Still looking at going skiing in 2022/23?

Still looking at going skiing in 2022/23?

This last year and a half has brought an unprecedented upheaval to everyone’s lives. Not ONE single person can claim that they have been unaffected by the pandemic.

A couple of serious consequences of this has been the effects on everyone’s health and wellbeing with the closure of leisure facilities and cessation of sports at the grassroots levels. But with some light at the end of the tunnel, most of us will be looking to the future and putting a line under 2021.

For some, this maybe in the fortunate position of perhaps looking to get away from it all by going skiing, providing resorts are open and travel restrictions allow. If you are looking to go skiing, here are some recommendations to consider with regards fitness and ensuring in your desperation to get away that you do not come back on crutches.

Just how fit are you?

With the gyms and leisure facilities only being open again for the last 6 months following a third lockdown, the first question that you should be asking yourself is how much your fitness suffered over the last year and particularly the last six months. If you train regularly, had you been able to get back to your levels pre-first lockdown and before entering the second lockdown. If you do not do regular fitness work, how does your current fitness level compare to your last skiing trip?

Even allowing for doing some fitness work at home or outside, unless you have been able to load your body in similar fashion to your gym workouts, then your fitness levels and in particular your strength levels would have suffered and will be down. Doing press-up’s instead of bench/chest press, or bodyweight squats instead of weighted squats or leg press, whilst working the muscles in the same way, has no loading similarities. So, over the last 6 months, have you been able to return to your pre-Covid fitness levels?

If the answer is NO, then you may well need to re-think the level and intensity of skiing that you want to do and how many days you are looking to ski for out of your time away.

Muscular skiing injuries are generally caused by fatigue due to the high intensity loading so if you’re not fit enough then you will struggle to deal with the twists and turning involved. With muscle failure, comes stress on the joints, particularly the knees as the tendons and ligaments become weak causing laxity in the joint.

So, if you want to avoid coming back home on crutches, have a good honest chat with yourself and ask yourself “AM I fit enough to do what I want to do?”

If you want some help with assessing your fitness, a skiing specific conditioning program or some fitness advice then either book one of our 6-week performance programs or 1-1 sessions with Chris our Strength & Conditioning Specialist through the Optimal Sports Therapy centre website.



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