Sunday, December 24, 2006
NORDIC WALKING - SKI READINESS TRAINING PROGRAM (WEEK 4)
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I am very grateful to Stuart Montgomery for putting together this training course.
As well as being a fellow INWA Nordic Walking Instructor Stuart is a Director of Tour Operator XCuk Ltd http://www.xcuk.com the company who are providing the Nordic Walking News cross-country skiing holiday to Norway this coming February.
=====================================================================================
Welcome to Week 4 of our ski readiness course. It is intended mainly for those joining our February cross-country skiing holiday in Norway (see http://www.nordicfitnessonline.com/blue/nordicskiing/nordicskiing.htm for details). But it will also benefit anyone who wants to improve their fitness.
(The course is progressive. So if you missed the last three weeks, please go back to our posting of 4 December where you will find the rationale for the course, as well as an explanation of the three “categories” that we refer to below. Please also remember that in earlier postings we have described mobilisation exercises for you to do before every workout, and muscle stretches for you to do after every workout.)
Nordic Walking
It is Christmas and we hope other important priorities will compete for the time you normally have available for training! So we will not raise the intensity of your Nordic walking this week.
If you can find the time, do the same Nordic walking programme as last week, once again adding “bursts of speed” to some of your Nordic walking sessions. Here are the programmes again:
CATEGORY A
Three Nordic walking sessions of 30 minutes plus two sessions of 60 minutes. Include a two-minute burst of speed to each of the three 30-minute sessions.
CATEGORY B
Two Nordic walking sessions of 30 minutes plus one session of 60 minutes.
Include a two-minute burst of speed to both of the 30-minute sessions.
CATEGORY C
One Nordic walking session of 30 minutes plus one session of 45 minutes.
Include a two-minute burst of speed to the 30-minute session.
This week try very hard to achieve good Nordic walking technique in all your sessions, concentrating especially on:
- performing a good pushback in which you take your poling hand well behind your hip,
- engaging your abdominal muscles,
- rotating your shoulders as you walk.
Muscle toning
As usual we continue to work on the mini-squats, which are great for toning the legs.
Last week we asked you to increase the length of time you are holding each mini-squat. And we asked you to do two or three “sets” of about 10 “repetitions” of this exercise in the course of the week. This week repeat what you did last week. Here are the programmes again:
CATEGORY A
- Hold each mini-squat for a count of ten.
- Do 10 repetitions in a set.
- Do at least three sets in the course of the week.
CATEGORY B
- Hold each mini-squat for a count of five.
- Do 10 repetitions in a set.
- Do at least three sets in the course of the week.
CATEGORY C
- Hold each mini-squat for a count of three.
- Do 10 repetitions in a set.
- Do at least three sets in the course of the week.
This week, in addition, let’s develop these mini-squats into a routine that will really help your ski-balance.
Now that you are accustomed to the basic exercise, you can stay in the squat position and do the following sequence. Take all the movements slowly and steadily. Beware - some of the positions are deliberately unstable and you can easily overreach and fall out of balance. Hold on to the back of a chair until you have got the hang of things.
1. Squat slowly down into the basic position. Hold it for a count of three.
2. Without standing up, shift your body weight straight across until it is almost all over the left foot. (In moving across, you mainly pivot at the ANKLES.) You should achieve a position in which your left foot, knee, hip and shoulder are all in line vertically. Hold for a count of three. Return to the basic position, without standing up, and hold it for a count of three.
3. Now shift your body weight straight across until it is almost all over the right foot. In doing this, you achieve a position in which your right foot, knee, hip and shoulder are all in line vertically. Hold for a count of three. Return to the basic position, without standing up, and hold it for a count of three.
4. Now shift your body weight a little forward, over the balls of your feet. Be careful not to fall over: this is not a stable position. Hold for a count of three. Return to the basic position, without standing up, and hold it for a count of three.
5. Now shift your body weight a little backward, over your heels. Be careful not to fall over: this is not a stable position. Hold for a count of three. Return to the basic position, then stand up and take a well-earned rest.
The idea of this sequence is not just to help your muscles. It is also to develop balance, by simulating what often happens when you ski down hills on cross-country ski tracks - you encounter bumps and dips, and snow of different types and conditions. And all of it tends to throw you off balance! These exercises can help you prepare for that. They get you used to a variety of positions, some of which are stable – some of which are not. The more quickly you can recognise that you are getting out of balance, the more chance you will have of making a successful correction.
