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Hello NASTC Skiers and Friends,

You may have heard the news already, Arapahoe Basin has started turning its chairs for the public.  On Sunday, October 13^th, A-Basin fired up the engines on one of their main chairs to let guests make their first turns of the season.  Much of ski country in the Western United States(CA, CO, UT)and the Pacific Northwest has seensome good early snowfall.  The crisp temps and early ! snowflakes are favoring a good season.  We can hardly wait till the roads and trees are covered in white and the chairlifts are spinning in our neck of the woods.  Make sure you send in your registration for the Early Season Jumpstart course, Dec 4-7.  Maximize your skiing by starting off the season with some good coaching.  The Early Season Jumpstart course will be held at Squaw Valley/Alpine Meadows, one of the largest resorts in the U.S.  Complete with slope side lodgingand a village full of excellent dining options,Squaw Valley is an ideal destination for our Jumpstart camp.  If you can’t make the Early Season Jumpstart, NASTC offers another great opportunity to ski at Squaw Valley during our All Conditions/All Terrain Ski Improvement Camp in February.  Squaw Valley give us access to extensive terrain that is both fun! and technical.  This is a great mountain to hone in your! all-mountain free-skiing skills.  Under the warmth of the Calfornia sunshine, you will make changes in your skiing that will allow you to ski more of the mountain and raise the fun-meter.

 

Snowbird, UT – February 1-5

NASTC will return to Snowbird again this winter.  Snowbird has to be one of our most thrilling winter playgrounds in North America.  This mountain is not for the meek, it is a place that feeds the adventure and excitement that advanced skiers look for.  If you want to improve your steep and off-piste skiing skills, attempt to ski chutes with more confidence, learn how to deal with variable terrain and ski big vertical then click here to register:  https://skinastc.com/all-courses/80

 

 

Alpine Meadows, January 26-28

A definitive favorite among NASTC skiers and it’s easy to see why.  Alpine Meadows has been the locals’ favorite mountain for many years.  Ask anyone who has skied there and they will tell you how fun and what a great mountain it is.  Although not nearly as big as it’s neighbhor and sibling Squaw Valley, Alpine Meadows skis like a big mountain.  This is your authentic, original recipe skiing experience.  You will not be distracted by crazy amounts of signage directing you everywhere but where you want to go or having to walk through the commercial gauntlet before your ski boots touch the snow.  You will be likely greeted with a friendly good morning and left to go alo! ne about your business.  There is a gentle sense of serenity here, an unspoken respect for the purity and the enjoyment you get from your skis slicing through the snow.  At Alpine, NASTC will carefully  build up your skiing skills with a focus towards skiing all conditions and all terrain so you can get greater enjoyment out of your skiing experience.

 

NASTC Dryland Training Kit – Do you have yours?

This is a kit of essential tools that will help you develop better balance, mobility and agility and help improve your skiing skills.  It’s no secret that you have to put in some time off the snow, in order to do better when you’re on it.  The Dryland Kit includes the SkiA Sweetspot trainer  which is a balancing tool, mini-bands to help turn on your glutes and develop better mobility, an agility ladder with a DVD of exerc! ises and a copy of Total Skiing to use as your guide through y! our off-snow training process.  The Dryland Kit can be ordered through the NASTC Pro Shop

NASTC Uniform Jackets FOR SALE!!  You can get your very own Patagonia NASTC trainer’s jacket.  A limited stock is available, please email us at ski@skinastc.com for sizes, models and prices. 

Audi Birds of Prey – the guns have been turned on at Beaver Creek on the Birds of Prey and Raptor runs in anticipation of the Audi Birds of Prey World Cup event.  Beavercreek is the only stop in the U.S on the World Cup circuit.  The Birds of Prey run is legendary and a premier event on the World Cup Circuit.  New ! this year is the Raptor run for Women’s events which begin November 29 through December 1^st, The Men’s speed events and GS will be held December 6-8. 

Dryland Training Tip: We are big proponents of foam rolling.  Every skier should have a foam roller in their closet, regardless if they are weekend warriors or serious pros.  We found this good read on foam rolling from Outside Mag, because you can never hear it enough and from several different voices. 

Definitely foam roll before your workout, and after if you want to.  According to Dr. Mike Clark, CEO of the National Academy of Sports Medicine. If you foam roll  correctly before exercising, rolling should help prevent injuries.

WHAT TO DO

“If you want to get your body ready for a workout session, foam roll your calves, the outside of your IT band, your piriformis, you adductors, and your mid and upper back,” Clark says. But instead of rolling back and forth constantly, as many athletes do, he says to roll until you find the most tender point in each area, then keep the roller on that spot for 60 seconds. Concentrating on sensitive spots will help relax your muscles, which Clark says is the first step in a proper warm up, followed by stretching any tight muscles, and then performing dynamic exercises like prisoner squats and lunges.

WHY ROLL FIRST

You have two major receptors in your muscles, Clark says. One is your muscle spindle, which makes the muscle contract. The other is called the Golgi tendon organ, which makes the muscle rel! ax. “They both should be in balance with one another, which allows the tissue to work without getting injured,” Clark says.

If you have any muscular imbalances, and all you do to warm up is dynamic or static movements, your body will be continuously compensating for your problem spots, Clark cautions. “Stretching stimulates the muscle spindle and makes it more overactive. Deep pressure stimulates the Golgi tendon organ, which then overrides the muscle spindle, which allows the tissue to relax, which prepares it for stretching,” Clark says. Foam rolling before stretching and exercising is like taking the parking brake off before you start driving your car, he says.

Clark says 900 soccer players at the University of North Carolina practiced his recommended warm up program under his supervision—foam roll! , static stretching, dynamic stretching. “They had a significant ! reduction in injuries by following that exact system,” he says.

As for more scientific evidence to back a brand new trigger-point-releasing warm-up regimen, there’s not a lot. But studies like this one touting the foam roller’s ability to increase range of motion without interfering with muscle force are beginning to emerge.

To view the article in its original format: http://www.outsideonline.com/fitness/fitness-coach/Should-I-Foam-Roll-Before-or-After-a-Workout.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=tweet