Skiing uses the majority of your leg and gluteal muscles. While the sport requires a considerable amount of leg strength, balance is even more important. On-slope balance encompasses proper strength/length muscle ratios as well correct muscle firing patterns. Off-slopes ski-specific leg exercises enhance ski-related balance, strength and leg muscle endurance.
Stretch Your Hip Flexors
Your hip flexors, which connect your thigh to your pelvis, may make or break your skiing experience. Tight hip flexors trigger a biomechanical process called reciprocal inhibition, in which the stiffness of one muscle group weakens the muscles of its antagonist or opposite muscle group. Tight hip flexors therefore cause gluteal weakness. Since gluteal muscle activity promotes powerful turn initiation, and correcting this imbalance is essential for efficient skiing. Assume a low lunge position, with your right knee bent, and your left leg extended behind it. Place both of your hands on the floor for balance, and shift your upper body weight forward toward your bent knee. Simultaneously press the heel of your straight leg toward the floor. Visualize increasing the distance between the top of your thigh and the lower part of your pelvis, and hold the stretch for one minute.
Work Your Hamstrings
Your hamstrings, which bend your knee, should be at least 80 percent as strong as your quadriceps, which extend the knee, warns British sport coach Brian Mackenzie, creator of the sport coach website. Skiing requires flexing and extending movements. If your quads have an unfair strength advantage over your hamstrings, you will favor extension or hyperextension movements, which shift your weight toward your ski tails and minimize control. The stability ball hamstring curl promotes hamstring and gluteal strength, dynamic balance, increased core muscle activity and hip flexor flexibility. Lie supine with your knees bent and your feet flat on the ball, separated at hip width apart. Tighten your abdominal muscles and peel each spinal vertebra away from the floor, creating a spinal bridge position. Stay in the bridge and bend and straighten your legs for 12 repetitions.
Integrate Leg and Foot Movements
Your feet initiate your ski turns, but your leg muscles must coordinate with your foot movements. A bosu or half ball, or two rubber balance discs facilitate an effective exercise for practicing this skill. Stand with one foot on each disc, or with both feet at the center of the bosu. Bend your knees and shift your weight so that you balance on the little toe of your right foot and the big toe of your left. Flatten both feet and simultaneously straighten your legs. Repeat on the opposite side. Gradually pick up speed.
Practice Plyometric Exercise
Plyometric exercise increases leg strength, speed, power and balance. This type of training is essential for skiers who want to spend time in the terrain park, the racing course or the mogul fields. Plyometric training also emphasizes the bent-knee landing technique, which enhances hamstring strength. Stand at the edge of a six-inch bench. Jump down, landing with your knees bent and your feet parallel. Perform eight repetitions, four times a week. Increase the bench height as you gain proficiency.
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