Re-post! Injury-prevention strength for XC skiing!

A few years back, we had Twila from Pure Fitness show us some really good strength exercises to make our bodies very resilient.   

It's best to add these exercises into your regime gradually -- they don't seem like much when you first do them, but then the next day, you realize they strengthen all of your muscles that are very weak!!

Do a few light reps of these your first time and see how your body feels the next day before building up to more reps.

After 4 or 5 weeks (of doing these twice a week), you could build up to 6 to 10 reps of each exercise.

Again, be really gradual as you add these in.   

I have been doing these exercise once or twice every week for 9 years and it's really allowed me to be quite injury-free over that time.  But I always do a good warm-up and never push myself very hard with them -- just a modest workout that helps balance my body with everything else I do.

The beginning of the Season…

So maybe you’ve been going to dryland training regularly and feel pretty good about your beginning of the season fitness.   Or maybe you do your own dryland training and have good overall fitness.   You could be a runner or lift weights or any number of things that can help prepare for “on snow” training…

But now it’s the beginning of the season.   So, you head out and rattle off a decent ski.  Next day you feel a little stiff and can tell that you did something new.   By later that day you start to wonder if you perhaps went a bit too hard… and shortly after that you begin to realize that “OH MY WORD I CANNOT MOVE MY LEGS!!!”  because it hurts.   Like a thousand drills are boring through your muscles.   It hurts as if your blood is boiling inside your veins.   It hurts so much that you do that stiff legged “don’t bend your knees because you can’t” strut but you can’t bend at the hip or waist either so you thrust each leg forward as if it’s made from a 2x4 and there is no possible way you could climb stairs; you’re not even sure you can sit down.  

Yeah, that hurts.  But it doesn’t have to…

Everyone has their own plan to get going each season.  I’ll tell you what I do and if it works for you then fantastic, feel free to copy it.   I know it works because I do it every year and have none of the “my muscles are lava” pain…

My first ski is for about 15-20 minutes.   About 3 km…Short, easy pace.  Often without poles to get my technique back.  Within 3 days I will ski for about half an hour.   Maybe a 5-k loop with a little bit of double poling.   Within 3 days of that I will be out for an 8 to 10 k excursion and I’ll start to push the cardio for a few minutes at a time.   About 3 to 5 days after that I’m expecting I’ll be able to do 15 kms at a decent pace and from that point on I feel I am ready for the season.  Scale this up or down to your normal amount of skiing…It is as simple as this.

And if you do go too hard the first time out and end up in accidental unplanned semi traction because your muscles are punishing your silliness believe it or not the best thing to do is go skiing again.   Getting some blood pumping through those anger muscles will flush out the waste products that are causing the pain.   Ski for about 1/3 the time you did the first time and by the next day you will feel noticeably less sore.

Do note that I have no formal training as a physical trainer.  These suggestions are what I have found to work for me over my 40 years as a skier and should be taken as suggestions only.

Basic Training

Several club members have been asking about basic training plans to get ready for ski season.  Before jumping into more detail, there are a couple of important principles that training should follow if you want good results:

1) Consistency
   Most people jump into a training plan, but then "fall off the wagon" after a short while.  You need to find a program that works for you so that you can keep it up regularly each week.  And by regularly, I mean at least twice a week.  For example, if you want to be a better skier, you should be skiing at least twice per week.  Any less than this, skiing is just too much of a shock to your body and you end up hurting rather than helping yourself.

   One way to keep up consistent training is to have a fun group of people to train with (for example, Downtown Nordic!).  In fact, this idea was part of the genesis of DN -- a few of us wanted a group of people that could push each other to get out training regularly. 

2) Progression
   For people that don't have problems with consistent training, they often have problems with progressive training.  Progressive training means gradually (and I repeat, gradually) increasing duration, intensity, terrain difficulty, of some mix of the three.  If you do the same set of workouts for longer than about 6 weeks, you will start to plateau and make no new improvement.  However, with a gradually progressive training plan, you can improve dramatically. 

   One example of progressive training was when I wanted to improve the length of time I could hold a plank.  I was stuggling at 40 seconds and had heard people talking about doing planks for 2 minutes.  I set a goal to continually add 10 seconds to my plank effort each week.  Eventually, no word of a lie and I have video proof if you want it, I got up to doing a 19 minute plank.  Thank you.

The other side of progression is doing too much too soon.  I have seen many an
"athlete" go on a long ski during first snow of the season and then not being able to ski the rest of the year because of some injury.  On my first ski on snow, I usually go for about 20 minutes max and then see how my body reacts. 

