Cardio, strength and core your way into ski season

You just booked a great deal for a five-day ski package to Vail, now it's time to focus on your physique. If you want to carve sharp turns and ski powder all day long with a lower chance of injury, you must train your body weeks in advance.

Outside Magazine offers a 12-week winter fitness strategy incorporating cardio, strength and core exercises to get you in ski shape. Here are a few tips:

• Cardio: You'll need cardiovascular endurance to ski late into the evening before slipping into a hot tub under the stars. Trail running builds important lower-body muscles, but it also delivers eccentric (lengthening) strengthening, as running downhill requires you to slow your body weight, just as you do when skiing bumps. Mountain biking sharpens your reactive timing and balance, and swimming works your arms, chest and back.
• Strength: Skiing demands explosive muscle activity and shock absorption. Plyometric jumps build fast-twitch muscle fibers for swift turns. Lunges, squats, chin-ups, push-ups and the military press should also be in the mix.
• Core: Don't forget the abs for stable twists, turns and good balance. Ball crunches, knee-to-chest lifts from a captain's chair position or elbow-to-opposite-knee via bicycles are good ones. Woodchops (cable machine, dumbbell or elastic tubing) work the obliques.
  
  

Check out the full article for exercise explanations and recommended progressions, as well as this season's best performance-enhancing gear such as compression tights and heat-moldable footbeds.