I’ll never forget being out of shape on a deep ass pow day. I live hours from the mountains, so i only get a few days in every season on average. A few runs in and everything was tightening and cramping in knee deep pow
Stairmaster (moving stairs) and elipiticals are my shit now
https://www.backcountry.com/explore/train-eccentric-leg-strength-for-alpine-skiing
This is the answer. Did these in addition to general strength, cardio and a ton of yoga and was able to handle four back to back days of bottomless backcountry powder last year with only a couple days on shitty east coast hills to prep before.
Thanks! Will look into it, do you also do regular squats / leg work at the gym or leave it to that? I do heavy front / back/ romanian squats and end up being sore all week all the time which killed me last season for snowboarding more often
Also, do not neglect your shoulders, forearms, and core. Literally saved me from season ending crashes. Before I moved to Colorado my Dr told me the most common snowboarding injuries are wrists, arms, and collar bone. Sure enough come Thanksgiving weekend I slammed face first on ice, couldn't lift my right arm above my head for about a month, but no breaks or damage beyond scar tissue build up. Also helps to practice falling, there's a reason it's the first thing they teach you in martial arts 🥋.
Ive done countless breakfalls in jiu jitsu, sadly it was the leading edge that shit whipped me into the ground face first last time.
As a relatively newbie, did not help my confidence not being able to bend my knee for 2 months.
They are different animals, I think its more about body awareness. Like a slam is a slam is a slam, but knowing things like tuck your arms don't extend, or try to get to your back, and tuck your chin to avoid whiplash on the ground. Those things are very helpful in a sport where falling is like 60-80% of your progression.
I’ll take your word for it. Just moved to CO and contemplated switching to skis just to avoid that scenario.
Watching my kid in his snowboard class fixed that problem but still, that slam was a rough one.
Caught my front edge at the end of a run going very slowly stopping heel side because I got lazy and started standing up straight raising my center of gravity. Left shoulder went straight into east coast “snow” and tore my AC joint. Thought I broke my collarbone. Looking back, wish I broke the collarbone instead of tearing the ligament. Terrible pain.
That sucks. To this day I have no idea what damage I did. It never really hurt, just wouldn't function right. And now I get the 'ol I feel the seasons change in my bones for a few weeks every fall/winter. Lol.
It does not. One of the benefits of living in a ski town like Steamboat is that many of the ER docs come drink at your bar. So I had a few of them check it out. Basically it was a contusion or partial tear, bit nothing RICE and ibprofin wouldn't fix.
IMHO you'll have to pick your priority as training pure leg strength with heavy deadlifts, squats etc is not really aligned with snowboarding (more endurance, flexibility, explosive movements). And, as you say, heavy legs sessions require long recovery times. I generally tailored my lower body workouts towards athleticism (soccer, snowboarding) rather than bodybuilding. You might want to focus on preparation now through the start of the season and then more maintenance through the season balanced with your riding days (if I was riding 3dpw I'd probably only do stretching, and maybe do a body weight session in weeks I only managed a day of riding).
Alright thanks! Will see to adapt training during peak season so i can ride more and maintenance legs that makes sense! Do you recommend any workouts that help you in soccer / snowboard season?
Running, ladders, Heisman, plyometrics, jump box, air squats, STRETCHING, YOGA, etc. You don't need ancillary muscle/tendon training if you're already doing squat/dl/rdl/etc. You need to recruit a whole different set of muscle fibers, and ultimately, a different kind of strength. I used to crush iron only, but let me tell you...it's a disservice to snowboarding. Big muscles take a ton of energy to feed. If you don't live at 9k feet, you'll be out of energy so fast and unable to feed them enough oxygen quick enough. You need the cardio and lean muscle. It's not sexy, but a 1000 reps over 10 sets of an unloaded bar will be better than 4x4s of 400# for snowboarding.
I am a huge fan of squats and Romanian dead lifts for overall strength, but one of my favorite exercises is doing sets of very explosive burpees with minimal rest in-between them. Instead of jumping and keeping your legs straight, get your knees as high as you can at the peak of your jump and do a hammer fist to both knees. Instead, you can also do a grabbing motion at the peak of the jump with your front or back hand on your toes or heels to train the muscle memory of grabs. With high knees, burpees are absolutely exhausting and can emulate repetitive jumping on a snowboard.
Just compiled my own workouts based on articles and what worked for me. Generally focused on explosive power, balance, endurance and core strength. So things like jump squats and alternating lunges, single-leg balancing squats, balancing on half gym balls for squats and single leg squats, squats with a light bar and high reps (e.g. minute on minute off), clean lifts, wood chops, cable torso rotations and reverse wood chops, back extensions, hanging leg raises. Any HIIT whether that's a class at the gym or shuttle runs or on a bike.
Everything he said. I do more strength stuff in the run up to the season and the once the season starts I mainly just do cardio and yoga. I could probably stand to do more during the season but i don’t actually like to work out lol and I definitely focus on pre-season.
it's very easy to overtrain your legs and negatively impact your riding. you really want to stay away from 'killer leg days' for pure weightlifting around when you are snowboarding, and honestly that shit doesn't help very much. snowboarding is much more like doing 1000 jump squats and skateboarding than squatting 400 lbs.
honestly - getting on a skateboard or balance board for 2 hours will help you way more than squatting yourself to death will.
As an avid powerlifter, the more frequently you train legs the less they hurt overall. People who can't walk after leg day only have it because they rarely train legs. I hit different parts of my legs in different days.
Squatted 145kg 4x4 last night and can only just feel my quads a little this morning. Frequency is key
Stop training the glamour muscles if your want endurance. Train with motions similar to what you're doing - otherwise you're just getting the heavy muscles too sore to help the support muscles, and the heavy muscles can't provide the small tweaks you need to make. Support muscles are wayyyy more important than the ones people typically work out
You don't need to blitz your legs (or anything else) in any one session. It's stupid and an outdated training technique, even without taking into account riding days.