We will add more variations to this sequence in future postings.
Merry Christmas and happy training!
Stuart Montgomery (Director - XCuk Ltd)
=====================================================================================
Have you booked your place on our holiday yet? There is still time to book! ALL Standards including beginners very welcome. For full details visit:
http://www.nordicfitnessonline.com/blue/nordicskiing/nordicskiing.htm
=====================================================================================
=====================================================================================
I am very grateful to Stuart Montgomery for putting together this training course.
As well as being a fellow INWA Nordic Walking Instructor Stuart is a Director of Tour Operator XCuk Ltd http://www.xcuk.com the company who are providing the Nordic Walking News cross-country skiing holiday to Norway this coming February.
=====================================================================================
Welcome to Week 4 of our ski readiness course. It is intended mainly for those joining our February cross-country skiing holiday in Norway (see http://www.nordicfitnessonline.com/blue/nordicskiing/nordicskiing.htm for details). But it will also benefit anyone who wants to improve their fitness.
(The course is progressive. So if you missed the last three weeks, please go back to our posting of 4 December where you will find the rationale for the course, as well as an explanation of the three “categories” that we refer to below. Please also remember that in earlier postings we have described mobilisation exercises for you to do before every workout, and muscle stretches for you to do after every workout.)
Nordic Walking
It is Christmas and we hope other important priorities will compete for the time you normally have available for training! So we will not raise the intensity of your Nordic walking this week.
If you can find the time, do the same Nordic walking programme as last week, once again adding “bursts of speed” to some of your Nordic walking sessions. Here are the programmes again:
CATEGORY A
Three Nordic walking sessions of 30 minutes plus two sessions of 60 minutes. Include a two-minute burst of speed to each of the three 30-minute sessions.
CATEGORY B
Two Nordic walking sessions of 30 minutes plus one session of 60 minutes.
Include a two-minute burst of speed to both of the 30-minute sessions.
CATEGORY C
One Nordic walking session of 30 minutes plus one session of 45 minutes.
Include a two-minute burst of speed to the 30-minute session.
This week try very hard to achieve good Nordic walking technique in all your sessions, concentrating especially on:
- performing a good pushback in which you take your poling hand well behind your hip,
- engaging your abdominal muscles,
- rotating your shoulders as you walk.
Muscle toning
As usual we continue to work on the mini-squats, which are great for toning the legs.
Last week we asked you to increase the length of time you are holding each mini-squat. And we asked you to do two or three “sets” of about 10 “repetitions” of this exercise in the course of the week. This week repeat what you did last week. Here are the programmes again:
CATEGORY A
- Hold each mini-squat for a count of ten.
- Do 10 repetitions in a set.
- Do at least three sets in the course of the week.
CATEGORY B
- Hold each mini-squat for a count of five.
- Do 10 repetitions in a set.
- Do at least three sets in the course of the week.
CATEGORY C
- Hold each mini-squat for a count of three.
- Do 10 repetitions in a set.
- Do at least three sets in the course of the week.
This week, in addition, let’s develop these mini-squats into a routine that will really help your ski-balance.
Now that you are accustomed to the basic exercise, you can stay in the squat position and do the following sequence. Take all the movements slowly and steadily. Beware - some of the positions are deliberately unstable and you can easily overreach and fall out of balance. Hold on to the back of a chair until you have got the hang of things.
1. Squat slowly down into the basic position. Hold it for a count of three.
2. Without standing up, shift your body weight straight across until it is almost all over the left foot. (In moving across, you mainly pivot at the ANKLES.) You should achieve a position in which your left foot, knee, hip and shoulder are all in line vertically. Hold for a count of three. Return to the basic position, without standing up, and hold it for a count of three.
3. Now shift your body weight straight across until it is almost all over the right foot. In doing this, you achieve a position in which your right foot, knee, hip and shoulder are all in line vertically. Hold for a count of three. Return to the basic position, without standing up, and hold it for a count of three.
4. Now shift your body weight a little forward, over the balls of your feet. Be careful not to fall over: this is not a stable position. Hold for a count of three. Return to the basic position, without standing up, and hold it for a count of three.
5. Now shift your body weight a little backward, over your heels. Be careful not to fall over: this is not a stable position. Hold for a count of three. Return to the basic position, then stand up and take a well-earned rest.
