Wintersports
Skiing
Best workouts for skiing: Strength, balance and conditioning
Hit the slopes stronger than ever with the best workouts for skiing that build strength, flexibility, balance, and endurance long before ski season starts.
Ski strength training is how the pros get in strong enough shape to break records on the slopes. And yet, for all-time greats like Red Bull skier Lindsey Vonn, it’s not the numbers that matter.
Lindsey Vonn goes airborne
© ASP Red Bull/Red Bull Content Pool
“The more people talk about the records, the harder it is to break them,” Von said. “I try to stay focused on my skiing.”
Great workouts that help skiers stay focused on the trail include, as per freestyle skier Nico Porteus’ exercise plan, stretching and mobility, plyometrics, lower body, and upper body. There are even more exercise categories among the best workouts for skiing, as seen in the full skiing fitness routine below.
01
Strength training
Lower body exercises
Professional skiers hit the slopes with strong, powerful quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calves (the muscles in the legs and buttocks). Squats and lunges, two ski exercises you can do at home, work all these muscles.
Leg workouts for skiing should also include calf raises (lifting up onto the balls of the feet and then returning to the floor). For those with access to gym equipment, deadlifts, as detailed in this sample football workout plan, are another excellent lower body movement. And in spaces with enough room to toss a medicine ball, the overhead medicine ball throw is among the best exercises for ski season.
Core strengthening
Lindsey Vonn doing Russian twist exercises
© Joey Terrill / Red Bull Content Pool
Engaging the core is how skiers stay upright and maintain control in even the wildest winter conditions. For those working out at home, planks rank among the most effective winter sports exercises, and Lindsey Vonn is known to be fond of Russian twists. Many skiers also recommend leg raises (lying face-up on the floor, lifting the legs nearly perpendicular to the torso, raising the legs upward in the air a bit, returning to the starting position, repeating) to target the lower abs.
Upper body conditioning
Upper body exercises such as push-ups do more than build muscle — they also bolster motor skills and coordination. Where push-ups target the chest, overhead presses build shoulder muscle, making both key to effective skiing workouts. Combining these exercises with pull-ups builds core and upper body strength at once, making an ideal combo for skiers.
02
Cardiovascular conditioning
When the heart and lungs are well-conditioned, skiers can easily go back and forth from being stationary to barreling down the slopes. Notably, endurance is different than conditioning — it’s how long a skier can be out on the slopes before ending their adventure.
Ski-specific endurance and conditioning workouts include running, cycling, and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) sprints. Skiers can thus borrow the conditioning and endurance portion of this sample football workout plan to work toward sustaining their energy on the slopes. For skiers with access to gym equipment, rowing machines support low-impact yet high-intensity ski conditioning exercises that fortify cardio health while also working the back and biceps.
03
Flexibility and mobility
Skiing can involve sudden turns and direction shifts, and flexible muscles support your body as it makes unexpected, wide-ranging moves. That’s one reason why ski workout routines typically include flexibility and mobility exercises.
There’s a quick at-home stretching regimen that borrows from yoga that skiers can do at home. This regimen starts with the runner’s lunge, then moves into the pyramid pose (somewhat like a downward dog in yoga), and ends with the standing lunge. It’s the kind of regimen that skiers notice especially strongly in their legs but may feel throughout the body.
04
Balance
Elegant and effective
© Joey Terrill/Red Bull Content Pool
Skiers need balance to tip their skis on edge without falling. Balance also comes into play for motor control and knowing how to move as terrain shifts. That’s why balance exercises are so important — and well worth the investment in a small amount of low-footprint home workout equipment.
Stability balls, for example, add the challenge of maintaining balance to core exercises like crunches. Similarly, Bosu balls (the hemisphere version of stability balls) make the ground beneath skiers shakier during standard exercises like lunges. Then, there are balance boards, which skiers must stay upright on as the board rocks up and down off the ground. And for skiers who can’t bring new workout equipment into their lives, single-leg stands are a tried and true balance exercise favorite.
05
Plyometrics and agility drills
Plyometrics exercises involve rapid, explosive movements that develop fast-twitch muscle fibers. They’re also great for improving skiers’ coordination, which is why they go hand in hand with agility drills.
Box jumps — launching onto the top of a box and then back down — should be part of all plyometric workouts for skiing. The same goes for lateral hops, which are soft, quick jumps sideways back and forth over a foam roller or sandbag. Agility ladder drills are great for skiers too.
06
Sample weekly skiing workout plan
Skiers looking to incorporate all the above winter sports exercises into their weekly regimen can use the sample workout plan below.
Day 1: Lower body and core
Exercise
Sets
Rep
Squats
4
4 to 8
Planks
3 to 4
Hold for up to 60 seconds
Lunges
4
4 to 8
Russian twists
3 to 4
8 to 10 per side
Calf raises
4
8 to 10
Leg raises
3 to 4
8 to 10
Deadlifts
4
4o to 6
Lindsey makes it look so easy...
© Joey Terrill / Red Bull Content Pool
Day 2: Upper body, flexibility, and mobility
Exercise
Sets
Reps
Push-ups
4
10 to 20
Pull-ups
4
10 to 20
Seated overhead presses
3
6 to 8
Runner’s lunge, then pyramid pose, then standing lunge (three seconds each)
5
1
Day 3: Cardiovascular conditioning
Exercise
Sets
Reps
Interval sprints
6 to 10 sprints
20 to 30 seconds per sprint, with 20 to 30 seconds of walking between sprints
Short-distance high-intensity sprints
3
1 10-meter sprint, then walk for 30 to 60 seconds, then one 25-meter sprint
Long-distance high-intensity sprint
1
1 400-meter sprint
Cycling (or rowing — choose one)
20 to 30 minutes total
Pedal as fast as possible for 30 seconds, then pedal at a gentle pace for 90 seconds, then repeat
Rowing (or cycling — choose one)
40 minutes total
N/A
Day 4: Balance
Exercise
Sets
Reps
Stability ball crunches
4
4 to 8
Bosu ball lunges
4
4 to 8
Balance boards
10 to 20 minutes of balance practice
N/A
Single-leg stands
3
Hold for as long as possible on each leg
Day 5: Plyometrics and agility
Exercise
Sets
Reps
Box jumps
3 to 4
10 reps
Lateral hops
4 to 8
1 minute per set
Agility ladder drills
3
1 rep per side
07
Recovery and injury prevention
No ski workout plan is truly complete without taking ample rest and caring for your body in ways that support recovery. Rest days give your body’s biological processes adequate time to heal and grow the muscle tissue torn during workouts. Additionally, skiers who go into exercises already sore might struggle to get through them, making them more likely to have improper form that leads to injury.
Skiers looking to speed up their recovery time need proper nutrition, adequate hydration, and plenty of sleep since meeting these needs powers the body’s recovery processes. Foam rollers and massage have been shown to improve recovery and perhaps minimize future injuries as well.
Get ready to conquer the slopes
Strength training, cardiovascular conditioning, flexibility, mobility, balance, plyometrics, and agility exercises together may seem like a lot. But with the right workout plan, winter adventurers can start training bit by bit, well before ski season to hit the powder in tip-top shape. A snowy season full of exploration and thrills starts today!
