Skiing is a sport that takes a lot of stamina, strength, grace and agility. We use muscles that we haven’t used all year long when we ski. If you’re like most skiers, you would love to be better and faster on the slopes and would probably also like to minimize the amount of soreness you feel the next day.
And wouldn’t reducing your chances of injury be a nice bonus??
Just as people do yoga to help them with a variety of activities and sports, yoga is a great compliment to skiing.
Here are 5 ways that Yoga can help you to be a Better Skier:
(1) Calming – Yoga can be calming and meditative so it soothes the nervous system, helping us to recover from an active sport like skiing much more quickly.
(2) Reduces Injury – Yoga can help to reduce the chances of physical injury from skiing
(3) Stretches Muscles – Muscles that skiing strengthens (and shortens) like the quadriceps and glutes are stretched in yoga, lengthening the hamstrings, hip flexors and lower back muscles.
(4) Strengthens Core – Yoga helps to strengthen core muscles – the muscles of the pelvic floor and abdominals. Well conditioned core muscles will help skiers to turn more effectively on the slopes and to also maintain balance and prevent falling.
(5) Concentration – Yoga improves concentration, by focusing on each pose and the breath simultaneously. As anyone who has ever tried skiing knows, you need to concentrate in order to get down the hill, avoid obstacles and control speed.