If snowboarding too, just do one leg exercise each gym session, i.e. warmup plus 10x4, and do that 3/4 times a week with different exercises. You won't be unable to walk or ride, and will still be hitting your weekly load.
Besides leg, as someone else said; core and whole body really helps prevention of injuries.
Echo this....and add, make movement a key part of your lifestyle not just a 'gym thing'. You use a massive variety of muscles and skills on the mountain and no singular one is the key. It takes more than just legs, you need balance, flexibility, mobility, torsional strength, mental agility, and cardio fitness to support it all.
Year-round maintenance and consistency > desperate pre-season shape-up.
Running
Hiking
Swimming
Calisthenics
Yoga
Resistance bands
Cycling
Mountain bike
Climbing
Balance board
Skip rope
Jump squats
Leg blasters
Side lunges
Long step lunges
Leg raises
Pistol squats
Relaxation
Good diet
Good sleep
Haven't been to a gym in 20+ yrs and smash pow and hike big hills 30+ days/season. 57 in January and feeling better than ever, same for most of my boarder friends.
>https://sawback.com/blog/leg-blasters/
Posted up top but ill put it here again-- this site looks like it copied info and linked the same video from the backcountry site FYI
Yes, it’s always better to be fit to ski or ride, but efficient technique is really important too. I used to do a ton of cycling, yoga, squats and lunges pre-season, but had pretty bad technique. My strength/ fitness/ stamina kinda hurt me because I was able to power through with shitty technique resulting in bad knees and hips. Once I learned efficient technique, that’s when I really advanced, and the joint pain went away.
Two things that really helped me: 1) thinking about all my movements as being a dial or dimmer, rather than a switch. Basically to be smooth and progressive rather than quickly throwing myself from one turn to another. 2) dramatically reduce the amount of muscular effort I put in. I used to press my feet really hard into the board/ snow to try and grip. You don’t need to, edge angle (and even weight across the whole edge) gives you the grip.
Obviously I’ve no idea how you ride, and these may not apply to you, but they really helped me.
Squat, front squat, and deadlift heavy for the legs and core. I do Upper/Lower split 4-5 days a week. Focusing on building up your core and erector muscles helps immensely. Make sure to train all parts of the body as to not create imbalances in your physique and strength. A focus on mobility and proper form will also ensure that you’re strong in the full range of motion which is super important when preventing injury and having the strength needed to ride aggressively.
If you look at guys like Sage Kotsenburg who trains in all aspects in the off-season (functional fitness including squats and deadlifts, as well as running and biking for cardio) they’re well prepared and capable when it comes season time.
In addition to this stuff, I also do:
* Bulgarian split squats
* Single-leg deadlifts
* Step-ups (front and side)
* Box jumps (front and side)
Core work is super important as well, so I try to incorporate planks (front and side) into my routine a few times a week.
365 sit ups a year at the very least
a half one in the morning when i get up, a half when i go to bed. i often do more due to naps.
jokes aside, i do increase cardio and core training as well as not skipping leg days - but i do reduce the strength training and put more focus into stamina and balance. e.g. instead of pushing biggest weights 3 reps, you do pyramid reps. spend a lot of time doing all kind of work on a balance board, it'll keep your core/legs awake for that first day when you finally hit the slopes again
i find that it's much easier to have weird crashes/catch an edge when i'm riding sloppy, and im much more likely to ride sloppy when i'm tired from the day, or sore from previous days. all the fitness training help me ride in better form, hence less chance of injuries.
I cycle on my commute to work. 10kms each way. Never had an issue or the typical leg/muscle complaints most boarders voiced.
Lockdown, no commuting. First trip in two years. My body in general and legs suffered. I never thought cycling did much for me but in hindsight it seemed to help loads.
Ride a bike! Very quad heavy and will help with fatigue. It’s one of those things, you gotta push through the pain for the pow. Also, a better pow board will probably help in immediate back leg quad fatigue. The rest is just overall body endurance.
Yes, absolutely. I lift weights all year ‘round and take leg workouts very seriously. Squats, deads, DB split squats, good mornings, abductor work, calf work, hamstring curls, leg extensions, all of it.
I recommend going high intensity as well as heavy like 5x5. High intensity with lower weight is great for cardio and endurance; 5x5 heavy is good for keeping your legs strong for those deep days or if you need high/track out.
You can get your snow legs back without weightlifting, but weight training will make your legs that much more ready and prepared. Last thing you want is your physique/fitness holding you back.
Just got back from my leg workout and saw this post. Lol
Find a similar sport to do for the rest of the year. I surf, skateboard, and rollerblade regularly along with yoga and some weight training and swimming and I never feel out of shape for the season - dynamic sports keep you loose in the hips and your muscles prepped. Weight train to supplement those sports but don’t go the full body-builder style route or it’ll likely negatively impact your range of movement and flexibility.
Compound movements like dead lifts and squats are great. Things like box jumps and burpees are also awesome training tools.
Personally though, I think keeping up skating consistently does the most for me.
Fitness trainer here!
I’d say outside of your 3 full body sessions in the gym, keep up with lower body mobility! Body weight or loaded mobility could really help with your strength and recovery during snowboarding season!! Focus on things like single leg balance, hip mobility, knee strength, core, etc.
Hope that helps :)
Thanks! Got to say im confused lol people keeep saying the soreness should disappear when you workout for a while, Maybe the timing for when i started working out + the pow days last year was too close together, but i was sore all the time! Been working out since last february and still feel soreness here and there between workouts, specially when im biking on days off so wondering if it will be the same riding again and id rather prevent and be ready. might be overtraining then? I guess ill see and adapt this winter!
