Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Can't wait until the 15th jan rolls on!!

My girlfriend and I are going to pamps for our first proper snowboarding holiday and just wondering about preparing ourselves.

Do any of you do exercises before you go especially if you haven't been doing any skiing/snowboarding before the holiday. Just wondering what we can do to prepare our bodies for all the hard work we will have, especially for my gf as she is learning snowboarding and doesn't really do any other sports.

Also does anyone bother with wrist guards?

For first timers wrist guards would be a safe bet as if you catch an edge and go down, your natural reaction is to save your fall with your hands and you can go down pretty hard if you are facing down the slope. We were taught that most injuries on wrists are due to them being cold so we used to clench our hands together (as if in prayer) and roll your wrists around for a few minutes to warm the muscles and joints up. We were told that this would at least help to minimise any potential wrist injury as they are a little more flexible when warmed up.

For excersise, just focus on the legs as this is where most fatigue is felt.

The advice you have been given here is great although there are a couple of things I would add. Firstly, ask your instructor how to fall, a good one will know! I say this because I once fell backwards and nearly put both shoulders out so I took his advise after that Too much for me to tell you how but ask it's WELL worth it.

If you have wrist guards use them, especially when you have your turns and starting to board for real. I know so many people who have ditched them at this point and got wrist injurys Pad you knees and back side, at the beginning falls even if not heavy can be repetative. (Only 20 to 30 times if your lucky )

Don't let any of this put you off, its all worse case stuff. I promise you will have the time of your life.

For warming up defo Abs and Upper Leg (From breaking which you will do all the time at first), Wrists and Upper Arms and Shoulders from getting back up. We take that Ibuprofen gel and morning 3 is ALWAYS the worst for aching.

Take care and have a fantastic time

Ratty

Hey there

Last year was my first time boarding and it was fun. it was also quite a painful experience due to the fact that i was not in any kind of shape. As stated above, you will find yourself spending quite a bit of your time on your butt, then comes the hard part, getting back up again, doing this repeatedly left my stomach muscles screaming after day 2.

Luckily though I had bought camping mat and cut it into shape and stuffed it down the back of my trousers (2 layers). My friends laughed at me but after day 2 i was persuaded by one of them to part with a layer to help protect my friends posterior.

I also had the good fortune of having vollyball knee pads. these were ideal for the occasions when i managed to catch the toe edge and crash onto my knees ( i wasnt going fast enough to slam my face in the ice)

This year I will have kneepads, more camping mat (£2) and the situps have started already

Hi all

I would just like to add something about wrist guards;

My girlfriend broke her wrist learning to board 2 years ago in France. She was wearing wrist guards. The doctor in the village did a fantastic job of setting the break so avoiding a hospital stay for it to be pinned. Being a boarder himself and setting some 50+ broken wrists per season he had a strong view about wrist guards:

Save your money!

Having seen numerous breaks where people had been wearing wrist guards he was convinced that there were none that could actually stop a break occuring and in many instances people get a false sense of security when wearing them and then tend to fall on their hands even more.

The wrsit guard will almost certainly, but not definetly, stop your wrist breaking. The forces are instead moved up the arm and the break occurs higher and the type of break is often more complex and therefore more difficult to correct.

I think in the end there is n o substitute for falling properly. That means the first thing to hit the ground should be shoulders, thighers or backside depending on which way you go. Youll get a few bruises but nothing worse than that.

I'm not a doctor and it is after all just his opinion but he undoubtadely has seen a lot of broken bones and my girlfriend happily boards with no guards having thrown hers in the bin.

Anyway dont think broken bones think cool white powder (the snowy variety).

Hvae fun

Neil