Help! I’m going skiing for the first time in 4 weeks!

January 14, 2016 by Tony Lowe
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BASS-Megeve-ski-lesson
Ski lessons will make or break your first ski experience – choose a excellent instructor such as the team at BASS St Gervis – Megeve

HELP!! I am 52 and have never skied in my life! I am not really fit:( and have 4 weeks to at least make some effort. I also have a problem with one knee so shall have to work around that:(
Where would you suggest I start?

We recently received this question from a SkiFit user who faces the very common position of being very excited to be heading out on their first ever skiing holiday, but they only have a short period to prepare themselves and their body for an activity they have never done before. This is the advice offered by Neil to anyone who finds themselves in a similar position:

Thanks for getting in touch about preparing for your ski holiday. In your position I would take on the full SkiFit programme but just focus on the Phase 1 and perhaps the Phase 2 workouts. The first time you do Phase 1 it will be a struggle, there will be exercises you will find difficult and you will probably ache for 2-3 days afterwards. This is normal! Let the aches subside (over 4-5 days) and then repeat the workout. In our experience by the 3rd time you do the workout your body will have adjusted and the aches won’t recur.

With your knee… you really have to listen to your own body and make sure you don’t experience any pain during the SkiFit exercises. If necessary you can hold onto a chair for support during the more difficult exercises and so reduce the load this knee takes but it is important to exercise even a troublesome knee if you want to improve.

Build up to completing the workout 3-4 times per week for the fastest improvement and only progress to Phase 2 if you are starting to find Phase 1 easy. If you do this you will be absolutely prepared to make the most of your first ski holiday and will probably not find the skiing particularly physically demanding so you can concentrate on learning the techniques and making fast progress.

Ideally you would start your training about 8 weeks out from your skiing holiday, but four weeks is still enough time to make significant improvements to prepare yourself for skiing if you follow an appropriate and structured programme such as SkiFit!

Tony Lowe
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