Ski season in the South is fleeting. In a good year, you get four months to hit the slopes. That’s only 120 days of mogul runs, chapped lips, and $9 bowls of chili…and that’s if you skip work every day.

So we talked with two of the country’s best ski coaches-Chris Fellows, owner of North America Ski Training Center, the foremost performance ski school in America; and Anthony Dorage, head coach of North Carolina’s Lees McRae College Ski Team (a national-caliber program). Fellows and Dorage offered the following pre-season workouts to help you make the most of your precious time on the slopes.

Cross Training

“Any dry-land sport will improve your skiing because they all increase your sense of balance and coordination,” says Dorage. He incorporates soccer in his team’s training program and says basketball is also a good cross training sport because it works every muscle you’ll need on the slopes while providing solid aerobic conditioning.

If you want a sport that mimics skiing exactly, Fellows says to try inline skating. “There’s a huge parallel between the two sports,” he says. “Inline skating features the same body movements and trains the same muscle groups as skiing.”

Balance and Coordination

No workout program in the new millennium would be complete without a yoga or pilates routine. Both yoga and pilates increase the skier’s sense of balance and coordination, which are the cornerstones of skiing, according to Fellows. Dorage encourages his skiers to enroll in a yoga class too, but he says you have to be careful. “Yoga puts you in some pretty hardcore positions. Be sure to take it slow.” In order to create a solid sense of balance and coordination, Dorage and Fellows say you have to focus on your core muscles (glutes, abs, groin, lower back, obliques), which will keep your legs in control on those deep mogul runs. Medicine ball exercises that involve a range of motion are key. One of the simplest is the sideways pass with a partner.

“Also, try balancing yourself on top of a gym ball,” Dorage says. Keep your legs bent and your hips low, like you’re in a skier’s tuck, and try standing on the ball for one minute. When that becomes easy, try the same exercise while standing on one leg.

Speed and Strength

When building strength, Dorage has one word for you: plyometrics. Plyos are the meat of the ski workout and they’ll give you the best results on the hill. Fellows suggests starting with jumping rope for a few minutes. “You’ll be surprised how much this school-yard activity works your legs,” he says. From there, move to stair jumping. Start with both feet together and simply hop up a flight of stairs. When you’re comfortable with that, try hopping the stairs with one leg.

“Lateral movements are also important when training because they mimic the movements you’ll make on the slopes,” Dorage says. For this, there’s nothing better than lateral box hops. Stand parallel to a workout bench and jump on top of it. Jump down on the other side and repeat the cycle until muscle failure.

Skier tuck hops also condition the muscles you’ll need in the snow. Begin in a skier’s tuck, knees bent and hips low, and hold it for 15 seconds. Then, from the tuck position, jump as high as you can and land back in a skier’s tuck. When that gets easy, try them one legged.

Endurance

All the balance and strength in the world is wasted without a solid aerobic base. Fellows and Dorage recommend looking past the treadmill and Stair Master.

“Mountain biking is a great endurance builder,” Fellows says. “It also trains you to think two turns ahead, which is key when you’re downhill or backcountry skiing.”

Dorage’s team focuses on trail running during the off-season. “The more rocky the terrain the better because it emphasizes the coordination and agility innate in skiing.”

Interval training will also keep your cardio workout interesting. Try running at a fast pace for two-minutes, then walk for one-minute. Repeat that cycle for 15 minutes.

“You should intertwine all of these exercises with each other,” Dorage concludes. “It’s important to keep a sense of balance in mind. If you train all aspects of your body, you’ll be more likely to avoid an injury this season.”

–Graham Averill