Keep Skiing Longer -Preventing ACL Injuries For 50+ Skiers with Dr. Leslie Desrosiers

A single twist can end a ski season, but it doesn’t have to.  Today's guest is  Dr. Leslie Desrosiers, DPT, consultant to ski industry professionals and founder of ACL Strong. 

She breaks down how the ACL really works, why skiing puts it at risk, and what skiers over 50 can do to stay powerful, balanced, and injury-resilient all winter so you can keep skiing longer this season and for seasons to come.

• What the ACL does and why it tears in skiing
• Age-related declines in balance, strength, and reaction time
• Neuromuscular training that links brain and body faster
• Lateral and rotational stability for real ski demands
• Why she incorporates unstable surfaces into balance drills
• Reaction time tools and cue-based exercises
• An important component to any ski day that's often overlooked
•  Overview of her ACL Strong program for skiers.
• Pointers for incorporating a good warm up into your skiing

Gold Skis is geared for skiers over the age of 50.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Meet Dr. Leslie DeRoger
• 2:29 What The ACL Does And Why It Tears
• 5:40 Ski-Specific Mechanisms Of Injury
• 9:20 Aging, Balance, And Resilience
• 13:40 Neuromuscular Training Explained
• 17:45 Inside The ACL Strong Program
• 22:05 Adapting For Different Fitness Levels
• 25:20 Listener Q&A: Training On Flat Ground
• 30:05 Reaction Time, Unpredictability, Tools
• 34:00 When To Start And How To Warm Up

Transcript

Colleen Cardarella: 0:02

Hey everyone, welcome to the Gold Skis Podcast, where we talk alpine skiing tailored to the 50 plus gear. I'm your host, Colleen Cardarella, and we have a terrific guest today, Dr. Leslie Desrosiers. She is a doctor of physical therapy, the founder of ACL Strong. She's also an injury prevention expert and a consultant for ski industry professionals.

Colleen Cardarella: 0:24

I got to know her through her work with Professional Ski Instructors of America. I'm in my third year of doing her ACL Strong program to get ready for ski season, and I love it. I think it's a great way to get ready. What she does is really cool. I mean, when you think of physical therapy, the first thing you think of is probably recovery from injury. And she does a lot of helping people to recover, get stronger, and move better. But she also focuses on preventing injuries in the first place. So she helps active people to move smarter and keep doing what they love. And as skiers, don't we all want to avoid that ACL injury, stay active longer and keep on skiing as much as we can? So, Dr. Leslie, I'm really excited to welcome you to the show today.

Dr. Leslie Desrosiers: 1:06

Thank you very much. Thanks for the invitation to be here.

Colleen Cardarella: 1:10

So telling a little bit, tell our audience a bit about the ACL and ACL injuries. It's something we hear about, we all kind of dread that season engineering injury, but what exactly is it?

Dr. Leslie Desrosiers: 1:23

Yeah, so the ACL, I mean, as you know, it's a common injury in skiing. What the ACL is, it's a strong, dense ligament in the knee. And the knee essentially relies on four major ligaments to really hold it together so that the knee can work as a hinge joint, bends and straightens for the most part. The ACL is one of the most important ligaments in the knee, and it just dives straight through the middle of the joint from the back to the front and helps give the knee stability. So essentially the shin bone doesn't slide forward off of the thigh bone or the femur, and it doesn't twist excessively. So that's what the ACL does. It works in conjunction with the other ligaments. So there's the MCL, which maybe you've heard of on the medial side, there's the LCL, which is on the lateral side, and then there's the PCL, which is the posterior cruciate ligament. So ACL is the anterior cruciate ligament.

Colleen Cardarella: 2:23

Okay, and when someone has that injury, what is commonly happening? How do those injuries come about typically?

