Can training ever be fun?
When we become good athletes, sports are easy. It’s that simple.
So each of us needs to develop a resourceful body.
Many of us arrive on holiday a little lacking in this area, so let’s identify some core physical abilities and see how you can develop them.
Here’s the key point: this should be FUN.
That’s right; don’t waste your time with stuff you don’t enjoy, because it won’t work effectively for you. Even if you force yourself to do it, which you probably won’t.
If you believe that training is hard work, then you may need some convincing, so here are some points to consider.
Firstly, you are a human being, not a machine. For centuries, artists, poets and philosophers have struggled to capture the essence of what it means to be human. And they probably will for centuries more, but here’s a synopsis of the work in progress: Mind, Body, Spirit.
The implication for us is that excellent development as a human being is more likely if the activity engages all three of these aspects.
For example, if you try to make your body work hard, at an activity that you find boring, you may need to switch your mind off and it could result in a lack of motivation (becoming dispirited).
On the other hand, an activity that you find absorbing allows you to work your body more effectively, while your mind is either involved or freed, and you feel great!
Secondly, the scientists heard that the artists, poets and philosophers were doing all this great work, so they decided to have a go themselves. And so we have theories, based on observations to be fair, of how people learn.
The model of physical learning used by most sports coaches and instructors, was developed by two Fitts and Posner, who came up with three simple stages.
Phase 1, Cognitive, which means ‘get your head around the activity so you know what you’re trying to do’.
Phase 2, Associative, which means ‘ do the activity lots of times and lots of different ways so that you get a feel for how it all hangs together (associations), and you get better at it.’
Children recognize this process as PLAY and they do it a lot, because it’s FUN.
Phase 3, Autonomous, which is more widely experienced as ‘Wow’ or ‘Rock and roll, dude!’ Which really is FUN.
So for various artistic, poetic, philosophical and scientific reasons, all of the activities listed here are great fun. So choose those that you fancy and play with them.
Remember, don’t work hard, have fun!
Core Ability 1: Aerobic base level
This is a biggie. A high aerobic base level means that you have the ability to keep going, giving you the opportunity to maintain a high level of performance when you would otherwise succumb to fatigue.A poor aerobic base level might contribute to the following:
- Not cutting it in the bumps after the first run or two.
- Losing lots of time in the last third of the GS course.
- Wanting to improve your performance, but getting tired because ‘ doing the activity lots of times and lots of different ways’ is wearing you out.
Also, a poor aerobic base level, which causes early fatigue, gives rise to physically and technically clumsy performance. So on your last holiday, how much time did you spend dealing with technical problems that were actually the result of errors caused by fatigue?
Increasing your aerobic base level puts you in a completely different place. So if you only do one thing listed in this article, this is the one that will take you furthest.
How to
So how do you do this work and have fun?The big three activities here are running, cycling and swimming. So choose the one that suits you best and get going. Or maybe go for all three and become a triathlete!
Safety first
Because we’re dealing with relatively high volumes of this type of training, it’s important to have good technique to avoid injury.Don’t swim poorly and destroy your shoulders and knees. Get help.
Don’t be one of those snowsports joggers who makes track coaches wince with an up and down bouncy style. Get help and great shoes. (Think percussive, compressive load, cartilages and high reps. Ouch!).
Don’t trash your knees with a poorly set up road or mountain bike. We are talking about very high reps here, so get a great set up and learn how to ride.
Obviously, running and cycling work the legs, but so does swimming, so if that interests you more, go for it.
What does it do?
We’re working out the heart, improving the performance of the lungs, developing the supply of blood to the muscles, improving the ability of the muscles to use the oxygen supplied to them and to get rid of waste, and much more.Secrets of the champions
Herman Mayer, men’s GS World Cup Champion gets his high aerobic base level on his bike.Core Abilities 2, 3 & 4: Flexibility, Coordination and Agility
Obviously, these abilities are different from each other, but there are many fun activities that develop all of them, so I’ve grouped them together.If you’re inflexible, you’ll be restricted in your movements and that may lead to injury as well as limited performance.
But a double whammy down side also means a double whammy up side when you get it sorted. So when you make progress with this you’ll feel everything change.
We’re talking about allowing your body to move through its’ full range of natural movement, rather than being trapped in a straightjacket of tight muscles, tendons and ligaments.
