Be Fit to Ski

Book excerpt: Every winter, world-class racers schuss down race courses at speeds upwards of 80 mph, going all-out for 2 minutes of racing. Die-hard recreational skiers spend weekends exhausting themselves to catch that last chair-lift ride. Professional ski instructors devote their free time to honing skills in technique and tactics to meet specific national standards. Regardless of the number of days spend on snow, all participate in a sport that demands a balanced combination of peak conditioning in targeted fitness areas, called performance abilities- endurance, strength, power, speed and agility. As part of a thesis for the completion of a Masters degree in kinesiology, Be Fit to Ski incorporates over 30 years of research on alpine skiing and athletic training toward the development of a year-round fitness program. The idea of periodization, a block-training approach using microcycles and macrocycles, forms the basis of four training phases that begin in the spring and culminate with the end of the ski season. Divided into three sections, Basics of Training, Performance Abilities, and The Training Year, this book provides all the necessary answers to develop year- round fitness training for skiing that will result in quicker skill improvement and guaranteed more vertical per day.