With more snow on the ground, ski and snowboarders are hitting the slopes, and hockey rinks are coming alive. This month, we’re highlighting what it takes to perform at your best in skiing, snowboarding, and hockey. Getting outside in winter can help ease symptoms of seasonal affective disorder and offers other benefits, such as improved mood, motivation and energy levels throughout the day.
Skiing
Skiing is a physically demanding sport that calls for lower-body strength, power, balance, coordination, and aerobic endurance. Staying active all year is an effective way to boost performance on the slopes and reduce injury risk when the season begins.
Thanks to advancements in ski equipment technology, lower-body injuries have reduced over time. Still, ACL, MCL, and meniscus tears remain highly prevalent among skiers. The most common upper-body injury that skiers face is “skier’s thumb”, which is caused by a tear to the ulnar collateral ligament, and it typically occurs during falls while gripping ski poles.
Ski season preparation exercises include:
- Compound lifts like squats, deadlifts, and lunges build lower-body strength. A barbell RDL is a great option for skiers as it helps to improve posterior chain strength. A heel-elevated goblet squat or a barbell front squat is an excellent variation for skiers, as it improves leg strength while forcing us to maintain a more upright posture, which translates to the demands on the hill.
- Knee-stability exercises such as the Patrick step-down and Poliquin step-down enhance quad strength, knee and hip stability, and ankle mobility.
- Glute-focused exercises are essential for ensuring proper knee tracking relative to the hips. Including a single-leg glute bridge and/or standing cable hip abduction can help to support knee and hip stability while improving any muscle imbalances between the legs.
- Plyometrics develop explosive power and improve shock absorption on hard terrain, reducing stress on the hips, knees, and ankles. Box jumps, squat jumps, and jumping lunges are effective plyometric options.
- Lateral lunges to improve weight shifting during turns, as this lunge variation forces us to move in a plane of movement specific to skiing.
Snowboarding
Snowboarding requires substantial leg and core strength, aerobic endurance, balance, and coordination to maintain posture and control weight shifts while riding.
Unlike skiing, snowboarding tends to result in more upper-body injuries because both feet are fixed to the snowboard. Typical upper body injuries include wrist fractures and shoulder dislocations. Snowboarders face a higher risk of ankle injuries compared to knee injuries, unlike skiers.
Pre-season gym training is key to snowboarding performance and injury prevention.
- Compound lifts: Lower-body compound movements build leg strength, such as squats, deadlifts and lunge variations. More specifically, a sumo deadlift is a great option, as it improves quad, glute, and adductor strength while keeping the torso more upright than in a traditional barbell deadlift.
- Ankle-stability exercises such as calf raises, toe walking, and knee-to-wall lunges can be beneficial. Balance boards are another great way to improve lower-body stability, balance, and control.
- Overhead pressing exercises support rotator cuff stability and reduce the risk of shoulder injury or separation during a fall. A single-arm bottom-up kettlebell press or a half-kneeling single-arm landmine press is a great option for improving rotator cuff stability and overall upper-body strength
Hockey
Hockey is a full-body, high-intensity sport that relies on strong legs, a stable core, and powerful back muscles, particularly the lats (latissimus dorsi), which are large back muscles used for shooting and passing the puck. It also requires aerobic endurance paired with short bursts of explosive power.
Hockey players are prone to various injuries due to the sport’s high intensity. Common upper-body injuries include acromioclavicular (AC) joint injuries and elbow bursitis. MCL sprains are the most frequent knee injury, while hip and groin strains often result from forceful push-offs. High ankle sprains can also occur despite skate boot support. To perform at the highest potential on ice while reducing injury risk on ice, it starts with off-ice training in the gym.
To enhance on-ice performance, hockey players should prioritize strength training, including exercises such as:
- Back exercises such as pull-ups, rows, and lat pulldowns are a great way for hockey players to build overall back and core strength for more powerful passes and shots on ice.
- Lateral movement variations improve leg strength in addition to hip, knee and ankle mobility. Exercises such as the cossack squat are a great movement pattern for hockey players and will help not only with overall strength development but also with lower body mobility.
- Hip stability and adductor strength: Copenhagen planks are another great option for hockey players, as they strengthen the adductors and core, support hip stability, while reducing the risk of groin strains.
- Explosive exercises, including sled pushes/sprints, single-leg hops and bounds, and kettlebell swings, build speed and power to become more efficient when pushing off the ice to gain speed.
Every winter sport has its unique demands on the body. Understanding these needs helps us to design efficient and effective training programs tailored to your individual goals. Whether you’re buckling up your ski boots or stepping onto the ice, the preparation starts in the gym. When we work on building strength, improving stability and boosting endurance, you can enjoy your favourite winter activities all season long.
