I’ve never been snowboarding. A couple of friends of mine who are snowboard instructors want to take me snowboarding. So for the next couple of months I’d like to train with the goal of keeping up - as much as possible - with these guys. I also don’t want to waste money on a lift ticket only to get sore early on.
I found a website online that covers it, but I don’t think it’s very helpful. What I need to know is which muscle fibers I should be working (endurance v strength). Here is what I’m assuming, I would appreciate your input:
Cardio:
I’m assuming I should do HIIT if snowboarding is something that requires spurts of energy. On the other hand, if you’re going for the whole day, I could do more endurance work.
Legs:
I will add calf work. I should be training for endurance, right? I assume I should be doing a lot of high rep work for the calves and probably for my squats, etc. I’m also thinking of doing unilateral work to help me build stabilizers. Is endurance right for this sport?
Core: Focus on endurance?
Arms: Not as important (in terms of strength v endurance)?
Where are going to snowboard? Last New Years day was the first time I snowboared. We went to Snow Summit in Big Bear. I was okay my first time, but I had a slight hangover from the night before. Don’t worry too much about HIIT on a snowboard. Just staying up is hard enough. Turning and stopping were difficult for me.
I don’t think there’s anything you can really do in the gym that will make a huge difference regarding your snowboarding endurance. You’re gonna be sore no mater what, since it’s your first time.
If you wanna get conditioned to something, you just gotta do it. Squatting won’t make you a better runner if you haven’t yet learned to run.
Of course strength training plays a role, but it’s insignificant given your circumstances. You’ll be sore no matter what you do.
As stated above, endurance will probably work best. I am an avid skier and I log somewhere around 40-50 days on snow each season and I train year-round, but every December when I get back at it my “ski muscles” are always sore the day after the first day out. Even though it’s not the same sport, I think the same will hold true for snowboarding. Those little muscles you really don’t use enough except when going down the mountain will be the ones that get you.
On another not, you might want to worry more about the back of your head being sore than your muscles. Whenever someone I know tries snowboarding out for the first time they fall on their backside a LOT and hit their head on the snow/ice. Wear a helmet.
You will have to go snowboarding to get better at it and keep up with your friends. You wont really get better at boarding by lifting weights. So if you want to get better at snowboarding buy a lift ticket and go for it, otherwise your gonna probably end up riding the board down the mountain like a sled trying to keep up when you go with your friends. From my experience and others, I have found that the first 3 times will suck for you and you will want to quit but just stick to it, from then on you will love it. I have never really gotten sore from snowboarding and i have been doing it for 5 years now, but some sprints and extra leg work couldnt hurt if your worried about getting sore. About the only thing that will get sore is the bodyparts that you smash on the ground when you fall. So start going to the mountain and you will be hitting jumps in no time.
gmantheman - not sure yet, but somewhere in Vermont.
Thank you to everyone who has chimed in so far. I do understand that the best thing I can do is to just go for it. I also understand that I will be sore no matter how much I prepare.
However, I can’t really afford a ton of lift tickets, so when I do go, I’d like to be able to do it for as long as possible that day - and I’d rather be sore from banging my head on the ground than from my body getting tired first.
I’d like to do as much as possible to prevent injury and make sure that it is lack of skill and not my body that is holding me back. While I do understand that there is a limit to how much I can prepare myself, I do think that every little bit will help.
I started boarding a couple of years ago and the things that hurt most have been covered here (along with your wrists and the base of your spine).
But flexibility is the key. Stretch stretch and stretch some more - and not just your legs, every bit of your body is going to be punished so get used to the idea. But what surprised me the most was how much core strength mattered. Not so much when you’re good at it but constantly trying to stand up with your feet attached to a very slippy board strains the body in a strange way.
Lie on your back with your feet kept close to your ass (knees bent) and stand up with out moving your feet at all (and imagine you’re straining with all your might to stop your feet sliding away!!) if that feels difficult then that action is, as a beginner, what you will be doing again and again.
Like anything that is worth the effort, snowboarding is great fun so save up the cash for the lifts (it’s an expensive sport, end of story) and go and enjoy yourself.
I snowboarded for three days in a row last year for the first time and I can tell you what I would do based on what was sore on me.
I would work your shins, because a lot of controlling the board is pulling up on your toes. Eventually you learn to better lean your weight and use the stiffness of the boots to help pull your toes up, but initially, your shins will be sore. It doesn’t take too much, just add a little bit of toe raiser work to get them used to some stimulation.
I would also make sure to really work on pressing, shoulders, dips. Your upper body/shoulders take a beating because when you fall, your usually breaking your fall with your arms or falling on your shoulder. Your shoulders can really get jarred some. My shoulders were killing me after the first day from landing on them and also from continuously pushing myself up out of the snow from a seated position. It doesn’t seem like a big deal, but that first day or two, when you’re doing it a ton of times, it adds up fast.
Then, of course, you have to work your thighs. You’re standing in a semi-crouched position a lot of the time, so your quads can start burning quite a bit. You really need that endurance in your quads to keep your strength up throughout the day. Try adding some sets of wall squats where you hold like five different positions all the way down to below parallel for like 10 seconds at each position. That will get your quads really burning and simulate the feeling at the end of a long run when you’ve been crouching for several minutes.
For your first time boarding, I think its a good idea to go to a sports store and buy some inexpensive elbow and knee pads to wear under your jacket and pants. They help a lot when you’re falling. It may seem wimpy, but my knees and elbows felt great all day and they took plenty of beating.
Also, as I’m sure your friends will tell you, never brace your arm for a fall. Most snowboarding injuries are broken wrists. Braced arm falls also can jar your shoulder a lot worse. Always fall with a bent arm to slowly absorb the fall and land on a folded upper arm and shoulder.
[quote]CLewis wrote:
<<< - and I’d rather be sore from banging my head on the ground than from my body getting tired first. >>>[/quote]
Clearly you have not spent much time banging your head on the ground ;-] Having done my share of cranial/Earth high impact training I’m here to report that I’ve engaged in more enjoyable activities. BMX took it’s toll on my noggin (and several other body parts) years ago.
Staying up will probably be your main concern. Also I agree with these guys who are basically telling you that overall fitness will probably be more beneficial than specific training.