Autumn Ski Fitness – Balance in Skiing
Ski Fitness – Balance in Skiing
September is the time of year for many to return to ski training, hopefully after few months of activity that didn’t entirely involve sofas…
In many cases the first thing that you will be looking to train is strength; trying to get more runs in per day and more explosive movements. This is a good place to start but only if the training program has other elements, one of them being balance.
What is Balance
Balance is the ability to recognize the position of the body in space. Along with the state of contraction (or relaxation) of the muscles, without the support of vision.
Balance in Sport
There are of course some sports that develop this skill more than others, especially if they are practiced during childhood. Training a former gymnast or ballerina is a very different experience than training a rugby player or a rower for example.
The former gymnast or ballerina would have spent their entire training time concentrating on the movements required to put their limbs in a certain position within space and the terrain. Rugby players would have spent more time on the tactics of the game and on the acquisition of strength. Rowers would have spent the vast majority exercising whilst sitting in the boat and at the gym.
In sports like skiing, balance is fundamental, as the essence of the discipline itself is being able to stand on our feet as long as possible!
Ski Fitness – Training balance
Incredibly, balance training is often confined to the last 10 minutes of the session, and even then, not very often. The result is an abundance of skiers who are powerful on dryland sessions but poorly able to transfer that power across onto snow. Technical skills will also be influenced by this ability (or rather lack of), making movements that could have been otherwise easy, into challenges. The precious time we thought we were creating to ski for longer before becoming tired, is wasted by not being able to coordinate and balance on our feet.
Balance Training Tools
Balance can be trained through the use of:
- Proprioception balance boards (square or round shape)
- Exercises on the Swiss ball
- Slack lines
- Trampolines and acrobatic exercises
- Exercises in the gym for specific muscle proprioception development.
Creating a solid base, through the extensive use of the balance boards, is the first step towards great achievements in skiing!
Balance in Skiing – Training during the season
Subzero Coaching is a sports coaching company specialized in ski instructor education. All our ski instructor courses have a professional Strength and Conditioning coach following each training team through out. Along with the help of Physiotherapists and Posture Educators we can support each individual and quickly respond to all the needs that might rise.
We are based in Zermatt, Switzerland. Where we run winter courses for professionals towards the Level 3 ISIA Stamp as well as the Level 4 Full Certification. Our Coaching Team comes from different backgrounds and associations, enabling us to provide excellent training to professional belonging to different education systems.
One to one coaching, Race training camps and much more are also available for professionals looking to develop further in their pathway.
Throught the collaboration with ski schools in Europe and across the World we are able to provide job opportunities during our courses as well as towards a future career beyond the time with us.
Courses also run in the Summer and Autumn, in ski domes across Europe and Glaciers on the Alps.
info@subzerocoaching.com
