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    Ski Fitness with Mountain Beach Fitness Retreats

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    Ski holidays are physically challenging. But that’s part of the fun right? Fret not Emma Bodkin from Mountain Beach Fitness Retreats is here to give you some top, ski fitness tips on how to avoid the burn.

    Underlying all things fitness is movement. At the core of this is Proprioception – this is your ability to sense the orientation of the body in your environment. This feedback loop tells your brain what position you are in. Modern life, lack of movement, age and injury can all impair this. Even if you are fighting fit there are ways to fine tune this as it is so so important when skiing, especially in bad visibility. By practising a few drills you can avoid injury in deep powder, ski like a champ in a white out and hit the moguls like a boss. One way is stand with one eye closed and on one leg and do one leg jumps, then try 2 eyes closed, change legs etc mix it up. Try testing your body and brain by moving in an unfamiliar way, jump laterally over an obstacle in a zig zag with little rest. Then try it with one eye closed, or on one leg… you get the picture.

    “…tool for calmness in the mountains.”

    @mountainbeachfitnessretreats

    Don’t neglect the core or the stretch. Work on your lower back, obliques and abs; try plank variations or suspended plank variations in the TRX. Natural movement patterns that make you unstable are the best. Last but not least is recovery; yoga is great as it will increase your range of motion and help balance your mind and body and also teach you an understanding of your breath which can be used as a tool for calmness in the mountains.

    There is no magic pill, no quick fix and no rocket science. You simply have to move more and vary the movement, pay attention to your movement, move mindfully, stretch, recover, listen to your body. Most fundamentally you should mix it up. Build strength in your glutes, quads, lengthen your hamstrings, try and improve powerful explosive movements (think bounding and jumping). Hit the stairs, downhill is just as important. Boost your overall cardio with some HIIT, 2 mins maximum effort then vary your recovery.

    “…ski for longer without fatigue…”

    @mountainbeachfitnessretreats

    The key is to build on your fitness incrementally and make it achievable and fun. This doesn’t have to be long hours in the gym or a boring prescriptive repetitious programme. Try to fit in some squats while the kettle boils, a plank variation while your running the bath and a few laps of the stairs before work. Little changes in your daily routine will minimise your risk of injury, allowing you to ski for longer without fatigue and enhancing your performance and most importantly fun on the slopes.

    A spot of ski touring! @mountainbeachfitnessretreats

    If you require any personal training, aerial yoga or specific recovery classes while you are in Verbier please get in touch with Emma and Lottie
    https://www.mountainbeachfitnessretreats.com/verbier-winter-fitness/

    [email protected]  +447764742475

    They also run holistic fitness retreats globally. Location include Sardinia, Sri Lanka, Verbier, Iceland, Uk, Tuscany and more.

    By Emma Bodkin

    Top 5 Ski Apps for winter 2018/19

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    The relationship between skiing and technology is an ever-growing one. Talk of E-goggles, heated clothing and custom foot beds that monitor your movements all sound a bit ‘out there’ for most of us. But there are other ways that we can use tech to compliment our days out on the mountain.

    If you’ve ever been to the app store on your smart phone and typed in ski app, you will have likely been overwhelmed by choice! Weather, maps, webcams, advice, tracking, games -pretty much anything ski related and someone has made an app for it.

    So which ones should you chose to accompany you this season? Here’s our favourite five:

    • On the Snow (Top all rounder)

    This great all round app covers snow reports, weather, webcams, resort profiles and more. You simply tell it which resorts you are interested in and the rest comes easily. It’s free to download and pretty easy to navigate around. The ski areas are rated, priced up and mapped alongside galleries and stats like elevation and open lifts.

    • Ski Tracks (Statistics) 

    For the competitive skier within. Ski tracks has long been a favourite of those wanting to track their own skiing performance. From within your pocket this app will measure your speed and distance travelled around the mountain. It will also let you know how much elevation you have gained and lost and let you map out your day from start to finish. The danger comes when trying to max out one’s highest speed (so please use responsibly!)

    • Adventure Sport network. (Inspiration)

    The ASN app is a hub of inspiration for all outdoor enthusiasts. Like a Youtube for adrenaline junkies you can find endless resources no matter what your sport and no matter what the season. So to fill the time between now and your next adventure and take a scroll through this well polished community app.