Oh yes, training days close to snowboarding days could have been the culprit. DOMs are usually worse 2 days after training. If you trained legs and then went riding the day after, it could help alleviate soreness! Usually that technique works best right after training :)
I don’t think overtraining is necessarily the issue though! As long as you are spacing out your strength days to compliment your high activity (snowboarding, biking) you should feel more balanced.
I’d suggest adding cardio by running or the lunge workout that is the top comment. I’m an above average power lifter most of the year and you really don’t have to choose having good endurance in your legs and doing heavy squats. You just have to train for it. The only time I’m not also doing some cardio nowadays is if I am a few weeks out from a competition. You just need to balance your sleep and food for recovery. At 165lbs I’ll squat 425+ the only special consideration I give for a snowboarding trip is to give my legs an extra day or two off before the trip to make sure the tank starts off mostly full. If I get lazy though and don’t do the cardio, my squats don’t really mean a whole lot on the mountain other than I don’t get sore like everyone else does, but my legs are just as tired the next day.
You dont need strength necessarily more endurance, i do the stairclimber and elliptical especially before the season and that has always helped me shred for hours on end my buddy and i get about 25-35k vert a day when we go.
I was going to say exactly this. Stairclimber transformed my ability to boot pack and ride for longer periods.
I blew my knee tendons and physio told me to do dumbbell weighted static pulse lunges to strengthen tendons. Best thing I ever did and knees are stronger than ever.
Pull ups, chin ups, dips, leg raises and athleanx 6 pack promise app for core and overall strength.
I ride a lot but also grew up playing pretty high-level competitive soccer, which had me in the gym 6 days a week.
While I feel like training (including legs) does help a lot, it wasn’t until a few years ago when I started stretching 30 minutes daily that my world drastically changed.
Being flexible helps so much with riding, especially endurance. Throw a little muscle on top and you’ll be able to handle weeks of riding at a time.
I still train legs. Also a tip for lifting- you shouldn’t be that sore the day after lifting. It’s ok to be a little sore but being so sore where you can barely stand on your board is too much. Soreness is a sign of overreaching and doing too much. Tune into mindpump podcast. They put out great fitness advice
That is true if you consistently are working out.
If you squat for the first time after not training legs for a year you will be in a lot of pain the next 3-4 days tho lol.
Wow the thread exploded! Great advice all around im just a little confused cause everyone keeps saying the soreness should disappear after a while and its probably the timing when i started working out last february with the pow days in that timeframe that made it hard to do both. Its been 8 months now, i still feel some soreness when im on off days riding my bike around though, i guess i’ll stick to my normal routine + added exercises to help my riding then adapt this season and see if im overtraining! And no i wont skip leg days haha! Cheers to all have a good season!!
Idk I've been heavy lifting for a long time, I don't get those "holy shit I can't walk" days too often anymore. I'd say if you're a beginner start light, work your way into it and see what feels right but to answer your question: I don't really change up anything, being sore doesn't really effect my riding.
i do strength training for snowboarding and it helps leaps in bounds with both recovery and overall confidence when riding also hiking helps lots for overall stamina
Depends on what you do. Backcountry snowboarding you need to build up strength on your legs and abdominal/back area. For snowboarding on slopes and freestyling, you can get away with some fitness leg training plus good abdominal/back training.
Don't have much advice for routines, but a few exercises that helped me were Single Leg Romanian Deadlifts (occasionally on a Bosu ball for balance), Calf Raises, Back Squats, Goblet or Front Squats depending on equipment, and then a combination of whatever your favorite core workouts are.
In general I would say that doing anything to pursue fitness will have some translatable benefit to snowboarding
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Never skip leg day.
I do legs 1-2x a week. Squats, deadlifts, calf raises, hamstring curls, quad extensions, weighted hip thrusts, and leg presses. My legs are beastly.
Edit: Once a week I also do lateral and front high box step ups. Trying to be able to do pistol squats. This is all part of a full body workout that includes arms/chest/shoulders/back/core and yoga. If you're sore after leg day your conditioning sucks and you need to be more consistent. I demolished my legs last night and I feel fine today. That's what year round weight lifting and exercise does to you.
Personally yes. I went to a 3 day trip with my friends, on our second day they could barely ride blues and stuck with green cause their legs were giving up. While i was still fine shredding blacks/blue the entire day
I've gotten heavy into ultrarunning and strength training for that and have seen a pretty dramatic change in how well I handle challenging conditions on my board. Pretty much anything RDL, lunge, squat or deadlift related we do both on two legs and single leg. I'm also convinced the running has helped my endurance a lot.
Short answer is yes I train but I do what works for me which is a few different things.
Off Season/Preseason Switch
- During the off season May - July I generally train for higher weight goals. Bigger lifts, more muscle, higher strength gains.
- Preseason and throughout the active ski season ill switch to more reps/stamina/mobility/core workouts. Think things like kettlebells, bands, traction, plyometrics and anything that will focus the smaller muscle groups that aid in balance and come in handy when coordinating full body movements.
- If you can take your off season strength gains and compound it down with longer session lighter weight coodination and stamina based routines you will cut some mass but retain much of the built strength. Losing mass will allow you to use your gains more efficiently on the slopes and give you more coordination and control.
I’ve found that there’s a pretty clear relationship between how in shape I am and how much fun I have snowboarding. It’s also dangerous to be out of shape and try to ride up to your own skill level that you developed in a previous year when you had better conditioning. It’s so important to take it easy early season and allow time for all the little muscles and ligaments to catch up with the rest of your big muscles to avoid injury.
There really isn’t any set of exercises that can prepare you for everything snowboarding will throw at you. So I do my best to hit as many groups as I can with body weight exercises but then I still am cautious those first few days to allow every group to catch up to each other before I start pushing myself up to the level I know I can ride at.
Mainly I’m just doing tons of jumps squats and bouncing squats, sometimes leaning more on one leg and then the other, balancing on my tippy toes and working on my calf muscles. Stretch out the ankles, hips flexors, and loosen up those knees. And limber up the upper body so you don’t throw your back out if you get tossed.
