legs

I have now completed 10 weeks of P90X, and so I decided to take a break for a few days by taking my family downhill skiing for a long weekend.  Three days of skiing; how would my body react?  How did P90X prepare me for skiing?

The answer: very well, thank you.

I skied for three days, and my legs felt great.

I believe there are two workouts in particular that contributed to my success.

First, the Legs & Back workout is an obvious source of leg strength.  Specifically, all of the squat-type exercises were great for strengthening the quads and glutes, which are critically important when hitting the hills.  The calf exercises also helped for the lower legs.

During the legs & back video Tony Horton even mentions that squats are critical for skiing, and I believe he’s correct.  He mentions that he’s a skier, and that he “shattered his knee” while skiing as a youngster, so it’s not surprising that he has designed workouts to help him, and us, prepare for one of his preferred sports.

Second, the Plyometrics workout was a big help.  Again, that’s not surprising.  All of the jumping around is a good simulation of the skiing motion.  In fact, some of the exercises are very similar to skiing.

Other workouts also helped.  Yoga, for instance, improves flexibility, which is important in every athletic activity.  Arms are used when going down the hills, and when propelling yourself to the lifts, so the upper body workouts also contribute to overall fitness in general, and ski specific condition in particular.

Obviously P90X is not designed as a skiing workout.  However, next year, in the weeks leading up to the start of the ski season, if I’m not doing P90X full time, I will certainly do a Legs & Back, Plyometrics and Yoga workout each week to prepare for hills.

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