Strength Training for Snowboarding

When you talk about strength training for snowboarding, perceptions amongst some will be about making sure you look ripped and muscular, but you will soon see below that that is anything but the case. Think about your legs!

Making sure you last the week is a pretty good start for most boarders. So a simple strength training program which looks to combine balance, flexibility and muscular endurance and focuses on legs for pure strength is a must.

What Equipment Do I Need?

Actually you don't need anything as all the exercises you can do at home or at the gym with free weights. General core stability and balance is assited if you buy a wobble board / BOSU, but you don't need this as a "must have".

The idea is that you'll be training yourself and your body to control the centre of gravity, your body position on the slope as a boarder of any level of ability.

How to Workout Effectively

How often you work out each week will depend on your starting point, your motivation and your existing commitments.

For a total body strength workout and for torso training, 3 times per week with a minimum of 1 days rest for beginners and intermediates.

For expert/advanced snowboarders you need 4 or 5 torso workouts per week and 3 total body workouts. This will be of medium to high intensity and you shoudl be splitting up your exercises into muscle groups on the days you exercise.

How Long Should I Workout For?

The duration of your actual workout should be no more than abotu 35 - 45 minutes. However, remember that you also need a good 15 minutes for warm up and warm down.

How Do I know What Exercises to Do?

To make life simple, for beginners or those new to working out, we have split this into two parts. The pre-ski season workouts and the during ski season workouts.

The actual exercises are in the table below split out into lower and upper body and torso.

Pre-season

Start working out at least 10 weeks before your holiday

Use just 2 sets of 8 repititions with a 1 min rest period between sets

Use lighter weight than normal, and make sure you can complete the second set of 8 reps (ie. no muscle failure - inability to complete the number of reps)

* If you are an absolute beginner - you can do virtually with your own body resistance for the first 4 weeks and then step up to a light weight

During the Season

From December onwards you should be using this type of workout if you are going to be going on holiday.

Use 3 sets of 10 - 12 repetitions where in the final set with the weight you use it is hard to complete all 10 of the final reps

Have a 1 min rest between sets and not more than say 2-3 mins between exercises

Workout the exerciuses you want to do and you can either choose to do a total body workout - with different exercises each of the 3 or 4 days you train, or you can isolate into Upper Body, Torso and Lower Body on successive days.

If you then train a 4th time during the week - focus on plyometrics and endurance.