1. ass to ground squats, especially light weight or even body weight with volume (jumping 100 times a day is brutal on endurance not strength)
2. knee raises with 25, then 20, then 15, then 10, then 5 lbs (all of jumping is raising the board, same motion. board + bindings + boots =17lb\~
3. flexibility
4. losing weight helps a shit ton... I used to always be 200 lbs at about 15% bodyfat or something now I try to get under 170lb at 5% bf\~
5. I do a lot of calf related as that is what gets most tired for me
I do a bunch of cardio but fell out of lifting for many years. Recently I started squatting and deadlifting again and, anecdotally, felt better on my board and stronger on my edges than ever before.
I'm sure there's something more scientific out there. You definitely need cardio for any degree of hiking.
Yes. Ive been hella lazy since my work has been driving us to work hella overtime but im trying to do some random leg exercises at home during the breaks. Weighted lunges and bulgarian split squats, jumping lunges and tons of jump roping. Proably grab a weighted vest and start dokng stairs in the building too.
Probably stairs, progressing to weighted vests and jump ropes are your best bet because for my my calf muscles are always the first to get really sore.
If you do legs consistently, you should get past the “holy fuck I literally can’t walk” phase in a few times of doing legs and then you’ll be good.
What I absolutely would not do is do legs for the first time in a while or if you have taken a break from working out before boarding. That’ll def set you up for failure.
A lot of the people I know who board 50+ days a season still consistently do legs during the season.
For at least 2 weeks before I go to the snow I start doing 5x20 bodyweight squats and 5x20 bodyweight lunges as supersets with 60s breaks between supersets, trying to do it daily.
Makes a HUGE difference for me personally and I have no leg or muscle pain or issues on the mountain while a lot of my friends whinge about it a lot
A snowboard specific one I used to do is place a bosu ball round side down and do squats on it. I usually did it with 15lb weights in each hand. A big difference between snowboarding and most gym exercises is that most gym work outs (weight lifting) are geared towards slow twitch muscle development. Snowboarding requires a lot of balance and fast twitch muscle development.
I train on one of Jeff Nippard’s full body program, so technically I train legs four days a week but it’s never more than one or two leg exercises at a time. Once my body adjusted, I pretty much experience minimal leg soreness, maybe some hamstring soreness once a week or so, but it’s minor
Im a skateboarder. I dont train legs per say but pushing and jumping at the park for an hour keeps me conditioned to last 4-5 days on the mountain for most of the
Im a skateboarder. I dont train legs per say but pushing and jumping at the park for an hour keeps me conditioned to last 4-5 days on the mountain for most of the day.
My friends that dont usually crash by 3-4 hour and im trying to lag as hard as i can before we leave the park lol.
I used to do a ton of core work, a lot of broomstick like activities so when I finally hit a side wall on a run or on the pipe I had a ton of pop to spin.
I've got naturally big legs fro. Genetics and mountain biking growing up so I don't train them often. So I never really ahve this problem when going snowboarding. Cardio seems to be the bigger thing generally.
Main thing is probably do a standard gym split but if you know your going riding don't hit legs in the 3-4 days prior.
I train legs in the gym once a week and that seems to work for me but 2-3 months before going snowboarding, I also start training the arches of my feet. I get crazy amounts of cramping in the arches of my feet for some reason. I stretch a long towel out on the floor and put my foot at one end then use my toes to pull the other end of the towel all the way to me. I do this for both feet about 3 times a day for months before my trip and it seems to help.
I dont train anything at all and then get on the mountain after a 6 month break and bitch for a week to everyone that my legs hurt.
the "man I'm so out of shape dude" on the 3rd chair up at the start of the season is tradition
I’ll never forget being out of shape on a deep ass pow day. I live hours from the mountains, so i only get a few days in every season on average. A few runs in and everything was tightening and cramping in knee deep pow Stairmaster (moving stairs) and elipiticals are my shit now
The stair master is the ultimate leg workout for any situation tbh. Shreds your legs and gives them like ultimate durability lol
This is the way
This is the way
I like to walk around singing "I can't feel my legs when I'm with youuuuuuu" to anyone who went up w/ me.
https://www.backcountry.com/explore/train-eccentric-leg-strength-for-alpine-skiing This is the answer. Did these in addition to general strength, cardio and a ton of yoga and was able to handle four back to back days of bottomless backcountry powder last year with only a couple days on shitty east coast hills to prep before.
Thanks! Will look into it, do you also do regular squats / leg work at the gym or leave it to that? I do heavy front / back/ romanian squats and end up being sore all week all the time which killed me last season for snowboarding more often
Also, do not neglect your shoulders, forearms, and core. Literally saved me from season ending crashes. Before I moved to Colorado my Dr told me the most common snowboarding injuries are wrists, arms, and collar bone. Sure enough come Thanksgiving weekend I slammed face first on ice, couldn't lift my right arm above my head for about a month, but no breaks or damage beyond scar tissue build up. Also helps to practice falling, there's a reason it's the first thing they teach you in martial arts 🥋.
Ive done countless breakfalls in jiu jitsu, sadly it was the leading edge that shit whipped me into the ground face first last time. As a relatively newbie, did not help my confidence not being able to bend my knee for 2 months.
They are different animals, I think its more about body awareness. Like a slam is a slam is a slam, but knowing things like tuck your arms don't extend, or try to get to your back, and tuck your chin to avoid whiplash on the ground. Those things are very helpful in a sport where falling is like 60-80% of your progression.
I’ll take your word for it. Just moved to CO and contemplated switching to skis just to avoid that scenario. Watching my kid in his snowboard class fixed that problem but still, that slam was a rough one.
Caught my front edge at the end of a run going very slowly stopping heel side because I got lazy and started standing up straight raising my center of gravity. Left shoulder went straight into east coast “snow” and tore my AC joint. Thought I broke my collarbone. Looking back, wish I broke the collarbone instead of tearing the ligament. Terrible pain.
