Performance Skiing: Training and Techniques to Make You a Better Alpine Skier

A very practical book with a focus on the physical skills involved in alpine skiing. The best combined collection of off-hill and on-hill training exercises I've seen and, as a bonus, excellent race skill development tips from an experienced coach (who's also done it himself). If you are interested in philosophy or the Newtonian physics of a ski turn, there are other books. If you like to (or want to learn to) ski hard, this is a great book.

I would give this book 6 stars if I could as it is the best book on skiing-related fitness I have seen so far. Written by a professional ski coach, it is filled with information starting from the body metabolism, plyometric and strength training exercises, to training which can be perfomed while skiing. All off-snow exercises which I saw in skiing videos, books, skiing journals, and on the internet are in this book. The importance of each group of exercises is clearly explained. No special equipment is required (except for the access to an average gym for strength training). The suggested training routines are based on US skiing team manuals and on over 80 references cited in the bibliography. All 200 pages are densely packed with information, all presented so well that it does not overwhelm you at all. Another aspect of this book which I liked is that the author treats the readers as intellegent people, who can put together their own training schedule according to their needs and possibilities. There is no suggested training schedules, just recommendations how much one should exercise and why not more or less than that. Although it is not a book on skiing, there are some tips on racing and ski tuning as well. This book is worth many others published on this topic, and I applaud the author for doing such a fine job!

I ordered this book because I am looking for training tips for my son -a young ski racer. The book is 80% devoted to training excercises, both on/off snow. The author is correct that the new shaped skiis have little effect on the validity of the training taught within. I would recommend the book to coaches, racers, and others for whom skiing isn't just something to do on the slopes, but for whom the pursuit of maximum performance is most important.