Get fit for Skiing - Week 3

As we count down the start to the ski season there are now only 8 weeks until we open the Christiania in Les Gets for season 2011/12, we have in association with Steve Bonthrone, a personal trainer from Perth put together a series of 10 exercises to help get you fit for the up coming season. if you search for Fitness on this blog you can find the past exercises and we will publish a fresh routine every Saturday until the 3rd of December.

This week Steve said "It’s now time to try and increase the duration of the cardiovascular exercise to 45mins each time. The intensity should be kept at a moderately challenging level for now, with endurance being the key. Try to use music as a distraction while you do this exercise as boredom can creep in quite easily so stick your favourite tunes on and go for it!"

3.      Step Ups

This is an excellent exercise which works all the muscles in the lower part of the body, the ‘core’ muscles in the stomach and offers lots of variations for progression. Use a step or platform that’s almost knee height in order to work all the muscles equally. Aim to perform 3 sets of 15 reps and alternate the leading leg. To progress, you can try holding dumbbells by the side, hold an object straight out in front of the body or hold the object, or simply raise the hands, above the head. These will make the postural muscles work harder. Alternatively, lower the height of the step and try going faster for, say, 30secs, 45secs or 1min with rest between sets.

©Steve Bonthrone 2011 No part of this article may be copied without permission