Be flexible, feel free.
Between them, flexibility and coordination affect posture, rate and range of movement, quality of movement and agility. Sound familiar? Well stay tuned, because this is for you.
How to
So how do you do this work and have fun?There are many fun activities that develop flexibility, coordination and agility. Choose any of these and you’ll go a long way:
Yoga, Pilates, Chi Kung, T’ai Chi, in fact most martial arts, gymnastics and dance.
All of these activities have an initial effect as soon as you start them, but they really start to work their magic for you as you continue with them over the longer term.
What does it do?
When we talk about developing coordination, we’re really talking about training the central and peripheral nervous systems and their effect on muscle fibres and joints. This affects the quality of posture and movements.Flexibility and coordination have a crtitical influence on agility, strength and power, which affect the athleticism of any performance. ‘Be more dynamic’, anyone?
They also affect balance, but more of that in a moment.
Though many people reading this will know that Chi Kung and Tai Chi are used to develop balance, coordination, flexibility, power, strength and agility, few are aware that they also train the central nervous system, clearing it of junk traffic that clogs the system. This leaves the nerves free to pass on the signals that we need for performance.
Safety first
Obviously, everyone reading this knows not to stretch when cold. So, this is a great place to mention the issue of warming up before sport.Current evidence shows that stretching before your sport can inhibit performance. So a good warm up is not about stretching.
It’s a progressive process. To start with, it’s about activating joint mobility, which changes the chemistry of the joint fluid, preparing it to protect the joints during performance.
It also activates the elasticity of ligaments, tendons and some muscle fibres, preparing them for activity. It then moves on to gentle use of the major muscles, which then become more pliable and ready for performance.
So, some gentle movements standing still, then some easy activity, gradually increasing the intensity till you’re ready for full load.
And pretty much the reverse process to cool down after performance.
Secrets of the champions
Herman Maier, men’s GS World Cup Champion, and many of his fellow Austrian team members, practice Chi Kung and T’ai Chi to develop balance, coordination, agility and an effective central nervous system.Core Ability 5: Balance
Snowsports are balance sports. So it’s really useful to be good at balancing.How to
You can take up the same martial arts discussed above, plus balance board, slack rope and Swiss ball.The balance board is great for helping you to tune in to what balancing is really all about. You need to feel this, not read about it.
The slack rope is similar, more challenging, lots of fun and gives you a pretty good workout!
Alpine skiers can take up free heel skiing. (Ok maybe not in the summer, unless you’re close to an indoor snowslope or glacier). You get to do all the alpine stuff without the aid of a stiff boot that’s bolted onto the ski at toe and heel. Just use your balance instead. You’ll be amazed at how good it feels and it’s great for your alpine performance.
Safety first
Tying a slack rope isn’t that tricky, but you do need secure anchor points, decent knots and a sound rope. And an area that lets you fall off without too much hardship.Balance boards can have you over in a flash, so keep the area clear of obstacles and maybe use spotters to start with. It’s more fun doing this with friends anyway.
Safety during the complex martial arts moves is the priority of good teachers, so get yourself trained properly.
What does it do?
We’re talking central and peripheral nervous systems again, plus the coordination of the muscles that correct for loss of balance, including the development of core stability.This stuff is entirely in the body. The conscious mind is not wired into this process, so you cannot get better at this by reading about it or thinking or anything like that.
Just do it.
Secrets of the champions
Ingemar Stenmark walked a slack rope and rode a unicycle.He was so good that he sometimes rode the unicycle on the slack rope. He dominated the men’s technical skiing events for about 15 years, competing against three generations of Italian champions; Gustavo Theoni, Pierro Gross and Alberto Tomba.
Core Abilities 6 & 7: Strength and Power
Strength is a measure of the maximum load you can move.Power is the combination of the load, the distance though which it is moved and how quickly it is moved.
So power training combines strength with the rate and range of movement, and the quality of the coordination, which will include balance if the activity is free.
Snowsports athletes need to be powerful. Remember that strength is one of the components of power, so you may need to so some specific basic strength work to achieve this.
How to
You can use gyms, which have the advantages of machines that may keep the activity safer and qualified staff to help you.You can also adapt your running or cycling workout to include high power output phases, e.g. hollow sprints, fartlek training, hill climbs etc.
This has the advantage of developing coordinated power rather than just strength. And it’s fun!
