The Effect Of Short-Term Off-Season Cross-Country Ski Training On Body Composition, Physical Fitness, And Isokinetic Muscle Functions Of Cross-Country Skiers

Abstract

Specificities required for cross-country (XC) skiers include high levels of endurance, maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max), anaerobic capacity, upper body power, tactical flexibility, and high speed techniques.1–3 XC skiers mostly need skiing, roller skiing, and running to improve their physiological, technical, and tactical skills. Successful elite XC skiers are increasing their ski and roller ski training periods.2 During the period when it was not possible to train on snow, dry training was conducted focusing on roller ski training.2,4–6 Roller skiing is closely similar to XC skiing with the muscles, energy systems, race patterns, and equipment used.7,8 However, roller skis and XC skis differ in course of difficulty, coefficients of friction, and balance requirements. Besides, the utilization rates of the upper and lower bodies differ between these two training methods.9–11 Therefore, to improve XC skiing performance, it is very important to perform XC ski training rather than roller ski training. There are three main ways to increase ski training duringoff-season. The first is to perform ski training at high altitudes.12 The second is tunnel skiing, which could be conducted on artificial snow. The third is to perform ski training in other countries (Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Chile, and Argentina) in opposite seasons (http://www.fisski. com/FISF).13