Snow skiing & snowboard season
is officially upon us! It’s time to tune
and sharpen your boards as well as your fitness, if you want maximize your
potential for fun while minimizing your risk for injury. Make no mistake: downhill alpine riding is
very high-intensity and very demanding physically, and will test every measure
of your fitness. Trust me, you don’t want
to roll up to the slopes on day one of the season totally out of shape and
collapse into oxygen debt just getting all your gear on, suffer from low-back
spasms on the morning of day two, or worse yet, rupture a knee ligament on your
“last run” of the day. So take
precaution and action now! Pay your dues
in these next few weeks leading up to your first trip to the slopes and not
only will you avoid injury but you’ll actually be fit enough to enjoy riding
the mountain, instead of just suffering through a half day on the slopes, just
to make it to the lodge and start downing beers by lunch. Fellas we indeed have to earn that post-ski
beer and it will taste so much better!
And even if you are in good shape right now with a respectable fitness
level, it still will make your mountain experience more rewarding if you add
some sport-specific exercises into your routine that mimic the movements and
intensity level of riding the bumps, carving the groomers, or hucking your
favorite cliff.
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| This article was originally written by me and published in the NOV '13 issue of Four EL magazine |
Downhill skiing and snowboarding are very high-intensity activities,
inherently performed in interval-style, anaerobic, eccentric-contraction, lactic-acid-producing,
near-maximum-effort bouts, immediately followed by stagnant, chilling lift-line
waits and chairlift rides back up, usually in a cold, high-altitude climate. By the time you unload from the chair-lift
you could already be stiffening up and chilled to the core. So much for keeping your muscles and ligaments
warm and pliable! Dressing appropriately
for the extreme range of motion and climate conditions goes without saying, and
although it is beyond the scope of this article, your apparel and gear choices
can make or break your day on the slopes in a matter of minutes. You can never really be too prepared, even riding
inside the patrolled, groomed boundary lines.
Everyone intends to ride terrain that suits their own ability but, it’s
still a very dynamic sport that most of us rarely do, in challenging outdoor terrain
and in shifting weather conditions that we’re not often exposed too. And let’s face it, most of the time we end up
riding with a group of friends of mixed abilities and mixed egos. You just might happen to be the weak link,
pushed to ride beyond your ability by your hooligan mates! While we cannot completely physiologically prepare
for the elevation change until we actually relocate to the mountains, there is
plenty we can do to prepare the rest of our fitness.
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| Max, on top of Mammoth Mountain, during the summer - still some snow left! |
As you may have already deduced
from the preceding paragraph, the best way to prepare for downhill alpine
riding is by applying a High-Intensity Interval Training
strategy, known simply as HIIT for
short. HIIT style training targets both anaerobic
(lactic-acid producing) cardio and strength fitness, possesses high exercise value (greater fitness stress in shorter
period of time), and conveniently can be done almost anywhere there is a hill,
stair case, treadmill or spin-bike, using only your own bodyweight, so it is
very practical. HIIT style workouts
typically last only 30 to 40 minutes, including a 10 minute warm-up and 10
minute cool-down, and are performed in a 1:3 interval ratio, of 1 minute of
maximum-effort working interval immediately followed by 3 minutes of resting
interval, repeated for 20 minutes. Key
word being, ‘maximum-effort’, which means
during the working-interval you’re pushing yourself predominantly into the anaerobic
energy system, huff and puff, oxygen-debt, lactic-acid burning zone, all the
way to near-failure! You can motivate to
reach this intensity level knowing you only have to maintain it for 1 minute,
before getting to rest for 3 minutes.
Think about how long your typical bout of downhill riding lasts before
you either pause on the run to collect your buddies, hit lactic-acid accumulation
(i.e. quad-burning) failure, or reach the bottom of the slope – this is
typically about one minute of skiing.
This type of HIIT training also does wonders for your general fitness
level too, not to mention post-workout, metabolism-boosting fat-burning
potential, but I won’t get into that here.