    • Bergfex/Ski. (Weather)

    Finding a good weather app can be harder than you think. But it’s a good idea to do some digging. Some snow report apps can be frustrating, letting those little snowflake predictions hang, just out of reach at the end of the week. Then as those days approach the incoming snow gets pushed back again and again. No one likes false promises. But the weather is a tough thing to predict so any snow report has to be taken with a pinch of salt. That said Bergfex has always been a reliable favourite. Their ski specific app comes in a free lite version or the highly rated full app at a small fee which is well worth it.

    • Ski fit. (Fitness)

    It’s a funny sport skiing. How many sports do you do intensively for a week, five hours a day (with a bit of après on the side) and then leave again, untouched for the rest of the year? Seems only fair to prepare with a bit of ski related fitness. The ski fit app introduces the user to a number of stretches and exercises that will not only prepare them for their holiday but help to prevent injury.

    So there you have it, make space on your phone for those and head out onto the hill safe in the knowledge that you are the most up to date! If you fancy seeing how far you can travel with your Ski tracks app or testing your ski fitness on that carefully planned bluebird day why not book with one of our experienced instructors? Check out our booking page here.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Between Training and Teaching: What’s life as a ski instructor really like?

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    Life as ski instructor and training for exams with ES Academy in Zermatt

    If you haven’t read her first ES blog, Beth Lloyd is one of our instructors in Zermatt training towards her Level 3 ISIA exam with ES Academy. Here she talks about life training with the Academy and working as an instructor during some of the busiest weeks of the season.

    “It’s been a mad few weeks. Christmas and New Year came and went in a flurry of snow storms and lift queues and we’ve emerged out of the other side after nearly three weeks of continuous teaching.

    It’s not unusual for ski instructors to teach for weeks on end, sometimes months at a time, without a day off. It’s a pretty intense lifestyle but we love it. Peak weeks bring a surge of people to resort, booking out ski schools to maximum capacity and filling the slopes with beginners and pros alike. The first peak of the Zermatt 2017/18 season was no exception. I’ve been lucky enough to have a wide range of lessons during that time. Everything from three-year-old beginners to family groups who can ski the entire mountain all day long.

    European snowsport level 3 ski instructor course
    Skiing the blue runs with this awesome six-year-old!

    What people want from their ski instructor can vary hugely. Sometimes it can feel like I’m providing glorified day-care, others I’m a guide showing people the best slopes and cafes. I can be a confidence builder, concierge, playmate, coach. It changes every day and that’s what I love about the job.

    Every instructor is different too. We all have our specialties, our strengths and weaknesses. The way we deal with problems and celebrate successes in our lessons changes, and being able to watch that in other instructors over peak week has been a great learning experience.

    European Snowsport level 3 ski instructor course
    A change of jackets for us during peak season.

    As part of the ES Academy team I am not only in the role of a ski instructor but also a trainee. There are four of us in the academy this year, with our Academy jackets. We’re here to train towards our ISIA qualifications in the quiet season and teach during peak. During the high season we put on the ES uniform and join in amongst the larger team of black-jacketed European Snowsport instructors here in Zermatt.

    All four of us have good teaching experience already, being level 2 qualified. Both Gaby and Harrison have already worked in Canada, Japan and New Zealand! Emma has been teaching in Austria and the UK on dry slopes before coming here to Switzerland and I taught a season in Japan last year too. Add eight years of freelance work at a dry slope in the UK for me and we’ve stacked up a fair few teaching hours between us!

    European snowsport level 3 ski instructor training courses zermatt
    Waiting eagerly for the lifts to open!

    That said the wealth of experience here in Zermatt is worth paying attention to. The majority of instructors in the ES Zermatt team are level 3 and 4 qualified and great to watch at work. Just these few weeks of teaching alongside them have been a huge learning curve as we adjust to the new teaching terrain and how the ski school works.

