• Duration: 25 minutes with added 2.5 minute cool down
• Equipment: None
• Workout data:
  • Alex: 161 bpm heart rate maximum and 123 calories burned
  • Ryan: 169 bpm heart rate maximum and 355 calories burned
• BONUS workout (after your scheduled workout): Wall sits until failure. Make sure your knees are bent to 90 degrees and you are putting your weight into your heels. Breathe, visualize that first powder run of the day, and enjoy the burn!

Pep Talk:

Alright, day one is the foundation for hitting the slopes strong – lower body strength moves, intense cardio, and a constant focus on engaging the core. The workout today is fast-paced compound movements. Make sure you maintain good form and DO NOT fight through knee or back pain. Instead, reduce the impact of the workout by following the modifier on the screen. Below are pointers to get the most out of this workout.

Always engage the core. Core strength is critical for downhill skiing. Have you ever felt lower back soreness after day one on the slopes? That is because your abs weren’t strong enough.

Focus on form with the lunges. Make sure you keep your knees behind your toes. Quadricep strength is massively important for skiing. I have been burned out on Day 2 of 5 on prior ski trips (before I made health a hobby) and it’s almost always the quads that go first. Strong quads are going to protect your knees and allow you to give the mountain a beating… instead of the other way around.

Move really, really fast! This is a cardio workout. To maximize your 25 minutes and your heart rate, make sure you are pumping your arms wildly. Drive your hands from cheek (butt) to cheek (face) rapidly. Skiing requires incredible cardiovascular endurance and we need to get ready for the slopes quickly. 

Get airborne! There are plyometric moves in this routine which are a big component in our 2-Week Skiing Booster Training Program for a reason. This trains your lower extremity muscles to be explosive which is exactly what you need to get that massive adrenaline fix and stay safe as you’re flying down the mountain in 12-inches of powder! Make sure you are bending your knees on the landing and jumping as high/far as you can with proper form.

Look out for strength imbalances. There are a lot of unilateral moves in this routine. Notice if you have any strength or balance differences between your right and left legs. Poor flexibility is the number one cause of injury but these imbalances are a close second, especially when you are doing high-intensity sports like downhill skiing. The unilateral jump moves will expose any imbalances and they will improve in the coming weeks. Do your best, trust the process and enjoy your progress!

• Duration: 30 minutes (including warm up) with added 4 minute cool down
• Equipment: Tape. You’ll need floor markers. In the video it’s two parallel 4’ long strips of tape that are 4’ apart.
• Workout data:
  • Alex – 157 bpm heart rate maximum and 128 calories burned
  • Ryan – 182 bpm heart rate maximum and 439 calories burned
•  BONUS workout (after your scheduled workout): Side lunges. A great move for downhill skiing. Go to failure on both sides and only go as deep as you can. Proper form will be demonstrated in P90X3 Agility X workout.

Pep Talk:

Welcome to day 2!! We are sore too. That’s good. Today we are going to push through with a speed and agility workout by Tony Horton. Tony is our favorite trainer because his workouts are filled with variety. Many of his workouts are used in this booster program because he is a downhill skiing freak. We have met him numerous times and this is always the focus of our conversations. Push past your comfort zone in this workout and have fun! 

Always engage the core. This is so important for this workout and for skiing. You will especially need to engage the core during the scissor kick jumps and the jump knee jumps.

Move really, really fast. We’ll repeat this one again. In this workout you will be running in circles, jumping side to side, running with high knees, and doing the grapevine followed by fast feet. Focus on speed with good form. Remember, go hard now because how you practice is how you play! Your lungs will thank you when you’re shredding pow!

Do your best and forget the rest. Tony Horton is all about variety. This prevents boredom, plateau, and injury. In this routine, he is constantly commanding you to change direction, increase speed, or upgrade from standard to plyometric lunges. Do your best to keep up with the commands but don’t let it slow you down if you can’t follow the routine perfectly. Just do your best and forget the rest.

Do the cool down. You don’t want to miss this. If you do these workouts and skip out on the cooldowns or the stretch days your hamstrings will tighten up and your back will suffer, not to mention your performance on the mountain.

Day 3: 3-Week Yoga Retreat Flow-On-The-Go & 21 Day Fix 10 Minute Fix For Abs

• Duration: 30 minutes total
• Equipment: A yoga mat, carpeted floor, rug, or padded bath mat will suffice
• BONUS workout (after your scheduled workouts): Superman until failure. This will balance out your core exercise for the day and strengthen the lower back. Get your legs and arm as far off the ground as possible!