Just know with HIIT style training, (good) pain on the working-interval
does equal big gains, yielding high exercise value and over time you will raise
your lactate-threshold, improving
your anaerobic stamina. The working
interval is typically accomplished by running up a hill or staircase, or
sprinting a lap around the track, or sprinting uphill on a bike. The resting interval is accomplished simply
by walking back down the same hill or staircase, ideally while wearing a heart
rate monitor to realistically know where you stand in your recovery, and to
validate your exertion perception. This
HIIT workout should ideally be performed 2 to 3 days per week, spaced out
respectively evenly between your other workouts.
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| Zac Titus Hemlock bowl, Mammoth Mountain, CA |
On your other training days you
will ideally add in a day of, lower-body/legs’ strength training to include
alternating lunges, squats and stiff-legged deadlifts. These exercises are going to strengthen the
muscles surrounding your knee joints, building rock solid joint integrity, and
boost your overall leg strength to meet the physical demands of downhill riding
and alpine-terrain negotiation. Perform
them using a weight that allows at least 15 repetitions and perform 3 sets
each, even if this means using only your own body weight. Good form is paramount above all else, so
save your ego for the mountain.
Seriously - getting injured in the controlled, training environment of
the gym is not only lame, it is stupid.
These aforementioned exercises are also going to strengthen your glutes,
lower-back muscles and core, which are absolutely critical in allowing you to
withstand the downward sloping impacts and repeated eccentric contractions of
absorbing moguls, terrain obstacles, checking off too much speed in the steeps,
and the high G-force loading experienced during power carving.
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| Donna Wettstein & Zac Titus are claiming it!...don't follow them! |
On your remaining three days of the
week, I recommend incorporating one day of plyometric, callisthenic and agility
style training, to include movements like box-jumps, broad-jumps, high-knee
skips, trampoline work, agility ladder or cone patterns, and burpees. On another day, I recommend a longer, slower,
endurance type of jog, hike or bike ride, to also work on your aerobic fitness,
which will help you acclimate more quickly to the elevation by producing more
red blood cells, and if you decide to hike for some untracked fresh snow,
you’ll be relying on your aerobic capacity to get you there. On your last day of the week you have an
optional rest-day, a free-sport day, or, if you happen to also still care about
your upper body fitness and physique you should use this final day to
strength-train your upper body. On your
free-sport day, you could think about adding in some roller-blading if you’re a
skier and some skateboarding if you’re a boarder to mimic the same movements on
flat-land. Seriously, there is a big
cross-over benefit.
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| My wife Donna, Upper Dry Creek, Mammoth Mountain, CA |
Though we can’t actually prevent
altitude sickness, and while some of us will inherently be more susceptible to
experiencing it than others through no fault of our own, heading up the hill
already fit and healthy, will highly decrease your risk. Remember also that dehydration is more common
at elevation, especially when you’re first acclimating and that alcohol and
caffeine will tend to compound this issue since they are diuretics. Dehydration will increase risk and severity
of altitude sickness symptoms. Also,
rarely does anyone sleep soundly during their first few nights up in elevation,
which can also add to the risk of altitude sickness. Ingesting 200 mg of NSAID Ibuprofen or the
like, before going to bed may help prevent or minimize altitude sickness or the
symptoms according to some mountain guides & ski-patrol. Drinking extra water is essential too! Time permitting, some light stretching and/or
foam-rolling is highly recommended in the morning before your first run. Consider wearing some wicking-type,
compression-wear as your first-layer to enhance performance. Even applying a hot-pack to your lower-back
could help get the circulation going.
And if possible choose a run that is mellower for you for that first run
of the day and give your back, knees and core a chance to loosen up and warm
up! By the time you take two chair-lifts
to get to the top, you will certainly be on the cold side making you more prone
to injury. Recognize your fatigue too,
and call it day before you think you’ve hit your limit! Chances are most of your buddies will already
be in the lodge with a beer waiting for you!
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| Max following the fall-line, under Chair 22, Mammoth Mountain, CA |
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