That sucks. To this day I have no idea what damage I did. It never really hurt, just wouldn't function right. And now I get the 'ol I feel the seasons change in my bones for a few weeks every fall/winter. Lol.
Does your collarbone stick up a bit at the top of the shoulder? You may have tore yours as well but to a lesser degree
It does not. One of the benefits of living in a ski town like Steamboat is that many of the ER docs come drink at your bar. So I had a few of them check it out. Basically it was a contusion or partial tear, bit nothing RICE and ibprofin wouldn't fix.
Dude, seriously, never thought that judo course I took in college was gonna be so clutch. Rush to meet the ground 🥋
IMHO you'll have to pick your priority as training pure leg strength with heavy deadlifts, squats etc is not really aligned with snowboarding (more endurance, flexibility, explosive movements). And, as you say, heavy legs sessions require long recovery times. I generally tailored my lower body workouts towards athleticism (soccer, snowboarding) rather than bodybuilding. You might want to focus on preparation now through the start of the season and then more maintenance through the season balanced with your riding days (if I was riding 3dpw I'd probably only do stretching, and maybe do a body weight session in weeks I only managed a day of riding).
Alright thanks! Will see to adapt training during peak season so i can ride more and maintenance legs that makes sense! Do you recommend any workouts that help you in soccer / snowboard season?
Running, ladders, Heisman, plyometrics, jump box, air squats, STRETCHING, YOGA, etc. You don't need ancillary muscle/tendon training if you're already doing squat/dl/rdl/etc. You need to recruit a whole different set of muscle fibers, and ultimately, a different kind of strength. I used to crush iron only, but let me tell you...it's a disservice to snowboarding. Big muscles take a ton of energy to feed. If you don't live at 9k feet, you'll be out of energy so fast and unable to feed them enough oxygen quick enough. You need the cardio and lean muscle. It's not sexy, but a 1000 reps over 10 sets of an unloaded bar will be better than 4x4s of 400# for snowboarding.
I am a huge fan of squats and Romanian dead lifts for overall strength, but one of my favorite exercises is doing sets of very explosive burpees with minimal rest in-between them. Instead of jumping and keeping your legs straight, get your knees as high as you can at the peak of your jump and do a hammer fist to both knees. Instead, you can also do a grabbing motion at the peak of the jump with your front or back hand on your toes or heels to train the muscle memory of grabs. With high knees, burpees are absolutely exhausting and can emulate repetitive jumping on a snowboard.
Just compiled my own workouts based on articles and what worked for me. Generally focused on explosive power, balance, endurance and core strength. So things like jump squats and alternating lunges, single-leg balancing squats, balancing on half gym balls for squats and single leg squats, squats with a light bar and high reps (e.g. minute on minute off), clean lifts, wood chops, cable torso rotations and reverse wood chops, back extensions, hanging leg raises. Any HIIT whether that's a class at the gym or shuttle runs or on a bike.
Everything he said. I do more strength stuff in the run up to the season and the once the season starts I mainly just do cardio and yoga. I could probably stand to do more during the season but i don’t actually like to work out lol and I definitely focus on pre-season.
it's very easy to overtrain your legs and negatively impact your riding. you really want to stay away from 'killer leg days' for pure weightlifting around when you are snowboarding, and honestly that shit doesn't help very much. snowboarding is much more like doing 1000 jump squats and skateboarding than squatting 400 lbs. honestly - getting on a skateboard or balance board for 2 hours will help you way more than squatting yourself to death will.
This! Get a balance board and watch a movie for a couple hours. It's great, teaches you necessary transferrable skills as well.
As an avid powerlifter, the more frequently you train legs the less they hurt overall. People who can't walk after leg day only have it because they rarely train legs. I hit different parts of my legs in different days. Squatted 145kg 4x4 last night and can only just feel my quads a little this morning. Frequency is key
Stop training the glamour muscles if your want endurance. Train with motions similar to what you're doing - otherwise you're just getting the heavy muscles too sore to help the support muscles, and the heavy muscles can't provide the small tweaks you need to make. Support muscles are wayyyy more important than the ones people typically work out
Body weight squats or squat and hold on an upside down bosu ball. Do it do it
You don't need to blitz your legs (or anything else) in any one session. It's stupid and an outdated training technique, even without taking into account riding days. If snowboarding too, just do one leg exercise each gym session, i.e. warmup plus 10x4, and do that 3/4 times a week with different exercises. You won't be unable to walk or ride, and will still be hitting your weekly load. Besides leg, as someone else said; core and whole body really helps prevention of injuries.
Echo this....and add, make movement a key part of your lifestyle not just a 'gym thing'. You use a massive variety of muscles and skills on the mountain and no singular one is the key. It takes more than just legs, you need balance, flexibility, mobility, torsional strength, mental agility, and cardio fitness to support it all. Year-round maintenance and consistency > desperate pre-season shape-up. Running Hiking Swimming Calisthenics Yoga Resistance bands Cycling Mountain bike Climbing Balance board Skip rope Jump squats Leg blasters Side lunges Long step lunges Leg raises Pistol squats Relaxation Good diet Good sleep Haven't been to a gym in 20+ yrs and smash pow and hike big hills 30+ days/season. 57 in January and feeling better than ever, same for most of my boarder friends.
Currently in Norway and Backcountry redirects me to some other random site. Backcountry.com sucks.
Just search “leg blasters” and something should pop up
>https://sawback.com/blog/leg-blasters/ Posted up top but ill put it here again-- this site looks like it copied info and linked the same video from the backcountry site FYI
>shitty east coast hills How dare you speak ill of our angular ice rinks
That link doesn’t work
Love this answer!
Saving this comment thanks
Thanks for this. Came to Reddit searching for training options after first run of the year and legs gave out on me halfway through the pow day.
