Developing Concurrent Mobility and Strength in Ski Training & Conditioning
Exercise training techniques undergo changes in focus regularly. However, while the focus of an exercise training program always has a common theme or themes e.g. strength, cardiovascular fitness, flexibility, injury prevention, etc. the approach taken to develop these attributes can vary significantly. Recent years has seen a dramatic increase in the use of body weight exercises, such as yoga, dynamic movements, or circuit type exercises that utilize force and movement to stimulate development. One area that has witnessed heightened participation is that area of strength development through mobility exercises. And although this form of exercise has been widely practiced for many areas in areas such martial arts, yoga, etc., it is now becoming much more mainstream as athletes and weekend warriors more fully understand the preservation and development of both strength and mobility.
I personally like these forms of exercise for many reasons but an important one being that we don't all need to develop maximum power or strength and therefore can effectively develop the needed strength or power using only our body weight (or very small external loads). The basic premise behind combining mobility and strength movements is that they allow force to develop over greater ranges of movement thereby allowing our own lever system to create and vary the forces. By going through "exaggerated" ranges of movement we can develop strength and mobility using lower absolute levels of resistance than one typically uses during conventional resistance training. Specifically, exposing oneself to movements through weaker joint angles improves not only strength and mobility but also overall muscle function. For the most part we do not go through complete ranges of motion when we use conventional weight training unless we are very active and conscious about the movements. The reason that we don’t go through full range of motion is that when we reach the extremes of our range of motion in many movements, e.g. squat, lunge, bench press, we are weakened due to lever arms. This sub-consciously causes us to reduce the range and therefore the muscle tends to develop over a shortened range of motion. However, when we perform we need these extreme ranges of motion (indeed they are typically far more extreme than anything we can reach under a controlled situation) and our failure to have developed the muscle appropriately leads to diminished performance and potential injury on many levels.
The need for these movements is heightened in sports such as skiing because of the rapid change in terrain, the unpredictable nature of the change, and, very importantly, the speed at which it happens. Executing these skills results in movement patterns through much greater ranges of movement than would normally occur during any slow controlled movement. A video review in slow motion of any skier will allow you to see ranges of motion extremes that cannot be achieved under any controlled situation. With that said the exercises that I will describe to you here will allow a combination of increased range of motion and strength using an element of faster movement (and body weight) because the resistance is lower. Not all exercises will have this increased range of motion but many do and you will benefit a lot from them. You will also note in the description that I prescribe a progressive increase in speed and range of motion for all exercises and these exercises are well suited for developing mobility at the outer ranges of your movement limits. Remember all exercises are designed to be performed using only body weight but you can introduce additional loads if you want. However, do it using very light movement e.g. 10-20 lbs on the legs and 5-10 lbs on the arms. Exercises can also be performed with progressive increases in speed and load. Here are my mobility strength exercises, all using only body weight. The videos attached show a brief demonstration of each exercise along with some narrative and they are split into three sections & videos.
Section 1
- Vertical jump - knee tuck (progressive increase in speed [height] and ROM).
- Lateral lunge-(progressive increase in speed and ROM).
- Reverse lunge.
Section 2
- Leg swings, right, left, and front hurdle (progressive increases in speed and ROM)
- Modified good mornings:
- Hands behind head.
- Arms outstretched (progression).
- Bar (weight) behind neck (progression).
- Low squat a. Can be done with or without bar/load.
Section 3
- One legged heel squat (do not push off floor).
- Progressions are knee to floor (quite difficult).
- Calf raises (loaded or unloaded).stork stretch
- Flamingo (or stork) stretch.
- Progression is done using weight behind head.
All exercises are designed to be done anywhere with minimal equipment or no equipment. Note: these movements introduce a lot of stretch in the hamstring, low back and groin area, so start real slow BECAUSE YOU WILL DEVELOP SOME SORENESS AND TENDERNESS WITH THE INITIAL ACTIVITIES. I recommend that you start by performing the exercises twice a week, 4 days apart, and do 8 repetitions, 2 sets, of each exercise. Once you have completed 4 days of exercise you can increase the number of reps by 2 per set up to 20, and change to go three times a week if you can. Only after 2 weeks and at least 4 sessions should you consider adding any load to any of the exercises and only load exercises where you can continue to maintain your balance and execute the movement correctly.
Article by Declan AJ Connolly
Professor
Director, UVM Human Performance Lab
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