Ski & Snowboard season is almost here, will you be ready?

In Colorado you can get on the slopes as early as November but the best skiing and riding is enjoyed in January thru March. If you haven't begun conditioning for the season you need to start now, the muscles used for these activities have been relatively dormant since last season. These are demanding activities, and if you haven't conditioned your body accordingly, you will tire quicker, become sore more easily, and increase your risk for injury.

Our focus will be on increasing strength, endurance, flexibility, balance, aerobic and anaerobic training.

Strength: The stronger your body is the more control you will have which will decrease your chance for injury.

Endurance: The more endurance you have, the longer you will have control over your body. This will increase your time on the slopes and decrease your chance of injury.

Flexibility: Increased flexibility increase the available range of each joint and increases the amount of force that particular muscle can produce. Thus decreasing your likelyhood for injury. Knowing what muscles to stretch, how long to stretch them, how hard to stretch them and when to stretch them will make a huge difference in post exercise muscle pain and muscle recovery. It will also determine how soon you will be able to return to the same activity safely.

Balance: Balance is nothing more than training your nervous system to fire the correct muscles at the right time. These can be the small intricate musles of the feet to large muscles of the hip. All are crucial for control and play an important roll in injury prevention.

Aerobic Training: Everyone can benefit from aerobic training regardless of the activity we plan on participating in. The mere fact that you will be ascending to altitudes above 12,000 feet is a good reason to work on increasing your aerobic capacity. Your body will have an increased demand for oxygen to be pumped through the system because of the work being performed. The air being "thinner" (less oxygen concentration) means that the heart has to pump a greater volume of blood to deliver the same amount of oxygen to the musles. Aerobic exercise is an exercise for the heart muscle.

Anaerobic Training: What's this?? Skiing and snowboarding are anaerobic activities, which means that they require short, intense bursts of energy interspersed with rest periods. Think of gymnastics compared to cross country running. How long can your muscles tolerate maintaining a strong contraction before you start to feel the burn and fatigue of that muscle? Try performing a wall squat and maintaining that position for 2 minutes. This will give you an idea of your anaerobic capacity for those muscles. Certain types of training activities will increase your ability maintain a semi squat position that is required for skiing and snowboarding. This will allow you to make it from the top of the mountain to the bottom without having to stop to rest. This will also help decrease your likelyhood of injury.

Classes will run Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 9:00 a.m. Our first class will be Monday December 20th. Please call to reserve your spot in the class. Class size will be limited to 20.