 Poster: A snowHead
|
|
How about cycling to and from work? I cover 10 miles a day and it doesn't feel like "exercise", it's just my commute.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
jorball,
| Quote: |
rowing machine - too much upper body.
|
RandomSkier will correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that, if you do it correctly, it should be just about equal. My quads, hamstrings and bum certainly feel it after I've been rowing for a while - especially with the 'real thing', as I'm discovering!
| Quote: |
Pilates/Yoga - also great, especially for balance and core but won't help massively with the leg strength.
|
There are plenty of specific exercises and postures for targetting the legs.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
| Hurtle wrote: |
RandomSkier will correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that, if you do it correctly, it should be just about equal. My quads, hamstrings and bum certainly feel it after I've been rowing for a while - especially with the 'real thing', as I'm discovering!
|
That's the nice thing about sliding seat rowing - it doesn't target.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
I'm not saying rowing doesn't excercise ur legs, nor that you can't use pilates/yoga to do so. Just it isn't as good as weight training or cycling for that specific purpose; it's just being anal to deny that.
Queen Bodecia - if you're still looking for more in-house excercises (although I'm sure u feel overwhelmed with everything people have said now) try out a little plyometrics. It's another great way to train for skiing, works all lower body muscles as well as core and balance and is also well fun. Check youtube - R21 dry land training to get some ideas but make sure you get someone to watch you or do it in front of a mirror to know what your body is doing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
jorball, thanks for that graceful clarification.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
| Alexandra wrote: |
| How about cycling to and from work? I cover 10 miles a day and it doesn't feel like "exercise", it's just my commute. |
It's 13 miles each way on fast un-lit A roads and rather hilly. Apart from the deathwish aspect, that's way more than I'd ever manage. I sometimes take my motorbike in summer if I don't have loads of stuff to carry... 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| peura wrote: |
| I'd say it is a great idea. No excuses like "oh it's raining/snowing I can't be bothered to get dressed up to go out of the house again after my long shift at work". It only takes the time it takes to do the exercises, no need to and on another 15-30 minutes each way to drive to the gym. Yes it needs commitment but so does a gym. If you can't tell I'm a big fan of home exercising, the only weeks I've missed are when I've been on holiday. Although, because I need nothing other than a flat area of floor I could have done them in the holiday accommodation, I felt a break would not be a problem. My only caveat would be the "recovering from injury/operation scenario" (which may apply to |
There are more excuses in your home - housework, TV, tea/coffee, bills, internet forums, etc. If you have ever tried to study at home you know there is always something to distract you.
If the closest gym is half an hour by car it is not practical and I wouldn't recommend it.
Exercising in the home may work for some people and if it does that is brilliant it is just in my experience that only the minority of people who try it stick at it.
Out of interest (and honestly I'm not being cheeky) what type of cardio are you doing on the flat area of floor?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| jorball wrote: |
| I'm not saying rowing doesn't excercise ur legs, nor that you can't use pilates/yoga to do so. Just it isn't as good as weight training or cycling for that specific purpose; it's just being anal to deny that. |
Static rowing provides a better allbody workout than indoor cycling.
http://www.concept2.com/us/training/muscles_used.asp
It even works various core muscles which help to keep the body in balance, does indoor cycling do this?
Weights and indoor cycling without good balance just mean your legs can hold the out of balance state for longer. A recreational skier who has fair technique and good balance doesn't need a high level of fitness or leg strength to get about, see it all the time here in Austria.
Last edited by After all it is free  on Wed 12-11-08 15:12; edited 1 time in total
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well done?? I'm not fitter yet, it's only been a few days, but I have been swimming once and exercised at home 3 x 30 min sessions since then...
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
Cycling is the single best exercise you can do for skiing. Not only does it strengthen the leg muscles, but it sharpens your balance up too.
I would strongly recommend against running as its an impact exercise and can cause all sorts of problems with angle and knee joints, especially in those of us that are the wrong side of 40.
If you could drag yourself to the gym (I would recommend it) spin classes are superb cardio training for spinning, albeit without the balance but also without the cold and rain. I've started my ski fitness training and am doing 7 hours hard spinning a week with 2 hours of general machines/weights.
Some other general exercises are the 'plank' which is great for core strength, especially your lower back and simple sit ups to again strengthen core muscles. If walking is your only option, go for a walk somewhere hilly. It will be much more of a workout. Light exercise for your arms is important, you use them for balance and they will be used more than normal.
If you can do some exercise, and any is better than none, then you will ski/board better, will be safer and will be able to get much more out of each day. You will also be able to ski/board every day, not needing a rest day.
|
|
|
|
|
|
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
|
| bar shaker wrote: |
| Cycling is the single best exercise you can do for skiing. Not only does it strengthen the leg muscles, but it sharpens your balance up too. |
Cyclists have locked-up hips because they never use them for balance. Cyclists have completely inadequate hamstring strength (let alone recruitment) with the slight, possible exception of those cyclists who can pedal one-legged for more than 2 miles. Cyclists have muscles trained to motion within a 330-360mm pedaling circle at 60-150rpm, utterly useless in bumps taller than 40cm or even in piste turns with large short/tall leg differences esp as those last far longer than one pedal spin. Cyclists have a bare vestige of any adduction or abduction muscle training.
