I absolutely love skiing. It was my first introduction to the mountains that I love, and I want to be skiing into my 80s and beyond. But there was a period where my habits and body kept me from fully enjoying both skiing and the mountains.
In a lot of instances, people end up feeling like they're barely getting their body to the end of season closing day. We don’t always realize how important it is to give back to the body that gives to you! Today, I’m sharing two proactive steps to do this ski season so your body is still there for you whether you want to go downhill fast or enjoy the mountains in the summer too.
Now there is one moment in particular when it became incredibly clear that I needed to reset my perspective.
I was fresh out of university and coaching a ski team four days a week. I was skiing for myself as well, so I was on snow a lot and I was super focused on giving my athletes the best training environment they could have.
I neglected my own body and my own health that winter. I thought as a 22-year-old, I didn't need to put any time into my body and it would just be there for me. But by March, I was worn out, burned out and sloppy on the snow. I was feeling creaky knees and hips, and when I surveyed my Instagram, I realized that I was not alone.
How Skiing Affects The Body
First, let's dive into what skiing actually does to our bodies. To go skiing, we are stuffing our feet into arguably the world's stiffest shoes, sitting on chair lifts for as long as we are skiing down the mountain at least, and then hopping off of that lift and resisting super high forces, all for the sake of enjoying gravity.
I personally could not live life without it. But the cast that you're putting around your foot and the 90 degrees that you're sitting at when you're on that chair lift is going to have consequences if you don't work on what that equipment is doing to your body.
My Wake Up Call
I feel better now as a 32-year-old than I did as a 22-year-old. The wake-up call that I needed was this one moment I went to drop into a deep squat, something that I would always do pre-season to help me get ready for skiing, and I fell right over backwards.
My ankles and feet had become stiff and weak. When I went to go down into a squat, my knees couldn't go forward over my toes, and instead, I was sitting backwards. That was increasing the sheer force on my knees. This is probably why my knees were feeling cranky that winter when I was 22, and probably working its way up into why my hips were feeling cranky as well. Down the chain, that might mean I'm not able to access all of my hip muscles to get stability through the hips, which ironically, over time is going to make skiing on stiff and uneven terrain more difficult.
Now, I'm not one to shy away from hard work, so I started to chip away at those stiff and tight and weak ankles and these two moves that I'm about to show you are the ones that changed the game the most for me.
Move 1: 2 Part Ankle Let Down
But for this first simple move, you need to carve out two minutes per day and find a slightly raised surface to use.
Now this first move, a two-part ankle letdown, is magical for a couple of reasons.
First, you're going to find a stretch with a bent knee.
Then you're going to find a stretch with a straight knee.
Then part three you're going to do a calf raise onto your tippy of tiptoes.
I have two parts to my calf muscle. One of them is stretched more in this bent knee position. One is stretched more in a straight leg position. So it's important to stretch in both. Beyond that, I then want to actively use the muscle through its entire range of motion to neurologically lock in those changes I've made to muscle length.
Start with just a minute of side, but you can increase this as you feel more comfortable and confident. And I always like to test and retest my low squat after doing this to really see the impact it can make.
Move 2: Toe Lifts and Switches
Now, the secret move I talked about earlier is one that can help you on and off the ski hill. You can do it anywhere, any time, without anyone knowing!
The move is called toe lifts and switches. Try them now, even inside shoes.
Here’s how to do them:
Lift your big toes and press all of your little toes down.
Switch and press your big toe down and lift all your little toes up.
Bonus points if you can keep those toes spread apart the entire time.
Even though we are wearing the world's stiffest shoes when we're out skiing, any coach worth their season's pass is going to tell you that your feet are actually incredibly active within those ski boots. Tiny movements by the muscles of the feet are going to shift where your balance is on skis. This can make you look and feel like you're floating down even the toughest of terrain.
Now, because these movements transfer so well to hiking, I include them in the 8-Week Hike-Ready Program. If you're interested in getting involved and effectively transitioning from ski season to hiking season, then I’d recommend checking the program out!
But right now, today, you can start implementing those two movements at the end of your ski day. And I hope that they help you experience less calf pain, less knee pain, and less hip pain as you get out of those stiff boots!
Have a WILDR week.
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