Ready for the slopes
Global warming be damned. Nowadays, you don’t need real snow to ski or snowboard (Big Bear blows its own artificial white stuff), and you don’t even need real skiing to get in downhill shape. Slope training devices -- ranging from extravagantly expensive gym machines to dirt-cheap sliding pads -- can blast your quads into dawn-to-dusk, double-black-diamond shape long before you hop on the chairlifts. Just don’t forget to bring the sunblock.
---
Slip-sliding your way to fitness
Skier’s Edge ski machine: Stable lateral trainer that allows work on form and endurance.
Likes: Fun and challenging side-to-side aerobic workout, similar to the Pro Fitter (below), that aggressively works your skiing muscles in a more stable format. Balancing with two rubber-tipped poles while standing on two rocking platforms, you fling yourself side to side along two down-sloping rails, as if you’re making smooth, hard
S-turns. The resistance, provided by a thick, wide rubber cord, increases as you push down and out with your outside foot, just as it does when you’re carving downhill. The solid base lets you get into a confident rhythm and allows a cardio workout. Poles included for balance.
Dislikes: Big (5 feet by 16 inches wide), heavy (65 pounds) and hard to move. Takes an hour to put together.
Price: $1,200. (800) 225-9666, Ext. 404; www.skiersedge.com.
Flying saucers can take you
where you want to be
Gliding: Two plates. Bring your own Persian rug.
Likes: Although billed as “the ultimate bun workout,” this creation of fitness instructor Mindy Mylrea works as a legitimate functional trainer for skiing and skating. As you slide from side to side across the carpet on two 9-inch-wide plastic plates, you engage all the muscles of the leg at once. As you squat, lunge and slide, the movements somewhat simulate the forces of ski turns, inline skating and cross-country skiing on the quads. A DVD or VHS tapes with three lengthy workouts are included. The plates aren’t limited to back-and-forth movement, they’re portable -- and, in a pinch, you could eat spaghetti off them. And they’re only 20 bucks!
Dislikes: Not quite as sport-specific as the other three trainers reviewed, as you can’t jump-squat with your legs in parallel position.
Price: $19.99. (800) 431-7474; www.glidingdiscs.com.
Machine gives a real
monster workout
Cascade Fitness Technology Quadmill: The only machine that truly simulates a downhill ride.
Likes: It fries your quads in minutes -- some say seconds. Found only in a few clubs, the machine has you stand on a forward-tilted surface that undulates up and down in a vertical ellipse -- replicating the feeling of sliding down a mountain. Initially, staying on it for 10 minutes at the slow speed is a monumental challenge, and impossible at higher speeds. This is a no-impact strength- and muscle-building monster. It stretches your calf, hammers your quads and works your leg and core. The U.S. Ski Team swears by -- and at -- theirs.
Dislikes: Massive size (69 inches, 435 pounds) and price.
Price: $6,495; (509) 764-0576; www.quadmill.com.
For those who like
working out on the edges
Pro Fitter 3-D Cross Trainer: Unstable lateral trainer that emphasizes balance.
Likes: A challenging (but not too difficult) quad and core-stability workout. The rounded base rocks back and forth, forcing you to balance and get into a rhythm as you tuck and carve from side to side, as you would on the slopes. Push it, and you can get a cardiovascular workout. Flexing footpads add to the challenge and let you practice edging. It’s versatile: The trainer comes with instructions and a training DVD that detail 20 nonskiing exercises. Nothing to put together. At 4 feet long, it’s easy to store.
Dislikes: May require too much athleticism for some.
Price: $499.95. (800) FITTER-1; www.fitter1.com.
-- Roy M. Wallack
Irvine-based Roy M. Wallack is an endurance cyclist and runner whose latest book is “Bike for Life: How to Ride to 100.” He can be reached at roywallack@aol.com.