Few winter activities are more fun or more traditional than skiing. The good news is that skiing can help to reverse the effects of other traditional holiday activities such as eating turkey, eating pie, and covering everything in gravy. Skiing is a lot of fun, it is an activity for everyone, and it is a great way to stay active through the winter holidays.
Downhill skiing is a fun, painless way to stay in shape and get a workout. Skiing improves balance, timing, awareness and coordination, all of which are very important in other physical activities and are especially important in sports. In other words, the benefits reaped from skiing spill over into all aspects of fitness, health and athletics.
Cardiovascular endurance is also increased by skiing. Throughout an entire day on the slopes, one’s heart rate will remain elevated, thus exercising the heart and helping to increase stamina. This increase in stamina makes working out easier and also increases the health of a heart. The easier it becomes to work out, the more often you are likely to work out.
Another way that skiing helps to make working out easier and less painful is that it increases muscular endurance. Muscular endurance is what keeps muscles from getting tired too quickly and what allows people to run, walk, play and ski for long periods of time. Muscular endurance is increased through skiing because of the constant motion, squatting, and effort to maintain balance that skiing demands.
Of course, cross country skiing is fantastic for endurance, both cardiovascular and muscular, and is a great way to maintain overall fitness. By pushing, gliding and pulling across flat ground and up hills, cross country skiing provides a total body workout so effective that there are machines built to mimic the actions of cross country skiing long after all the snow has melted and ski season has ended.
Cross country skiing also increases muscular endurance and increases core strength, or the strength generated by the torso. These benefits carry over to all physical activities and sports. They are both an important part of the overall fitness package, and both can sometimes be overlooked in favor of muscle building exercises.
One healthy benefit of spending all day on the mountain is that you spend all day on the mountain; in other words, for that whole day, you are living a healthy lifestyle. You are working out, you’re on the move, and you are not spending any time snacking or channel surfing. That is one of the best things about skiing as a workout; it is more than just a workout, it is a temporary shift towards a healthier lifestyle.
All in all, skiing in any form is a great way to take off a few pounds, keep active during the winter holidays and spend some time with friends. It will increase your endurance, both cardiovascular and muscular, and it will increase your balance, coordination and awareness. What’s more, it will help you move away from a sedentary lifestyle and towards a healthy, active one.