Bunny

Once again, I'm not sure exactly where to put this topic, so we're going to work on the assumption that my body is the 'equipment' part of the discussion here.

SlippinNSliding brought up a point I hadn't given a whole lot of thought to in my other thread:
Now obviously I was sore after my weekend getaway, but I didn't really think about conditioning those muscles 'before' my next trip. So....for a person like me who can't exactly just hit the slopes every couple days or even every other weekend, is there anything I can do to pinpoint muscles I wouldn't necessarily use on a normal day, but that could be worked on to help me out later?

SkaredShtles

The only sure way to get your skiing muscles conditioned is by skiing a bunch.

HTH.

chippers

I am sure I will hear much for this, but at home I have Tony Little's Gazelle Freestyle (the crazy machine thats on infomercials late at night). I got this since sometimes in the winter I cant do my jogs around the neighborhood, we don't jog on ice here. It helps with resistance training and I have not had any issues with it, but I should let everyone know. I don't get to ski and board as much as I would like, though I do use this machine daily. It might help me more for that reason alone, but its worth a shot.

SlippinNSliding

I haven't tried the Gazelle, but I have a ski machine in the basement. It is similar, doing both forwards and backwards and side to side movements, and having the 'poles' that are at the opposite end of where your feet are :P Scientific description that!

Anyway I would look out for something like that and a good tape for it. It might give you the motion and flexibility in the legs that you need.

Public_Enemy

Try doing wall sits and lunges they will help build the muscles up. Also just get out and walk or run. Bicycling is also great. The best thing is just skiing more.

Canadian Rockies Freak

Wouldn't using a treadmill with a higher uphill resistance work well too? I'm not sure what you'd call it (uphill resistance...) but I know there's some sort of setting for that type of thing on some treadmills.

SkiMonkey

I use a treadmill and the stairs to condition my muscles during the chilly winter months. I also snowshoe occasionally during the winter months. It keeps me in shape for when I go out on a skiing trip

jake1985

I'm interested in beginning cross country skiing as I would be able to do this more frequently than downhill. Which muscle groups would be the best ones to target for this type of skiing? I'm assuming that at least some of the muscle groups used would be different than downhill skiing.

chippers

The Gazelle works fairly well for me since its low impact for the joints, and its not that expensive. I did end up paying about 170 for it, but you can get it cheaper online I just never looked in the right spot for it.

jake I just ended up working all my body muscles since I had taken afew years break (children) before I started to play out in the snow again. I would go ahead and do the same, just to make sure you are in top shape.

jake1985

I did notice that last year I was a bit sore after skiing whereas I haven't been sore at all the couple times I went this year. I started going to the gym this past summer so that must be making the difference. Since I vary my workout to work all my muscle groups throughout the week, it must have strengthened the ones I need for skiing.