Are you tired of spending most winter days at home at risk of gaining weight due to a lack of physical activities? Have you considered learning how to ski?
Skiing is one of the best activities that you can engage in during the winter season. By learning how to ski, you will enjoy many physical benefits and significantly improve your overall mood.
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Skiing Is Enjoyable
Breathing the cold fresh mountain air while looking at the sun reflections on the snow will instantly give you a sense of freedom. You will get an opportunity to have fun with your friends and family, and enjoy the wonderful winter nights by a fireplace. You will probably ask yourself why you didn’t try skiing earlier.
Benefits of learning how to ski
Skiing improves your muscle tone
Skiing is very effective for improving muscle tone. In order to keep your stability, most of the body adjustments you make while skiing are focused on your legs. Therefore, you will get a great leg workout, especially for the inner and outer thighs, and the buttock muscles. Trying to keep your stability while skiing will also benefit your stomach muscles.
Using your ski poles for steering and controlling your speed and direction contributes to strengthening and toning your upper and lower arms. Skiing also benefits the shoulders and back muscles and improves coordination. Learning how to ski will simply give you a complete body workout.
Skiing improves your cardiovascular system
Being an outdoor activity, skiing will greatly improve your health. You will get a good cardiovascular exercise only by carrying your ski equipment. As soon as you get on the skiing piste, you will feel your heart rate elevating.
Elevating your heart rate increases blood circulation and brings more oxygen to your tissues. Therefore, you will give your cardiovascular system a good workout and quickly eliminate waste from your body.
Skiing improves your psychological wellbeing
Skiing helps a lot in keeping the body and mind healthy. The snowy scenery and the sunny weather will instantly improve your mood. Having a physical activity such as skiing in this wonderful setting will boost your endorphins and adrenaline, thus providing a general sense of wellbeing. Skiing can be very helpful in relieving depression, too.
Skiing helps you lose weight
Some fitness experts have calculated that six hours of skiing will help you burn around 3,000 calories. Moreover, you can lose up to 5 pounds of weight in a week of skiing. Making efforts to stay balanced requires more muscle power, burning more calories. Your body also burns many calories while skiing because it has to fight the low temperatures.
Skiing also involves some risks
Skiing is definitely a great way to improve your health and stay active during the winter. However, there are some risks that you should be aware of and take seriously while you are learning how to ski. Some of the risks that skiing brings are serious injuries, such as knee ligament injuries, wrist fractures, head injuries and spinal injuries.
In order to avoid injuring yourself, you should pay attention to several aspects. Even though you may have a natural talent for this kind of sport, do not hesitate to take professional skiing lessons. Injuries happen even to the most experienced skiers, so don’t underestimate the risk when you think that you have learned how to ski.
Another way of preventing injuries is by taking proper care of your equipment and adjusting it to your individual needs. One of the biggest factors causing serious injuries is not having properly adjusted bindings.
Use proper skiing equipment
Skiing requires the use of proper ski equipment. Many factors influence the type of equipment that you should choose for yourself. If you try skiing this winter for the first time, you should ask for beginners’ skis.
Your age, gender, height and weight are also crucial factors for choosing the right equipment for you. The last, but equally crucial factor that will help you choose your equipment is the location where you plan to learn how to ski.
Essentially, you will need to equip yourself with skis, ski boots, bindings, ski poles, goggles, a helmet, a bag, and appropriate clothing. Ski clothing includes a ski jacket, ski pants, ski gloves, ski boots and many other accessories that you may choose according to your needs.
Visit a ski equipment shop and you will get all the information you need about the specifics of various equipment. However, there are few things you should have in mind when choosing the right equipment.
– You can always rent ski equipment. However, ski equipment needs proper maintenance, so it would be best if you have your own equipment. In that case, you can always be sure that it was being properly maintained.
– Make sure that your ski boots fit well and that you feel comfortable wearing them.
Keep them warm for a longer period of time by wearing Hotronic Footwarmer with your skiing boots.
– You may be tempted to wear fashionable sunglasses instead of ski goggles, but that would be a mistake. Ski goggles are an essential part of the ski equipment, especially when it’s windy. You don’t want your vision to be obstructed in the snow, while you’re learning how to ski.
– Ski helmets are not just accessories, they are crucial for preventing serious injuries.
Prepare your body for skiing
In order to avoid injuries, you should do some physical preparations for skiing. Good body flexibility would be a huge benefit while learning how to ski because it would lower the risk of muscle strains and sprains.
Prior to skiing, you need to stretch your core muscle groups with a special focus on the lower body. Your leg muscles will be constantly active while you balance your way down the pistes. Doing squat exercises can be a good preparation before learning how to ski.
To protect yourself against injuries or muscle soreness, always take the time to stretch before going to ski. Spend some time warming up and skiing will be much easier for you. Make sure that you also stretch your legs, thighs, lower and upper back muscles, and arms.
Another crucial thing that you should remember is to avoid skiing right after a meal. Be sure to let your body digest the food for at least an hour before you go skiing. Not giving your body enough time for digestion can make you nauseous. If you feel a need to eat while skiing, take an energy bar, a chocolate or a handful of almonds to boost your energy.