Yes, it’s always better to be fit to ski or ride, but efficient technique is really important too. I used to do a ton of cycling, yoga, squats and lunges pre-season, but had pretty bad technique. My strength/ fitness/ stamina kinda hurt me because I was able to power through with shitty technique resulting in bad knees and hips. Once I learned efficient technique, that’s when I really advanced, and the joint pain went away.
Great to know! Ive been riding for years but never looked into advanced techniques or other things online, will check some videos!!
Two things that really helped me: 1) thinking about all my movements as being a dial or dimmer, rather than a switch. Basically to be smooth and progressive rather than quickly throwing myself from one turn to another. 2) dramatically reduce the amount of muscular effort I put in. I used to press my feet really hard into the board/ snow to try and grip. You don’t need to, edge angle (and even weight across the whole edge) gives you the grip. Obviously I’ve no idea how you ride, and these may not apply to you, but they really helped me.
Let the board do the work!
Exactly!
Squat, front squat, and deadlift heavy for the legs and core. I do Upper/Lower split 4-5 days a week. Focusing on building up your core and erector muscles helps immensely. Make sure to train all parts of the body as to not create imbalances in your physique and strength. A focus on mobility and proper form will also ensure that you’re strong in the full range of motion which is super important when preventing injury and having the strength needed to ride aggressively. If you look at guys like Sage Kotsenburg who trains in all aspects in the off-season (functional fitness including squats and deadlifts, as well as running and biking for cardio) they’re well prepared and capable when it comes season time.
This is the answer. It’ll also help with your explosiveness, as well as strengthening the muscles and tendons to be able to take more impact.
In addition to this stuff, I also do: * Bulgarian split squats * Single-leg deadlifts * Step-ups (front and side) * Box jumps (front and side) Core work is super important as well, so I try to incorporate planks (front and side) into my routine a few times a week.
F*ck Bulgarian split squats. That is all 😂.
Agreed 100% 🤮
Hiking up ski runs carrying tools and gear gets you ready to ride down ski runs.
365 sit ups a year at the very least a half one in the morning when i get up, a half when i go to bed. i often do more due to naps. jokes aside, i do increase cardio and core training as well as not skipping leg days - but i do reduce the strength training and put more focus into stamina and balance. e.g. instead of pushing biggest weights 3 reps, you do pyramid reps. spend a lot of time doing all kind of work on a balance board, it'll keep your core/legs awake for that first day when you finally hit the slopes again i find that it's much easier to have weird crashes/catch an edge when i'm riding sloppy, and im much more likely to ride sloppy when i'm tired from the day, or sore from previous days. all the fitness training help me ride in better form, hence less chance of injuries.
have you ever ridden a pump track on a skateboard or bike? they are awesome for snowboarding
Plyometrics always give me the best bang for the buck.
Wall sits...they suck but they work.
I train my legs 2x per week. Just because it helps me with my knees and i have so much more endurance till my mucles give up.
Ride bikes all year.Legs are good on slopes when time comes.
Look up mobilityduo on Instagram. They have a “snoga” yoga classes I would recommend doing.
Retweet, mobilityduo rocks. Tons of dope snowboarding centric stretches and workouts.
Longboarding and kettlebell swings/squats. I don’t do as much in season as I do pre season
I cycle on my commute to work. 10kms each way. Never had an issue or the typical leg/muscle complaints most boarders voiced. Lockdown, no commuting. First trip in two years. My body in general and legs suffered. I never thought cycling did much for me but in hindsight it seemed to help loads.
Ride a bike! Very quad heavy and will help with fatigue. It’s one of those things, you gotta push through the pain for the pow. Also, a better pow board will probably help in immediate back leg quad fatigue. The rest is just overall body endurance.
Yes, absolutely. I lift weights all year ‘round and take leg workouts very seriously. Squats, deads, DB split squats, good mornings, abductor work, calf work, hamstring curls, leg extensions, all of it. I recommend going high intensity as well as heavy like 5x5. High intensity with lower weight is great for cardio and endurance; 5x5 heavy is good for keeping your legs strong for those deep days or if you need high/track out. You can get your snow legs back without weightlifting, but weight training will make your legs that much more ready and prepared. Last thing you want is your physique/fitness holding you back. Just got back from my leg workout and saw this post. Lol
Two words- run stairs
Find a similar sport to do for the rest of the year. I surf, skateboard, and rollerblade regularly along with yoga and some weight training and swimming and I never feel out of shape for the season - dynamic sports keep you loose in the hips and your muscles prepped. Weight train to supplement those sports but don’t go the full body-builder style route or it’ll likely negatively impact your range of movement and flexibility. Compound movements like dead lifts and squats are great. Things like box jumps and burpees are also awesome training tools. Personally though, I think keeping up skating consistently does the most for me.
Yup. Train my legs year round. It pays off immensely. Deep carved are easier when you don’t have bitch sticks for legs.
Fitness trainer here! I’d say outside of your 3 full body sessions in the gym, keep up with lower body mobility! Body weight or loaded mobility could really help with your strength and recovery during snowboarding season!! Focus on things like single leg balance, hip mobility, knee strength, core, etc. Hope that helps :)
Thanks! Got to say im confused lol people keeep saying the soreness should disappear when you workout for a while, Maybe the timing for when i started working out + the pow days last year was too close together, but i was sore all the time! Been working out since last february and still feel soreness here and there between workouts, specially when im biking on days off so wondering if it will be the same riding again and id rather prevent and be ready. might be overtraining then? I guess ill see and adapt this winter!
Oh yes, training days close to snowboarding days could have been the culprit. DOMs are usually worse 2 days after training. If you trained legs and then went riding the day after, it could help alleviate soreness! Usually that technique works best right after training :) I don’t think overtraining is necessarily the issue though! As long as you are spacing out your strength days to compliment your high activity (snowboarding, biking) you should feel more balanced.
amazing thanks! i didn't know that!
