Inline Skating: Off Season Training for Snow Sliders

Inline skating works a number of the same muscle groups that are used in dynamic, athletic skiing. A skating session works the quadriceps and gluteals, along with the hip abductors, which are the outer thighs, and the adductors, which are the inner thigh muscles. These muscles work in conjunction with the quadriceps to support and stabilize the knee joint. In fact, some skiing-related knee injuries can be rehabilitated on skates. Additionally, the core stability you gain from training on inline skates will transfer directly to your skiing skills.

There are some interesting parallels between inline skating and skiing. The essentials skills of balance, edging, pressure, and rotary motion are crucial components of both sports. Skating throughout the warmer months can fine-tune your balance. This is because skates are much shorter than skis. If you compare standing on a platform that is only 25-30 cm, which is the average length of inline skates, vs. 145-180 cm long, the average length of shaped skis, , you will definitely find that it is significantly more challenging to balance on the shorter platform than on the longer one. This is why some ski instructors teach balance skills on 99cm snow blades. An excellent ski-specific drill that addresses balance is gliding on one foot at a time. This can help you identify the balance discrepancies between the right and left leg.

Inline skates have edges, just like the ones you see on alpine skis. Ski-specific skating drills can be practiced on a flat surface, or on a slight slop in order to simulate skiing. You can also use a series of cones to simulate slalom gates. If you are an advanced skater or skier, you can practice turn dynamics such as edging and weight transfer. You can even work on the timing and coordination of your pole plant. You can cover your ski pole tips with duct tape or with tennis balls with a hole punched in them. One of the major benefits of ski-specific training on skates is that your turns cannot be skidded. They must be carved. This allows you to get some off-season carving practice before you hit the slopes.

Article: Skate to Ski

This entry was contributed by Lisa Mercer.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 7th, 2007 at 12:15 pm and is filed under Food & Nutrition, Fitness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.