Twenty-fourteen is here. Have you made your New Year's resolutions yet? On the top of everyone's list is always living a healthier lifestyle, but come February lots of people have already put their fancy gym gear aside and the brand new smoothie maker is collecting dust. But it is easy to do something for your health Just go cross-country skiing!
It is said that Nordic skiing is one of the healthiest sports, and it is accessible to virtually anyone.
Cross-country skiing is a full-body workout and boosts physical and mental health. It improves your cardiovascular and muscular fitness. Unlike running or cycling, it involves both lower- and upper-body action; basically every major muscle group is involved. This requires lots of energy and thus makes for effective calorie burning. It improves balance and coordination and strengthens core and back muscles. It is ideal to foster heart and lung health and capacity through sustained, rapid heart-rate periods and increased lung performance. Climbing up cross-country trails is like naturally integrating miniature sprints, including short bursts of intense activity, which makes for a more effective workout. Just like other endurance sports, it can cause endorphin highs, and some even describe the sensation of gliding silently through a winter wonderland as a meditative experience. And cross-country skiing often provides the only natural winter source of vitamin D when it is absorbed through the skin on sunny days.
Nordic skiing is an ideal sport for rehab and older people. The gliding motion has a very low impact on feet, knees and hips. It does not affect joints and ligaments as does, for example, running, which makes it suitable for muscle strengthening after injuries. It is also one of the safest outdoor winter sports - all Nordic ski/binding systems have free heels and they hinge at the toe, so falls are far less likely to cause major injuries.
Whether you are going out for a purely recreational ski trip or plan to get into competitive racing, the main point is to get started!
Skate ski waxing - Waxing for skate skiing is simpler than for classic skiing as you only need to wax for glide.
First, choose a wax that is suitable for the temperature. For our coastal climate this is very often a warm/high humidity wax such as Swix CH8. This wax is designed for a temperature range around zero. The "CH" stands for hydrocarbon. For more performance, you can choose a "low fluoro" wax (for example Swix LF8), which is composed of fluorinated compounds that improve glide.
To apply glide wax, drip wax on your base with your iron and then iron it into the base. Once cool, scrape the wax off with a plastic scraper and brush it so there is no visible wax on the base. Be very careful not to overheat your iron: If the iron/wax smokes, it is definitely too hot (most waxes list a temperature that should be used in your wax iron). Local shops are a great information source as is the Swix website www.swixsport.com. The improvement in performance is well worth the effort!
Silke Jeltsch is an administrator at Whistler Olympic Park. She can be reached at [email protected]
