Olympic Gold Medal Workout
by Yuri in Train Like a Pro
First off, I’ve got to give a big shout out to fellow Canadian, and first Canadian gold medallist, Alex Bilodeau. What an unbelievable run he had on the freestyle moguls last night and it was great to see him de-thrown the reigning champ, Dale Begg Smith.
If you watched the men’s or women’s freestyle moguls you’ll most likely have been amazed by the speed and physical demands of the sport.
For instance, the quadriceps of these athletes must be so big and strong just to stabilize and support the constant pounding on the knees.
So how do you train for mogul skiing?
Well, I’m no mogul pro but I’ve put together an “Olympic gold medal workout” that I think could prepare you nicely  and – who knows – maybe even win you a gold sometime in the future!
Warm-up:
5 minutes aerobic warm-up => jogging, jumping jacks, jumping rope
5 minutes dynamic movements => ie. twisting squats, lunge walks, inch worms, etc… and some progressive light bounding exercises (ie. bunny hops, light squat jumps, long jumps, etc…)
“Dry Land” Mogul Workout 1 (strength):
Squats – 3 x 8 reps
Kneeling on Stability Hold – 3 x 30 seconds
DB Cleans – 3 x 8 reps
Stability Ball Diagonal Knee Tuck Roll-Ins – 3 x 12 reps
Box Jump and Stick – 3 x 8 reps
90-degree Twisting Jump and Stick – 3 x 8 reps
*You can do this workout as a circuit or take 1-2 exercises at a time in a superset fashion. Moguls require a lot of lower body strength and explosiveness along with incredible stability and balance.
To build the power component of the sport, you can try this plyometric workout:
“Dry Land” Plyometric Workout:
Squat Jumps – 3 x 6 reps
Long Jumps – 3 x 6 reps
Reactive Jumps – 3 x 4 reps
Twisting Reactive Jump – 3 x 4 reps
*One more important element of mogul skiing is speed and quick hip rotation. The following speed workout should help with that.
“Dry Land” Speed Workout:
*Go as fast as possible through each set of each exercise. Make sure you are 100% fresh when doing this workout.
Zig-zag Bunny Hops – 3 x 10 reps
Ski Tuck Lateral “back and forth” Hop – 3 x 15 seconds
Ski Tuck “forward-backward” Hop – 3 x 15 seconds
I would recommend doing each one of these workouts ONCE per week if you are skiing at the same time.
Remember, one of the most important aspects of mogul skiing is having GREAT fundamentals of skiing itself. Dry land workouts are great but the more time you can spend on the slopes, the better.
Go Canada!
ABOUT YURI
