If you’re like me, you’re itching for the snow to start falling on the mountains so you can rush out to the chairlift and throw yourself down the slopes. Unfortunately, there are still months between now and the first resort opening. In the offseason, many people wonder how they can continue to improve their skills when there’s no snow.

Maybe you want to fix your stance, learn new tricks, or are simply a beginner looking to improve your riding and stay comfortable on a low-friction sports board. The biggest difference between beginners, intermediate riders, and professionals is not just how often they ride but also how much preparation and training they do in the off-season. Advanced riders became advanced riders by clocking just as many off-season training days as they did in-season training days (likely more!). Here, I’m going to break down six ways to train for snowboarding in the off-season.

1. Pick Up Another Board Sport

There are so many board sports, and learning how to do one can make you better at the rest! A similar sport will help you improve your snowboarding skills in different ways, but some are especially good for particular snowboarding skills such as stability and improving your riding with both your left foot forward and right foot forward. It's the muscle memory that's built while participating in similar board sports that has this effect.

• Skateboarding skills translate incredibly well into park riding. If you can ollie on a skateboard, you can definitely ollie on a snowboard. Similarly, learning to ride rails, go up halfpipes, and jump off ramps on a skateboard will make doing those same things on a snowboard a breeze. Many Olympic snowboarders spend their summers in skateparks, so if you’re looking to compete, you should find a skatepark near you!

• Having surfing, wakeboarding, and wake-surfing experience helps tremendously on powder days. Water and snow aren’t exactly the same, but you approach riding on water and on snow similarly. Riding boards in the water will help you internalize how to move your body when surfing through powder. Additionally, learning how to do tricks on the water will make doing those same tricks much easier on powdery days.

• The RipStik is a weird-looking skateboard, but it’s also an amazing, if not the best, way to learn how to carve on pavement. The way you need to move to turn and accelerate on the RipStik teaches you how to turn on a snowboard. I learned how to RipStik before learning how to snowboard, and it helped me learn much faster than my fellow snowboarding classmates. I’ve also recommended the RipStik to friends between snowboarding trips, and it has helped them significantly. It can also be useful for learning how to ride switch! If you're new to snowboarding and want to progress faster than other riders, I would absolutely recommend picking one of these up before hitting the slopes.

• Flat-land snowboarding is great for a more realistic experience too. You can get a variety of training boards with training bindings, but you can also use actual snowboard bindings with a real snowboard base and real snowboard inserts and boots to give you a realistic experience even without snow! Using a normal snowboard and your own bindings and boots on a carpeted area or grass can give you a more realistic feel than a skateboard or other board. Having the actual equipment on also gives you an idea of the true snowboard flex when practicing presses, an accurate stance width, and a more realistic experience when practicing twists. A real board has a far more realistic flex than a training board! Other benefits include being able to see how a rocker profile springs off the ground compared to how a reverse camber shape springs off the ground, or how the inner padding of your boots feels, for example. The metal edges may even catch when practicing twists, helping you to see if you need more or less spin, or that new silky smooth sidewall may slip out and teach you how to control it when you land. Flat-land practice will give you an idea of trick timing among other specific skills like doing ollies. Make sure you include a few days of flat-land practice during your off-season training days.

2. Work on Your Cardio

Everyone has experienced exhaustion at the bottom of a slope at some point—maybe you went down a taxing mogul slope or a top-to-bottom powder run. Either way, the sparse oxygen in the higher altitudes mixed with vigorous exercise can take the wind out of even the best athletes. Working on your cardio can increase your endurance/durability and keep you performing at your best.

The best way to work on your stamina is to find a cardio activity that you enjoy and do it at least three times a week. Really, any activity that makes you breathe hard will work. You can go running, biking, swimming, rowing, hiking, or whatever you like. The biggest factor is that you make a habit of doing it. If you’re looking for a specific cardio program, I’d recommend Nike’s running plans.

If you're looking to lower that resting heart rate even further, I would replace some of your cardio training days with high-intensity interval training (HIIT). This means switching between one to five minutes of high-intensity training and low-intensity training or rest. Vox has a great article explaining what HIIT is. You can also attend a fitness class like Orangetheory Fitness if you want a guided HIIT class.

3. Increase Your Mobility

Most people don’t love stretching and working on their flexibility, but increasing your mobility can help your movement on the slopes. Having a larger range of motion allows you to move your board more, which will help with sharper turns and quicker grabs. Additionally, more flexible muscles are less prone to pulls and tears. The best part is that you don’t have to do much to get a big benefit! If you're interested in increasing your mobility for snowboarding specifically, you should focus on your hip mobility and ankle mobility.

There are many flexibility programs out there, and many work! My suggestion is to check out r/flexibility’s starting to stretch program on Reddit. If you’re lazy like me, you can just do the five lower-body stretches in about ten minutes. Doing these three times a week can greatly reduce the risk of injury!

