A pre-ski warm-up is ten minutes between the car and the lift: two to raise your temperature, five for the hips and ankles the drive stiffened and the boots will lock, and three of squats and sideways movement rehearsing the shapes the first run demands. Done in ski pants beside the car, it turns the first run from a warm-up into skiing.
First-run injuries happen because cold, stiff tissue meets a full-speed demand with no rehearsal: an hour in a car seat, a walk in boots that cannot flex, then the fastest turns of the day on legs that have not yet bent. The ski-season leg circuit builds the legs over weeks; this routine wakes them on the morning. Both sit on the conditioning guide's arc, at opposite ends.
Time: about 10 minutes
Equipment: bodyweight only, a car or lodge wall for balance
For: Anyone about to click in at Grouse, Seymour or Cypress, especially after an early drive up in the cold. Skiers and boarders alike.
Not for: Building ski legs. Ten minutes in a parking lot cannot do what six weeks of the leg circuit does; this only makes today's first run safer.
Warm-up
- This routine is the warm-up. Do it in the lot, the lodge or at the base of the lift, boots unbuckled or off for the first seven minutes.
Minutes 1 to 2: get warm
Heart rate up, breathing noticeably, nothing more. Jacket on.
| Movement | Sets × reps | Effort | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brisk walk with big arm swings | 1 × 90 seconds | Breathing deeper | Two laps of the car; swing the arms across the body and overhead |
| March on the spot, knees high | 1 × 30 seconds | Quick | Drive the knees up; the hip flexors have been folded for an hour |
Rest: None.
Minutes 3 to 7: hips and ankles before the boots lock them
Ski boots fix the ankle, so the knee and hip take every bump. Give both joints their range now, while they still have it.
| Movement | Sets × reps | Effort | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leg swings, front and back | 1 × 10 each leg | Growing range | Hand on the car; the swing gets bigger each rep, never forced |
| Leg swings, side to side | 1 × 10 each leg | Loose | Across the body and out; the edge-to-edge hip |
| Ankle rocks | 1 × 10 each side | Heel down | Knee forward over the toes; do this before buckling, the last time today the ankle moves freely |
| Cossack squat, shallow | 1 × 5 each side | Half depth | Hold the roof rack; the inside of the thigh gets its first stretch of the day |
Rest: None.
Minutes 8 to 10: the shapes of the first run
Boots buckled now. Everything here rehearses a turn.
| Movement | Sets × reps | Effort | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bodyweight squat with a 2-second hold | 1 × 10 | Thighs working | The ski stance held for two counts at the bottom; shins pressing the boot tongues |
| Lateral lunge | 1 × 6 each side | Controlled | Sit into the hip, other leg straight; the edge change without the edge |
| Skater hop, small | 2 × 6 | Quiet landings | Short bounds side to side, sticking each one; only on a dry, flat patch |
| Quick feet | 1 × 20 seconds | Fast | Tiny steps on the spot, ending with three deep breaths and a walk to the lift |
Rest: None; get on the lift while the legs are warm.
Make it harder or easier
Harder: It should not be harder; it should be warmer. On a cold morning at Cypress, double the first block and add ten held squats at the top of the lift before dropping in. Effort belongs in the pre-season block; the ski and snowboard conditioning page explains what that block trains.
Easier: The three-minute version: the brisk walk, ten leg swings each way, ten held squats. Then take the first run at half speed and treat it as the rest of the warm-up.
Common questions
Boots on or off?
Off, or unbuckled, for the hip and ankle block, because a buckled boot removes the ankle range you are trying to use. Buckle up for the last three minutes so the squats and lateral lunges happen in the stance you will actually ski in.
Should the first run still be an easy one?
Yes. The warm-up buys readiness, not a free pass; the first run is the final stage of it. Take a groomer at a relaxed pace, make more turns than you need, and save the steeps and the trees for the second lap.
What about after lunch?
An hour in a warm lodge does most of what the morning drive did. Run the last three minutes again at the door: ten held squats, six lateral lunges each side, quick feet. Ninety seconds, and the first afternoon run is noticeably better for it.