Dr. Leslie Desrosiers: 2:32

Yeah, typically it's kind of a perfect storm of a twist or a rotation. And when the knee gets into a vulnerable position, then that twist can happen abruptly and it just goes right against that resistance of the ACL. So typically it's a twisting fashion. In skiing, sometimes if your ski loses contact or catches an edge and you put all your weight down, and then that ski sort of grabs the snow and takes the knee into a twist. That can get it. Usually a twisting fall, either a forward fall or backward fall. Those skis act like a long lever arm. So it kind of amplifies any rotation that would be happening with just your foot. Now all of a sudden there's the leverage and the force added from the ski. And so that's why it can happen even more abruptly. Another way is, sometimes what happens is if you get caught with your weight too far back on the skis, and sometimes you fall back or you kind of lean back and then maybe get low, and so your hips drop low. The force of the boot-- so the boot is in the back of the calf, right? Or around the calf-- but the boot can actually force that shin bone forward right against the knee. So if you land from a jump and your weight is back, when that ski hits the ground, hits the snow, the tail hits first, and then the ski comes down. That force from the boot can actually take the tibia or the shin bone right against the ACL. So that's a common one. Another way that we can get into trouble is trying to catch yourself when you fall or trying to stand up when you're in that back seat down position. Just by trying to stand up, you really engage the quads. The quads are the muscles on the front of the thigh, and they actually attach on the front of that shin bone or the tibia. So with a strong contraction of the quads, that can kind of add to that forward pull or that anterior translation of the tibia. And essentially that can kind of, when you were close, that can kind of finish it off. So, again, kind of a perfect storm, but usually some form of twist. And in skiing, you know, we're doing a lot of weight shifting and turning, and the body is rotating on the legs, and then you add the element of sliding on an unstable surface with the snow, and you don't really have the stability from the ground at that point. So that can just kind of lead right into a torn ACL. So, yeah, like 35% of skiing injuries involve the knees, and about half of those are involving ligaments, and typically that's the ACL. So, if you're in the ski industry long enough, you might know somebody who has torn their ACL. And it's something that we're working a lot on trying to reduce. And one thing we know is that there are things you can do to reduce your risk of of an injury, even a serious injury like a torn ACL. So that's kind of the angle I come at is what can we do preventatively to really just reduce your risk and get you as strong and mobile and aware of your body as possible to avoid that.

Colleen Cardarella: 6:04

Great. So, as we go through different decades in our skiing, that awareness of injury as well as the possibility of injury, I think it changes over time. I mean, I was thinking and talking to a friend the other day about my skiing, and there's no question I'm a better skier now than I was in my 20s and 30s. All these years of training, all these different mountains of experience. I'm a better skier. But if I go to that really challenging hill on a vacation and look over the edge, I'm a lot more hesitant to think, should I be doing this right now at this time of the day, or you know, on the first day of my trip, whereas back then I would have just gone for it. There are just things that change with our balance and our skills. So can you kind of talk about that and skiers as they do ski later in life, what might they be facing?

Dr. Leslie Desrosiers: 7:00

Yeah, yeah, definitely. I mean, there are certainly age-related changes physically that we, you know, at some point you start to feel it and you hear about it, and then all of a sudden it's like, you know, that wasn't gonna be me. And then all of a sudden you're starting to recognize, okay, wait a second. So you know, when it comes to preventing injuries like an ACL injury or falls, there's things you can control and there's things you can't control, right? And so what we know is that if you can control the things you can, which is your strength, your movement, your movement patterns, your neuromuscular control, your stability and balance, those are the things that are going to help to protect you when you're out on the mountain. And we do, I mean, it's it's really just the right types of exercises, doing the right types of exercises the right way, but having a strategic approach, doing them intentionally, and then building up. So, for one, when you enter the ski season, you've been off to in most cases, you haven't been doing it for six months or more. And so it's really important to build up the strength. And so when we talk about age-related changes, things that are just that are just normal biology that happen with age, we lose muscle mass and strength, and balance declines, flexibility declines, reaction time declines, bone density declines. Um, so this whole element of things that you didn't you didn't used to have to really focus on improving, um, after 40, the body starts to starts to decline. So um, yeah, we get weaker, we get stiffer, we fall more, um, and tissues become less resilient. Um, so you tear stuff more. And really, you know, advice that I give to people as they are entering that next stage of life is to now it's time you actually have to do some really dedicated focused exercises to maintain your strength and your muscle mass. Um, again, things you didn't used to have to do or you could get away with, you know, like you said, when you were younger, you wouldn't think twice about something. Granted, you also know more now, and you, you know, you know consequences. But body just becomes less resilient. I think the balance one is one that sneaks up on people that they don't realize. And I get a lot of people telling me that, you know, as they go through ACL strong, because we do focus on all of these things, but balance in particular is one that just sneaks up on you. You don't realize you're losing your balance. But in real life, we function on one foot. You know, we walk, you take one step and you put it in front of the other. When you put your pants on, you lift one foot up. When you step into the bath or shower, you lift one foot up. So so balance is part of real life. And the message of getting that sensory information to your brain and then that output of correcting your balance kind of slows down over time. And all of a sudden standing on one foot, maybe standing on one foot, closing your eyes, becomes harder than it ever did. Again, one thing people say often in the program in ACL Strong is that they didn't realize their balance was so much worse on their left than their right. And that while they can really feel their balance improving, when I have them doing some just just you know, simple balance exercises, but they're very intentional. Um and so you start to identify things that are harder on your left versus your right. Or when you close your eyes, all of a sudden your balance goes away. And one of the reasons for that is when we balance, we get our information from our sensory system. So, so getting that information sent from our vision, and it's mostly from our vision, and then from the inner ear, right? And so when you take vision out of it, all of a sudden your body has to listen way more to what your feet are feeling, where your joints are in space, any sensations that are coming in. Um, and that can be that can be tricky. So, but if you think about being on the snow and all of a sudden, you know, you kind of go into a darker space or a shadow, or or there's heavy conditions and you can't see as well. Your body has to start really feeling from different places and in order to keep you safe and upright. So yeah, balance is a biggie, and you mentioned that, and I I definitely support that.

