Imagine soaring through a picturesque scene of fresh powder, breathing crisp winter air, and viewing an endless blue sky from one of the worlds peaks. There’s a thrilling adrenaline rush that fills your body when tackling earths beauty along with performing your skills. This is a familiar feeling to anyone who has strapped on a pair of boots at the top of a mountain.
Snowboarding, skiing, and skating are winters most popular and physically demanding sports. These sports take a great deal of leg strength, core power, balance, and speed development along with technical performance skills to maneuver the body in all ranges of motion. There’s no question of the importance of developing powerful skills to perform at best.
POWER ON POWDER
Executing sharp edge turns, landing an air-born flight, or coming to a halt to avoid an obstacle are learned skills that develop with practice. Falling and recovering is another aspect that is unavoidable, but to get back up on your feet and continue with grace is a trained skill that occurs from performing specific drills that condition your body in every way.
These sports all require power, control, coordination, and balance abilities to perform at optimal levels. A well-rounded training program will condition and prepare your body for every scenario. It’s the balance of skills that make an ultimate athlete.
Developing power of your mind, your body, and your soul will give you the competitive edge to power through the powder this winter!
ATHLETIC POWER TRAINING
Let the excitement of winter sports motivate you to take your training to a higher level of performance. I’ve created a second set of drills and exercises that focus on conditioning functional core strength, speed, and power production. This workout also focuses on wrist strength and recovery drills so the body is more agile when falling for injury prevention.
These exercises and drills are good for all winter sports especially snowboarding, skiing, and skating, and can cross over into all season sports as well.
- Follow the recommended instructions for each set of drills and exercises.
- Adjust the incline accordingly to accommodate your strength and fitness goals.
- Challenge yourself when your skills improve by adjusting the incline, increasing the timed sets, increase reps, or include other drills.
DYNAMIC WARM-UP:
Benefits: Prepares muscles in different ranges of motion for the workout ahead.
- 10 Reps / exercise, 2 Sets (5-8 min)
- Lateral Hops
- Lunge Drops
- Toe Touch Down
- 2 Spider Push-Ups, Sky Diver
SPEED DRILLS:
Benefits: Develops lateral speed and agility.
- Perform each drill for 30-45 seconds, 2-3 Sets
- Vary the time and sets to challenge your athletic goals
No accessories needed
- Crossover Repeaters
- Low Skater Repeaters
- Groin Slides
PLYO POWER:
Benefits: Improves explosive strength and power development.
- 10 Reps / exercise, 2-3 Sets
OR
- 20- 30 seconds / exercise, 2-3 Sets
Attach pull-up bar
- Power Pull-Ups
Attach shoulder press bars
- Explosive Shoulder Press
Attach squat stand
- Single Leg Directional Jumps
CORE POWER & REACTIVE SPEED:
Benefits: develops functional core power, dynamic strength, and agility production for preventing injury (falls & recovery).
- 10 Reps / exercise, 2-3 Sets
No accessories needed
- Decline Plank Hop Overs
- Swivel Burpie V-Sit
POST WORKOUT STRETCH
End you training with a series of stretches that lengthen the muscles worked, reduce soreness, prevent injury, and prepare them for your next workout.
Foam rolling is also an effective method to release tension in the muscles and will prevent soreness from occurring. Refer to this foam rolling video to learn proper techniques: https://blog.totalgymdirect.com/foam-rolling-self-myofascial-release-techniques
LINKS TO IMPROVED ATHLETIC PERFORMACE
- Yoga is another great option to balance your routine. Refer to this blog/ video post to learn a yoga sequence on your Total Gym: https://blog.totalgymdirect.com/yoga-poses-that-burn-the-most-calories
- Here’s another great blog to refer to for many tips for staying injury free during the winter season: https://blog.totalgymdirect.com/tips-for-staying-injury-free-during-the-winter-season
Be sure to watch the video to see how these speed drills and power exercises are performed on your Total Gym.
Sports can be rough on your muscles and joints, but if you condition your body efficiently, your muscles will work in a harmonic team together. Embrace your skills and train hard so that you can perform your sports at a higher level.
Best,
Maria
