Despite all kinds of advancements in physical training, there are still some old school ski fitness workouts that can improve your balance, agility and strength for skiing.  The following are some exercises still taught by Herman Gollner, the man who coached the U.S. Ski Team at the 1980 Lake Placid Winer Games.  He has been coaching skiiers for over 40 years, so he knows a lot about the sport!

Gollner found that old-fashioned exercise, such as gymnastics-based conditioning was as important in the 1940’s as the boards and boots he wore.  His overall ski exercise routines are still relevant today!

For these exercises, you will need the following equipment:  a plyometric box 12″ high, a jump rope, two chairs, a pullup bar, and a wooden dowel (or broomstick).

Exercise #1:  The Box Jump

This exercise features explosive movement and best simulates the energy demands of skiing and the balance you need from one turn to the next in a downhill run.

For this you need a sturdy wooden box to jump onto.  You can build your own, find one at a gym, or visit performbetter.com.  Stand in front of the box, and for one minute jump up on the box and then back down on the floor as many times as you can.  Do four (4) sets each lasting 60 seconds, resting 3 minutes between each set.  The full workout will take about 15 minutes.

Exercise #2:  Box Pastes

This is another explosive exercise to develop your eccentric and concentric strength.  Eccentric strength is most evident as g-forces, concentric strength is used to power and unload your ski as you jump.

Stand in front of a knee-high wood box with your hands on your hips.  Place your right foot on the box and your left toes on the floor.  Keep your right foot on the box and explode UP with your right leg.  In the process, your left leg will lift onto the box to meet your right foot.  Next, bend your right knee to return to the starting position with your left toes touching the floor.  Do 10 reps, and then switch sides to complete the set.  Do four (4) sets.

Exercise #3:  Lateral Obstacle Jumping

This drill helps your reactive strength.  In other words, it adds juice to your legs for bouncing through bumps, slaloming through gates, or just powering through cruddy snow.

Stretch a jump rope between the legs of two chairs four feet apart.  The rope should hang roughly two to three feet above the floor.  Simply jump side to side over the jump rope 20 times!  Do four sets of 20, working up to four sets of 40 jumps.

Exercise #4:  Pull-Ups

The classic pull-up is a great ski fitness workout.  It helps you develop shoulder muscles for planting your poles and surviving crashes.

Grab a pull-up bar with your palms facing outward.  (Remember a chin-up is when your palms are facing inward.)  Work to do four sets of 8 reps.  If you’re feeling extra masochistic, I suggest wearing a weight vest of 10 to 25 pounds.  That will really help you build your shoulder and chest muscles.

Exercise #5:  Coordination Knee Bends

This exercise give syou the strength to charge through the powder and the coordination to handle the constantly changing terrain under your boots.  They are kind of like squats, but the modification adds just a little bit more effectiveness to the workout.

Stand on a balance disc or a balance beam with your feet hip-width apart.  Grab a wooden dowel (or a broomstick, or a barbell bar) with both hands behind your neck to stabilize the upper body.  Keeping your feet flat, bend your knees to as close to 90 degrees without losing your balance.  Stand up slowly and raise your arms overhead.  Do one set of 25 reps.

As I pointed out at the beginning, these five exercises are kind of “old school”.  This simply means that they are a simple and classic ski fitness workout that builds your ability to ski well.  I consider them a good starting point for getting into shape because they do give you a little bit of work in stability training, strength training, and aerobic conditioning.

One of the most important parts of your overall fitness as a skiier is to be sure that you have a great sense of balance.  This is especially true if you are a downhill skiier.  When you think about it, you have to be really flexible and able to adapt quickly to situations while zooming downhill at over 50 miles per hour.  Every time you fly down the mountain, your brain is having a massive ski fitness workout! Your brain has to keep you balanced while taking in all the information about the steepness of the mountain, the depth of the snow, the visibility, the obstacles, and all the other factors that change with each turn you make.

