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How to prepare for... skiing
Four things are needed if you want to cruise effortlessly downhill: strength, stamina, body awareness and last but not least the right Kieser Training programme.
It’s winter at last, time for the mountains and fun on the slopes! However, if you want to ensure that downhill fun is not spoiled, you need to prepare yourself properly. Otherwise, after a long day on the skis, you will have the odd twinge in your back and maybe your legs and the next day, your aching muscles will reduce your enjoyment on the slopes. The best way to prevent sick muscles is targeted strength training.
Downhill – a feat of strength
At full pelt, you put a significant load on your knees and back. Skiing for an entire day requires both strength and endurance. If you lack either, muscles will tire prematurely and technique will suffer. Errors will creep in and you are more likely to fall. Fatigue not only reduces enjoyment but significantly increases the risk of injury. Many skiers who are injured on the slopes are not sufficiently fit.
Skiing calls for all-round physical effort
To keep going for a whole day, possibly in thin mountain air, requires good endurance. It also requires quick reactions and coordination so that you can avoid sudden obstacles or changes in surface conditions. Targeted strength and endurance training is ideal preparation for winter enjoyment.
The right winter training
In particular, skiing demands strong torso muscles in order to cope with uneven surfaces, the need to take evasive action or complete long downhill runs. A1, A2, F1 and F3 provide the required all-round stability. Fast downhills also require strong hips, thigh and calves - A3 and A4 together with B6 and B8 provide the necessary support. Nor should the upper body, shoulders and arms be neglected. If these muscles are strong, you can make the best possible use of ski poles: C1, C3, C7, D6 or D7 provide excellent training.
What if I’m a beginner?
If your body is fit, then all you lack is the right equipment. Skis and boots can cost a small fortune. However, such an investment is not necessary at this stage. It makes little sense to fork out large sums if you are a beginner. This is the time to try out different types of equipment so that you can decide what’s right for you. This is not a problem as good ski schools offer both taster courses and hire out equipment. You can learn the basics of skiing in a course of about three days. After that, the slopes await you.
Obituary Vert Mooney
Prof. Vert Mooney, MD 1931-2009
What customers around the globe say about Kieser Training
Prof. Dr. med. Vert Mooney
Vert Mooney was a leading, internationally renowned orthopaedic surgeon and Clinical Professor at the University of California in San Diego. In 1988, he became aware of the potential benefits of the strength training for back problems advocated by Arthur Jones and focussed his research on what was then a new discipline. Dr. Mooney was Medical Director, co-founder and President of the Spine and Sport Foundation, a highly respected institution in the field of back rehabilitation.
He published more than 225 articles in scientific journals, co authored 53 book chapters and wrote an autobiography entitled “The Unguarded Moment”. Much of his work was ground-breaking, particularly in the field of restorative medicine. He was much in demand internationally as a speaker and gave presentations at some 215 scientific conferences. Together with Professor Dr. Michael Pollock from the University of Gainesville, he was responsible for laying down the fundamentals of Medical Strengthening Therapy, as introduced to Europe by Dr. med. Gabriela Kieser, the first in Europe to open a practice for Medical Strengthening Therapy.
I met Vert Mooney during my training in Medical Strengthening Therapy at the University of Florida in 1989. When I told him hat I was planning to introduce this form of therapy in Europe, he immediately offered his support. Vert met my ideal of a true scientist whose integrity was beyond question. Whenever we had the chance to talk, I walked away with new insights.
Latterly, Vert Mooney had been working on the use of strength training for children with scoliosis and for fellow experts his successes were both surprising and spectacular. Vert Mooney died on 13th October on his journey home from his clinic. We shall miss him.
Werner Kieser
10 years ago – when we launched in London
When the launch of Kieser Training London was being prepared in the summer of 1999, Gerald Dixon was one of the first to be interviewed for the position of an instructor. Like the UK market later, he proved a hard nut to crack.
Just arrived from New Zealand, he had seen our job advertisement in a trade journal and decided to give it a go without knowing anything about us. Very self-confident, he sat in front of our small panel, and immediately told us all the things that were wrong with our training principles and our concept as we tried to explain it to him.
With his various diplomas and certificates in exercise science and experience as a head fitness instructor and personal trainer in Wellington, he was not going to be won over easily by those Swiss guys whose hands-on experience he questioned there and then.
End of story – in most cases. But there was something about Gerald’s follow-up questions that showed that his mind was still open to new approaches. And if he were to represent our approach with as much conviction as he did his own, then this would be a great bonus for the fresh team we had to recruit and train for the launch at Greater London House in October 1999.
So Gerald was sent to the University of Florida on a course in spinal rehabilitation based on the therapy machines we use. That, and our own staff training courses he attended over the following months all but won him over. However, doubts remained. What really converted Gerald, was his success with patients he treated in the medical department. As therapist, and later head therapist at Greater London House, he saw so many peoples’ lives change fundamentally by helping them to rid themselves of their back pain that he became what we had all hoped at the outset: a great ambassador for our concept.
And we could not have enough such ambassadors. The going in London was tough. The idea of Preventive Strength Training was a difficult idea to sell. One London customer likened his compatriots to the notoriously unreliable public transport in the UK: “We are all like British Rail; we use the system full throttle until it breaks and then fix it at great expense. We never think of regular maintenance to prevent a breakdown.”
Gerald Dixon
So Gerald was the natural choice as manager of the second facility we opened in London-Fulham in 2004. While he did a good job, the facility had to be closed again only nine months later. The new main tenant of the prestige Empress State Building where we had set up as sub-tenants had other plans for our space.
Gerald had returned to manage our first London site when fate gave his career another twist in 2005. Gary Harley, then prospective Master Franchisee for Australia and New Zealand, visited London and made him an offer too good to refuse: To promote the concept and help build up the Kieser Training business as COO in Melbourne – much closer to home.
In 2006, KT Australia opened a small pilot facility in Sydenham, a suburb of Melbourne with Gerald in charge. Just 18 months later the first fullyfledged facility opened in South Melbourne. Now the Australian Master Franchisee is looking for sub-franchisees to expand further across Melbourne, then Australia and, finally, New Zealand. So things might go full circle for Gerald. Like many of his patients and customers, we are grateful for his commitment to making our concept work.
And London? After 10 years, we have a fine little outpost in the English- speaking world with a solid customer base where we are able to train international staff for Prague, Barcelona, Eindhoven and Singapore and whatever market may come next. But, given the right franchise partners, we would also like to focus our attention on developing the UK market, where British Rail is but a fading memory.
Impressum
Publisher Kieser Training AG, Systemzentrale, Kanzleistrasse 126, CH-8026 Zurich, Switzerland
CEO Michael Antonopoulos
Editors David Fritz, Tania Schneider, reflex@kieser-training.com
Regular Contributor Michaela Rose, www.sportjournalistin.de
Programming Michael Fuchs Online-Marketing, www.mfo.ch
Reflex is published quarterly.
All material in this magazine (including its online version) is © 2009 Kieser Training AG and cannot be used without written permission.
