Industry News
Few athletes are as dedicated or knowledgeable regarding ski season preparation as professional skier and fitness trainer John Collinson. Known for being one of the world’s top big mountain freeskiers and tackling some of the most extreme slopes, Collinson’s success is built on a foundation of rigorous physical conditioning that goes far beyond the average skier’s routine.
Now, as the calendar turns to fall, and the most serious winter enthusiasts start thinking about how they will prepare their bodies for ski season, Collinson is making it easy for anyone to get in mid-season shape with his preseason conditioning program Basecamp: Season Prep.
The goal of the program is to take a comprehensive look at the many different types of strength required by mountain sports and build sessions that address those different needs. Throughout the 12-week calendar, the sessions will build muscular strength, muscular endurance, coordination, balance, power, and improve cardiovascular fitness.
The workout schedule has sessions to address all these areas, progressively getting harder as time goes on. For convenience, it is designed to be completed anywhere using minimal equipment, with mostly just your body weight. Strength sessions are two times per week, with a main focus on lower body strength and mobility, and each session includes core work, as well as an upper body finishing circuit to improve overall strength.
Plyometric sessions are once a week to improve speed, agility, and muscle power. The plyometric sessions progress every four weeks, giving the body ample time to adapt to the strain of the exercise, before progressing to a more difficult level. Every week is rounded out with a mix of hip and core sessions to improve overall joint stabilization, active recovery sessions to keep the body feeling primed, and cardio to improve aerobic capacity.
For $85, which is about the cost of a one-month gym membership, you get video guidance with detailed expert instruction all delivered through TrainHeroic, which gives you the best technology in an online training experience.
Programming is five days per week, however, the schedule can be scaled for what works for you. Required equipment includes bands, a box or bench, a medicine ball, and a pull-up bar. Recommended equipment goes further to include dumbbells or kettlebells, plates, a stability ball, and rings or parallel bars.
Training your body specifically for skiing and snowboarding aids greatly in a seamless transition to snow, both physically feeling stronger and more confident, as well as mentally knowing you put in the work to make your muscles and joints more capable of handling what the mountain throws at it. Make it a reality for you with Basecamp: Season Prep.
