Staying in Shape

     The following is a fictitious conversation with a student and is borrowed from Lesson #7 Your Summer Conditioning Program of our introductory e-course entitled The Road to Expert Skiing.

A Conversation with a Student

    Yes, continuity during the summer months is important! I can here you now, "But Jim, it's time to relax and take the summer off. Don't be such a slave driver!" Well, I'm human and I agree with you, but only partially. Let me explain.

    You've gone through a preseason conditioning program, skied 25 days, piled up lots of mileage, built up your leg strength and endurance, took your mogul skiing to the next level, and met your goal for the ski season. Is it time to rest on your laurels? No, not quite.

    Now I bet your thinking to yourself, "Aaah Jim, I know where you're going with this. School's out for the summer." I won't preach, but I do want to make some final suggestions.

Summer Conditioning Programs

    It is important to continue your conditioning program during the summer months. You're probably saying to yourself, "But Jim, I'm not training to be an Olympic athlete! And besides, I cycle and play baseball all summer."

    I agree, but it has been my experience that the closer your summer fitness program is geared to maintaining the muscles you use in skiing, the faster you can ramp up in the autumn because your skiing muscles have not been left idle for eight months.

    In addition, the proper summer program will serve to augment your skiing fitness program in the fall and make you even stronger for the next ski season.

    "Ok, I hear you now. But I hope you aren't suggesting that I should do the same ski specific exercises that I did last fall all summer long." Well, you could! But that may be too much too soon. It's probably better to save them for next fall.

    However, I would recommend that you incorporate the ski specific stretches that you learned into your summer program. In addition, you will need a strength element in your program that emulates skiing movements and a cardiovascular element for endurance.

Time to Reflect and Assess

    The details are covered in the final lesson of the Skills of the Expert Skier. Lesson #16 dubbed, Reflect and Assess, discusses the connection between inline skating and downhill skiing, and also includes a number of recommendations about other strength and cardiovascular elements that could be added to form a complete summer conditioning program.

End ot the Tour

    Thanks for taking the tour! We hope you've learned a lot about expert skiing and what it takes to reach this level.

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