Balance Holding You Back? Here’s How To Level Up Your Skiing
While we may not think of having good balance as an essential skill to skiing in the way it is to walking on a tightrope or doing ballet, it’s a skill that can make a huge difference.
Whether it’s hitting a patch of weird snow, landing an air on one leg and pulling it back in, or just keeping it in the front seat, there are all kinds of ways good balance will improve your skiing, but how do you train for something that feels like an innate skill some people are just born with?
There are a few ways you can work to improve your balance that also strengthen lots of small (and large) muscles in your feet, legs, knees, hips, and core, and will make a noticeable difference on the mountain. Like everything, practice makes perfect, but luckily, some of these are pretty fun. Here are a few of our favorite ways to improve your balance for skiing.
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Improve Your Core Strength
A strong core is one of the best ways to improve your balance on skis for a number of reasons, but mainly because it creates a strong base for movement. Core strength involves more than just having six-pack abs; your core is built from both inner and outer core muscles. Major inner core muscles attach to your spine and act as the primary stabilizers for your spine and pelvis. Your outer core muscles are what we think of as “abs” and can be seen, but they have more to do with movement than stability.
There are tons of good core exercises out there (like Winter Vinecki’s 300 Abs core circuit!), but some will target balance more than others. Here are a few of our favorite core exercises that specifically help balance:
- Reverse lunges with a twist—add weight to your twist with a medicine ball, kettlebell or dumbbell
- Planks and side planks—add shoulder taps to your planks for an extra challenge in core stability
- Mountain climbers
- Bird dogs
- Swiss-ball pikes
Related: Feel The Burn—4 Pro Skier Workouts To Prep for Ski Season
Use Tools That Actively Challenge Your Balance
Core strengthening is a great place to start, but there are also a handful of tools you can use in the gym that actively require good balance and will help you improve it. You can add other core or leg exercises in with these tools or take them as their own challenge.
BOSU Ball
BOSU balls are like if you cut a Swiss ball in half and put a plastic plate on one side. You can use them with the flat side down and stand on the bouncy exercise ball side or with the ball side down and standing on the flat side. Depending on what you’re doing, there are benefits to both ways. If you have the flat side down, you can do squats (single and two-legged) or lunges with the front leg on the ball and get a bit of added resistance and wobble from the BOSU.
For a more advanced workout, put the ball side down and step on the flat side. This also adds a balance challenge to single and two-leg squats, planks, or you can rock the ball back and forth from foot to foot (think like skaters) with some extra difficulty. If you need more inspiration, check out John Collinson’s BOSU workouts on his Instagram.
Balance Blocks/Pads
Like a BOSU ball, a balance block or pad can add a balance challenge to your gym workout. You can use a bigger balance pad with both feet for things like squats, or try just standing on a single foot one for 45 seconds to a minute. If that’s easy, then add in single-leg or pistol squats. There are a few types of these balance blocks, but the foam ones often have different heights/thicknesses for different levels of difficulty.
Indo Board
Indo Boards are like a skateboard on a foam roller that requires you to keep moving to stay upright. They’re a super common tool for snowboarders and skateboarders as they mimic the sideways motions, but can be a great tool for generally improving balance. If just standing on one of these is too easy, try playing catch with a friend or tossing a light medicine ball at the wall while you stand on it.
Related: 5 Best Ski Exercises for a Targeted Full-Body Workout
Find Other Activities That Help Train Balance
The gym isn’t the only place to improve your balance, nor is it everyone’s favorite place. Luckily, there are plenty of other things you can do (outside!) to improve your balance before ski season.
Slacklining
Slacklining is one of the best ways to improve your balance and is a super fun pastime. You can make a DIY slackline without spending too much money from pretty basic hardware store materials, or you can buy a kit. You can set a slackline up anywhere you’ve got two reasonably distanced trees.
If you’re setting it up in public, check local regulations about setting lines up, as some places will have restrictions, and make sure you’re using something to protect the tree, too. Getting on and off a slackline is basically a pistol squat, so you’ll also get a good leg workout in.
Photo: Jordan Siemens/Getty Images
Trail Running
Trail running, specifically on more technical terrain, is a great way to train your balance and reflexes, not to mention strengthen your legs, hip flexors and core. While it may not be as precise as some of these other exercises or activities in improving balance, running on rocky or technical terrain certainly requires good coordination.
Rollerblading
Rollerblading isn’t unlike skiing on wheels. While you might have a slightly wider platform to balance on on skis, the mechanism of rollerblading still involves leaning forward into the “boot,” a similar push-and-glide motion as skating on skis, and a whole lot of balance. Not to mention that, if you’re just learning to rollerblade, your balance will probably get a lot better reallyyyyy quickly too.
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