Many Euro speed test hopefuls are underpowered, which is often a combination of not enough basic strength and under trained quality of movement (rate, range, coordination, balancing the forces).
Safety first
Basic strength training works on the principle of overload, which means low reps with something you can only just move. There are obvious consequences here.People do strain themselves with this type of training. So caution and a controlled environment are called for. Go to professionals who can train you to do this safely.
What does it do?
Basic strength training causes tears in the muscle fibres. That’s why it hurts.There is also a coordination component to strength. So you can get quite a significant benefit by training with lower (safer) loads and just learning to improve the coordination of the movement. This recruits more muscle fibres and re-coordinates the order in which they activate.
So it’s more about using what you already have to best effect. Maybe try this first before moving into supervised overload training.
Secrets of the champions
All snowsports athletes train for power and strength. The champions know the difference between the two and aim for maximum power to weight ratio. Which means maximizing the components of power that rely on quality of movement ( rate, range, coordination, balance, muscle fibre recruitment).
Putting it all together
Phew, that’s a lot of stuff, so let’s focus back on getting the maximum fun from activities that will help us with snowsports.Here’s how I’ll be training this summer and autumn. Remember, I do all of these things for fun, but I’ll list the core abilities they develop.
Cycling – road bike for aerobic base level plus, later on, I’ll push the hill climbs, sprints and fartlek.
Walking a slack rope for posture, balance, coordination and agility.
Practicing Chi Kung and T’ai Chi for balance, coordination, agility, strength, power, flexibility, breathing and training the nervous system. And for chilling me out.
A little work with some light dumbbells to keep the shoulders strong and healthy.
Some kite boarding on the beach for strength and balance.
And riding my Carveboard, for all of the above, and really bringing it all together into a performance sport.
If that sounds like a fun, varied way to get exercise and have a good time, you’ll understand why.
What is Carveboard?
It’s like surfing or snowboarding on tarmac and it feels fantastic.I’ve been riding a longboard (skate) for a year now, to arc those curves that we all miss when the snow has gone. But the Carveboard is in a completely different league.
It carves really tight radius turns, or long mellow curves. Because you can control your speed and line through the use of turn shape (familiar?), you can even ride it down steep hills safely (unlike my longboard).
Secrets of the champions
Top USA surfers and snowboarders use Carveboard for dry land training and fun.Check it out
You can see action photos and video at
www.carveboardsports.co.uk
And it really is as good as it looks.
On the down side, it’s heavy, because of the no compromise carve engineering, but that disappears when you ride it. It just feels agile and safe.
It’s tough to travel with, so they have lighter, skateboard variants with all the steerability of the Carveboard, including a version for kids.
I was blown away, so I negotiated a deal for BASS clients and for BASI members. So if you want to get hold of a Carveboard, just go to the site, above, or call Carveboard sports UK on 01277 219 600.
You’ll get a 10% discount if you use the special discount code BASS.
Riding the Carveboard will help improve performance in all board sports (snowboard and the summer variants such as surfing, kite surf, wakeboard, windsurf etc). It also develops all the core physical abilities outlined in this article. So it’s a great tool for snowboarders and skiers of all persuasions.
And, most importantly, it’s so much fun that you’ll actually want to do it all the time. So your programme will really work for you and you’ll get back on the snow in better shape than you left it. Ready for success.
Summary
This article is about preparation for success.
Seven core physical abilities are presented and discussed: aerobic base level, flexibility, coordination, agility, balance, strength and power.
Some background and safety issues are discussed, along with fun, engaging activities to develop the core abilities. Examples are given of champions who use these activities in their own programmes.
Becoming a better athlete prepares you for progress and success in snowsports.
There are many excellent reasons why the training process should be fun.
I hope you find this article helpful and I hope that you’ll get out there through the summer and autumn.
Have fun,
Hugh
Thanks to:
BASS clients and BASI members on recent courses with me, for giving me the motivation to keep working on all this stuff.
Pete Baker for telling me about Carveboard. You were right, Pete.
Steve Clements at Carveboardsports UK for letting me check out the boards and agreeing to the discount for BASS clients and BASI members.
Maylis at Carveboard USA for putting me in touch with Steve.
Hugh Monney is a BASI trainer, Director of the British Alpine Ski and Snowboard School in Les Gets and is currently BASI’s Research coordinator.