Ski fitness programme

Press, 1 June 1989, Page 38

Ski fitness programme

There’s nothing worse than arriving at the slopes for your first ski-ing session of the winter only to realise that you are unfit. To help skiers avoid this, the Canterbury Institute of Sport and Corporate Health has devised a three-month ski fitness programme. The Institute has been running sports specific programmes for some years, but this is the first aimed at recreational skiers rather than Olympic aspirants. The programme was put together by Peter Wallace and Dr Sven Hansen. They talked to skiers about how long they spent on the mountain, and what percentage of that was ski-ing, as opposed to standing talking or waiting

in lift queues. Then they looked at the techniques skiers use, and asked the institute physiotherapists what kind of ski-ing injuries they treated most often.

“So we identified the components of our programme that we needed to zero in on — the joints, the muscles, the ligaments,” explains Peter Wallace. “We built up the programme like that.”

The programme combines exercises for flexibility, balance, strength and endurance. Clients have a basic assessment, which looks at their aerobic capacity, their tissue structure, their posture any proneness to injury. Then they are given their own

individual programme from within the basic ski fitness structure.

“Our intention is not to make people into Olympic athletes but to minimise their potential injury risk and enhance their performance and enjoyment on the ski field,” Peter Wallace said.

Since this is the first year the programme has been running, institute staff are watching participants closely.

The aim of the first six weeks is to allow people's bodies to adapt to the stresses of training. Then programme two will be issued. The stretch and muscle balance exercises will continue, perhaps in a modified form, and for those capable the intensity will be stepped up.