12.01.2019.

For some people first snow means only one thing- "digging up" woolly socks and bedcovers from the closet and giving in to hibernation momentarily!

And again, for others, snow means unbelievable excitement and joy, because that means that the season is of winter sports is starting, skiing above all!

It is a fact that people who once stepped on skis never stopped being addicted to this sport. Once you feel benefits of skiing- this winter activity is hardly ever abandoned. And there are plenty of benefits because skiing is healthy, fun and dynamic, too! So, let`s state in what way skiing has positive effects on our body and soul.

Skiing as a "cure" for winter depression and movability of the body

Skiing is an exquisite sport which does not only include physical, but also mental, social and emotional aspects of our life. You are familiar with the term "winter depression", aren`t you? Skiing is the very "cure" for winter lethargy and it helps you to overcome this condition with the combination of physical activity, clean air and the Sun as much as it is possible.

Physical benefits from skiing are more than obvious and easily measurable- if you are a skier, of course. However, people who have never skied before are not aware of some "hidden" benefits, which is an activation of additional centres in the brain and enhancemnet of brain activity during skiing. To put it professionally: kinesthesia is the ability of the locomotor system to give appropriate answers to specific and very often unusual static and dynamic stimuli. To put it more simply, it is an ability of the organism to willingly or automatically recognise positions of the body and body parts in time and space, as well as time and spacial parametres of these positions. That means that skiing demands good coordination and balance that "boosts" the brain. While skiing, there are so many small movements and positions of the body we have to be aware of in order to ski well. Even if we are beginners- our brain will still run at 300km/h in order to sustain constant changes in body positions, which again means additional engagement of the brain and the other parts of the body as well. The more we ski, the more we enhance our ability of being aware of the movements of our body parts. This is important because kinesthesia (ability of adaptation) deteriorates with age, so the more we are involved in kinesthetic activities, the less slowly they will deteriorate. Classical anti-ageing sport!

When to start with preparations?

However, even experienced skiers should be careful and start with preparations for winter holiday at least a few months before the season starts, so that they won`t spoil the pleasure with some muscle inflammation or an injury. Therefore, it is impossible from complete inactivity to prepare your body for all day skiing for a short period of time.

The best way to prepare yourself is an active lifestyle and recreational sports activity all the year round. Still, people who don`t have constant physical activity should start with preparations at least a few months before, which means they will go skiing decently trained.

Simple exercises- for many hours on tracks

Useful exercises that involve leg joints and muscles are different kinds of squats with larger or smaller space between the feet, half-squats, step ups, forward-backward gambols with joined legs, foot-to foot gambols, out of squat gambols, etc. .

It is also necessary to pay attention to exercises for abdominal and back muscles. In time, the intensity of load and number of repetitions should be gradually increased.

The best way to level the load is subjective experience of mild fatigue of involved muscles at the end of training session.

A piece of advice for the end

Beginners should not spend many hours on tracks at first, they should be careful and they should spend time on their skis gradually and patiently. The ones who overdo it and get muscle inflammation, which is often the case- should know that symptoms can`t be removed completely, but they can be aleviated. We recommend an aspirin and alternating showers with hot and cold water.

Anyway, no giving up! Use all the charms and benefits of winter idyll, don`t get lazy, enjoy yourself and have good fun!