Colleen Cardarella: 11:46

Yeah, that's one that caught me. Uh, I didn't think about my balance declining. And like I said, I've I've been through the preseason before. And when I started this time, I was like, oh, that that's a little harder than it than it's been for me in the past. And I need to work on that. But as I'm going through, I'm thinking more about you know, my balance as I'm out for a run, as I'm out walking the dog. I'm I'm thinking about it just going through it. And that's one of the things I love is is it just makes me more aware. So let's let's talk about a bit about your program. Maybe people understand that you you go to you can go to the gym to do strength training, but I don't think people think about it as preventing injury as much. And and I love that perspective. So, so tell us about your program, how it came about, what it is, more about ASL strong.

Dr. Leslie Desrosiers: 12:33

Sure, absolutely. Um, yeah, so you know, I'm a physical therapist. I've been a physical therapist for 18 years. And typically that's on the rehab side of things, right? So somebody gets hurt, they come to me, I help them recover from that injury, get back to their sport, their job, their lifestyle, things that they want to do. Um but preventative exercise is something that if we start to apply some of these concepts and principles that we know help to prevent an injury or help to reduce the risk of an injury, if we apply that before someone gets hurt, then we can significantly reduce their chances of getting hurt. And enough people over the years have said to me, you know, if I had known this before, would that have helped me? Would that have maybe prevented this injury? And yes, absolutely. And unfortunately, people don't learn a lot of this stuff until they get hurt and go to PT. Um, and so I kind of started on this mission and really leaning into prevention and what I can teach people before they become a patient, you know, and how to get stronger for their sport, more stable, more aware of their bodies and their mechanics, how to teach them to move better so that they are ultimately going into their activity of their sport better prepared. Um and so ACL strong sort of began there and really caught the attention of the ski industry when I started talking about you know, prevention of ACL injuries. And if we do these things, we can reduce the risk of ACL injury 50%, 60% by the right type of training. And that's again, strength, neuromuscular control. And when I say neuromuscular control, that's it's training the brain and the body to communicate quickly and efficiently. So you sense sense a change in the in the terrain, let's say a change in the quality of snow. Your feet, your joints, everything sort of senses that that happens. That message quickly gets sent to your nervous system or to your brain, which then creates an output and says, okay, contract these muscles, do this, do that, and stay safe. Okay, that process, how long that takes is your reaction time. And so what we do know about injuries is is neurocognitive delay, or if that processing time is slower or takes too long, it's too late. And then you've already become injured. But you can train that system to recognize the change, create an output, and execute more quickly. And that's part of that whole injury prevention process. And so we we tap into neuromuscular training, neuromuscular control. Um, and again, these are the things that people aren't doing on their own. So you can go to the gym and you can do your leg press and you can do your squats and you can do your yoga and stretching. All those things are great, but they aren't the neuromuscular control component. And that's the most missed type of exercise. And that's the most important when it comes to reducing the risk of injury. And so that's that's kind of where I fit in. I'm like, let me just teach you. I don't need to tell you what to do for your complete workout. Go do what you want to do, but add this component. This will be your neuromuscular training piece, and that will help you to reduce your risk of injury and help you to prevent injuries and help you to protect your joints long term. Um, so when we do neuromuscular training, we're doing again, it's it's training the brain and body to communicate. Um, we do balance and stability work. Um, we try to mimic the condition, the sport that you'll be in. So if it's if we're talking about skiing, you're moving side to side, you're moving into rotation, and those are directions that are that it's different than walking and running, it's different than biking, right? So you can mountain bike or road bike and think you're getting prepared for skiing. You're getting strong, you're getting you're improving your cardiovascular system, but you're not necessarily improving your stability for being on an uneven, slippery mountain terrain where you're shifting your weight side to side and rotating your body at the same time. That's a very different type of stability and exercise that needs to be done. And so we add side to side movements, lateral movements. We add rotational control and core stability and incorporating core and hips into those functional movements is really key to give you the stability in those uneven, unpredictable conditions. Um, again, that's part of that piece that I like to help kind of guide you through and and progress that through a through a very strategic approach.