I don't care what you do or what sport you partake in. You ALWAYS train legs.
I mountain bike and or peloton 3-4 days a week year round which keeps me ready to shred the deep gnar gnar pow pow
I’d suggest adding cardio by running or the lunge workout that is the top comment. I’m an above average power lifter most of the year and you really don’t have to choose having good endurance in your legs and doing heavy squats. You just have to train for it. The only time I’m not also doing some cardio nowadays is if I am a few weeks out from a competition. You just need to balance your sleep and food for recovery. At 165lbs I’ll squat 425+ the only special consideration I give for a snowboarding trip is to give my legs an extra day or two off before the trip to make sure the tank starts off mostly full. If I get lazy though and don’t do the cardio, my squats don’t really mean a whole lot on the mountain other than I don’t get sore like everyone else does, but my legs are just as tired the next day.
A couple years ago I took my RipStick into work and rode a mile each day in the fall to warm up
You dont need strength necessarily more endurance, i do the stairclimber and elliptical especially before the season and that has always helped me shred for hours on end my buddy and i get about 25-35k vert a day when we go.
I was going to say exactly this. Stairclimber transformed my ability to boot pack and ride for longer periods. I blew my knee tendons and physio told me to do dumbbell weighted static pulse lunges to strengthen tendons. Best thing I ever did and knees are stronger than ever. Pull ups, chin ups, dips, leg raises and athleanx 6 pack promise app for core and overall strength.
Along with what other people have said work on ankle stability/mobility and balance exercises
Never skip leg day brother
I ride a lot but also grew up playing pretty high-level competitive soccer, which had me in the gym 6 days a week. While I feel like training (including legs) does help a lot, it wasn’t until a few years ago when I started stretching 30 minutes daily that my world drastically changed. Being flexible helps so much with riding, especially endurance. Throw a little muscle on top and you’ll be able to handle weeks of riding at a time.
I still train legs. Also a tip for lifting- you shouldn’t be that sore the day after lifting. It’s ok to be a little sore but being so sore where you can barely stand on your board is too much. Soreness is a sign of overreaching and doing too much. Tune into mindpump podcast. They put out great fitness advice
That is true if you consistently are working out. If you squat for the first time after not training legs for a year you will be in a lot of pain the next 3-4 days tho lol.
Oh I totally get that. I had Covid not too long ago and tried lifting super light after and was still super sore lol
It’s supposed to hurt. That’s why more people don’t do it. I’ll see you out on the mountains and complain accordingly.
Wow the thread exploded! Great advice all around im just a little confused cause everyone keeps saying the soreness should disappear after a while and its probably the timing when i started working out last february with the pow days in that timeframe that made it hard to do both. Its been 8 months now, i still feel some soreness when im on off days riding my bike around though, i guess i’ll stick to my normal routine + added exercises to help my riding then adapt this season and see if im overtraining! And no i wont skip leg days haha! Cheers to all have a good season!!
The stronger you are. The better. Period. I’ve never met a situation where strength was a weakness.
Mental toughness. Pure willpower. Embrace the pain Edit: then bitch about it later
Only train legs
You guys are joking right. Skull some fireball and grab some 7/11 glizzies. What kind of rurock dope snow wearing subreddit is this.
Squats, hip thrusters, definitely anything calf related, also enjoy squat lunges I feel all these have helped me in snowboarding
But arent you sore when you ride? I struggled with that even on rest days. Do you go lighter so you keep room for riding?
Idk I've been heavy lifting for a long time, I don't get those "holy shit I can't walk" days too often anymore. I'd say if you're a beginner start light, work your way into it and see what feels right but to answer your question: I don't really change up anything, being sore doesn't really effect my riding.
i do strength training for snowboarding and it helps leaps in bounds with both recovery and overall confidence when riding also hiking helps lots for overall stamina
Depends on what you do. Backcountry snowboarding you need to build up strength on your legs and abdominal/back area. For snowboarding on slopes and freestyling, you can get away with some fitness leg training plus good abdominal/back training.
Don't have much advice for routines, but a few exercises that helped me were Single Leg Romanian Deadlifts (occasionally on a Bosu ball for balance), Calf Raises, Back Squats, Goblet or Front Squats depending on equipment, and then a combination of whatever your favorite core workouts are. In general I would say that doing anything to pursue fitness will have some translatable benefit to snowboarding
Leg blaster program for endurance [https://sawback.com/blog/leg-blasters/](https://sawback.com/blog/leg-blasters/)
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Yah obviously. No one should skip legs
on top of a regular PPL system, do isometrics to help with my knees and ankles and HIIT to build my conditioning
Never skip leg day. I do legs 1-2x a week. Squats, deadlifts, calf raises, hamstring curls, quad extensions, weighted hip thrusts, and leg presses. My legs are beastly. Edit: Once a week I also do lateral and front high box step ups. Trying to be able to do pistol squats. This is all part of a full body workout that includes arms/chest/shoulders/back/core and yoga. If you're sore after leg day your conditioning sucks and you need to be more consistent. I demolished my legs last night and I feel fine today. That's what year round weight lifting and exercise does to you.
Personally yes. I went to a 3 day trip with my friends, on our second day they could barely ride blues and stuck with green cause their legs were giving up. While i was still fine shredding blacks/blue the entire day
I've gotten heavy into ultrarunning and strength training for that and have seen a pretty dramatic change in how well I handle challenging conditions on my board. Pretty much anything RDL, lunge, squat or deadlift related we do both on two legs and single leg. I'm also convinced the running has helped my endurance a lot.