Pep Talk:

Today, yoga is just what the doctor ordered. Followed by a 10-minute abs and obliques workout. This yoga routine is a slow paced, introductory routine that is going to loosen up your hamstrings, calves, and hip flexors. Yoga is a critical part of the plan so don’t skip it. Again, just do your best here and make sure you are not pushing through any pain. The abs and obliques routine is going to be very challenging. You’re not expected to do every single rep. Do everything you can while maintaining proper form. Mainly, keep your lower back pressed into the floor at all times to fully engage your core. 

Keep your spine long during yoga. As you go through the downward dog pose and reach for your toes, focus on lengthening the spine rather than bending. 

Bend your knees during yoga. It’s okay to bend your knees to do the pose properly and you are still going to experience a great hamstring stretch. Don’t lock your joints or put too much pressure on your body if you’re feeling tight.

Do your best. This yoga routine is perfect for the first time yogi or the 2,000-hour yogi. Just do your best and these fundamental moves will improve your flexibility, balance, and range of motion. 

Breathe and press your spine to the floor during abs. Make sure you are not holding your breath as you do today’s core routine. Exhale as you contract. Also, make sure your lower back is pressed into the floor to prevent injury.

Support your head during abs. If your neck starts to get sore make sure you are pressing your head into your hands to relieve pressure on your neck.

• Duration: 25 minutes with a 3 minute cool down
• Equipment: None
• Workout data:
  • Alex – 166 bpm heart rate maximum and 114 calories burned
  • Ryan – 175 bpm heart rate maximum and 353 calories burned
•  BONUS workout (after your scheduled workouts): Okay, if you’re like us, your legs are fried right now. So let’s just hold plank for as long as we can, shoot for 1-2 minutes. Good luck, and keep the butt flexed and pelvis tucked!

Pep Talk:

Today you are in for a treat. This workout is perfect for skiing which is why it will show up more than once in this 2-Week Skiing Booster Training Program. I am sure all of you know Shaun T, one of the most famous fitness trainers of all time. There is a reason for that. He creates incredibly effective workouts and is an expert at explaining proper form. Listen to him and do your best through today’s leg day. He is going to provide great tips on what muscle group to flex during each move. These are huge muscle groups we are working on, so get ready to sweat! 

Keep the form of a warrior. To get the most out of this routine you need to focus on form. Keep the knees high in the first part of the workout and remember to keep your chest up, shoulder blades pinched, and core flexed (and make sure you’re not arching your back) throughout the workout. 

Turn up the heat! We are working with big muscle groups. Fight through the burn and go as low into the squats, lunges, and single-leg deadlifts as you can while maintaining proper form. If the form goes, take a short break and jump back into it. 

Power through the eccentric moves. We get into a couple of eccentric squat variations in this workout. Eccentric training is also known as negative training. So, we explode on the way up and go slow, three counts, on the way down. You might hate these at first, but this is an incredible form of exercise to prepare for the slopes. Learn to love them!

Breathe through the adductor squats. Always remember to breathe through this routine. This is slower pace compared to Agility X, but since you are working such large muscle groups, your heart is going to be pounding too. The adductor squats are toward the end of the routine. Use this time to breathe and enjoy the burn. Adductors are not a very popular muscle in the lower body. Adductors, along with abductors (which we will work later on) are the stability muscles in your legs and are critical for high performance and injury prevention on the slopes.

• Duration: 30 minutes (including a 5 minute warm up) with an added 2.5 minute cool down
• Equipment: A yoga mat, carpeted floor, rug, or padded bath mat will suffice
• Workout data:
  • Alex – 152 bpm heart rate maximum and 121 calories burned
  • Ryan – 178 bpm heart rate maximum and 419 calories burned
•  BONUS workout (after your scheduled workouts): Hamstring stretch. Lay on your back and stretch your hamstrings individually, each side for 2 minutes. Use a towel if you can’t touch your toes.

Pep Talk:

This is one of our favorite total body workouts. I am sure you are starting to see that you don’t need a gym membership or 60-minutes to get in great shape. If not, you will after this routine. As you can see in our workout data, this was an incredibly effective 30-minutes of training. So far this week we have focused heavily on the lower body but today we are adding in upper and core work. Get ready for push-ups and core burning moves. If you want, feel free to do tricep push-ups during the “Elevator Push-ups” move. That will get your triceps strengthened to help you along those long catwalks.

Start to sink lower. We are almost through the first week and I am sure you’re sore, but also feeling stronger. Aren’t you glad you’re sore now rather than on Day 2 of your ski trip? The 5-minute warm up should get you loose so take the opportunity to sink lower into the “speed skaters,” side lunges, one leg squat jumps, and the “depth charges” at the end (another one of those eccentric moves). Keep your core engaged and don’t arch your back!

