Assessing Strength for Skiers and Snowboarders: Building Power and Stability

Strength is the cornerstone of performance and injury prevention in skiing and snowboarding. Whether you're carving down steep slopes or tackling freestyle tricks, a strong and stable body is essential. This article explains how skiers and boarders can assess their strength, identify areas for improvement, and incorporate exercises to enhance performance on the slopes and avoid injury.

Technique Health & Fitness have specialists in preventing and treating ski and snowboarding injuries across its clinics in Central London.

Assessing Skiing and Snowboarding Strength

Strength assessment is key to identifying weaknesses or imbalances that can lead to injuries. Focus on the following areas:

1. Lower Body Strength:
   The quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calves are the workhorses for skiing and snowboarding. Exercises like squats, step-ups, and single-leg movements can highlight imbalances or deficiencies in leg strength.

2. Core Stability:
   A strong core supports better control and balance, essential for carving, jumping, and landing. Assess core stability with plank holds, side planks, and rotational exercises like Russian twists or cable chops.

3. Explosive Power:
   Explosiveness is crucial for quick movements, sharp turns, and jumping. Vertical jumps, broad jumps, and single-leg hops are excellent ways to measure your power and readiness for dynamic riding demands.

4. Endurance:
   Strength without endurance can lead to fatigue, making injuries more likely. Tests like total number of single-leg squats in 30 seconds, or timed squat holds help to assess your muscle stamina, which is critical for long sessions on the slopes.

---

Benchmarking strength for skiers and snowboarders

For skiing and snowboarding, consider these benchmarks to ensure you're slope-ready:

Squats:
Beginner or older riders with or without specific joint issues should be comfortable with bodyweight squats, and a good indicator of fitness would be having the capability to perform 30 body weight squats in one go.

For advanced skiers and snowboarders who are used to doing weighted squats there should be an intention to lift above and beyond their body weight. For females should aim to lift 75-100% of body weight and males should aim to lift 125-150% of bodyweight.

Single-Leg Squats:
Single leg squats give an indication of unilateral strength and endurance, athletes should be able to complete 14 single leg squats in 30 seconds.

Plank holds:

Plank and side plank holds give an indication of abdominal endurance and stability around the torso and pelvis.

Vertical Jump:
Counter movement jumps indicate an athlete’s explosiveness and ability to absorb the various forces that are encountered when on the slopes, Riders with strong explosive power should aim for a minimum jump height of 18–24 inches, depending on skill and fitness levels.

At Technique Health and Fitness our physiotherapists and strength coaches can help assess these benchmarks and tailor a training plan to meet your specific needs.

---

Strength-building exercises for skiing and snowboarding

1.  Squats:
   A key way to building foundational strength in your quads and glutes with bodyweight squats. Progress to weighted squats or single-leg variations like Bulgarian split squats to challenge stability and balance, ideally this should be done with a trained physiotherapist or strength coach.

2. Deadlifts:
   Strengthen the hamstrings and lower back, which are critical for posture and shock absorption. Technique and form are all important with deadlifts, so guidance for beginners is a must.

3. Box Jumps:
   Improve explosive power to handle sharp turns and dynamic landings in freestyle terrain.

4. Side Lunges:
   Enhance lateral stability for carving and quick directional changes.

5. Rotational Core Drills:
   Use resistance bands or cables to strengthen rotational muscles for smoother turns and trick execution. Exercises like Pallof presses and woodchoppers are highly effective.

6. Balance and Stability Training:
   Incorporate balance boards, stability balls, or single-leg exercises to mimic the demands of uneven terrain. These drills improve proprioception, coordination, and control.

7. Conditioning:
   Incorporating cardiovascular sets into some sessions using equipment such as static bikes, ski ergs and assault bikes can be a very effective way to build overall fitness and endurance for big days on the slopes.

---

Bringing it all together

Strength and stability are critical for both skiing and snowboarding. Regularly assessing your fitness levels and incorporating targeted exercises into your routine will not only improve performance but also significantly reduce the risk of injuries.

For optimal results, consider working with our team of physiotherapy and strength coaches at Technique Health and Fitness, they’ll assess your current capabilities and craft a personalised plan. All our programmes incorporate a combination of strength, power, and endurance to give you the confidence to tackle the slopes with ease and precision.

---

Our aim at Technique Health & Fitness is to keep London fit, active & healthy through our team of highly experience physiotherapists, osteopaths & strength & conditioning specialists. We are evidence based and data driven in our approach to treatment.

Our ski-fit experts can help identify any vulnerabilities you may have which could give rise to an injury on the slopes and recommend a programme to help you enjoy your skiing or snowboarding without fear of getting hurt.

Should you be one of the unlucky ones returning from the slopes with a knee injury after skiing or other winter-sports related condition our team can support you through your rehabilitation.

We have clinics in the City, Vauxhall and Richmond and our physios and osteos would love to help.

Call our team on 0333 3583534, use the button below or email us on info@techniquehealth.org.