I wrote this for Skipost ! They’ve got lots of articles from lots of people on lots of topics.
Other sports.
It’s a bit of a personality trait for many skiers (especially the ones I know [Zak Ketterson]) to do different sports in the spring. This is mostly to give the mind a break from skiing all the time, and do some alternative training. Definitely helpful stuff! However, the benefits of doing other sports (as a skier) go beyond a mental break. Moving differently helps your body stay resilient and keeps you good at learning new things.
Zak balling so hard. Logan Diekmann pointing out that you can always hoop!
Personally, I’ve had a great time alpine skiing and playing hockey this spring, but also really like biking and swimming through the summer, and playing basketball when I can. I’ve realized that skiing often feels easier after doing these things, and I think the reason is because in doing these actives I get slightly out of my “rut” of ski movement and allow myself to play with different movement patterns, which allows me to be more flexible in how I ski.
Gotta go up to come down
I think this is beneficial to everyone, especially master athletes who have been skiing a really long time and maybe struggle to make technical changes. When you teach your body a new thing, even if it’s totally unrelated to skiing, it develops an awareness that’s required to make changes in an activity that your body “knows” really well. For example, the arm “pull” in swimming might give you a refresher on how to engage your lat to apply power, which could then transfer over to that double pole technique that has felt too tricep-heavy lately.
Love biking
My point is, don’t be scared of doing other active things for ski training, even during race season, because it can get you out of your rut juuust enough to make some good changes. And it should be fun! For me, those extra activities are ones I like and also tend to get me a little involved in other communities, which I think is really cool. If you don’t know where to start, maybe just see if you have any friends that are into slightly different activities and see if they can show you around.
Wakesurfing!
By the way, this is absolutely an anecdotal piece about a topic I’m sure is studied in depth, by professionals. I don’t know any of these things for sure but I apply the ideas to my own training, so give that as much credibility as you think it deserves.
Try some new things!
Gus