Colleen Cardarella: 17:32

So you can you can do this, like you said, in in addition to all of the other exercise and and preparation that you're doing, your strength and your yoga but it but it really doesn't take that long either.

Dr. Leslie Desrosiers: 17:45

Right. And what's cool is there's a lot of research on this. And this is this component of training isn't it's not controversial. It's not like, oh, does it work or doesn't it work? This is very, this is very beneficial. Um, and what the research shows is it takes 15 to 20 minutes, two to three times a week, to get results. And so that's how I've designed my program. And people will come to me all the time and they'll say, you know, can I can I also run or go to the gym or do all these other things? And you know, sometimes they'll tell me what it is, assuming it is safe, which typically it is. Yes, add this to it. This could be your warm-up or this could be your cool down. Um, and in some cases, you know, people are just looking for a routine to follow. This can be a complete routine too. So, what I've done is I've laid it out for a six or eight-week period to just build. So you start with very foundational, very fundamental strengthening exercises, movement patterns, and learn how to move well. And that's something I often talk about is how to move well, because so many people they've never been taught this. Um, how to get their their body in better alignment and how to coordinate their movement patterns from their across their hips and their knees and their ankles. And that's very new for people at some point. We need to start teaching it. So, as we can when we can start teaching this younger and younger, that's great. Um, but ultimately you need to move well first before you start adding weight and adding resistance and adding more complicated patterns to it. So the beginning of the program is really about establishing those movement patterns, and then you go to the next module where you start to add a little bit more, then you go to the next module where you add a little bit more. So, through this progression in our signature program, it's an eight-week progression, you're just building very slowly and strategically to build the foundation. And so we go feet to the core, right? And brain to the to the muscles and kind of get the whole system working better, responding better, more quickly, generating the right type of output that you want. But more importantly, in real life, it's being able to be on uneven terrain and and surfaces that change and rocky surfaces. And you can be walking and you hit some ice, but your body's able to recognize that. And so instead of completely falling, you might be able to sense that quickly and regain your footing and save yourself from that fall.

Colleen Cardarella: 20:19

So what about you know, you've got somebody who's you know fairly active all year and they're they're doing a lot of things, they're biking, they're jogging throughout the summer. And then you've got someone on the other end of the scale who maybe they have had an injury or a surgery, you know, last season and sat out a while and they're they're coming back. Is the do they start from the same point to someone coming in from different settings and where they're at?

