 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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graeme, good luck. You're going to need to be very, very fit to use skiboards for backcountry. Short skis sink into the snow and make turning difficult. (I've tried it on 130's).
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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?
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graeme, Generally the rule when building muscle endurance and strength without the bulk is to do many repetitions with lighter weights. I imagine ski touring will involve punting along the flats. When I punted on piste along flats the muscles that tired were chest, upper back muscles(lats), triceps, and forearm.
Have fun.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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chris, i dont intend on using short skis, i use skiboards, wether you believe it or not they are fantastic in powder/deep snow 
PisteHead, was thinking along those lines , thanks
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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graeme, If i was going ski touring exercises I'd do are
Leg extensions for quads
Leg curls for hamstrings
calf raises
cycling machine to build up the bum muscles for core stability - buns of steel!
crunches for core stability
back raises to strengthen lower back for core stability
Gyms have this machine for strengthening the inner and outer thighs - men don't usually use this machine but again it strengthens the tighs against lateral forces.
Plus the cardio and chest,back and arm exercises.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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graeme, I've tried skiboards and skis, in various lengths and widths, from 80cms up to 176cms in powder and found that the shorter they are, the more difficult they are to turn and control, unless its really steep.
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graeme, I have had quite a lot of success with training people for snowsports, mainly alpine skiers and snowboarders, but the majority of the work you need to do will be more along the lines of muscular endurance in several key areas. The back, specifically the lats due to the amount of poling you will need to do, the shoulders for the same reason, the triceps and biceps and the chest. In the lower body you will need to incorporate exercises for the quads and hamstrings, glutes, abductors/adductors (inner and outer thigh), calves and hip flexors. Core stability is also a major component that needs to be added into the workout aswell as the weight based exercises.
One of the important things to take into consideration is the specificity of the movements you will be doing during your tour and then relate the exercises you do to those movements. If you want any more information then please drop me a PM and I will help you out as much as I can.
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graeme, unless you are intending getting into competition randonee, you sound more than ready already. Strength is really not important, stamina is. I started touring a couple of years ago and all I did was a couple of runs a week (about 10 miles/week in total), + my regular cycling to/from work (about 40 miles/week). This was plenty to do the Haute Route at normal punters speeds (about 300m/hr vertical for the climbs). If you're wanting to show off how fast you can go to the guides though (and go for 600+ m/hr), probably the best training is a bit/lot of fell-running. Normal touring involves quite a lot of traversing, but not a huge amount of pole work (if you need to be going uphill soon, traverse a bit more on the level and then put the skins on), and the uphill stuff is really just like a cross between hill-walking and a drowsy shuffle . The only concern I would have would be how your skiboards glide for traverses - you may end up having to pole way more than a regular skier if the boards don't glide that much, so a bit of shoulder/core stuff may be relevant. If you're intending doing hut-to-hut stuff, then you should really check out how the boards work in variable snow when you're carrying about 10kg of stuff in a backpack. I personally would want to be using proper skis (although the boards will I guess help big time from the weight perspective), but if you're happy with the boards....
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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.
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Heavy pack and steep hill-climbing with poles and including side stepping.
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thanks for all the input, very useful, have just booked a session with a personal trainer at my gym. hopefully they can design a programme specifically for me
stocky i will pm you if this personal programme is no use, many thanks
graeme
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Lots of walking up hills should do the job.
Don't know where all this poling stuff has come from, I've toured extensively around the globe, and not often had to work too hard with my arms, thats what skins are for.
Saying that if you want to really to nail it uphill then a pair of slightly longer than normal poles and a fit upper body will help (ski-alpinism race styley), but I wouldn't worry about that until you can hold a steady 12m/min + climb rate for any length of time with a medium pack...
Enjoy!
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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.
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I'd echo GrahamN. The fittest so-and-sos I've toured with (other than guides) have been fell runners. And good technique will save a lot of energy going up and down
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Poling on the flat...
This comes from a nordic skier rather than a backcountry tourer. So take it with a grain of salt.
Keep in mind though, that poling is done A LOT in nordic skiing. So most nordic skier are pretty good at it. The proper poling muscle is actually the abs, not the arms or even the shoulder!
Basically, when you pole, lean way forward by bending at the hip. Just when you're about to fall on you face, plant your pole as far forward as your arms can reach. Now, with all your upper body weight on the pole, do an explosive ab crunch off your pole! You'll find your legs and ski just shot forward.
So, it's partly a technique thing to get the abs involved. But for people having strong abs, they'll find teh technique natural to adopt.
Do a bit of "ab-crunch" in the gym, you'll find poling a lot easier.
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You know it makes sense.
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graeme, Why are you using approch skis for Backcountry touring, if you have a good reason, most people use kids ski around here. 
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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SMALLZOOKEEPER, i am using them cause i can, they are my ski/skiboard of choice for 2008.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| graeme wrote: |
| would rate myself as an 11 out of 10 for fitness/stamina |
7 watts per kilo at AT?
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FAQ
, would rate myself as an 11 out of 10 for fitness/stamina. what i am wondering though is maybe i should be concentrating more on strength training. i am around 10 stone 10, 5ft 8". easily running 10km in 40 to 45 mins at present. what i dont want to do is increase my weight/bulk up. is it possible to increase strength while maintaining a similar wieght to i am at the moment. typical training regime at present is running every night, step machine, weights, rowing machine. i also am doing a spin class 3 times per week. any advice is appreciated
