#speedup on your next ski tours: Our training tips

Would you like to be even faster on ski tours and reach the next level? If so, targeted ski tour training in the summer is indispensable. Regular training and various forms of training can improve both your physical endurance as well as your strength and balance.
But how do you create a detailed training plan? We asked our expert and sport scientist Florian Röhrl at the DYNAFIT Athlete Center how you can increase performance and reach your goals faster. 

Specific tempo training is training at your threshold This is the zone where if surpassed your body cannot maintain the corresponding performance since your body’s energy stores are depleted.

For physical exertion of any kind and intensity, your body demands energy. It draws this primarily from two sources: Carbohydrates and fats. The higher the intensity, the more energy the body draws from carbohydrates since this type can be much more quickly supplied. In producing energy from carbohydrates, lactic acid is also produced, which can be metabolized at low and medium intensities and with enough available oxygen After a certain intensity is reached, so much energy is then demanded that the quantity of lactic acid produced in the energy supply from carbohydrates can no longer be completely metabolized. The production and clearance of lactate becomes out of balance. This zone is known as the anaerobic threshold. The goal of training is to push this threshold so it doesn’t occur until an athlete reaches a higher athletic intensity.

When lactate production and clearance are balanced, the limiting factor is not then the accumulation of lactate in the musculature, but rather the quantity of energy available, i.e., carbohydrates. This has only limited storage and delivery availability. With full stores, energy is sufficient then for approximately 60 to 90 minutes.

Generally, we recommend a performance diagnostic for endurance that measures exhaled gases and analyzes blood lactate. This provides valuable knowledge about the anaerobic threshold and fat metabolism. With that, individualized training zones can be established based on a personal metabolic profile. This means athletes can train more efficiently and more effectively and can thus ultimately achieve better results. Such an endurance performance diagnostic can for example be done in our athlete center.

Fundamentally, interval training is alternating intense phases with recover phases such as breaks. Training means always creating a stimulus, i.e., to push your body out of its comfort zone so it can adapt to and achieve higher performance levels. The length of an interval is determined on the training goal or the training phase. Depending on the length, one then selects the intensity. A classic interval program is for example 4 x 4-minute intervals at the anerobic threshold with an active 3-minute recovery phase between each at about 85-90% of maximum heart rate. This program should be completed at an equal intensity without the feeling after the workout to be totally spent.

You will notice that you must breathe hard during the intervals. Your body demands a large quantity of oxygen to make the energy available for this intensity. Such a training is an essential stimulus that results in oxygen production. The better the oxygen supply, the more efficient your energy supply is and thus the better your endurance performance is.

If you have current performance values from a diagnostic test, you can apply those to plan and drive your training. Ideally, this interval training should be performed sport-specifically on skis but could be done running or on a bike. Key is to have full carbohydrate stores.

For endurance athletes, there is often an underutilized potential for the improvement of inter- and intramuscular coordination. For this, you need to optimize the interaction of different muscles as well as individual muscle fibers for a targeted movement sequence.

Exercises include for example:

• Mountain sprints (approximately 10 seconds, 5 sets, 30-60-second recovery break, on skis when possible)
• Uphill bounding (approximately 10 bounding running steps per leg, 5 sets, 1-2-minute recovery break)
• Box Jumps (3-6 repetitions, explosive implementation, 3-5 sets, 3-5-min recovery break)
• Leg press (3-6 repetitions, explosive implementation, high weight, 3-5 sets, 3-5-min recovery break)

By the way: These training forms do not lead to a weight gain with building muscle.

A stable torso enables adequate power transfer and thus an efficient forward motion of the body’s core on the ski. For this reason, exercises such as planks, side planks and bridges should always be done. One can also of course experiment here with one-legged or more unstable variations.

For injury prevention, complementary exercises for stabilizing leg alignment – such as balancing stands, step ups/step downs on a step, and one-legged knee bends – are also useful. 

Base training is training at about 55-65% of maximum heart rate. This leads to an improvement of fat metabolism and a better ability to recover. It is preferred that base training be performed sport-specifically on skis but can also be done running or on a bike. The focus here is on the volume of workouts done. 

A complete training plan always includes good recovery. This is when the body adapts to training stimuli. Recovery should be done on both a physical and mental level. For example, daily exercises, relaxing yoga, active rest of musculature with fascia rolling and other related techniques, easy cycling, walking, meditation, and also good sleep hygiene.

In order to best combine the various workouts and to make your training most effective and targeted, our expert and sport scientist Florian has created a four-week training plan for you. Now, there is nothing more in the way of achieving your perfect ski touring season.

Florian Röhrl

Sports scientist at Sports_Innovated, DYNAFIT Athlete Center

Do you want to define your precise performance values and receive a training plan targeted perfectly to you? Then visit our DYNAFIT Athlete Center in Rimsting and book an individual appointment.

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