4. Strengthen Your Snowboarding Muscles

Most people experience soreness after around two days of snowboarding and have to take a rest day or two. To me, as someone who flies out to resorts, this is absolutely unacceptable, which is why I train my muscles in the off-season so I can ride daily from the first chair to the last! (This may not be beneficial to groms (kids) since their muscles are still developing and over-exercising may impair development).

Snowboarders usually get sore in a few main places: their thighs, calves, lower back, and shins. The main muscles that are getting sore are the hamstrings, quadriceps, glutes, calves, tibialis anterior, hip adductors (not to be confused with the abductors), erector spinae, and core muscles. There are a few others, but they are minor in comparison. Upper body muscles, like triceps, biceps, and forearms, are seldom used during snowboarding.

The Muscles You Use When Snowboarding

Below is a list of the main snowboarding muscles and how to train them. After that is a basic workout that will work all these muscles, and I won’t be offended if you skip the muscle explanations and go straight to the workout.

• Hamstrings: It should come as no surprise that the lower body is the most important muscle group used in snowboarding. Often referred to endearingly as “hammies,” these muscles pull your lower leg back at your knee and pull your leg back at the hip. Therefore, any knee-curling or torso-extending motion will use your hamstrings. Exercises that work your hammies include Romanian deadlifts, glute-ham raises, and hamstring curls. You also use your hammies when squatting or lunging, but they’re used less than other muscles for those movements.
• Quadriceps: Skiers and snowboarders both complain the most about their quadriceps (also known as quads). Thankfully, this is one of the easier muscles to train. The quadriceps extends your leg, so any movement with a leg extension will work your quads. Specific exercises that work your quads include squats, lunges, leg presses, and Bulgarian split squats.
• Glutes: These muscles in your booty extend your legs, which is why they’ll get sore when you’re in a crouched position for more difficult terrain. Any leg-extending or torso-extending motion will use them. Therefore, you’ll use them in many of the previous exercises including squats, Romanian deadlifts, and leg presses. If you’re frustrated because your glutes aren’t getting sore, your hip-hinging mobility probably isn’t mobile enough.
• Calves: Holding a toe edge for a long time can put a lot of strain on your calves, which pushes your feet down into the ground. Doing calf raises might seem like the obvious answer, but if you were to look around the world for the biggest calves, you would find them on sprinters and jumpers. Therefore, if you’re trying to train calves, I would start with box jumps, stair climbs, toe raises and hill sprints.
• Tibialis Anterior: This is a lesser-known muscle because it’s rarely used heavily like it’s used in snowboarding. This tiny muscle pulls your foot up, so you use it when you pull your toe edge up to carve on your heel edge. To be honest, there aren’t many exercises for this little guy, and I don’t exercise it outside the snowboarding season. If it’s getting extra sore on the slopes, you can tilt your backplate on your bindings forward more.
• Hip Adductors: These muscles bring your legs together, and they’re frequently overlooked in many workout routines because they aren’t used much outside snowboarding. You might be thinking, “Wait, your feet are strapped to a board. Why would you need to bring your feet together?” You’re right, they don’t come together, but you use these muscles to move your hips side to side as you balance on your board. These are another muscle that’s harder to train, but you can still work them by getting on a hip adductor machine or trying the exercises listed below.
• Erector Spinae: This is your back muscle that extends your spine. You use this when you're hunched over on your snowboard. You'll work this sufficiently when you're doing squats and Romanian deadlifts.
• Core Muscles: Having a strong core is really important for making those tough twists mid-air. You use your obliques, abdominals, and other core muscles when you twist your body and bring your torso forward. Doing a plank for 30-60 seconds is a great way to strengthen your core and belly area. To do a plank, get into a push-up position. Then, lower your left arm and right arm so that instead of supporting yourself with your palms, you are supporting yourself on your forearms. Keep a straight back. Now hold that position for 30-60 seconds. The longer you can hold that position, the more you will feel the burn and the easier they will become over time. In addition to planks, below you will find a list of other core exercises to help strengthen your midsection.

Recommended Workout

Here’s my recommended weightlifting routine, which I’d recommend doing two to three times a week. For each exercise, there are many variations that you can choose from, which are loosely sorted from easiest to hardest. I would do each exercise for three to four sets of eight to 15 reps. In the first week, aim for 12 to 15 reps. Every week, increase your weight, if applicable, by 5%, even if that means you can't do as many reps. After four weeks, switch up your exercises.

You also don't have to join a high-end gym with premium training equipment to work out. Economy gyms like Planet Fitness have plenty of equipment to train properly. Even having a dedicated home training area with some training gear can go a long way and shouldn't be too hard to make. Usually, a wide space (preferably with carpet and not tiles) and some basic training products (like jib training boards, weights, and balance boards) can suffice. If you can only practice on a hard surface, try finding a training board with a foam base to avoid scratching or cracking the tiles or hardwood.