There are some very simple exercises you can do at home to build your balance.  Usually, they include standing on one foot and then switching to the other foot for extended periods of time.  These are great at helping you with your sense of “static balance”.  That is to say they help you with balance that does not move from side to side, and while you’re basically standing still.

In this article, I want to focus on helping you improve your sense of “dynamic balance”.  This is your balance as you move.

One of the easiest ways to improve your sense of dynamic balance is to spend time on roller blades or “in line” roller skates as they are also known.  When you “ski” on in-line skates, you will find it to be pretty easy.  Think about it:  you don’t have to worry about 7 feet of ski attached to your feet, so turning is really easy.  Most pavement where you would go and skate is going to be smooth and predictable. Finally, you’ll be using a lot of the same motions in going from foot to foot in this ski fitness workout.

So, what kind of a skiing exercise can you do with in-line skates?  Well, start by being a little creative to do some things which give you the opportunity to improve your balance.  Set up a slalom course using rocks, traffic cones, or even your kid’s toys to make a course that you can skate like an Olympic slalom course.  Treat the obstacles as “gates” and create a course with some challenging left and right turns, wide turns, and sharp turns.  Make it fun!

Another great way to build your dynamic balance on skis is to play roller hockey.  Basically, you’re playing street hockey on rollerblades.  Roller hockey gives you lots of exercise as you sprint for the puck, quickly change direction, and quickly start and stop your forward motion.  You will get great conditioning in your reactive movements and agility.  You’ll be getting into and outof body positions you would simply never feel while going up and down hills.  Just be sure to wear all the necessary protective gear you can get your hands on!

The steeper the incline you can skate on, the better.  If you set your obstacles (gates) on a moderately steep road, you will find it to be a super ski fitness workout. I highly suggest incorporating lots of turns, especially short turns.  Also, be aggressive in your attitude while skating.  Generate some speed between the gates, aggressively going after the next upcoming turn, rather than simply waiting for the turn to come to you.

Overall, you’ll find that as you play on skates, you will increase your sense of balance and equilibrium and that will carry over to your skiing.  The emphasis should be on doing things on skates that allow you to move independent of any specific skiing technique.  And don’t worry about gaining strength or strengthening your aerobic fitness.  Just make it fun!  If you put in some real energy and enthusiasm into the games you play on skates, you’ll get a better ski fitness workout, you’ll last longer, and you’ll have more fun in the process.

And, when the snow flies and you’re up on the boards again, you’l be ready to rip!

If you’re a skiier, you’re probably like me in that you’re constantly looking for the sliver of difference that will propel you down mountains faster without tiring you out any more than normal.  I’m still pretty young (mid-20’s) right now, but I already know there isn’t any ‘best’ ski fitness workout.  I’ve found that this is because no ski exercise routine could possibly encompass all three of the core areas every skiier needs to work on.

First, you need to work on aerobic endurance.  This is less important for downhill and alpine skiing, but very important for cross country skiing.  You need to have good lung capacity that can take in oxygen quickly, and you need a strong heart to keep your blood pumping when under physical exertion. Therefore, you need to incorporate a good bit of aerobic exercise such as running, hiking, and power walking into your workout routines.

Second, you need to work on strength training.  Obviously, your legs are the most important part of your body when you are a skiier, but so is your upper body.  You’ve got to have a strong back, a well-developed abs core in addition to strong quads, hamstrings, biceps and chest muscles.  Improvements in these body areas can best be accomplished by weight training exercises using either dumbbells, free weights, or workout machines.

Finally, you need to work on balance and agility.  This is especially important for alpine skiing.  You need to be good at staying upright on your skis while avoiding obstacles, turning, and shifting your weight on a regular basis.  Balance comes with practice, and there are a lot of simple exercises you can do in the comfort of your own home.  In addition, you can spend time off-season doing cycling, roller blading, and even roller hockey.

So, as you can guess, given the three core areas of ski fitness, you can’t simply have one ski fitness workout that addresses every need.  You can have several ski exercise routines in each area that you combine into an overall workout PLAN.  On this site, I plan to share some simple strategies you can use to become a better skiier with greater stamina for the big downhill runs!