The idea of this sequence is not just to help your muscles. It is also to develop balance, by simulating what often happens when you ski down hills on cross-country ski tracks - you encounter bumps and dips, and snow of different types and conditions. And all of it tends to throw you off balance! These exercises can help you prepare for that. They get you used to a variety of positions, some of which are stable – some of which are not. The more quickly you can recognise that you are getting out of balance, the more chance you will have of making a successful correction.
We will add more variations to this sequence in future postings.
Merry Christmas and happy training!
Stuart Montgomery (Director - XCuk Ltd)
=====================================================================================
Have you booked your place on our holiday yet? There is still time to book! ALL Standards including beginners very welcome. For full details visit:
http://www.nordicfitnessonline.com/blue/nordicskiing/nordicskiing.htm
=====================================================================================
Comments:
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Nice article,
I have a quick question though. I recently got into skiing not too long ago on a vacation to a lodge. I really enjoyed it, however where I normally live I don't have easy access to the slopes. Besides "Nordic Walking" are there any other exercises or activities I can do to practice on my form and balance for the ski slopes? I've heard great things about eliptical bikes, but I don't really know how useful they are for skiing techniques. I have some skiier friends who love using them, and I have others who don't care for them much at all. I've done some looking around, trying to get some preliminary info on how they operate and how much they cost etc., but I'm still not sure if it's what I need. I found a couple of good articles, like this one that goes over some of the basics of the elliptical bike, it even mentions skiing. However, I'd still like to get some more info, and a "2nd opinion" so to speak before I actually go out and buy one of these things. Do you endorse using elliptical bikes to either stay in skiing shape and/or improve form and technique or would I just take that money and use it to get out on the actual slopes more often? Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
I have a quick question though. I recently got into skiing not too long ago on a vacation to a lodge. I really enjoyed it, however where I normally live I don't have easy access to the slopes. Besides "Nordic Walking" are there any other exercises or activities I can do to practice on my form and balance for the ski slopes? I've heard great things about eliptical bikes, but I don't really know how useful they are for skiing techniques. I have some skiier friends who love using them, and I have others who don't care for them much at all. I've done some looking around, trying to get some preliminary info on how they operate and how much they cost etc., but I'm still not sure if it's what I need. I found a couple of good articles, like this one that goes over some of the basics of the elliptical bike, it even mentions skiing. However, I'd still like to get some more info, and a "2nd opinion" so to speak before I actually go out and buy one of these things. Do you endorse using elliptical bikes to either stay in skiing shape and/or improve form and technique or would I just take that money and use it to get out on the actual slopes more often? Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Hi Lee
It'd David Downer here - Nordic Walking News Editor...
Having only skied 4 times in my life (3 x downhill and now once XC Ski), I am no expert re ski training. Also I have no experience of eliptical bikes. So I'm probably not the best person to advise on this matter.
However, now that I have experienced XC Skiing, for me the obvious training activity for the sport when you don't have access to snow is "roller skiing'. I understand that it is used extensively for XC Ski training, there are even competive races and it is the nearest thing to the real thing when you don't have access to snow.
The other thing I would suggest is that you consider purchasing the excellent XC Ski book - "Stride and Glide" (there's a link in the left hand border of this page) - co written by Stuart Montgomery with Paddy Field. In there you will find a couple of informative chapters on XC Ski training including advice on building a training program focusing on essentials such as suppleness, stamina, stength and speed.
Good luck
David
Post a Comment
It'd David Downer here - Nordic Walking News Editor...
Having only skied 4 times in my life (3 x downhill and now once XC Ski), I am no expert re ski training. Also I have no experience of eliptical bikes. So I'm probably not the best person to advise on this matter.
However, now that I have experienced XC Skiing, for me the obvious training activity for the sport when you don't have access to snow is "roller skiing'. I understand that it is used extensively for XC Ski training, there are even competive races and it is the nearest thing to the real thing when you don't have access to snow.
The other thing I would suggest is that you consider purchasing the excellent XC Ski book - "Stride and Glide" (there's a link in the left hand border of this page) - co written by Stuart Montgomery with Paddy Field. In there you will find a couple of informative chapters on XC Ski training including advice on building a training program focusing on essentials such as suppleness, stamina, stength and speed.
Good luck
David
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