Tom Lambert's blog

Fun with logs and XC skisSure, kick and glide, kick and glide. It's a wonderful feeling. But sometimes it's great to go back to the soul of skiing: simple gear on ungroomed snow and maybe huck a log or two.

In the Bumps

You can't teach if they don't want to learn

On Sunday, they didn't need me at the ski area, so I decided to hang out and ski a short bump run over and over. From the chair, I was watching a guy do the same thing. He was the classic long-time skier who would benefit from a lesson, but would never take one. The more I watched, the more I wanted to give him some help.

My first two ski teachers, still at it in their 70s: The old coach is going classic

In Crossfit, they always have the WOD, the Workout of the Day. So this is mine. Actually from a couple of days ago, but it was a good quick one. This one is with lightish weights, moving quickly from exercise to exercise for a strength/interval combo.

Warmup

Jumping Jacks - 1 minute

5 minutes on elliptical trainer

Burpees - 12 with 5 pound dumbells in each hand

1 minute Jumping Jacks.

Combo #1 for 3 repeats

a. Deadlifts

b. Mountain Climbers, 1 minute

There was a professor at my university who used to commit to submitting a scholarly paper on the same date that his students had to submit their term papers. He felt like it gave him a connection to the students, especially when they all showed up for class on the due date, trying to study German on zero hours of sleep.

At least a couple of times per year, I hear tell of a legendary skier who is "so good he never falls down." I always get a kick out of this because with the exception of some elderly folks (I've skied with some people in their 80s), I've never known a really good skier who didn't take at least a few spills on a typical ski day. To me, saying someone is such a good skier that he never falls is like saying someone is such a good artist that he always stays inside the lines and never fails to match the right paint with the right number.

In my article on how to stand on an exercise ball and why you might want to do so for skiing, I mentioned that I had seen pictures of squatting 250 pounds on top of a ball and other craziness. I can't say that I either dare to do it myself or recommend it, since the risk/reward calculation is not.... favorable let's say.

Theresa got me all distracted today. First she send me a link to Cody Townsend's video of skiing the longest, straightest couloir I've seen. Somewhere in the Sierra. His goal was not to hop turn it, but to ski it, which means a high-speed run down a very long, very narrow, very steep couloir.

Lately I've been really into Power Cleans, which may have replaced Deadlifts as my favorite ski-oriented exercise. Research has shown that no other weightlifting exercise correlates as well to vertical jump ability. Since vertical jump is strongly correlated with the ability to develop explosive power in the legs, it's a great indicator of alpine ski fitness. It's also, of course, a great ski-specific strength builder.