Cross-Country Skiing: A Full-Body Workout On Snow

Enjoying winter and getting some exercise is best done by cross-country skiing. It's also a great approach to raise your degree of fitness without working out in a gym. If you're new, look for an experienced friend or visit a recreation area with groomed ski paths. Steer clear of places prone to avalanches.

Weakness

Although first it may be intimidating to have long slender skis attached to your feet, learning cross-country skiing is simpler than you would have imagined. The activity calls for a comfortable athletic posture whereby your hips, knees and toes are balanced vertically on the balls of every foot. Gliding over the snow also sharpens your "kinaesthetic sense," or your body's capacity to sense its position in space. Your equilibrium depends on this sense, which also helps stop falls. Fisher advises anyone who wish to improve their skills to practise the fundamentals by shuffling softly down courses without using ski poles. Exercises like plyometrics, balance drills and fast walking on uneven surfaces at the gym help you work on your agility and balance. Skiing provides the ideal winter exercise whether you're spending time alone or hanging about with pals. Your heart, muscles, and mind will benefit much from this enjoyable but demanding exercise.

Cardiogram

Apart from the leg muscles, skiing works the arms, core, hips. "It's among the best all-around cardiovascular exercises," Brennan notes. The sport can be done fast for a great aerobic exercise or you can amble along and savour the serene beauty of snow-covered winter woodlands. Whether you're ambling or speeding, you must build solid balance to enable control on skis. Spending time honing a comfortable athletic stance with knees lightly bent and feet shoulder width apart is vital. After you have a balanced posture, learn to glide over little distances. Although learning the fundamental shuffle, glide cadence, takes time, once you achieve it it's a terrific technique to increase stamina for extended winter excursions. Key to a pleasurable and safe skiing experience, it also helps you hone your technique. Skiing success depends on a well-rounded training regimen including strength and flexibility as well as cardiovascular endurance.

adaptation

More balance and coordination are needed for cross country skiing than for most other endurance sports. For this reason, Garrard advises including flexibility training into a skier's program. This covers stretches for the hips and hip flexors, which, from sitting all day at work or in a car can tighten. Additionally advised by Garrard is adding yoga to the program, especially single-leg poses such the tree pose and pigeon stance. She then includes swimming to the mix as, although low-impact on the joints, it increases cardio endurance and muscular tone. She also advises her customers to engage in interval training, in which high-intensity exercise alternately with low-intensity or rest times. If you're thinking about skiing, start with selecting appropriate gear. Garrard advises getting some reasonably fitting Nordic boots that resemble hiking boots. Choose also a pair of light-weight poles with basketlike attachments at the ends to help you to grab the surface of the snow.

Perseverance

Runners often lose their drive to keep with their training throughout winter; but, cross country skiing (or nordic skiing) can be the ideal remedy. The sport tests every muscle in the body and is perfect for preventing ailments connected with other cold-weather sports like running with its low impact. It's never too late to start training, whether your goal is to get ready for ski races and events or to include xc-skiing into your winter exercise program for pure enjoyment. If you're not already familiar with the sport, though, starting it calls more than just gear; you also need to know how to train correctly. Knowing which muscles are most in demand by the two distinct forms of the sport—classic skiing, which is gliding across level terrain, and skate skiing, which combines pushing off on one leg with shifting your weight to the other leg—is essential.