Jump-Start Your Ski Season With Circuit Training

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Education > Articles > Ski Circuit Training

Jump-Start Your Ski Season With Circuit Training
Courtenay Schurman, MS, CSCS 9/8/03
Adapted from an article originally created for NSCA’s Sports Performance Journal, Feb. 2003

With a month or two to train before ski season, what’s the best way to prepare effectively? Here is a sample two-month training program that incorporates those conditioning characteristics necessary to enjoy your ski season, including: 1) muscular strength with emphasis on the hips, lower back and legs; 2) muscular endurance for the whole body specific to downhill skiing; 3) general cardiovascular aerobic and anaerobic endurance, especially important for higher-altitude ski areas; 4) balance, agility and coordination; 5) core strength and control; and 6) muscular power and speed for those of you who enjoy moguls or jumps. This program includes three parts: a strength circuit, interval workouts, and a strength endurance workout. The circuit exercises are ones that you can perform at home, at a hotel, or just about anywhere else you may find yourself with limited access to training equipment. If you have do not have access to a ski conditioning class, this program will replace it quite nicely.

Getting Started

To participate successfully in this program, it is best to have a solid foundation of fitness that includes three weekly workouts of anywhere from 30-45 minutes of cardiovascular exercise, in the form of biking, walking, jogging, jumping rope, elliptical machine, rowing, or even climbing stairs. Why endurance for a non-aerobic activity such as skiing? An endurance base provides you with a solid foundation for the circuit, intervals, and leg strength endurance workouts suggested in this program to help you ski harder, faster, and injury-free. It also helps you more effectively recover between challenging ski runs. Without an aerobic base, your legs will fatigue after a few ski runs and you will need to take more frequent breaks, especially if you ski above 8,000 feet, where you’ll feel the lack of available oxygen as the atmospheric pressure decreases. Fit skiers are more alert on the slopes, make quicker decisions, experience fewer accidents, and can focus on perfecting ski skills without worrying about catching their breath. If you experience any sort of knee, hip, ankle, or lower back pain prior to training, consult with your doctor or sports medicine physician. Plan on spending a good month simply preparing your body for the more rigorous training you’ll be doing in month 2.

Ski Conditioning Circuit

The first component you’ll add in month two, circuit training, enhances the energy systems that are required on ski runs lasting several intense minutes, during which time your thighs, hips, back and calves have to work hard to keep you upright on the slope as you whip past trees, people, or moguls at breakneck speeds. Circuit training will increase your leg strength, strength endurance, overall anaerobic capacity, and power to various degrees during both halves of this program. Pay close attention to your form as you do each exercise the first week, so that you can more confidently increase the intensity, power, and speed of the repetitions during subsequent workouts.

Include a preparatory warm-up prior to beginning this ski conditioning circuit, involving jumping rope, walking on a treadmill or riding a bike for a few minutes, or starting with some gentle bodyweight lunges, squats, and torso twists. Gradually increase the range of motion in the hips, ankles, knees, and shoulders, to raise the core body temperature and increase blood flow to the working muscles. In weeks 3-5, perform 1-2 sets of each exercise, using controlled, deliberate movements and working for 30 seconds at each station, with 30 seconds of rest between each exercise. Work with a clock or stopwatch so you can move to a new station each minute. In weeks 6-8, add the dynamic portion (suggested for each exercise) and complete 3-4 sets of each for 45 seconds of work, 15 seconds of recovery. Complete the whole circuit, and then repeat from the start for the desired number of sets.

1. Tuck / Wall Sit

To increase quadriceps endurance, crouch in your downhill tuck with feet a few inches apart, arms by your sides, and head forward as though you’re looking downhill. In weeks 3-5, you might try it against a wall (the Wall Sit); in weeks 6-8, to increase the difficulty, try 1) alternately lifting one heel at a time to have the other leg assume most of the bodyweight, as you’d experience when carving turns in the slopes; 2) drop lower into the tuck; or 3) add dumbbells in each hand or a backpack to your back.

2. Squat Thrust Pushup Jump

To develop strength and power in the thighs, hips, core, and upper body, start by standing erect. Squat down to the floor and place your hands outside and forward of your feet. In weeks 3-5, step your feet, one at a time, behind you into a pushup position; in weeks 6-8, thrust your legs back in one smooth move, keeping abs tight and back flat. Lower chest to the floor and pushup again to plank position, then step or hop your feet to your hands. In weeks 3-5, stand back up and repeat; in weeks 6-8, jump into the air from the crouch as high as you can, landing softly and repeating for the desired time interval.

3. Elevated Heels Squats

To strengthen the quadriceps in the ski-boot position, stand with your heels a foot apart on two thin books, boards, or on 10# weight plates. Your weight will be shifted forward onto the balls of your feet. Inhale as you lower to the bottom ski crouch position and exhale as you lift back up to vertical. Keep your chest lifted, eyes straight forward, weight in the heels, and back flat but NOT VERTICAL—you should be leaning forward a bit in the torso, but not to the point where your back starts to round. Imagine sitting back into a chair behind you; this should help you to shift the hips backward first; then bend at the knees. In weeks 3-5, master the form and increase your range of motion; in weeks 6-8, add dumbbells, a barbell, or a pack.