    During the quiet weeks outside of peak the Academy has been enjoying the great snow and quiet slopes. We train every morning with our coach, Lee, towards a variety of skills that will help towards our level 3 exams. To become a level 3 in the BASI (British) system there’s a fair few modules to pass:

    • Language test: An aural test in a language of your choice (I’m choosing German), proving you could organise help in an emergency situation on the slopes and also teach basic skills in said language.
    • Mountain Safety: Avalanche safety, ski touring, navigation and related equipment training.
    • Coaching course: Training towards coaching and gate setting in racing.
    • Second Discipline: A level one exam in another discipline. For example snowboarding, telemarking, or adaptive.
    • Teaching Exam: Testing one’s ability to analyse and teach at a level 3 standard.
    • Technical exam: Testing long turns, short turns, variable terrain, steeps and moguls at a level 3 standard.
    • 200 teaching hours logged.
    European Snowsport ski instructor training courses
    Taking the chair with our coach, Lee, during Academy training.

    Now that peak time is over we’ve been getting back to training. It’s be nice to focus on our personal performance again and learn some new skills as part of the second discipline week. I think I’m going to give telemarking a go!

    It’s not long until February comes around and we’ll be teaching again! In the meantime though it’s time to crack on and work hard towards level 3.”

    You can follow Beth and read about her journey as a ski instructor on her blog, Pandora Mountain Photography. And if you’d like to find out more about level 3 ski instructor training courses with ES, check out the ES Academy website or drop us an email. And don’t forget to keep your eyes peeled for updates on our latest instructor training courses.

    It’s Not Just About the Skiing: Things to do in Zermatt off the snow

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    During the winter season Zermatt’s main attraction is its fantastic snow, amazing ski slopes and breathtaking views. There are however, so many other things to do in Zermatt, from the relaxing to the thrilling. Whether you are a skier or snowboarder looking for other activities to incorporate into your holiday or a non-skier on holiday in one if the most beautiful places in the world, here are our top picks for enjoying Zermatt off the slopes.

    On the ice rink in the centre of town you can have a go at ice skating or curling, which is a lot more fun than it might look! Either option is great to have a go at with a group of friends, but ice skating is a real treat if you’re with the family. It costs 10CHF to hire skates.

    Things to do in Zermatt winter
    Ever thought about learning to curl? Photo: Pascal Gertschen / Zermatt Tourism

    If you are looking for something new to try and the weather is nice, you can go paragliding from the top of the mountain. You’ll fly all the way down to the town, while enjoying the amazing views of Zermatt and have an adrenaline pumping experience at the same time. Prices generally range from around 150CHF to 200CHF.

    things to to in Zermatt winter
    Hiking and show shoeing is a great way to enjoy the snow in Zermatt without putting skis on! Photo: Michael Portmann / Zermatt Tourism

    There are many walking trails you can do around Zermatt. Each one is mapped out and you could even stop at a few mountain restaurants on the way. On a sunny day it’s worth taking the cable car up to Matterhorn paradise where you can go to the 3880m viewing platform and even go inside the glacier to the ice palace and see different life size ice sculptures.

    things to do in zermatt winter
    If the weather is bad, the Matterhorn museum is a great choice! Image: Zermatt Tourism

    If you feel like a relaxing day in the village you could visit the Matterhorn Museum which is open between 2pm and 6pm, and has a 10CHF entrance fee.

    There are also spas and wellness centres within many of the hotels you can visit for an afternoon if you are a non guest. The Mont Cervin hotel and the Vernisage both offer fantastic spa experiences ranging between 40 – 80 CHF. There are also many shops and cafes to explore as well as the old English church and old streets of Zermatt located just off the Main Street.

    things to do in zermatt winter
    Once you get away from the main streets, Zermatt is full of hidden gems and beautiful architecture. Photo: Kurt Müller / Zermatt Tourism

    In the evening you may want to visit the cinema as it is a little different to other cinemas. The Vernisage shows a huge range of movies from rom-coms to ski flicks to local and cultural films. It’s is owned and designed by local Heinz Julen, well known for his quirky interior design.

    Zermatt has way more to offer than you may think, so if you are looking for an all-round winter holiday come and experience it for yourself. If you’d like to book ski lessons in Zermatt, get in touch with our friendly sales team via phone or email. They will pair you with the perfect instructor, who will be more than happy to show you the slopes and recommend the perfect after-ski activities for you and your party.

    European Snowsport Zermatt – Kids Academy

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    With the Easter holidays beginning last week, European Snowsport’s Kids Academy has been at its busiest all season with eight kids groups last week! With perfect sunshine all week and amazing spring snow conditions all of the groups were able to experience the whole mountain, even our younger beginners! There are several kids groups running this week and with all the new snow forecast it is shaping up to be another great week!