Leg Strengthening Exercises for Skiing! Here's what you need to do

Whether you are fresh to the slopes or a seasoned veteran, everyone will benefit from some ski-specific leg & core strengthening.

In this article we will be going through the most common muscles/areas used when skiing, including exercises YOU should be doing in order to keep yourself injury free and maximise your time on the snow!

The skiing muscles!

Whether you are a beginner on the greens, intermediate on the blues, or veteran on the black slopes, the particular muscles you use will actually differ.

Beginners: Those just starting out, or without much experience, you'll tend to learn how to slow down & turn through the 'pizza slice' technique. This is where the tip of your skis point inwards. What this does is create femoral internal rotation (turn your legs inwards) which as a result, works your hip internal rotator muscles quite strongly. These include your tensor fasiae latae (TFL), parts of the gluteus medius and minimums (buttocks), adductor longus and magnus (groin muscles), to name a few. You'll also need to strengthen your quadricep muscles!

To strengthen these area, check out the videos below:

Intermediates to advance: This category of skiers will likely be parallel skiing, and have less of a need for the 'pizza slice' muscles. Instead, spend the time building up your quads & hamstrings endurance, balance & proprioception.

If you're a beginner to strength training, start off with the wall sits, before transitioning to the bosu ball holds and hamstring bridges as seen in the videos below. This will help improve your balance on an unstable surface (the snow), your ability to perform 'power stops', as well as continue to build upon your overall quads/glutes/hamstrings endurance.