Dr. Leslie Desrosiers: 20:49

Yeah, great, great question. And you know, in this environment, there are people who are at all different levels of the of the playing field in terms of fitness and experience and and injuries. I do a lot of work with ski resorts and with employees, and so I've designed this program to really cover the spectrum. So it is appropriate for somebody who has maybe had an ACL injury in the past or they have had a total joint replacement, and someone who is higher level and they haven't been injured, but they know they don't want to get injured. We still need to start with that that foundational movement and that core stability. And so there are modifications in the program to increase the intensity or decrease the intensity, but essentially everyone can start from that from module one and then build from there. And so I have just designed it and built in modifications depending on goals and experience and where somebody is. I walk them through what to do if something hurts or if something, you know, if they feel restricted or they feel like they're they're they need to make a change. So I kind of I want I want my participants and I want you to be able to feel your body and understand your body better so you can make those decisions on your own. And so I kind of guide you through that. And if you feel this, then we try this. Check, check on, check these mechanics. Watch your knee position here. This is a common compensation or a common way to cheat. Check that and see if you're doing that. And then you start to recognize those, those patterns on your own and you start to correct them, and then you start to carry that over to other parts of your life, right? Or other exercises, or just walking up and down the stairs. All of a sudden, people will tell me, I'm thinking about you know, my need differently now as I go up and down stairs. I used to do this and now I'm focusing on that. And and that's really cool. I want to empower you to be able to understand your body and make those decisions better. But yeah, so anybody can start from module one and and I kind of walk you through on on what to do depending on your on your level. But these types of exercises, like I said, this is the most missed, and and it's what normal people or what people most commonly skip. Um, but it leads to injuries. So if we can address that and and give you this little package to reduce your risk, great.

Colleen Cardarella: 23:14

That awareness does come as you go through it. Whether I'm walking around the house or I'm out, I was moving some things in the garden, and each time I bend or step, I'm thinking, oh, where's that tripod foot placement? And it does make a difference. Let's see where we are on time here. I'm gonna take just a couple of questions that people have sent in. I know we're we've covered a bit here, but let's see, let me look at my questions here. So Sally, I know Sally, she's from the southern tier in New York. So she had a surgery a year ago, and she's one of those people that sat out this season last year. Um, and her question is she's doing some things at home where things are everything's flat. So what does someone do to start preparing for being on on different terrain, which I think you've covered a bit, but maybe just speak to her question.

Dr. Leslie Desrosiers: 24:07

Right. Yeah, it's a great question. I mean, it's difficult to mimic skiing exactly, right? If you have only flat terrain around, you can use you can use steps and stairs, you can use curves, you can use things around the house. I like to incorporate an unstable surface. So that's something like a BOSU balance trainer or a dyna disc, you can pick these things up on Amazon or something, but it just creates an unstable surface so that your body has to listen more to where it is in space and maintain your balance and your body control as you're doing a specific functional movement. Um, so there's even a throw pillow, grab a throw pillow from your from your couch, put it down, and just try doing a single leg balance on that. That's going to be way different than just standing on the flat ground and doing a single leg standing on one foot type of balance there. And you'll start to feel that. And so through the program, I actually like to incorporate those unstable surfaces so that we can try to mimic when you're when you're not getting as much input from your foot being on a solid surface. Then again, your your brain and your nervous system have to listen more to where your body is, your joint position, your muscle tension, and make those corrections without getting that from the ground. And so, yeah, something like those devices. Um, there's other cool things. There's a slack board now, which is almost built like a snowboard, but it has a strap across it. I don't know if you've ever seen a slack line between trees. So people do balance on that. Um, a slack board is another cool one. So you can there's some fun things to get to to work on balance and body control. Um, another thing that I like to incorporate, and I I think I touched on this, but reaction time. Um it's hard to reproduce an unpredictable environment, right? And so when we do a lot of exercises, say go to the gym, traditional exercises, you know where you're gonna go. You know what stimulus is coming, right? You know, I'm gonna, you know, flex at my hips now, I'm gonna lift these weights, I'm gonna do a squat, I'm gonna do a lunge, I'm going in this direction or that direction. So that's great training, that's predictable. How do we incorporate something that's less predictable, which is real life, right? A skier might fly by you, or you might hear something, it might be distracting, you might be in a crowd. Um, so we need to be prepared for unpredictable environments. So things that I do inside ACL strong, I have a couple of exercises where I actually give a cue in the video, and that cue means you need to see it, think about it, and do something. And then I give you a different cue, and you see it, think about it, and you go a different direction. And so that's one way we can start incorporating some unpredictability and then reaction time. So, how fast can you see that cue and and do a different movement? Um, so that's it's one way that I've, you know, it's been it's big in the research now. We're learning a lot about reaction time and nuero cognitive delay and how that plays into injury risk. So, again, I've incorporated that into the program as so that we can start to do things that are less predictable. Um, another tool that you can use at home is something called Blaze Pods. And so those are light up pods that are actually really fun to play with. I use it with patients, I use it myself, I use it with my kids, and I incorporate it into ACL strong as well. Um, but these are pods that you can place in a certain orientation and then they light up randomly. And depending on what lights up, you have to tap it out, or maybe you step on it to tap it out, or maybe you do a certain movement depending on the light that shows or the pod that lights up. So again, similar to balance, there's there's other ways to add this reaction time component and kind of play with that a little bit. But but really it's the whole package. So those are almost like icings on the cake. If we're as long as you're doing the neuromuscular training type exercises, you're working lateral, side-to-side stability, on uneven surfaces or uneven terrain, like I said, moving in different directions, and then add the balance and then add the reaction time. A little bit of footwork and agility is key too, because in again, in real life, or if you're out on the mountain and it's on a slope, you're not anticipating when you might sort of slip and have to catch yourself, right? But that requires a fast movement. So if all of your movements and exercises are slow and controlled, then you're not ready for a quick step or a quick movement. Um, so I like to incorporate some quick steps with it too and work on agility. I don't care how old you are, but but we need to be able to do a little two-step in order to catch yourself if you start to slip. Um, and so there's a lot of value in those different types of exercises. So, yeah, if you're somewhere where it's flat, there's ways we can do this at home and get you more prepared to get to the mountain. And then you again go into it more prepared and with a lower risk. Um, and then you can enjoy the mountain more, less pressure on your knees, less pain, and more fun.

