With all your weight, roll the foam roller between your hip and knee, back and fourth four or five times, feel for tension and try to massage it out.
Why is flexibility so important for your skiing? Well, stretching trains the muscles to perform at their normal, full range of motion. When muscles and joints can move freely, you’re actually using less energy. This translates to less stress on the joints, which reduces your chance of injury.
Dr. Tim Brown, who specializes in sports injuries and prevention, says that stretching is the first line of defense for preventing the two types of body traumas—micro trauma (the wear-and-tear injuries) and macro trauma (like a bone fracture, torn ligament, or muscle tear) caused by a single incident (think tomahawking down a face).
That said, I still have a difficult time keeping up on my stretching programs. It’s just tough to fit it in consistently. There’s really no wrong time to stretch. Stretch before you go to sleep, since stretching helps relax your muscles. Or if you’re going skiing, warm up your muscles before you head to the mountain.
Stretch in a quiet, warm, and comfortable environment where you can focus on your body.
Here are several of the stretching exercises that I do. It’s good to perform these three to five days a week and try to spend 15 to 60 minutes each session.
View Images of these exercises here.
Forrest Coots is a pro skier based in Mt. Shasta, California.
One night at Snowbird, as I stumbled across the bunny slope on the way back to my hotel from the bar, I saw something small and dark on the snow in front of me. I had to close one eye to focus, but I saw that it was Forrest's wallet. I returned it to him.