Another overlooked factor in sports conditioning programs is environmental adaptation. Exercising in a gym that has been heated to 85 degrees will do very little to help you acclimate for your ski trip to Eastern Canada in January. In the same way, working out in an overly air-conditioned gym in the summer will not do much for the thermo-regulation necessary for outdoor sports in hot climates.

The most important factors to consider when conditioning for sport are dynamic balance and proprioception. If you look around any gym nowadays, you will see pieces of equipment that you would expect to find only in a physical therapists office. Wobble boards, stability balls, foam rollers and bosu all challenge balance and proprioception, making it necessary to utilize your deep core muscles. In August of 2000, the International Dance Exercise Association (IDEA) awarded Suzanne Nottingham the title of Fitness Instructor of the year. This would mark the first year that IDEA awarded this title to a “non dance-like” instructor. In addition to teaching fitness, Suzanne is a ski instructor at Mammoth resort, and a contributor to Ski Magazine. She designs fitness programs which promote, balance, stability, proprioception and alignment. Fitness instructors tend to be influenced by whoever wins the Fitness Instructor of the Year award .Therefore; it is no surprise that these types of programs have become quite popular at fitness centers.

Although many may claim to be the “originators” of this “core movement”, no one influential in the fitness industry has explored these concepts to the degree of Paul Chek. According to Chek, an exercise must satisfy many components to be labeled “functional”. Consider the equipment at your gym. You are working, for the most part, in a totally stable position, which is provided by the machine. As a result, your bodies own stabilizers have very little need for activation. Now consider an activity such as skiing. Is there some machine that holds our bodies in a stable position as we go down the slope, or do we rely on our internal stabilizers?

Functional exercise utilizes both the body’s righting and tilting reflexes. It involves keeping the center of gravity over the base of support in both the dynamic and static postural alignment. Exercises most be selected that improve motor abilities relevant to the sport. If muscle groups are isolated, they must then be integrated.