“Dude, say hello to fresh powder!”, said my buddy.

I had no clue what that meant…until I strapped on my board and went for the workout of my life! Now I have only skied twice and that was 15 years ago, but I did learn pretty quickly. The first day was the bunny slopes and greens and the next day I was skating blues and black diamonds! I had the biggest rush of my life there, but then a friend of mine hit a patch of ice and wound up running smack into a tree and breaking her leg…

…lets just say my love for skiing kinda stopped there.

I have always regretted not getting back in2it, but recently I was watching the X-Games and was just mesmerized by the snowboarding event (and the boards were pretty cool too lol). And then to hear my friends talk it up and keep saying, “You gotta try it!”…well it started me thinking. So the other day I found myself staring at around 16″ of fresh snow and ski slopes right next store on the other side of the mountain…I couldn’t resist!

I called my buddy and he was too excited to teach me! He brought his gear (which is a little intimidating, when you have to rent yours lol…talking about LOOKING like a rookie ). But you gotta start somewhere. So we headed up the lift to the first green. He suggested to dive right into it instead of staying down on the practice area to learn the turns, plowing, etc.

AAAAnnnnnddd then I realized some new muscles that I had no clue were in my legs.

Forget the fact that I performed more squats in 10 mins than I would in 6 months with all the falling/getting back up I did. But on top of it, the constant crouching position you are in gave me a burn in my legs that I was begging to get out. At certain points, I just fell down, not because I lost my balance, but because my legs were exhausted…

…and this was only the first 30 mins lol!

That first run took me almost an hour (embarrassing yes, but remember first timer here), but after I got to the bottom I learned alot: Having a strong core really came in handy! Because trying to propel 240 lbs off the ground onto a small board that is trying to slide as you are standing on it is not an easy stabilizing task believe me. But let me tell you…the second time down was where I got addicted!

I was catching so much speed, hitting the turns and watching snow blow from under my board like a waterfall…and the best part is I only fell 3 or 4 times. After that it was all money…

NO LITERALLY, IT WAS ALL $$$!

I immediately went home, read everything I could get my hands on about snowboarding and then went out and brought ALL my gear lol!

Now even thought I caught on pretty quickly, still my legs were sore when I got home. But the nice thing is that the first run put so much freezing snow down my back and butt, that I didn’t need to apply ice when I got home lol. I stretched and the next day I felt fine. My gym workouts really helped, but honestly, that was the best LEG DAY ever!

So now I am hoping for a couple of more blizzards so I can really enjoy the “fresh powder”!

(The picture is me and my buddy with no broken bones or blood lol)

Categories: fitness

Tags: exercise, fitness, health, Ski, Snowboard, Sports, squats, Winter sport, X-Games