Inline skating for snow skiers, Snow skiing fitness in summer

Learn Snow Skiing: by stepping into Inline Skates!

Inline skating is a fantastic way to prepare your muscles- and your mind- for the ski season. The first inline skates (trademarked as “Rollerblades” by the inventors) were developed to give hockey-players a summer tool for staying in shape. But they are fantastic for snow skiers, too.

Inline skating uses motions very similar to those used in snow skiing (both downhill and cross-country skiing). This helps keep ski-specific muscles in shape during the summer. Even better, it can help teach and reinforce snow-skiing skills.

Beginning snow skiers will particularly benefit from this cross-training. Are you new to skiing? Are you anxious to give it a try? If you start skating now, in summer, you’ll already be ahead of most beginning ski students, next winter.

Your first time on snow skis, you’ll experience many familiar motions you first felt on inline skates. These motions include:

• Balancing on a sliding foot (the flat, sliding ski base feels similar to an inline skate’s wheels)

• Balancing on a sliding foot during a turn, or over bumps in the terrain

• Skating to go forward (shifting weight from foot to foot as a way to propel forwards on flat ground or to climb hills)

• Using many back-and-forth turns to keep speed down when descending a hill

Armed with the above skills, many inline skaters are surprised how quickly they can pick up snow skiing. They may progress through classes faster than the other students, thanks to a summer on inline skates.

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