Beginner's guide to skiing

							Beginner's guide to skiing

There‘s no healthier break than a skiing holiday, so it‘s hardly a surprise that so many
of us are now spending our winters whizzing down mountains. lt‘s never too late to
start — and more women and families are giving it a go than ever before. But it's not
just the picturesque scenery and mulled wine that's luring people. One of the biggest
benefits of going on a skiing holiday is that it offers a full-body workout, exercising every
mayor muscle group from head to toe.

lt works your hamstrings, quads and stomach muscles to the max, plus you also get an
excellent cardiovascular workout.‘ In fact, experts say you can lose up to 5lbs a week on
a skiing holiday, as you burn up to 500 calories an hour ~ more than a vi/orkout at the
gym. There are many psychological benefits, too, including simply spending a few
days in the mountains.

Being outdoors in fresh air, enioying the beauty of the snow-capped trees and the
great alpine vistas will do wonders to lift your mood, and its hard to think about your
worries and stresses if you are busy concentrating on mastering parallel turns. But to
make the most of your holiday and not find yourself too exhausted to get out of bed by
day three, be prepared. Make sure you arrive at the resort fit enough to ski and cope
with the altitude.

Spend two months before your trip doing any activity that gets your heart rate up and
strengthens your thighs, such as weight training, squats, lunges and cycling. This will
help avoid common ski iniuries and accidents, which tend to happen when you get
tired towards the end of the day. And if you‘re a beginner, while you should be prepared
to fall over a lot, with two to three days of perseverance, you should get the hang of it
and will be experiencing the unbeatable buzz, not to mention the huge health benefits,
that draw ski enthusiasts back to the white stuff year after year.