Celebrate improvements. When we did this workout, our side lunges were significantly improved compared to Day 1. We feel great about that! Take notice of the improvements and get excited! 

Love the eccentric moves. The grand finale of this routine is a move called “depth charges.” We won’t blow the surprise but make sure you go low, slow, and then blast up! These eccentric moves are going to help you when you’re traveling 68-miles per hour in the tuck position carving down that long, steep blue run to the chalet for a healthy lunch!

You’re a ninja warrior! You get to experience martial arts moves in this workout. It’s critical that as you are rotating your upper body to punch, you are also rotating your hips and feet. Lift up those heels and rotate your whole body to prevent the risk of injury to the knees. We really need to keep those healthy for your upcoming ski trip so take 10-seconds to study the form on the video if you need to. 

Be smart.  You can always press pause if you need to. These are intense workouts. Do you best, but when your form goes, take a short break.

• Duration: 30 minutes with an added 2 minute cool down
• Equipment: None
• Workout data:
  • Alex – 173 bpm heart rate maximum and 167 calories burned
  • Ryan – 180 bpm heart rate maximum and 467 calories burned
• Max Out Time:
  • Alex – 18 minutes and 17 seconds
  • Ryan – 17 minutes and 55 seconds
•  BONUS workout (after your scheduled workouts): Go hydrate! You need water. Seriously, drink at least 20-30 ounces of water. Get in the habit of always having a full water bottle nearby. Your body performs better when it’s hydrated.

Pep Talk:

This one is tough. As you can see, our heart rate max and calories burned are through the roof! Get pumped up because your cardiovascular endurance will be so much stronger in just 30-minutes from now. Insanity Max:30 is the most challenging (meaning most effective) HIIT (high intensity interval training) workout we’ve ever done. I enjoyed the full 60-day program because it was so easy to track your progress. During each workout, you record your “max out time” which is when your form goes or you need to take a break during the workout video. Then the next week, you have the goal to surpass your previous max out time. We maxed out around 18 minutes. Can you beat us? You got this! Nobody said getting your body in shape for downhill skiing in just a couple weeks was going to be easy.

First time doing pike-ups. This is a great move and works your lungs and core. Make sure you lift your hips up with your core and do not arch your back. While you are doing the pike-ups, squeeze your knees together to work your adductors. 

Have water ready for the breaks. Shaun T is nice enough to give us a short break after each 5-minute round. Make sure you have water close to quench your thirst. Just don’t drink too much or it will be bouncing around with you for the rest of the workout!

Take breaks when you need them. We pushed as hard as we possibly could until our max out time of about 18 minutes. We took a very short break and then got back into it and gave it everything we had for the remainder of the routine. We needed breaks in addition to the scheduled breaks. We want you to push as hard as you can, but please don’t faint or hurt yourself.

Breathe through your nose during cool down. Here’s a trick that works great for training your lungs for elevation so your lungs get used to operating with less oxygen. After the workout, there is a 2-minute cooldown. Breathe only through your nose during the cool down. When the cooldown is finished, walk around, still breathing through your nose only, with your hands on your head (this will open up your chest cavity). Do that until your breathing is settled and under control. 

• Duration: 30 minutes 
• Equipment: None
• BONUS workout (after your scheduled workouts): Congrats on finishing week one! Now go rest.

Pep Talk:

You’re almost there! The end of our first week. Today is an active recovery day. This is a routine we have done hundreds of times to keep us flexible, improve range of motion, and injury-free! Ryan had a hamstring injury while training for a Spartan Beast once and his physical therapist recommended a number of moves, all of which are included in this routine. We know…. Tony Horton can ramble sometimes. We find it pretty funny, but if you find in obnoxious, you can turn on some music the next time you do this workout. Everything about this routine is going to make you a better skier. Enjoy!

Make sure you have the right form. There are a lot of moves that may you have never done. Variety is the spice of life, right? If you need to break and study the form on the screen before you start, do that. 

Keep great posture. Chest up and squeeze those shoulder blades together. 

Push through the sore. If you are really sore, fight through it and push yourself past the soreness. By the end of this workout, you are going to feel like you’re walking on clouds.

• Duration: 25 minutes with a 3 minute cool down
• Equipment: None
• Workout data:
  • Alex – 168 bpm heart rate maximum and 98 calories burned
  • Ryan – 171 bpm heart rate maximum and 323 calories burned
•  BONUS workout (after your scheduled workouts): We know, cruel, more legs. Do wall sits until failure. Make sure your knees are bent to 90 degrees and you are putting your weight into your heels.

