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By SportsLover, October 25, 2010 12:34 pm

When the temperature drops and snow begins to fall, many avid boarders begin to turn their thoughts to the ski slopes. However, because many boarders are so excited to hit the slopes they don’t stop to prepare their equipment or their bodies.

Fatigue and carelessness often result in accidents and injury on the slopes. Preparing before the season starts ensures that when you do finally get to the slopes with the first fresh powder of the year, you’ll be able to enjoy it more and be able to spend more time hitting the jumps and riding the powder rather than resting off to the side, fixing your equipment at the lodge, or worse yet injured for the season.

Knowing a few tips before you hit the mountain can save your snowboarding season.

1. Get in shape. Working out before the snowboard season can make it much more enjoyable. Leg presses, squats and running are great work outs that help build leg strength while building cardio stamina. Getting oxygen to all that muscle at high altitudes is key.

   Trail running will not only build leg strength but will also improve your agility. Also don’t forget to work out your core. While the specific types of exercises you do aren’t important, what does matter is that you work on building your cardio, agility, and overall body strength.

   Many sports medicine businesses are holding ski/snowboarding conditioning classes. If your not one who likes to hit the gym a lot there are other fun ways to build snowboarding strength such as long boarding and balance boards.

2. Check your equipment. This can help you get the most for your money by keeping you on the slope instead of tightening and repairing equipment. At least a few weeks before you head up the mountain, look to see if there are any major dents or scratches in your board as this will directly impact your speed and performance on the mountain.

   If you do have large dents and scratches to your board you will need to take your board to a local snowboard shop and have them resurface the bottom of your board. Next, make sure to tighten all the screws that are being used to hold both of your bindings in.

   Then make sure all the little bolts on your bindings are safely secure and tightened as well. Last, wax your board making sure to use the appropriate kind depending on the conditions of the day.

3. Make the snowboarding season affordable. If you’re an avid boarder getting a season pass is a must. Call your local resorts and check prices. You usually only have to go 3 or 4 times in a season and it will pay for itself.

   In addition, lots of discounts are usually available if you are a student or served military duty. If you don’t think work, school, or family obligations will allow you to go frequently enough to buy a season pass then there are also individual preseason tickets that are available at a discount.

4. Schedule days to hit the slopes. Getting the most out of the snowboarding season starts with planning which days you will go ahead of time. If you don’t mark down on your calendar which days you are going, other activities will fill up your schedule.

   Surprisingly, most people are able to get their tasks done in time if their schedule has been marked as busy ahead of time. Also, start looking at your work or school calendar to see when you have days off and which holidays you have free. Don’t forget to start banking up those sick days.

5. Who are you going to ride with? You say your buddies of course but have you checked to see if your schedules line up? Start talking with work and school buddies now to see which resort they have passes too and what their schedules line up with yours.

   Getting people to go with you will make your days on the slope more enjoyable and riding with people of the similar or better skill level will help you improve too. This will also help you keep your commitment to go those days you scheduled if others are going with you.

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By SportsLover, June 8, 2010 3:50 pm

Running is a great outdoor sport. Not only are you getting an active outdoor workout when you run but your having fun too. If running isn’t something that you do on a daily basis but you have decided to give running a try, here are some basic beginner running tips that are easy and will help guide you.

Tip 1- Anyone Can Run. You are never too young or too old to start running. It’s great exercise and anyone can do it. Running keeps you in great shape and provides you with more energy so you can get the things you need to get done throughout your day.

Tip 2- Start Off Slow. As a beginner runner you might feel pumped and excited to start running but after your first run you might realize how out of shape you are and feel that its too hard. This is why you start off at a fast walking/ jogging pace. Your body isn’t used to exercising this much so you need to get your endurance back up.

Tip 3- Set Achievable Goals. Setting goals for yourself is extremely important for a beginner runner. Write down on a piece of paper what you want your goals to be, whether its running for 30 minutes or 2 hours on that day, or if your running to lose weight, or if your running to get into better shape. Just make sure its achievable. Only you know your body.

With keeping these tips in mind while you start running, you’ll find it starts to get much easier and you start feeling really good about yourself in the long run.