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Thread: Skiing/snowboarding effects on recovery?

  1. #1
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    Default Skiing/snowboarding effects on recovery?

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    Anyone with experience with regular skiing/snowboarding while running intermediate programs?

    In the past, my involvement with such activities has been limited to infrequent vacations, but I am moving to a Western mountain town in December and will have immediate access to great skiing. I'm not talking about dropping in the terrain parks or doing anything super physical -just cruising moderate lines for full days on the weekends. From past experience, I'm usually pretty wiped out after a day of snowboarding, but there are a combination of factors there such as altitude effects and a certain amount of pressure to fill an expensive vacation with as much time on the mountain as possible. Seems like being fully acclimated and not having any kind of pressure to cram as much in as possible would reduce some of the taxing effect. Obviously, I would need to eat a whole lot more to compensate for the exertion and cold, but seems like something that would be easy to adjust to over 2 or 3 weeks. Any input?


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  2. #2
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    ive squatted the day after snowboarding for 8 hours, it was fine, squatted a PR in sleeves too. If youre used to it, then youll be fine.

  3. #3
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    I've lived in "mountain" towns for my entire adult life. Priority numero uno is skiing. I look at any leg work during the winter as nothing more than maintenance. Once per week, maybe less, depending on conditions. A great day(s) of ripping it up, followed by beverages after makes for a great life. And life is fucking way too short. I remember awesome powder days, not gym days. When the boards get put away in the spring, you can get serious in the gym then.

  4. #4
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    I've been wondering the same thing..... I'm hoping the M-W-F schedule will allow me to ski Saturday & Sunday and still be able to lift.

    I'll probably have to lift in the AM, because this year I'll be night skiing a couple nights per week along with the weekend.

    I tried lifting after an early season ski day back in 12/2014 and wound up with a minor injury that put off weight training in favor of skiing: http://startingstrength.com/resource...ml#post1014882

    I ski most every holiday too, so I'll have to figure that out.

    **I went hiking on Tuesday. It's pretty steep with a gain of 1800' in just over 1.5 miles. I could feel some back soreness early on, and then for at least a day afterwards, which was a little strange because I'd felt little to no soreness before that. I like to run a little, I think the advice is to not do a lot of cross training in the beginning, to follow the program & get strong.
    Last edited by FacePalm; 10-27-2016 at 06:35 PM.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jailhouse Hopkins View Post
    I've lived in "mountain" towns for my entire adult life. Priority numero uno is skiing. I look at any leg work during the winter as nothing more than maintenance. Once per week, maybe less, depending on conditions. A great day(s) of ripping it up, followed by beverages after makes for a great life. And life is fucking way too short. I remember awesome powder days, not gym days. When the boards get put away in the spring, you can get serious in the gym then.
    I wouldn't say it's a priority for me, but might as well take advantage of the fact that I'll have easy and regular access to the slopes.

    Side question: considering a strength trainees dietary demands, do you guys bring your own food with you for a day of skiing or do you spend an additional $85 a day on ski resort priced food? Brining your own food sounds good in theory, but would definitely take some self discipline.


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  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by poser View Post
    I wouldn't say it's a priority for me, but might as well take advantage of the fact that I'll have easy and regular access to the slopes.

    Side question: considering a strength trainees dietary demands, do you guys bring your own food with you for a day of skiing or do you spend an additional $85 a day on ski resort priced food? Brining your own food sounds good in theory, but would definitely take some self discipline.
    I typically just take a couple sandwiches in my pocket (sometimes beers), but sometimes I'll take a Weber Q200 & do up burgers or brats.

    I usually don't like to eat a lot while skiing though, I only take the grill up 2-3 times per year.

    When I was a kid my mom would take a big thing of soup for lunch and I remember sandwiches she'd make using bagels for the bun.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by poser View Post
    Anyone with experience with regular skiing/snowboarding while running intermediate programs?
    So you'll be in a mountain town for 2-3 weeks, running an intermediate program, as well as skiing Saturday and Sunday.

    A day of big mountain skiing can be very taxing if you're not a local, even if you're just cruisin'. The legs and the lower back take a big hit and you'll feel it the next morning. At lunchtime on the second consecutive ski day, you'll take twice as long eating lunch as you'll be in no rush to get back on the mountain. If your friend drove you to the mountain, there's a good chance you'll take a micro-sleep on the 10 minute drive home. You'll sit in a hot tub drinking scotch and beer for the next two hours, and finally you'll get around to eating a big dinner.

