We have all heard of the importance of mental training in professional sports. In every other interview with a successful athlete, you can hear how they credit part of their success to their improved mental training.

It is obvious that it must be crucial for the professional in the competition scenario, but why should it be important for the recreational athlete or for the skier that just wants to ski a little better?

In this article plus VIDEO BELOW I will give you some ideas and recommendations for your mental-pre-season preparation. Everything you read in this article is mainly based on my experience, working with skiers and observing what works and what doesn’t. The article will also be a work in progress, so please comment. I am always thankful for your ideas, questions and contributions!

“It is really hard to improve when you only ski 7-10 days a year. It always feels a little like having to start over again.”

I have heard this line numerous times. The ones, who know me, know that I don’t like excuses and I have to admit, I am not a big fan of this statement, as it seems to be a bit of an excuse.

I guess I would agree, if we would not think about skiing for one minute in between ski holidays. If we would completely forget about it, until we do it again. But every time we dream some turns, every time we think about how it would feel to ski a certain run we actually work on our skiing.

By doing something over and over in our head we get better at it. The key question is how are we doing it in our head and are we thinking the right turns or do we fall back to old habits in our mind cinema?

That’s when the videos and your training diary comes into play. To have a realistic image of your own skiing is the first step to making the mental turns more efficient. The more your dreamt turns are in line with reality, the more you can remind yourself of the things that will help you and how it feels when it works. Have a look at some of your runs from the training and the analysis or summary clip and then visualize some good turns.

Falling asleep every night dreaming of Marcel Hirscher won’t make you a better skier. But watching yourself ski clean turns will.

Here are some practical tips for your mental turns: […]

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