Pep Talk:

This lower body workout is familiar to you! I am sure you will notice the progress you have made since the first week. Our goal was to surpass our max heart rate and calorie burn. We were close, but didn’t quite make it. However, the burn was real, our form was great, and balance and range of motion were noticeably improved. That is a WIN! 

Fight gravity. This is your second time doing this workout so you should have a better handle on proper form. Now you can really focus on control. Resist gravity and go slow.

Notice your improved balance. A great way to stay motivated through a fitness routine is not by looking at the scale, but by noticing the small improvements week after week. You should be feeling more sturdy already!

Breathe to prep for elevation. For as much of the routine as possible, breathe through your nose. This is a great technique to quickly train your lungs. You’ll be giving them more of a workout and even preparing them for higher elevation!

• Duration: 38 minutes including warm up and cool down
• Equipment: None
• Workout data:
  • Alex – 166 bpm heart rate maximum and 153 calories burned
  • Ryan – 179 bpm heart rate maximum and 488 calories burned
•  BONUS workout (after your scheduled workouts): Bicycle for one minute. Work those abs and obliques!

Pep Talk:

This is a total body workout with a focus on plyometric legs moves that are going to get your heart pounding! In this workout, you will do each exercise twice for 60-seconds each. The trainer, Autumn Calabrese, will give you plenty of breaks so make sure you push hard through each minute (even though they are going to feel long). We love this workout for preparing our lower body for skiing. The explosive plyometric moves also challenge your balance and are incredibly effective, more so than lifting weights. I hope you are enjoying using only your body as equipment! 

Use your whole body. Use your arms to help get you airborne during the plyometric moves. Jump as high as possible while remembering to land softly. 

Go lower into those squats. Now that it’s our second week together, you should be sinking your butt lower than you did last week. Make sure to keep your knees behind your toes. 

Move your feet fast! This is an agility workout so when you’re instructed to do fast feet, grapevine, and side jumps, do them as fast as you can for the full minute!

Day 10: P90X3 Yoga & 21 Day Fix 10 Minute Fix For Abs

• Duration: 40 minutes total
• Equipment: A yoga mat, carpeted floor, rug, or padded bath mat will suffice
• BONUS workout (after your scheduled workouts): Side lunges. Go to failure on both sides and only go as deep as you can. Did you feel an improvement compared to last week?

Pep Talk:

Yoga day, round 2!! Today we are doing a more advanced yoga routine compared to last week followed by the same 10-minute core workout. P90X3 yoga is faster paced and includes moves to loosen up your entire body, especially your legs and back. Don’t even think about skipping this. Do your best because, even if it’s ugly, these motions are going to help you recover, improve flexibility, boost your explosive power, and make your body injury-proof on the slopes. As always, make sure you’re not pushing through any back or knee pain. If you do have pain, reach out and we can help. With the crunches today, keep your lower back pressed into the floor at all times. 

Keep your spine long during yoga. As you go through the downward dog pose and reach for your toes focus on lengthening the spine rather than bending. When reaching for your toes lead with your chest and head. 

Bend your knees during yoga. t’s okay to bend your knees to do the pose properly and you are still going to experience a great hamstring stretch.

Appreciate the difficulty. We have done this routine well over 100 times. It’s still difficult. Do your best to complete each move with proper form without crashing to the floor and enjoy how much yoga takes you out of your comfort zone. Yoga will help you take your fitness to the next level along with your downhill skiing!

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Big inhales and big exhales as you go through the yoga motions. This helps oxygenate your body (very good for altitude sickness as well). During abs, exhale as you contract. Never hold your breathe.

Support your head during abs. If your neck starts to get sore make sure you are pressing your head into your hands to relieve pressure on your neck.

• Duration: 30 minutes with an added 4.5 minute cool down
• Equipment: None
• Workout data:
  • Alex – 160 bpm heart rate maximum and 124 calories burned
  • Ryan – 173 bpm heart rate maximum and 400 calories burned
•  BONUS workout (after your scheduled workouts): Superman until failure. We’ll give your legs a rest. Lower back strength is critical for skiing. Get your legs and arm as far off the ground as possible!

Pep Talk:

Here is one of the greatest workouts for skiing of all time. In this plyometric workout, we continue to build strength and power in our lower bodies while also improving balance and range of motion. Enjoy the variety. A lot of these moves might feel new to you and that’s okay. Just do your best. If you continue on with the bonus third week you will notice a major improvement. 

Go low and be safe. When you drop down low into your squats, make sure you don’t arch your back. If you can’t reach the ground, that is totally fine. Remember you can always follow the modifier. 

