Snowboarding Exercise

Stretching

Quad Stretch
Stand with one hand holding onto the back of a chair to maintain balance. With the free hand, reach behind and grasp the instep of the lower extremity you want to stretch and bring it up toward your buttocks. You should feel a stretch in the front of your thigh.

Hamstring Stretch
Place the foot of the lower extremity you want to stretch on a chair. Lean forward slowly reaching down your leg until a stretch is felt in the back of your thigh.


Calf Stretch
Stand 2-3 feet away from a wall. Put your hands against the wall at about shoulder level to support your weight. Lean in toward the wall by bending your elbows until you feel a stretch in the back of your calves. Keep your body erect, your knees straight, and your hips forward. DO NOT bend at the waist. Make sure your heels remain on the ground. Alternate foot position by turning the feet outward, stretching, then inward, and repeating the stretch. To increase stretch, a book can be placed under the "ball" of the foot, letting the heels hang down.
Start with 3 sets of 20 repetitions and progress as appropriate.


Exercise

Walking Lunge
The lunge is a great fitness exercise for strong snowboarding legs. While standing, take a large step forward and lwer down until your back knee almost hits the ground. Keep both knees at 90 degree angles. Push up and step forward, then continue on with the other leg.

Wall Squat
Here's a thigh/quad burner: sit against a wall as if there was a chair underneath you. With your knees at 90 degree angles and your ankles directly under your knees, hold for a 30 to 60 second count.

Calf Raise
This one helps you withstand those nasty toeside traverses on a snowboard. Stand on a stair, facing up the staircase. With your heels over the edge of the step, slowly push up onto the tips of your toes. Lower back down and repeat. To make it harder, put on a backpack with something heavy inside.

Pushups
Pushups help build your upper body and abdominal fitness for snowboarding. You can do them on your knees at first and then on your toes as you get stronger. Your hands should be a little bit wider than your shoulders. Lower your body down slowly and back up, keeping your body straight.

Situps
Abdominal (stomach) muscles are an important part of your stability strength for snowboarding fitness. Situps are easy to do at home. With your back and feet on the floor, knees bent, curl up as you tighten your stomach muscles then lower back down. Try to keep your muscles tight the entire time. Abdominal strength is important in snowboarding for both maintaining balance as well as performing turns. This exercise is performed by crossing both arms across your chest and curling up your upper trunk so that your shoulder blades are raised off the floor. Start with 3 sets of 15 repetitions and progress as appropriate.

Ankle Alphabet
Snowboarding uses ankle and feet muscles for steering and balance. The "ankle alphabet" exercise is a great way to strengthen your ankles. Just sit on the couch (sounds great so far) and raise one foot off the ground. Point your toes and motion or "write" the letter "A" in the air. Then "B", "C", you get the drift.


Balance
Balance is very important, and contrary to popular belief...you can practice to improve your balance. Try this easy exercise....place a tennis ball under the ball of each foot. Now try to balance only on the tennis balls, not allowing any other part of your foot to touch the ground. Hold onto something solid until you are balanced. Progress onto performing small squats on the tennis balls while remaining balanced. Move onto equipment, such as a Vew-Do board to add a more dynamic component to your balance training.

Aerobic Exercise
Aerobic exercise, such as jogging or bicycling, is necessary to maintain overall physical endurance to prevent injury secondary to fatigue. Aerobic exercise should be done for 20-30 minutes at least 3 times a week.

The Plan
For the person that is basically out of shape due to sitting in a chair all day, let's start with these levels. Your numbers will vary depending on age, experience, how in shape you are, etc. I am starting this the beginning of December so that I will be in shape for our Durango, CO trip later this month.


Schedule

Week 1
Stretch - 8 min
Walking Lunge - 2 sets of 5
Wall Squat - 2 sets of 10 seconds
Calf Raise - 2 sets of 10
Pushups - 2 sets of 5
Situps - 2 sets of 5
Ankle Alphabet A - M on each ankle
Balance - 1 minute
Aerobic Exercise: jog around inner block (about quarter mile)