What are you doing NOW to get in shape for carving season?

[shawndoggy]

I was having this "weak ankles" problem last year so I've been working on calf extensions and lots of core work. But what's the consensus for carving-specific preseason cross training?

[Gecko]

I skateboard 3-4 days a week minimum park/pool, a 20 mile LDR (Long Distance Runs), some downhilling and most important I run cones. I'm not as good as Rick (wavechaser) but I still push it pretty hard. Running Cones does the most to train carving muscles IMO, Downhilling works on the nerve/ball's/mental factor, LDR's work over all conditioning and Park skating is just fun plus it really works the abs

[pokkis]

Frequent beer and red wine exercise plus weekly slalom skateboard sessions keep me as good shape as i'm usually for winter

[Algunderfoot]

Fellow bird legs unite!

While I can leg press well over 600 lbs and I do 100, 200# one legged calf extensions per leg, 3x a week, I too have "weak" ankles. (and bad hips, shoulders, one bad elbow, etc.) But since buying a Bosu ball trainer which focuses all the flexor muscles, I have not had significant problems with the ankles. I do numerous free weight exercises on it which envolves all your stabilizers, great for balance too. We slalom water ski and wake surf which does a great job of keeping us in shape off season. Wakesurfiing also kicks in the lower leg flexors big time, while waterskiing 'is' carving just replacing gravity with horsepower. I also barefoot which is a great endurance builder, albeit at a price, can be a bit risky.

Calf strength and range of motion are key to weak ankle syndrome, as well as a decent diet and good supplementation.

Flex-i-min, Borage Oil, Tumeric, and a brand new supplement I am on, just patented in April, called I-Flex. Borage oil, tumeric, and I-Flex* are anti-inflamatory, and offer natural pain relief, while Flex-i-min provides connective tissue support and Hyaloronic acid for joint lube. I wouldn't be walking much less involved in all these aggressive sports without them!!

I-Flex is made by DSM and is now only available in Germany. Jury is still out on how effective it is as I have only been on it for 3 weeks, but my sports therapist has high hopes that it will fend off a double hip re-surfacing. I tend to be skeptical until I see measurable improvements.

Anyway, hope that helps!

Al

[Ernie00]

for your ankles.. running, jumping, doing lateral movement in the sand will help you.

Here I've been biking, I usually start in september a 3 month weight training program to help me start the season. I've done it for 2 years now and I must say I'm very pleased with the results.

[0815-fahrer]

life is a bi*ch

have to work in sommer, a chairjob..

why else would I get free time for boarding in winter??

this ensures only one thing:

..aching muscles at season´s start..

attempts for preventing this:

-climbing the stairs at the job site multiple times a day (be sure you take different hallways so it doesn´t appear as such)

- take one of them backwards (yes... stairs upwards--> face down, then stairs backwards--> face up)--> still differ in hallways, they will think you are GaGa when discovered:D

even some sideways inbetween

try it!

Eric

[queequeg]

Biking. as much as possible. Which has been alot this summer but very little for the last week or so.

I think I need to also improve my upper body strength and core strength though I am not currently doing anything about that, my legs/ankles have always been pretty strong.

[pebu]

life is a bi*ch

have to work in sommer, a chairjob..

why else would I get free time for boarding in winter??

Just be glad you don't work all year long in a chairjob. Speaking of which, I'm tired of designing stuff that should take at least a couple of weeks in the matter of a couple of days.

They need it in two days... It's impossible to do it in less than 10 days... So I think I split the difference and do it in 3 or so...

[0815-fahrer]

Just be glad you don't work all year long in a chairjob. Speaking of which, I'm tired of designing stuff that should take at least a couple of weeks in the matter of a couple of days.

They need it in two days... It's impossible to do it in less than 10 days... So I think I split the difference and do it in 3 or so...

referring to star wars??... Heard some people could do that too...

scotty e.g.

seriously... work butt off in summer, see you at SES´09 !

and try to get in shape while "working":ices_ange

[J'suis là]

Just be glad you don't work all year long in a chairjob.

I work all year long in a desk job. Swivel-chair spread sets in if I'm not careful.

I remember the previous season started with lots of sore abs at the end of the day, and breathlessness after hiking. So adding more core and cardio work on top of what I normally do. Starting some kite-boarding, and longboarding this summer.

[MR. JOHN DEERE !]

H G H ! G U Y

[tex1230]

HGH?

I'm just cycling anabol and cocaine, with some heavy drinking in between.

[dredman]

Wii Fit says I am in great shape and 4 years younger than I really am!

[davekempmeister]

I'm walking around on my heels and in the process killing my low back because I just had both big toe nails extracted. Roots and all! Think it's gonna be a little while before I feel confident about jumping off my T board at speed. Little tender. Can't get the feet in my Sidis at the moment. Legs are begging for a workout about now.

