Snow sports have been a huge trend lately here in Cyprus. Despite for Cyprus being known for mostly having sunshine, we do have quite a lot of snow and we really enjoy skiing and snowboarding!
Doing snow sports requires people to be in good physical shape in order to enjoy and practice safely. However. the altitude and lower levels of O2 make it a little more difficult to do so.
Here are some tips on what you can include in your workout regime to achieve best possible physical condition for snow sports.
1: Endurance training is very essential for this as it will help you ski and snowboard longer. Running, swimming and hiking (at higher altitude) 3-4 times per week for 30-45 mins, will improve your fitness level.
2: Strength training is also essential to all of this because it will help you keep your muscles strong and give you the required endurance to last longer especially for the longer slopes or back-country! Some exercises you can do for improving your strength are:
- Squats
- Squat jumps
- Isometric wall squats (1 min)
- Lunges
You can do 5 rounds of these of 10 reps each back to back.
3: Core training is as important as all the above! In most snow sports, the core is being used extensively for balance and turning. When training the core, is important to target all the core muscles.
A great workout targeting all the core muscles is:
- Bosu ball crunches (upper abs)
- Leg raises (lower abs)
- Plank (targets all core)
- Floor twists (can use light med ball)
Do 4-5 rounds of 30secs each exercise.
1 min break between exercises
Finally, balance and flexibility exercises are equally important as all the above, especially for the most advanced snow sports.
A brief routine is:
1: Bosu ball standing on one leg 10-30 secs each leg
2: Stand on one leg with your eyes close for 30 secs. Starts gradually from 10 secs.
3: More advanced fans can use a balance board if available or inverted Bosu ball. Stand or squat on it for 30-60 secs.
4: Groin, quads and hamstring stretches are very important for snow sport fans!
Rules to live by when stretching:
➡Always stretch after warm-up and post training!
➡Stretch for 15-30 secs and always static stretch (no ballistic stretching)
➡Stretching should have some pain (7 from a scale 1-10)
Keep Fit and Healthy
Andreas Nearchou
B.A. M.Sc kinesiology
Instagram➡ iamtheshaper
