Tips from the Canadian National Snowboard Team's strength and conditioning coach
At Level 10 Fitness, we have had the privilege to provide the strength and conditioning for the Canadian National Snowboard teams for the last four years. This includes the Alpine, Snowboard Cross, and Freestyle pursuits, each having male and female divisions. The athletes and I have received fantastic support from the Canada Snowboard Federation (now Canada Snowboard), Own the Podium, and our integrated Support team, leading us to some great results. Each year, we have established a new Canadian record for podium medals, and last year we combined that with zero knee injuries, one of the or perhaps the only FIS team to do so in the world.
The initial quadrennial training plan had to emphasize a culture of high performance on all teams, address specific injury needs, and close individual performance gaps between each athlete and the best in the world (also taking into account the improvements and advancements that would be made by February 2010). In this final stage of the plan, the athletes are doing a majority of power and quickness exercises complimented with prehab routines. We are now at the point where the athletes are healthy, at their strongest, their most powerful, their quickest ever, and have achieved their best conditioning results to enable them to perform at their top level on demand.
The six exercises I have picked are my favourites to focus on upper and lower body strength, balance, and posture, as they apply to elite snowboarders. Every exercise can be performed or tweaked to apply to the recreational snowboarder or to the developing snowboarder. With more than two million snowboarders in Canada, preparedness for on-snow activity is gaining momentum monthly, and awareness of the importance of injury prevention has become paramount.
1. Side Plank Plus Leg Raise Against the Wall
This is one of the best injury-prevention exercises for snowboarding. Hip girdle stability and specific glute work is activated with this exercise. To protect the knee joint, the gluteus medius must be firing. The gluteus medius adds to the balance of each boarder, as it is the major stabilizer for the pelvis and this exercise improves its functioning. The gluteus maximus is also activated during this movement, which is the key antagonist for the overused hip flexors. If your gluteus maximus isn't firing properly, the hip flexors and quadriceps get overloaded, generally leading to pain in or around the knee. Along with the gluteus firing, your quadratus lumborum (QL) is recruited to stabilize your trunk. Alpine boarders experience exceptionally more torque on their hip girdle due to their different stance from the other two pursuits (and recreational riders), making this a daily must.
How to: Lie on your side parallel to a wall but eight to twelve inches away from it. Perform a side bridge/plank and hold that posture for the duration. Lift the top leg up and move the heel back until it contacts the wall (preferably a thirty-degree angle from the bottom leg). Always keep both legs straight. Lift the top leg up and down the wall as high as possible without tilting or rotating your torso. Remember the heel of the top leg should press against the wall at all times.
Reps: Twenty to fifty, or 30 seconds to one minute each leg.
Tips: This exercise might be for prehab, but it is tough! Prepare to scowl a bit!
Option: You can lay at on the ground without the plank and progress up to incorporating it into the movement.
2. Jammer
This exercise strengthens the chest and shoulders while enhancing the transfer of power from your legs through your core. The movement enables greater hip commitment through turns for snowboarding, as well as getting air out of the halfpipe.
How to: From your snowboard stance, engage your core and your arms so you feel the weight in a loaded position. Explosively extend your ankle, knee, and hip joints simultaneously, launching yourself forward. Use the momentum from your lower body triple extension to push the weight out and up with your arms. Lower the weight under control to your start position.
Reps: Eight to ten for strength, three to six for power.
Tips: The stronger your core (or the more it is engaged), the better you will perform this exercise.
Elite: We do reps from a partner's command for reaction, we vary our stance, and we add 180 twists to command prior to the movement.
Option: You can do single arm, or change to a basic square stance instead of snowboard stance, or sideways, as well.
3. Hop Pull-Ups
Pull-ups are one of the best exercises to strengthen your back and your core musculature. We use them as an integral part of exercise selection because a) their recruitment will increase the likelihood that a snowboard-cross competitor will get the "hole shot," which means they get to pick their line throughout the race and increase their chance to win greatly and avoid collisions, b) alpine boarders can also parlay the added pulling power to enhance their start, c) freestyle riders need to have a strong back to enhance rotation in some tricks and disperse some of the force with the huge impacts they encounter in the halfpipe, and d) strengthening of the upper back (mid-traps and lats) helps to stabilize the shoulder joint should crashes or falls occur, serving to aid in the prevention or limitation of injury. We use hopping pull-ups to advance the basic strength-pulling movement into a strength-speed movement.
How to: Place your hands on the bar above you with an overhand grip. Start with your arms at full extension and your core engaged. Explosively pull yourself up to the bar and past it. Once beyond the bar, release your grip and float upwards. Upon descent grab the bar again and lower yourself in a more controlled fashion down to the start position.
Reps: Keep to ten or fewer to maintain explosiveness.
Tips: This is not a cross-style pull-up where you jerk yourself up and avoid working your back! So, keep your core tight and straight, and do not let your legs swing.
Elite: a) Vary the grips each rep from wide to narrow; b) Perform a clap between each rep; c) Perform the movement with your legs in an L-sit position straight out in front of you.