[Buell]

Riding!

Adams TR and Hood TR

One more trip up to Snowdome on the north side of Hood this Friday and then it is off to the Oregon coast for two months of work and surfing!

Looking down 4000+ vertical feet on Mt Adams 2 weeks ago, End of the run off Hogsback and down the Zigzag glacier on Hood 10 days ago, and riding again on Hood last Sunday.

[crucible]

My summer cross-training regimen consists of road cycling, mountaineering, rock-climbing and swimming.

I ride my road bike with extra weight to get in a maximum resisitance effort- when I really want a work-out I do hill climbs with my daughter and her trailerbike attached to my bike...

[paragonUE]

longboarding, hiking,

I spent quite a bit of time just out cruising. I like to take a heavier board to make it more of a workout to push

[Allee]

My sprint tri is in 2 1/2 weeks. Then I can stop running and swimming (things that suck) and replace them with rollerblading and hiking (things that don't). I'll keep the biking because I love it, but will stop wearing out my knobbies on the bike path and find some easy trails to learn to XC on.

By the time I come back from hiking to Everest Base Camp in mid-Nov it will be boarding season, and I'll be the fittest I've been for five years. That's assuming that I don't die from HACE while I'm away.:)

[Vahur]

Running. Ca. 3 x in total 10 km (6 miles) per week currently. Have plans to double (at least ) this during autumn/winter and add some uphill walking on sand slope for leg strength. And add some collagen nutrition products for ligaments development (to avoid problems with my knees during snowboarding). In previous summers used to bicycle, but now have cut it, as running is more effective in terms of effort per training minute :)

[BadBrad]

In past years I was pretty fit from doing triathlons and mountain biking, but still was alway hurting my first day on the slopes, and really hurting on multi-day ski trips, requiring me to quit early afternoons and take a rest day mid week. Thigh burn was my biggest issue. So last year in preparation for my trip to Snowmass/Aspen I decided to work more on leg strength. I ran hill repeats, including bounding and running up backwards. I also did more leg presses, spin classes, hilly bike rides each week, and wall sits. These things really helped me a lot. I did the entire week at SES, including pretty full days, without a day off, and was not hurting too much.

I became a dad in February, and as a result I have no ski trips planned for next season, and I haven't found time to exercise much, other than running with a baby jogging a few times a week.

[Jim]

Riding!

Adams TR and Hood TR

One more trip up to Snowdome on the north side of Hood this Friday and then it is off to the Oregon coast for two months of work and surfing!

Looking down 4000+ vertical feet on Mt Adams 2 weeks ago, End of the run off Hogsback and down the Zigzag glacier on Hood 10 days ago, and riding again on Hood last Sunday.

The best summer conditioning ever. Just keep climbing and riding. I am impressed! Maybe Chile for me in 2009.

[PolyMathMan]

I went through one cycle of P90x and it damn near killed me, but overall I came out a LOT better for it.

I've been working on treadmill, and will do another round of P90X starting first of August.

[photodad2001]

Hours of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, and 1080 on my N64. I put on my board and boots on and lay on the floor visuallizing the turn. (hour on heel side, hour on toe side) Then I unstrap one foot and sit on the edge of my roof to build up the lift ride tolerance on my front foot. (Got sunburned yesterday, put in over 4 hours.) Then I do laps around the yard with one foot in, one foot out taking one baby step per minute to simulate lift line fatigue. And if I really want to put in a big work out I just gear up in all my snowboard stuff, boots and all, take it off, and repeat. I'm ussually ready for a nap by then.

[BadBrad]

Hours of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, and 1080 on my N64. I put on my board and boots on and lay on the floor visuallizing the turn. (hour on heel side, hour on toe side) Then I unstrap one foot and sit on the edge of my roof to build up the lift ride tolerance on my front foot. (Got sunburned yesterday, put in over 4 hours.) Then I do laps around the yard with one foot in, one foot out taking one baby step per minute to simulate lift line fatigue. And if I really want to put in a big work out I just gear up in all my snowboard stuff, boots and all, take it off, and repeat. I'm ussually ready for a nap by then.

It sounds as if you have most of the essential snowboard training items covered. The one thing you forgot is to throw 50-dollar bills into the wind to simulate buying lift tickets, equipment, clothing, travel expenses, food, and lodging.

[Mats]

Paddling and especially oceanpaddling with a narrow surfski keeps me in trim. You get a lot of core strenght from balancing in swell, winds and wakes from boates. And it´s big kick paddling downwind. You pick up a lot of speed. Once in a while I also do some cones on my slalomdeck + plus some trailrunning. Thats my summerfix. Thinking about getting a paddle for my longboard for some flatwater paddling, but so far it´s most thinking;-). To much fun kayaking.