Focus on form and breathe through your nose. Keep a close eye on the screen and listen as you are instructed on the form. Take the opportunity to breathe through your nose during this workout as well!

Use your whole body. Make sure you are using your arms to help you get airborne during the plyometric moves. Jump as high as possible while remembering to land softly. 

• Duration: 30 minutes with an added 2 minute cool down
• Equipment: None
• Workout data:
  • Alex – 177 bpm heart rate maximum and 171 calories burned
  • Ryan – 181 bpm heart rate maximum and 493 calories burned
• Max Out Time:
  • Alex – No Max Out
  • Ryan – 23 minutes and 32 seconds
• BONUS workout (after your scheduled workouts): Let’s catch our breath in plank position. Hold plank for as long as you can. Shoot for 1-2 minutes. Good luck and keep the butt flexed and pelvis tucked!

Pep Talk:

This workout was hard the first time, and it’s still going to be hard. We are excited because we beat our max out time from last week, a great indicator of progress. For us, this is one of those workouts that we dread, but, it’s the workouts that we do not look forward to that we need most. If we did the workouts we enjoyed all the time, we would plateau and never reach our goals. So, if you’re dreading doing this workout again, we feel you. Just start and don’t you dare skip this. These workouts are critical for getting your body in the best possible shape for skiing!

Have water ready for the breaks. Keep hydrated. During the breaks put your hands on your head and try to get control of your breathing.

breaks when you need them. Toward the end, we needed breaks in addition to the scheduled breaks. We want you to push as hard as you can, but please don’t faint or hurt yourself.

Breathe through your nose during cool down. After the workout, there is a 2-minute cooldown. Breathe only through your nose during the cool down. When the cooldown is finished, walk around, still breathing through your nose only, with your hands on your head (this will open up your chest cavity). Do that until your breathing is settled and under control. 

• Duration: 30 minutes (including warm up) with added 4 minute cool down
• Equipment: Tape. You’ll need floor markers. In the video it’s two parallel 4’ long strips of tape that are 4’ apart.
• Workout data:
  • Alex – 184 bpm heart rate maximum (must be an error) and 132 calories burned
  • Ryan – 182 bpm heart rate maximum and 445 calories burned
•  BONUS workout (after your scheduled workout): Hamstring stretch. Lay on your back and stretch your hamstrings individually, each side for 2 minutes. Use a towel if you can’t touch your toes.

Pep Talk:

Today is the last intense workout of the program! You already know this routine, so you can push harder. Congrats on making it this far and let us know how you are feeling in the comments section of this page. 

Always engage the core. We probably said this twice already, but it deserves that much attention. Your core is so important for this workout and for skiing. You will especially need to engage the core during the scissor kick jumps and the jump knee jumps.

Move really, really fast. Also a very important reminder. These workouts get to be short because you’re expected to move really fast! Go hard while running in circles, jumping side to side, running with high knees, doing the grapevine followed by fast feet. Focus on speed with good form. Go hard now, because how your practice is how you play! 

Do your best and forget the rest. You may have noticed that these workouts have a lot of variety, challenge multiple muscle groups at once, and are well-rounded (strength, flexibility, speed, range of motion, balance, etc.). This is what prevents boredom, plateau, and injury. If you remember, in this routine Tony Horton is constantly commanding you to change direction, increase speed, or upgrade from standard to plyometric lunges. Do your best to keep up with the commands but don’t let it slow you down if you can’t follow along perfectly. Just do your best and forget the rest.

Do the cool down. You don’t want to miss this. If you do these workouts and skip out on the cool down or the stretch days your hamstrings will tighten up and your back will suffer, not to mention your performance on the mountain.

• Duration: 30 minutes 
• Equipment: None
• Workout data:
  • Alex – 133 bpm heart rate maximum and 73 calories burned
  • Ryan – 133 bpm heart rate maximum and 189 calories burned
• BONUS workout (after your scheduled workouts): Congrats, your done! Go hydrate! You need water. Seriously, drink at least 20-30 ounces of water. Get in the habit of always having a full water bottle nearby. Your body performs better when it’s hydrated.

Pep Talk:

You’re almost there! Since it’s your second time doing this routine, you can listen to music if you want. As you’ll notice, one of the guys on the screen is an Olympian. These workouts are literally how professional athletes and Olympians train. This workout will help stretch out your sore muscles, strengthen stability muscles to make you injury proof, and increase flexibility. You are going to have an amazing ski trip! Congratulations on making it this far and completing our 2-Week Skiing Training Booster Program.

Keep great posture. Chest up and squeeze those shoulder blades together. 

Push through the sore. You may be really sore. If that’s the case, fight through it and it will go away.