1. Squats: Squats are an amazing exercise for all winter sports. They work your glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, and erector spinae. There are all kinds of squat variations so do some research to find a few that work well for you.

• Bodyweight squat
• Squat jumps
• Jumping squat
• Kettlebell squat: You don't need a kettlebell for this. You can use a heavy book, a jug of water, or a small child #parentworkouts.
• Front squat
• Back squat
• Pistol squat

2. Romanian Deadlifts: Romanian deadlifts are perfect for working your glutes, hamstrings, and erector spinae because they give you the best benefits of the deadlift while reducing your chance of injury. Romanian deadlifts are the same as a deadlift, but instead of starting with the weight on the floor, you put the weight on an elevated surface. By starting at the top, you ensure that your spine is aligned properly. To start the movement, pick up the weight and lower it until you feel like you can no longer hinge your hips. Then, you lift the weight up. Stopping where you can no longer bend your hips prevents back injury because lowering past your limit requires bending your back, which can compromise it.

• Romanian deadlift with kettlebell, dumbbell, or other weight.
• Single-leg deadlift
• Barbell Romanian deadlift

3. Split Squats and Lunges: Split squats and lunges help tremendously with strengthening your tiny stabilizing muscles along with your quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes. These also make sure that your left leg and right leg are equally strong.

• Lunges
• Bulgarian split squats

4. Calf Exercises: There are many different calf exercises. If you want to do extra work for your calves, you can do two instead of one of the following. Toe raises, hill sprints, and squat jumps are all great for strengthening your calves.

• Calf raises
• Box jumps
• Stair climbing
• Hill sprints

5. Hip Adductor Exercises: Hip adductor exercises can be tricky to do, which is why this is the only time I’d suggest using a machine in this article.

• Adductor machine
• At-home adductor exercises

6. Abdominal Exercises for Lower Abs:

• Crunches
• Decline crunches
• Crunches with medicine ball or other weight

7. Abdominal Exercises for Upper Abs:

• Reverse crunches
• Leg raises
• Planks

8. Oblique Exercises:

• Russian twists
• Band twists

5. Trampoline Training

If you’re an advanced snowboarder who’s looking to practice jumping, trampoline training can be helpful for learning to control yourself in the air. Most big jump snowboarders practice their tricks in beautifully outfitted jumping gyms like Copper Mountain’s Woodward Barn or Salt Lake City’s Snowgression. You may be able to find a more local facility though. You can train similarly by just practicing tricks on a large enough trampoline with a trampoline board or going to trampoline facilities. Some facilities will not allow you to bring your own trampoline board though so check the facility's details.

The main features of these gyms are their large trampolines and their ramps into foam pits. Most people start by grabbing a trampoline board and practicing their flips and spins on the trampoline. You can do the same by getting a tramp board or jib board and finding a trampoline near you. The trampoline is a great place to practice basic grabs, frontside and backside twists, rodeos, double corks and everything else you can think of that happens mid-air. Creativity thrives on the trampoline and it's a great place for maximum style. Keep in mind that practicing flips can be dangerous, even if you’re on a trampoline. Taller riders in particular need to beware.

6. Try a Balance Board

If you’re new to board sports, a balance board can help with your balance (hence the name). It's also good for improving your coordination for rails and rail tricks. You can start with the roller under the board, but I think that putting something like a medicine ball or similar ball under the board gives you the full benefits of using a balance board. Getting a balance bar to put underneath the board is also great for practicing rail tricks like 50-50's. Depending on your foot size you may need a wide version of the training boards. You can also find boards that have a similar flex rating to your real board. Having said all that, I'd say that the balance board will have the least impact on the things on this list. I wouldn't recommend spending too much time on it but being able to improve your balance will help you with a quality finish on any trick.

7. Surf (or Snowboard) the Internet

There are all kinds of online resources you can use to improve your skills. There are so many videos available on the internet for riders of all levels. There's something for freestylers trying to learn a new trick, beginners looking to hone their skills to advance into the intermediate snowboarder territory, and gearheads looking to tune their own snowboard setup better. Sites like YouTube have endless archives of instructional videos that are like having a private snowboard instructor in the palm of your hand. It may be summer, but you can get a snowboard lesson any time of the year by searching on the web! (Snowboard Addiction is one of my favorite YouTube channels.)

Conclusion

Off-season snowboard training is necessary for maximum performance during the on-season. It doesn't have to be hard, and you don't necessarily need a ski slope. Workout routines, some ease-of-use equipment, internet videos, and an alternative off-season board sport can keep you in great shape and help you improve your skills so you can shred hard come winter. Be sure to ask your Curated Snowboard Expert what they find helpful for staying sharp in the off-season.