    The next day is your volume day with 5x5 squats and presses, and a set of heavy deads... with sore legs and a sore lower back. If you can ski on weekends, keep making progress on your lifts on an intermediate program, and not feel like shit, well… that's amazing and keep it up. But I don't think most people can recover from that.

    Instead, for those 3 weeks, you may want to keep the intensity high and lower the volume on the squats, deads, and cleans. For example, if your 5rm squat is 345 and your volume day is 315, you can work your way up to 1-2 sets of 345, 2-3 times a week. The total weekly squat volume ends being significantly less than the Texas Method or even the Advanced Novice Progression, but you’ll be able to maintain and even increase the intensity.

    Quote Originally Posted by poser View Post
    Side question: considering a strength trainees dietary demands, do you guys bring your own food with you for a day of skiing or do you spend an additional $85 a day on ski resort priced food? Brining your own food sounds good in theory, but would definitely take some self discipline.
    If you’ve legitimately made it to an intermediate lifting program, then I’m sure you have the self-discipline to pack some snacks

    Since you’re on holiday, don’t cheap out on awesome yet slightly overpriced chalet food if it’s available. $10-$15 can get you a big bowl of something hot and awesome (‘Californian’ chili, Thai coconut soup, clam chowder) and this can go a long way in your overall enjoyment of the day.

    DO get a riding bag and keep a bunch of snacks. Many snacks can be prepared for free at the chalet, and chalets often provide cups, hot water, and cutlery. Bring a water bottle, some hot chocolate powder, a serving or two servings of whey protein, and instant oatmeal and you’re pretty much set. Cured salmon, smoked and cured meats, a flask of scotch, and chocolate bars are good snacks for the chairlifts and are better kept inside your jacket for warmth (ever bite into a frozen Snickers?). If it’s warmer than -10°C, you can safely keep a case of beer in the trunk for an après-ski in the parking lot.

    Quote Originally Posted by Jailhouse Hopkins View Post
    A great day(s) of ripping it up, followed by beverages after makes for a great life.
    Fuckin’ right.

  8. #8
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    Josh,

    Sorry if it was not clear, but I am moving to a mountain town in the coming weeks. My previous experience with ski/snowboarding has been vacations of 5-7 days ever my couple of years. In those cases it was indeed taxing, but if I am living there/ fully acclimated and ski/snowboard access is whenever I feel like it and I'm fairly casual with it, would ski/snowboarding be an activity the body would potentially adapt to while running an intermediate strength program, assuming proper recovery measures were being seriously being addressed.

    For example, I presently ride my bike about 30 miles a week back and forth to work. I don't ride slow by any means, but it doesn't stress my body to any noticeable extent either.


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  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by poser View Post
    Josh,

    if I am living there/ fully acclimated and ski/snowboard access is whenever I feel like it and I'm fairly casual with it, would ski/snowboarding be an activity the body would potentially adapt to while running an intermediate strength program, assuming proper recovery measures were being seriously being addressed.
    Skiing will be easy to adapt to. The hard part will be making progress on an intermediate program if you're skiing 2-3 times a week. Your capacity to recover is finite, even if you become a better skiier.

    If you're determined, give both a shot and let us know how it goes.

  10. #10
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    starting strength coach development program
    Quote Originally Posted by Josh Elbaz MTL View Post
    Skiing will be easy to adapt to. The hard part will be making progress on an intermediate program if you're skiing 2-3 times a week. Your capacity to recover is finite, even if you become a better skiier.

    If you're determined, give both a shot and let us know how it goes.
    Ok, thanks for the info. I don't see myself skiing more than 2x per week as I'll be fairly busy with a new job during the week. I suppose I could do a less aggressive intermediate program such as 5-3-1 and cycle outdoor activity down during the heavy week. That's my plan for the summer months when I intend to revive my rock climbing career (though, also in a relatively casual manner.) I may consider that a secondary option for the winter months, too, but try and continue to run TM first.

    Maybe it all just ends up going out the window. I was presented with an opportunity to move to a place where opportunity for outdoor activities/sports abound all year long. I happen to enjoy such endeavors quite a bit, though I am going to try to avoid overindulgence in favor of also continuing to get stronger. I have a pretty decent "athletic base", so I feel like I can be "enjoyably good" at several different seasonal outdoor sports/activities while only taking a casual approach to any one of them. In my younger days, I was much more obsessive and single minded about such things. The goal is to have fun, enjoy life and get consistently stronger. No sense in being a 100% gym rat while living in the middle of one of the lower 48's most striking mountain ranges. No sense In being weak and fragile either. I'll just experiment and see what I can get away with, but really hoping to continue weekly progress for at least half of the year.


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