With those two principles in mind, here's a basic training plan to get you ready for skiing:


Week 1
Mon - run 20 minutes, Tues - strength (no weights), Thursday, DN ski-walking, Friday - strength (no weights), Saturday - run 20 minutes and ski-walk any hills

Week 2
Mon - run 25 minutes, Tues - strength (no weights), Thursday, DN ski-walking, Friday - strength (no weights), Saturday - run 30 minutes and ski-walk any hills

Week 3
Mon - run 30 minutes, Tues - strength (light weights), Thursday, DN ski-walking, Friday - strength (light weights), Saturday - run 40 minutes and ski-walk any hills

Week 4
Mon - run 35 minutes, Tues - strength (light weights), Thursday, DN ski-walking, Friday - strength (light weights), Saturday run 50 minutes and ski-walk any hills

Week 5
Mon - run 40 minutes, Tues - strength (medium-light weights), Thursday, DN ski-walking, Friday - strength (medium-light weights), Saturday run 60 minutes and ski-walk any hills

Here is a list of good strength and balance exercises.  Do not do these if you have any injuries or back problems (get those resolved before doing any strength work).

One very important thing to note is that skiing sets itself apart form other endurance sports in the importance of very good balance.  You need to be able to relaxfully (is that a word?) balance on one leg to be able to ski efficiently and powerfully.

For the first week, do only a handful of reps without any weight and then see how your body reacts to them the next day.  Remember -- gradual progression!! 

Strength & Balance exercises:

-  one-legged squat
 - push-ups
 - lat pull downs (instead of bench pull)
 - plank (instead of the rollout)
 - Russian twist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRXB5vEOmC8

  - one-legged deadlift
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG-Stc3c7N0

Balance:
 - touch touchs on: mat, bosu ball, or balance pillow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwgZLSFb5Jw&list=PL06269BED1642C7EA

Until next time, keep fit and have fun!

Double-pole training at the lake ...

Roller skiing

It's time to think about roller-skiing ... actually it's not, but people are asking about it :)

Technique, Technique, Technique
There are two important things to consider about roller skiing:

1) they can really help your technique

2) they can really screw up your technique

Hopefully that clears things up!

If you do a lot of roller skiing over the summer, you will really ingrain the state of your technique -- whatever that may be.  So, if you are roller-skiing this summer, be sure to constanty work on your technique to make sure every stride is a good stride.  (I'm thinking of changing our club slogan to "Dominating the world one good stride at a time!)

What to use
There are a few brands that I know a bit about:

Marwe
 - top of the line, somewhat expensive, only available through Finn Sisu in Minneapolis

Pursuit
 - best value ... made in Minnesota

V2
 - their older styles are not recommended for the newly paved route at Birds HIll Park.  I used V2's for years and they worked quite well.  For some reason when the new ashphalt was put down on the bird's hill park loop, they tend to catch every little piece of gravel or ashphalt chip and give yo an abrupt stop.  Everyone I know who had V2's has had this problem

- their newer "aero" models with an inflatable tire have been better, but I have heard some problems with longevity of the tires.


Pursuit has a deal of 10% off for orders of 5 or more.  Let me know if you would like to participate in a group order

Where to roller-ski
First thing to know is your poles (with special carbide tips put on them) will only dig-in on asphalt and not cement.

Birds Hill Park is number 1 ... check out the review here: http://fasterskier.com/article/the-results-are-in-the-greatest-rollerskiing-road-in-the-world/

Assiniboine Park and surrounding trails are OK, but moments of broken up pavement here and there.

St.Vital Park used to be great, but the pavement has really detoriated

Bishop Grandin Trail near Waverly.  There is a very nice 2k stretch with some rolling hills.

Lots of bike trails have come up in the city over the last few years.  Once the section near Bishop Grandin and Kenaston is finished (this year?).  You'll be able to do about a 25K city loop on roller skis (with some stopping at lights and a few residential roads to connect things).


Any other thoughts on roller-skiing ...  let's hear you in the comments section.  Also, if you are looking to sell used roller skis, post that in the comments section as well.

Roller Skiing videos

Here are a few great ones:

Northug versus Hellner ... on the track at Oslo's Bislett Stadium!





Therese Johaug leading the women's field up the famous Lysebotn mountain road in Norway:




Roller skiing in canmore ... hey, who is that guy?!