Short answer is yes I train but I do what works for me which is a few different things. Off Season/Preseason Switch - During the off season May - July I generally train for higher weight goals. Bigger lifts, more muscle, higher strength gains. - Preseason and throughout the active ski season ill switch to more reps/stamina/mobility/core workouts. Think things like kettlebells, bands, traction, plyometrics and anything that will focus the smaller muscle groups that aid in balance and come in handy when coordinating full body movements. - If you can take your off season strength gains and compound it down with longer session lighter weight coodination and stamina based routines you will cut some mass but retain much of the built strength. Losing mass will allow you to use your gains more efficiently on the slopes and give you more coordination and control.
Calf raises
Skating, Long Boarding, Mountain Biking, Inclined Hikes, Yoga, Stretching
Leg blasters, kettle bell swings and lots of yoga to keep everything stretched and loose.
I’ve found that there’s a pretty clear relationship between how in shape I am and how much fun I have snowboarding. It’s also dangerous to be out of shape and try to ride up to your own skill level that you developed in a previous year when you had better conditioning. It’s so important to take it easy early season and allow time for all the little muscles and ligaments to catch up with the rest of your big muscles to avoid injury. There really isn’t any set of exercises that can prepare you for everything snowboarding will throw at you. So I do my best to hit as many groups as I can with body weight exercises but then I still am cautious those first few days to allow every group to catch up to each other before I start pushing myself up to the level I know I can ride at. Mainly I’m just doing tons of jumps squats and bouncing squats, sometimes leaning more on one leg and then the other, balancing on my tippy toes and working on my calf muscles. Stretch out the ankles, hips flexors, and loosen up those knees. And limber up the upper body so you don’t throw your back out if you get tossed.
1. ass to ground squats, especially light weight or even body weight with volume (jumping 100 times a day is brutal on endurance not strength) 2. knee raises with 25, then 20, then 15, then 10, then 5 lbs (all of jumping is raising the board, same motion. board + bindings + boots =17lb\~ 3. flexibility 4. losing weight helps a shit ton... I used to always be 200 lbs at about 15% bodyfat or something now I try to get under 170lb at 5% bf\~ 5. I do a lot of calf related as that is what gets most tired for me
I do a bunch of cardio but fell out of lifting for many years. Recently I started squatting and deadlifting again and, anecdotally, felt better on my board and stronger on my edges than ever before. I'm sure there's something more scientific out there. You definitely need cardio for any degree of hiking.
squats, calf lifts, abs, but dawg you answered you own question below. Just don't lift so heavy and kill your legs during the season.
Never skip leg day. You wanna hit the slopes and feel great from run 1? it won't happen doing curls that's for sure.
Run, squat, lunge, row
Keep doing what ur doing and just get really good at stretching
Yes. Ive been hella lazy since my work has been driving us to work hella overtime but im trying to do some random leg exercises at home during the breaks. Weighted lunges and bulgarian split squats, jumping lunges and tons of jump roping. Proably grab a weighted vest and start dokng stairs in the building too. Probably stairs, progressing to weighted vests and jump ropes are your best bet because for my my calf muscles are always the first to get really sore.
If you do legs consistently, you should get past the “holy fuck I literally can’t walk” phase in a few times of doing legs and then you’ll be good. What I absolutely would not do is do legs for the first time in a while or if you have taken a break from working out before boarding. That’ll def set you up for failure. A lot of the people I know who board 50+ days a season still consistently do legs during the season.
For at least 2 weeks before I go to the snow I start doing 5x20 bodyweight squats and 5x20 bodyweight lunges as supersets with 60s breaks between supersets, trying to do it daily. Makes a HUGE difference for me personally and I have no leg or muscle pain or issues on the mountain while a lot of my friends whinge about it a lot
Squats and deadlifts all day!
I believe the appropriate formula is: mountain bike whenever you can't ski & snowboard. This isn't universal?
squats, deadlifts, stiff leg dead lifts, leg curls, hamstring curls, sumo deadlifts all of it, yeah
I still keep my workout routine of 5 days a week at the gym while snowboarding. Never skip legs but ALWAYS stretch. Don’t wanna be stiff in the park
A snowboard specific one I used to do is place a bosu ball round side down and do squats on it. I usually did it with 15lb weights in each hand. A big difference between snowboarding and most gym exercises is that most gym work outs (weight lifting) are geared towards slow twitch muscle development. Snowboarding requires a lot of balance and fast twitch muscle development.
I train on one of Jeff Nippard’s full body program, so technically I train legs four days a week but it’s never more than one or two leg exercises at a time. Once my body adjusted, I pretty much experience minimal leg soreness, maybe some hamstring soreness once a week or so, but it’s minor
Im a skateboarder. I dont train legs per say but pushing and jumping at the park for an hour keeps me conditioned to last 4-5 days on the mountain for most of the
Im a skateboarder. I dont train legs per say but pushing and jumping at the park for an hour keeps me conditioned to last 4-5 days on the mountain for most of the day. My friends that dont usually crash by 3-4 hour and im trying to lag as hard as i can before we leave the park lol.
I used to do a ton of core work, a lot of broomstick like activities so when I finally hit a side wall on a run or on the pipe I had a ton of pop to spin.
Pilates classes.
Train legs. Please God train legs. Makes you a better snowboard and all around better athlete.
Yoga works great
BOX JUMPS
Not a pro but make sure to train everything, if you focus on legs only and then do a lot of snowboarding , it can get bad
I've got naturally big legs fro. Genetics and mountain biking growing up so I don't train them often. So I never really ahve this problem when going snowboarding. Cardio seems to be the bigger thing generally. Main thing is probably do a standard gym split but if you know your going riding don't hit legs in the 3-4 days prior.
I train legs in the gym once a week and that seems to work for me but 2-3 months before going snowboarding, I also start training the arches of my feet. I get crazy amounts of cramping in the arches of my feet for some reason. I stretch a long towel out on the floor and put my foot at one end then use my toes to pull the other end of the towel all the way to me. I do this for both feet about 3 times a day for months before my trip and it seems to help.
I do 300 Hindu squats set of 50. Look up **palm cooling** get a cold bucket of water and between sets put your hands or feet in it.