Option: If the hop pull-up is too difficult with perfect form, do the movement inverted, using a barbell in a squat rack with your legs straight out in front of you (heels on the ground).
4. Single-Leg Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift
We use this exercise to strengthen the hamstrings, which are extremely under-activated in snowboarders (compared to their quadriceps) due to the position they are in when they ride. In fact, the National Team athletes we train in wrestling, cycling, hockey, and skiing all start with this same deficiency due to the movements in their sport. When the hamstrings reactivated, injury to the knee joint--especially the ACL--is greatly reduced. This movement also aids in correcting the tracking of the knee and increases balance and proprioception.
How to: Hold a dumbbell in your right hand and stand on your left leg only. The left leg should be slightly bent at the knee and locked in that position for the duration of the exercise. Keeping the dumbbell close to your body (never beyond the distance from your toe to your shin), lower it down until you are at or around mid-shin. Your right leg should travel into the air behind you to counterbalance the weight in front of you. Return by following the identical path back up to your start position. Complete all reps before changing the weight in your hands and the leg you are standing on.
Reps: Ten to fifteen for hypertrophy, six to ten for strength, one to five for power.
Tips: Maintain a flat back and neutral spine throughout the movement. Remember that this exercise should be done in a controlled manner, as it enhances balance as well.
Elite: We graduate to finishing this movement with a hop at the end. The weight must be lighter and form strict or risks increase greatly.
Option: This movement can be done with two dumbbells or a barbell on two legs until your balance improves enough to perform the movement correctly on one leg.
5. Squats
Athletes in power sports do squats. If you do not do squats, you cannot be very good. Simply put, squats are the number-one exercise for lower-body strength and power. The stronger your legs get, the more power you can produce, the higher you can jump, the faster you can run or skate, and your legs will be able to withstand greater torque, rotational forces, and unpredictable bumps you encounter on your board on snow. From a snowboarding perspective, the squat (and variations) is a great tool for enhancing the changes of elevation in the lower body, similar to those encountered in the sport.
How to: Place the bar on your traps below the base of your neck; hand grip should be six to eight inches outside shoulder width, chest out, feet shoulder width apart (can vary according to biomechanics), toes pointing forward or slightly out to sides. Keeping your feet flat on the ground, lower yourself down by bending your knees forward in the same direction as your toes. To compensate for your knees going forward, you must push your rear backwards (like you are sitting down). When the tops of your quads reach ninety degrees from the floor, you must drive your hips upward explosively and push through your heels until you return to the start position.
Reps: Ten to fifteen for hypertrophy, six to ten for strength, one to five for power.
Tips: a) Your back should maintain its natural curvature while avoiding any excessive kyphotic or lordotic curves; b) Keep your entire foot in contact with the ground throughout the whole movement. Ensure that your knees are tracking in alignment with your hips and toes; c) Always keep your eyes forward; d) For extra strength, breathe in on the descent, hold your breath at the bottom until you are a quarter of the way up, then exhale to finish the movement (holding your breath will increase intra-abdominal pressure and result in more stability and strength for the ascent).
Elite: To spice it up we do a) Pause Squats, holding the position at the bottom for two seconds each rep; b) Speed Squats, going down and up as fast as possible for each rep; c) Pulse Squats, staying between a full squat and quarter squat for the length of a competition run, one-half minute to one minute.
6. Wall Slides
Due to the natural bent-over stance in snowboarding (and the forward activity in most of our lives-like me typing this!), posture begins to suffer. If you start in the wrong place, you'll end up in the wrong place. Snowboarders spend thousands of hours chronically repeating movements in a less-than-perfect postural position, and the tendency is for their shoulders to be slightly rotated forward. This leads to other deficiencies in body position during exercise and regular life activities. In order to troubleshoot future misalignment and movement impairments, our athletes perform exercises such as wall slides. This exercise mainly activates the scapulae and rhomboid muscles.
How to: Stand against the wall with your arms extended out to your sides at shoulder height and bent at ninety degrees at the elbow, pointing up (the position you would put them in if you were on COPS and someone told you to freeze!). Flatten your arms and the back of your hands against the wall. To flatten your entire back against the wall, you might have to walk your feet out away from the wall and bend your knees slightly. The key is to maintain as much contact with the wall with your arms, wrists, and hands and keep your back against the wall! Slide your arms only up as high as possible and back down to the start position.
Reps: Twenty to twenty-five.
Tips: I call this "the world's worst exercise" because it is so challenging to do correctly, but it looks so easy. If it doesn't hurt, you're probably not doing it right or you have perfect posture already! Good luck, stay healthy, happy snowboarding, and, Go, Canada, Go!
Photography by Terry Guscott
Clothing Provided by Hudson's Bay Company
About the Author
Anthony Findlay, CSCS, CPT, is the owner of Level Fitness in Vancouver, B.C., and the head strength and conditioning coach for the Canadian National Snowboard, Wrestling, Tae Kwon Do, Sailing, and Rugby U20 Teams.
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