Give me a skater or a hockey player every time.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| bar shaker wrote: |
| Cycling is the single best exercise you can do for skiing. Not only does it strengthen the leg muscles, but it sharpens your balance up too. |
Don't get me wrong I'm a keen mountain biker but I'd of thought something that 'mimicks' skiing would be better (e.g. inline/ice skating). Fore/aft balance on a bike isn't as critical as on skates. Rowing does allow extension and contraction of the legs similar to skiing (a longer and up/down motion) as opposed to a cyclic motion with much less extension/contraction. To get in resonable fitness for the ski season training numerous times a week is required and for most people cycling would be conducted indoor so the balance element would be eliminated in most cases.
One year I concentrated almost entirely on balance / core exercises and the sking was a lot less effort. Didn't have quite the same strength but could ski better and for longer. The following year I went back to strength and fitness without specific balance exercises but was in the back seat a lot of the time.
exercises such as these .....
http://exercise.about.com/cs/abs/l/bl_core.htm
http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/strengthening/swiss_ball.php
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
| Hurtle wrote: |
DB, shhh, you're being anal.  Interesting what you say about fitness versus balance/core strength. I know I don't do enough balance exercises (except for doing the ironing whilst standing on a Bosu ball ) but I do have good core strength. This means that I can quite easily ski in the back seat without falling over.  |
A balance exercise while holding onto something (be it the iron or a bikes handle bars) isn't really the same as in skiing where you haven't got anything fixed to hold onto.
| Hurtle wrote: |
comprex,
| Quote: |
Cyclists have locked-up hips
|
In the days when I used to do quite a bit of cycling round town, I went to a yoga class, with a new teacher. After seeing me doing just a few postures, he said, shaking his head sadly, "You're a cyclist, aren't you?"  |
Why, were you wearing cycling shorts and a cycling helmet to the yoga class?
Probably suffer from locked up hips meself, how does one 'unlock' the hips?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
Hurtle, we had several members of the local cycle touring/audax club come in for skating lessons last summer.
One woman (in her mid 40s) had a Frankenstein's monster gait even before we put her on skates, at which point she started crying. Her lower back would spasm the moment her balance point moved two inches away from directly centered between her legs.
And that sort of answers DB: One-footed balance work. Slide board if you can find one.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
| Quote: |
A recreational skier who has fair technique and good balance doesn't need a high level of fitness or leg strength to get about, see it all the time here in Austria.
|
Right on. We're not talking top athletes here, just having enough of what it takes to enjoy a ski holiday. I strongly agree that balance and core strength exercises, which can be done WITH NO TROUBLE AT ALL at home would be very valuable. Anybody who doesn't think that some of those Pilates exercises target the legs (especially the hamstrings, which get neglected) clearly hasn't done any.
| Quote: |
| how does one 'unlock' the hips? |
move them in more than one plane, I suppose. Particularly important for skiing (i.e. doing what happens when you stand on your skis, then raise one ski and turn it with your foot, as far as possible to left and right. My old man can't get much angle at all, and it causes him no end of trouble). A good start, which doesn't even require getting out of bed, is to lie on the back, knees up, feet and knees about 18 inches apart. Swing the knees down one side, then the other - plenty of times. Both knees should reach the mattress - if not, hips are inflexible. Then put the feet and knees together and do it again that way for a while. Whilst listening to the radio. Then get up and have a nice cup of tea. Clean teeth standing on one leg. If that gets too easy, stand on one leg with your eyes shut. Do the same whilst waiting for the train (once you've got the hang of it.....).
Walking up hills is good, too. Or stairs. And all these suggestions have the advantage that, unlike weight training, you can't do them wrong and knacker yourself.
People could be fit and flexible long before they invented gyms, for goodness' sake.
The older I get the less tired my legs get when I ski. The OP is in the prime of life but having been out of action for a bit with serious illness, she wants to get herself moving again and improve her flexibility and stamina. To suggest she can't do this without going to a gym and signing up with a personal trainer is both discouraging and incorrect. And possibly, even, just a titchy bit anal?
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
To get them hips swinging Belly / salsa dancing is clearly the answer, or is that too anal? 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
queen bodecia, I go to British Military Fitness on a Monday evening in the Forest Recreation Ground, and run round like a mad thing, as well as rolling in the mud, and doing various unpleasant exercises. At the moment it's in the pitch black, but there's a big group of us, there's all abilities, shapes and sizes, and it's quite social. Quite a few people go because they prefer it to the whole gym thing.
