve performance.
Providing stability
Recreational skiers might not face the same forces as ski racers, but the importance of strong core muscles remains. It's what allows the legs and skis to turn from side to side, while the body remains facing down the fall line of the slope.
“We want to be able to turn and tip our legs independently of our upper bodies and it is core strength that allows us to stabilize the upper body so that the lower body can do its job,” said Robin Barnes, a member of the Professional Ski Instructors of America's National Alpine Team and a certified personal trainer. “The upper body core anchors the lower body as a force to turn against.”
Skiers who don't use their core muscles, she said, wind up having to start the turn by twisting their upper body and then their upper body follows the skis around through the turn. It's an unstable and inefficient way to ski.
Similarly, when skiers don't engage their core muscles on mogul runs, their entire body bounces up and down over every mogul. Good core strength, on the other hand, allows the skier to keep the upper body level and absorb the moguls with the up and down motion of their legs.
“A strong, stabilized core will allow the legs to work beneath the upper body to absorb the terrain and make necessary direction changes with quickness and agility versus feeling like a pin ball being bounced around in the bumps,” Barnes said.
Balance trains core
Exercises that require you to balance inherently involve the core muscles, and most ab workouts will hit the major core muscle groups. Weber recommended concentrating on core muscle endurance rather than strength.
“It's not as important to hold a really vigorous contraction,” he said. “It's to be able to sustain a contraction for a longer period of time.”
At first, you may be able to keep core muscles engaged for only a few seconds, he said. But with time, you should be able to hold those muscles tighter for longer and longer periods of time. Pair core muscle workouts with cardiovascular training, such as running or biking.
And remember to pace yourself.
“Skiing is a long season, and nothing really trains your body and your core as well as skiing does,” Weber said. “So the first few days, don't overdo it, and build up your stamina for skiing.”
He also recommends approaching your ski day like a workout, starting by warming up and ending by cooling down.
“Take your first run easy, and then take your last run easy,” he said. “And don't save your tree runs or your hard runs off the summit for the end of the day.”
Once you start skiing, a sore back might be a sign that your core strength isn't where it needs to be. But even those who have worked on their core muscles in the offseason might feel a bit of soreness after their initial days on the slopes.
“We all know that first week on snow is always a little grueling on our bodies, because it is hard to train all of the little muscles that we use in skiing, off the hill,” Robson said. “So, I wouldn't base it off your first day on snow.”
Markian Hawryluk can be reached at 541-617-7814 or mhawryluk@bendbulletin.com.
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