If you don’t get fit for a snowboard holiday you might find yourself out of energy before lunch. So we’ve pulled together some tips for snowboarding fitness to help you make the most of your time in the mountains.
If you only get away snowboarding once or twice a year getting back on the board is exciting. You’ve probably still got the skills and will quickly get riding again.
However, if you are unfit or just out of practice, after a few hours you might be feeling the effort. Even worse if you are using muscles that don’t normally get a work out you’ll ache the next day, plus there is more chance of an injury.
So what can you do to get fit for a snowboard holiday? Fortunately quite a lot!
The first thing to do is improve your overall fitness. Any cardio will do, so running, cycling, or even brisk walking are great. Traditional sports such as football, rugby, swimming or racquet sports are also good. Anything that gets your heart rate up for a prolonged period will do.
Snowboarding is an all over workout so gym time can be very beneficial. The cross trainers, rowing machines and circuits of equipment will help massively. Try to join somewhere with a wide range of machines and some less traditional exercises such as this gym in Syracuse.
Yoga is great for flexibility and core strength which both come in very handy on the slopes. You don’t have to become a full on yogi but doing a basic yoga routine once or twice a week makes a huge difference. And if it helps Travis Rice and Hannah Teter it could help you too!
Almost any exercise class will help improve your snowboarding fitness. But circuit training and boxercise are great to get the sweat flowing, provide an all over work out and quickly improve your fitness.
Pilates is like a cross between yoga and an exercise class. There is lots of stretching, core exercises and you get a bit of a cardio workout. It is great for snowboarding as you use many of the muscles more traditional exercises miss.
The above tips for snowboarding fitness will help you get in better shape. However there are many specific exercises you can do to help strengthen your body for the rigours of snowboarding.
Squat, squat and squat some more! Practice holding a low squat for as long as you can. Do lots of up down squats to simulate riding. Adding a weight will help to build muscles.
Single leg squats improve your balance and stability. But any squats will help you to get fit for a snowboard holiday, just build up slowly to do more and more. Even if you only have a week or two before a trip a few squats will help.
These are done flat on your back moving your legs around one at a time in a slow controlled way. Do big circles, medium circles and small ones. Once bored with circles, try writing your name in the air with your foot instead. Also can be done laying on your side to work different muscles.
Our core muscles are in action all the time when snowboarding as they keep us upright, and balanced. Core strength is also key to keep hips and spine aligned. And all the twisting and turning is going to push the tummy muscles to their limits.
Try a variety of different types of sit ups, plank exercises and leg raises. If you are bored with the normal stomach exercises then find pilates inspired core exercises.
Great one this! Stand with your knees bent, rock up onto your toes and stay there as long as you can. Then rock backward and try to balance on your heels. Repeat, repeat, repeat!
It sounds simple but practice standing on one leg. Make it more difficult by raising the other leg ahead of you. Throw in a few ankle circles and you are improving your balance. To make it even tougher use weights to do arm exercises at the same time.
There are many types of balance board for sale on the web, but they are easy to make yourself. It’s just a board, with a couple of half squash balls glued underneath. Undoubtedly it will improve your balance and muscle memory in ways that are useful for snowboarding.
Snowboard Addiction offer a range of products that emulate snowboarding. So you can get fit for a snowboard holiday and improve your skills away from the slopes.
Using their jib board and rail you can practice skills and improve your balance at home. During a review of the Snowboard Addiction Trampoline Board I found it helps with spins, grabs and shifties plus it improved my overall snowboarding fitness.
How do you get fit for a snowboard holiday? Let us know your tips for snowboarding fitness in the comments below. Also check out our snowboarding holiday discounts as you could save a fortune on your next trip.