TRX Moves That Will Make You a Better Skier

Planning to hit the slopes soon? Prepare your body for this intense snow sport with a little help from the TRX Suspension Trainer.

Haven’t made it onto the slopes yet this season?

Well, it’s not too late to get ready!

You may feel rusty on that first day back on the mountain, and your body may not be physically prepared for the demands, but don’t fret, TRX Training has some recommendations to help prepare you for your day on the hill that you can do at the gym or in your own home.

TRX Course Instructor Miguel Vargas recommends adding these moves to your Suspension Training routine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXlzW8AF5vc

Warm up your ankles and hips

The first exercise is designed to warm up your ankles and hips through a modified squat. This move aims to open up the hips and ankles, providing enhanced mobility for when you’re locked into your skis or snowboard.

TRX Modified Squat

• Start with your straps at mid-length and stand facing the anchor point, holding the straps in your hands.
• Bring your feet forward toward the anchor point, and lean back, extending your arms out in front of you.
• With your feet hip-width distance apart, lower your hips down to a comfortable depth (hips behind heels) with arms fully extended.
• Next, use the TRX® Suspension Trainer ^TM to pull yourself forward with a bicep curl. Holding the arms in that biceps curl position, your position is set.
• Keep your spine tall as you maintain that seated position, and begin to shift your weight from left to right, and front to back. You’ll notice that your ankles are tracking the same type of motion that is experienced when you are skiing or snowboarding.
• You can do a few gorilla stomps to test you balance, as well.
• Return to standing by rotating your hands to tricep press yourself up, pressing up through the heels and extending the hips and knees to return to standing position.
• Spend a few reps playing with that range of motion in your squat.

Protect your back, strengthen your core

The second and third exercises will be a set of TRX body saws and TRX side planks with a scissor kicks. Coach Vargas notes that falls and back injuries are common during ski season, and this combo will help protect your spine and improve your core strength and stability.

TRX Plank to Body Saw

• To begin, lower your straps to mid-calf length (handles positioned at the knee), and place your feet in the foot cradles, knees and stomach on the ground.
• Facing the ground, raise your body into a TRX forearm plank.
• Slowly pull your body forward and back (a body saw) with control. Try 30 to 60 seconds of TRX body saws before transitioning to the TRX side plank.

TRX Side Plank and Scissor Kick

• From the TRX body saw, an easy transition to the TRX side plank would be to drop the knees to the ground, and slowly roll over to one side, with toes still in the foot cradles.
• Place your elbow on the ground directly under your shoulder and raise the hips off the ground. One foot should be out in front of the other, both parallel to the ground.
• Send your opposite arm up into the air, keeping the hand aligned with the shoulder.
• Once the TRX side plank position has been achieved, challenge this movement by slowly scissoring the legs apart, and back together.
• Perform this exercise again for 30 to 60 seconds, before dropping the hip to the ground, and rolling over to repeat the TRX side plank and scissor on the opposite side.
• You can also go directly from the side plank into a plank, perform two body saws, and repeat the side plank on the opposite side without dropping to the ground to rest.

Open up your shoulders, hips and ankles

TRX Lunge with Chest Stretch

The next exercise is a TRX lunge with a chest stretch, which Coach Vargas suggests for opening up your shoulders, hips and ankles.

• Start with your straps at the mid-length.
• Stand facing away from the anchor point with the TRX straps in your hands, which are out in front of your chest. Step forward into a lunge, raising your arms straight overhead into a letter I-position.
• While still in the lunge, sweep your arms down—like a snow angel—to a T-position, holding each position for 10-20 seconds.
• Finally, chest fly your arms back to center to return to a standing position, and repeat on the other side.

Build strength and endurance

TRX Burpee

The final move is a TRX burpee to ramp up your strength and endurance.

• Start with straps at mid-calf.
• Stand facing away from the anchor point and place one foot through both of the foot cradles and centered with the anchor point.
• Lay on your stomach, with hands under your shoulders and one foot suspended in the straps. Your other foot should rest on the ground next to your suspended foot.
• Hover two inches off the ground.
• Pop up like you’re doing a push-up, drive your free knee forward toward your chest and plant your foot to stand up on one leg, then hop, and come back down to your plank, and push back down to reset.
• After you’ve completed a series of reps on one side, switch the foot cradles onto the other foot, and repeat on the second side.

Working on your mobility and endurance before your next, or first, ski trip of the season with these exercises on your TRX Suspension Trainer will be sure to help you perform better on the mountain and recover faster.

This post originally appeared on trxtraining.com.

Photo credit: LightFieldStudios, Thinkstock; video courtesy of TRX