4. Lateral Hops

To develop power in the hips and increase your awareness of your center of gravity, stand sideways to a crack, rolled up towel or sweatshirt placed on the floor. Hop side-to-side over the obstacle. In week 3-4, side step over it in a low crouch (step across right, bring the left foot to meet the right, then step across left, bring right foot to meet left, repeat). In weeks 5-8, keep both feet close together, just as you would while wearing your boots. Minimize the ground contact time, exploding back upwards as soon as you land.

5. Off-set Squats

To develop strength in one leg and hip at a time, stand sideways to a low (4-8”) step or stair and place one foot on top. Hands can be in front of you to counter balance, on your hips, or beside you in your ski stance. Keep the bottom foot slightly behind the upper leg, and focus the effort on the top, or uphill, leg. Inhale as you lower, exhale as you lift. In weeks 6-8, hop up and over the bench or add a backpack or dumbbells. Perform it twice per circuit set (i.e. a 3 set circuit means you’ll do this exercise 3 times with left leg up, 3 with right leg up, or 6 total).

6. Triceps Dips

To develop poling strength in the shoulders and triceps, position yourself on the edge of a firm chair, bathtub, or step, hands just outside of your thighs and fingers pointing straight forward. Elbows should point back behind you, not to the sides. Squeeze your shoulder blades together to prevent forward rounding and lower your body until your arms form a right angle. Exhale and press up. In weeks 3-5, keep your butt close to the bench and feet flat on the floor. In weeks 6-8, move your feet farther away, straighten your legs, place feet on a bench, or add weight to your lap.

7. Good Mornings

To increase your lower back endurance, stand with feet a foot apart and a dictionary, weight, or medicine ball held at your chest. Inhale and bend forward at the hips with back flat and knees slightly bent, and lower chest toward thighs until you feel a good stretch in the hamstrings. Exhale as you straighten back up. Avoid excessively rounding the lower back. In weeks 6-8, increase the weight or range of motion of forward bend for added challenge.

8. Plank Reaches

To develop strength in the abdominals, lower back, triceps, shoulders, chest, and hips, begin in pushup position with hips slightly elevated, abdominals tight to support the spine, feet fairly wide and hands close together. Keep hips absolutely stationary as you subtly shift your bodyweight onto one hand as you raise one arm out to the side. Replace it on the floor and raise the other arm. Nothing should move in the trunk region except the arm. In weeks 6-8, bring the feet closer together and hands wider apart.

Piriformis Stretch

After completing your circuit, get some water and keep moving gently for a few minutes, then complete your favorite lower body stretches, including this one for your hips. To get into position, squat down in a sprint stance, right leg extended. Bring the left foot underneath your body and lower the front of your right hip directly onto the left heel. Shift your left hip onto the floor, and lower your chest to the left thigh. Reach fingers forward and hold for 30 seconds. Repeat to the other side.

Cardiovascular Workouts

Add the second component of the program, intervals workouts, to weeks 4-8. Choose any aerobic activity you enjoy, preferably one that requires that you load the spine as you would do in skiing, i.e. jogging/sprinting, walking/speedwalking, jumping rope at varying speeds, elliptical machine forward/backward, stair climbing/descending, biking/hill climbing, or rowing sprints, listed in order from most to least similar to your chosen activity. Your “short” intervals workouts will help increase your tolerance for shorter, steeper, more intense portions of ski runs, while the “long” intervals workouts will help build anaerobic endurance for repeated efforts down medium intensity ski runs. During interval training, your heart rate will probably differ 20-30 beats between high intensity effort and recovery. The final component of the program will be a weight-loaded leg strength endurance workout that might be a hike, snowshoe, cross-country ski outing, or simply hoist a 15-20 pound backpack onto your back for a brisk walk around your neighborhood.

Weekly Schedule

Include the circuit at least twice a week, keeping 48 hours between efforts, with one or two intervals workouts and one leg endurance workout on non-circuit days. Your schedule might look like this:

Days 1 / 4: warm-up 5 minutes; 20-40 minute circuit workout; cool down 5 minutes; stretches
Day 2: warm-up 5 minutes; 20 minutes “short” intervals workout, repeating 20x(15 seconds of high intensity “sprinting;” 30-45 seconds low intensity “recovery”).
Day 5: warm-up 5 minutes; 20 minutes “long” intervals workout, repeating 10x(45 seconds of medium-high intensity sprinting; 45-60 seconds recovery);
Day 6: 45-75 minutes low-intensity leg strength endurance workout (in snow conditions whenever possible); consider taking a lesson to increase your ski technique before your trip.
Days 3 / 7: off / recovery

To stay in ski shape for next year, include in your regular workout program at least one intervals day and one circuit each week throughout the year, and you’ll be ready to jump right back into ski training without a second thought about catching your breath!