How to keep fit in the off-season
Several options for training skiers and snowboarders in the summer
The statement that any skill develops well when you work on it is completely banal in its obviousness. However, most alpine skiers and snowboarders who want to improve their skiing level do not think too much about the importance of maintaining their level year-round, and especially in the summer, outside the skiing season.
The entire technique of downhill skiing and snowboarding is built on the finest sense of balance. High-level athletes must have a lot of such exercises in their program. In general, any balance skill is useful and will help in learning skating technique and further improvement of this technique.
Different balancing skills are useful in different ways – the most important of them are those related to the use of centrifugal force. To do this, you have to move quickly, just like when skiing on a slope. Other balance skills are also beneficial, otherwise they would simply not be included in the training of athletes.
Although this block of exercises is called “balance”, you should not think that there is no strength work here – the actual physical load when working with them for an amateur can be not only sufficient, but also difficult.
The balance board is a fairly simple, but effective balance simulator, which consists of a cylinder and a board. At first you just learn to stand on it. Then move and do different tricks. There is also another option on this topic – when you have to balance not on an axis, but on one point. The simulator has the shape of a hemisphere, it is placed with the plane up, on which you need to maintain balance.
A good option is also slacklining (slacklining, slackline) – a flat sling stretched between two supports, for example, trees. You can do it just in the yard. In the last few years, this tool has become very popular among ski boarders. Of course, this is a more difficult to use simulator than a balance board, and the safety of its use should be treated more responsibly.
Slackline is one of those opportunities for balance training, which brings a sense of drive and gives a tangible physical load. Stability on a slackline is different from that required on a rope. It has a certain elasticity and springs, in fact, the center of gravity is in some central position, and the support on the sling is in constant motion. The sensations in the unstable balance of this central position are in some ways similar to those we have in the dynamic balance of a turn on a ski / snowboard.
The elasticity of the slackline makes it similar to a trampoline: you can swing, jump, and generally do all the same things as a trampoline, so the possibilities for improvement for those who get excited seem to be endless.
There is an opinion that slackline is an “extreme sport”. For those who need it – completely. Where it is not stretched to tickle the nerves: over reservoirs, over sinkholes, between houses. For the rest, it is more than safe. To do this, it is enough at the initial stage to pull the slings low – about 30 cm from the ground, and learn gradually, without forcing the process, preferably under supervision, and without losing your head from the first successes. For classes, you need: the actual sling, tensioning mechanism, rigging fasteners. The set can be bought in many specialized stores. You can also try to save a little and buy in parts. The most incomprehensible detail of the above is the tensioning mechanism. This is just a device for securing cargo and is sold in rigging stores. But before you try to at least get up on the slack, watch a video on YouTube, or better yet, take a few classes. This thing can be easily and painfully converted.
The best option is roller skates (for snowboarders – a skateboard, although many of them prefer roller skates). Rollers provide an excellent sense of front-back balance and relieve those who have a habit of doing so from an excessively rearward position – it is simply impossible to adopt such a position on rollers.
The special benefits of roller skates come not when you are leisurely rolling back and forth on the sidewalk, and certainly not after visiting roller schools that teach various special roller tricks (like 20 ways to roll with curled legs between the caps), but when you make movements similar to the movements of a skier on the slope, kodo you use centrifugal force in turns. If you learn how to make a “hockey turn” – very good!
As for “special ski simulators” – they are suitable only for those who ski from the level of “advanced”, or “continuing” close to “advanced”, as well as those who want to learn “skating on edges”. These simulators also help to develop a sense of balance. But their main purpose is to teach how to put the skis firmly on the edge and keep the legs parallel to maintain equal angles of the edge.
A beginner does not need skating on edges – this is speed skating. On the contrary, the beginner needs to strongly limit the speed of movement by side slipping of the skis. This corresponds to a very small edge angle and is called “flat handling” of the skis in the turn. Edging and flat skiing are two complementary techniques, two alternative ways of turning. The techniques of their execution are significantly different, a different body position is required from the skier. To move from one method to another, explanations and exercises are necessary. Trying to mix them will result in poor performance of both. At the initial stage, these simulators are NOT recommended.
What’s more, edging is basically not relevant for a large part of amateurs. But if you want to ride fast – prepare your whole body for this in advance with physical exercises.
The second point related to the use of “ski simulators” concerns safety. The exercise machine gets you used to a fairly wide leg position (shoulder width apart). This position of the legs is more dangerous for a beginner, since the most common and serious injury on skiing is a knee joint injury. Such an injury occurs mainly when twisting. Twisting is easily achieved only with feet wide: each ski tends to follow its own trajectory, and certain skills are required to keep them on a single line. And these injuries are practically impossible with compressed legs: in this case, both legs will work synchronously, and the worst thing that can happen to beginners is a fall, and we learn to fall safely the first time we go up the slope.