You get split into three groups according to ability/state of mind after weekend/number of crafty fags smoked etc, so you don't have to worry about being up against people who are much fitter than you. The instructors are all good fun, very good at thinking up devious exercises, and great at motivating without bullying or belittling. It's between £25 and £30 a month, depending on how many sessions you want to go to.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
|
|
I much prefer the idea of DB's salsa dancing....
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hurtle, it's better than it sounds. Mud's good for the soul anyway.
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
|
Kramer, thanks for the tip but sounds way too full on for me and probably difficult time-wise because of work. Still trying to find a pilates class that's late enough in the evening but not too late. I guess I'm just too fussy...
|
|
|
|
|
|
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
|
|
queen bodecia, it's 7 til 8 Monday and Wednesday evenings. It's not as full on as it sounds, and you get your first session free as a trial to see if you like it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Too early for me. I don't finish work until 7...
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
|
Well it's been a while since anyone referred to me as a 'lady'. Snigger...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
DB, those are a hard item to find, and you can see why. Mind you, the later, ~'85 "A Chorus Line" style are dime/dozen.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
| The_Hirsty wrote: |
| Out of interest (and honestly I'm not being cheeky) what type of cardio are you doing on the flat area of floor? |
Thinking about this further, and considering some of the comments above I realised that at my (rather poor and unadventurous) level ok skiing I don't feel that skiing is a CV activity. That may be because of some residual fitness remaining from my youth but more likely I just don't ski fast enough over difficult enough terrain to make it hard work for my CV system.
I didn't mention above that I'm also doing some lunge and squat jumps now. And I've been thinking that perhaps skipping would be a good exercise for skiing, since it will be a test of balance and repeated but unstabilised jumps (on one or both legs). Again I'm just guessing here, not being trained in any sort of phys ed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
| jorball wrote: |
| I'm not saying rowing doesn't excercise ur legs, nor that you can't use pilates/yoga to do so. Just it isn't as good as weight training or cycling for that specific purpose; it's just being anal to deny that. |
Have never done weight training so can't compare, but have been doing pilates (on pilates machines rather than mat work) twice weekly for three years and I have legs of steel. All the muscle groups in my legs have balanced strength and flexibility. The beauty of pilates is that if you are doing the exercises correctly, then you engage your core and outer abs while working the rest of the body.
Pilates, however, does little to improve cardio fitness. That's what fencing and skiing are for
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
peura, Coolio, it is good to hear you have found a regime that works for you. That is half the battle.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
this is the only excersise video that I have ever found useful,
http://tinyurl.com/5pla7f
Its mainly squats and lunges for aboput 20 mins with a section on abs and upperbody with weights. Its not very strenous so you shouldn't get too out of breath but you will feel every muscle in your legs the next day which has got to be good for skiing. I got a DVD copy of it from ebay.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| peura wrote: |
| I don't feel that skiing is a CV activity. |
You might be right (IMHO).
I remember coming across a magazine article a while back which looked at Bode Miller's training regime. Whilst there was some cardio in there, the emphasis seemed very much to be on strength training.
From memory, Mr. Miller was also a big fan of 'wall-sitting' to improve static-strength (back against the wall with your knees at 90 degrees - like sitting on a chair, but without the chair). This is definitely something you can do at home whilst you watching TV.
Personally, I try to combine strength and balance in the same workout. E.g. instead of doing squats stood on the floor, I do them on a Bosu. You're still working the legs - but you're improving core-stability at the same time.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
|
You beat me to it!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| abj wrote: |
| peura wrote: |
| I don't feel that skiing is a CV activity. |
You might be right (IMHO).
I remember coming across a magazine article a while back which looked at Bode Miller's training regime. Whilst there was some cardio in there, the emphasis seemed very much to be on strength training.
From memory, Mr. Miller was also a big fan of 'wall-sitting' to improve static-strength (back against the wall with your knees at 90 degrees - like sitting on a chair, but without the chair). This is definitely something you can do at home whilst you watching TV.
Personally, I try to combine strength and balance in the same workout. E.g. instead of doing squats stood on the floor, I do them on a Bosu. You're still working the legs - but you're improving core-stability at the same time. |
I really did mean to say "I don't feel that skiing is a CV activity at my level". I'd have thought that as one progresses from easy pistes to more challenging ones, goes faster, off piste or "round poles" CV fitness would come into it. I'm pleased if I've cruised elegantly down the whole length of piste without any "scary moments"  . I can't remember what level the O/P was at before or what level she's aiming at now.
My instinct, is that it's as much about dynamic strength, the ability to absorb/handle shocks, bumps, differing surfaces, one ski getting slowed down more towards the piste edges, etc.
The_Hirsty it really is. Some will find the social aspect of a gym helpful some won't. Some will find the regime of going to the gym at a certain time helpful, some will find that a pain in the neck and impossible to keep to. I'm not trying to get fit for skiing but just for life. I'd not really noticed fitness (or lack therefore) limiting me whilst skiing. It is my technique and the painfulness of the boots that are the limiting factors.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
. However, I'm determined to try them again once I can stay on the ball better (so to speak).
