by theorist » Sun Feb 15, 2015 7:56 pm
To those who've not done slack line work before: be careful -- as you step off, the line can snap back violently and take out the knee of the foot still on the line.
My PT, who knows that fitness for skiing is my focus, has given me some great exercises that combine strength and multi-planar dynamic balance. Note that these are advanced, so you should slowly and progressively work up to them using simpler exercises, such as the ones I've suggested:
1) Single-legged deadlifts with hip external rotation (=femur internal rotation): Stand on one leg, holding an appropriate-weight dumbbell in the opposite hand (start with no weight, then go 5 lbs., etc), straight above your head. Driving from the hip, reach down and across the stance leg with the dumbbell, ending with the hip at maximum external rotation (same as it would be with CA) at the point of maximum flexion. Ideally want to have weight hovering just above ground, a couple of feet from the stance foot, at a 9:30 - 10:30 clock position when the left is the stance foot, and 1:30 - 2:30 for the right. Return to standing, repeat 15 times, do 2 sets for each leg. If these are difficult (after working up to them), you probably have a hip instability on the difficult side(s). [Before doing these, first be able to do warrior 3 held for first 30 and then 45 seconds, and then the same while standing on an inverted bosu. Work up to this slowly, over a period of months.]
2) Stand on inverted bosu on one leg. Remaining on one leg for the entire exercise, do a single-legged squat. As you complete the squat (returning to the starting position), have a parter throw you a weighted ball (start with 2 lbs.) at one of the four quadrants (high left, high right, low left,low right). Catch the ball without losing balance, return it as quickly as possible, and repeat. Repeat 15-20 times, do two sets for each leg. [Before doing these, first be able to play catch with ball while standing on inverted bosu without squats, and with ball thrown straight to you. Then change to ball thrown to different quadrants. Also need to be able to do one-legged squats on solid ground, without any knee waver (if have knee waver, even if you can do the squat, you're not stable enough -- I had to to first walk slowly down flights of stairs while focusing on keeping the knee laterally quiet). Work up to this slowly, over a period of months.]