Colleen Cardarella: 29:27

And that reaction time, you know, it it's so easy to just say it's it's the equipment, you know. Oh, I've got to get my equipment tuned. We think about getting that done at the beginning of the season. It's like, okay, I want to be able to, you know, respond quickly to that ice or get around that rock. And so everyone goes out and gets their equipment tuned, and and you don't think about working on your own reaction time. So so I love that. Um we have a question from Mark in Michigan. So he must be going skiing early. He's going skiing out west in a month. So is that is too late for him to get started. Um you know we talk about six, eight weeks. You know, what what's the right time to get going?

Dr. Leslie Desrosiers: 30:07

I mean right the right time is is now really so yes it's an eight week progression that builds but it's really not too late. I if you're two weeks away you're not too late because what you do is you just start and you start improving and you will start within within two or three weeks you'll start to feel the difference. And doesn't mean you're done it means you keep going but can you slip in you know ski trips along the way absolutely better late than never really and then these exercises will also help you to maintain throughout the season. So again I work with with ski instructors and ski patrollers who have they have a long season right I mean they're starting they might be going back to back days for two weeks they need to be on the mountain and in the in the conditions day after day. So in the program I also teach them how to recover how to stretch how to warm up warming up is one of the most neglected activities in skiing also and I actually I just have an article that just came out in in a Sam magazine on the importance of a warm-up and why that's important but but really just engaging the kind of priming the nervous system warming up small stabilizing muscles telling your body okay we're gonna move in this direction we're gonna move in this direction and we're gonna move in this direction and that's really valuable for telling your body to get ready these forces are coming there's a lower risk for injury that way too so yeah I mean there's there's you're not too late to start it and then build and keep doing it throughout the season and then maintain and focus on recovery and really just keep your body strong and at a good place so that each time you go out you're strong you're prepared you're more stable and you can get through the whole season.

Colleen Cardarella: 32:06

Yeah that is a good article in SAMINFO if people haven't looked that yet they should check it out. One question though on warming up so if you're if you're doing you know a sport at the gym you're you're warming up right before that skiing it's a little you know where's your actual start point you're you're layering up and then you're you're traveling to the hill and then you're waiting in line and you're going up the lift and then you're about to take your run. I mean does it matter where you warm up you also warm up where where does that fit in the preparation to get on the hill.

Dr. Leslie Desrosiers: 32:41

Yeah you know that's a great point and because in skiing this is you know most people aren't doing a warm-up that might be part of the reason is because it's just such a long process to get to that point and to get to your first downhill so what I you know what I do is yes you can stretch in you can stretch at any point or or do a warm-up at any point but at least before you get on the chair or when you're at the top of the chair before you start your run. You could do a even a five minute routine that just wakes up the legs wakes up the core and trunk muscles and and postural muscles and again primes the nervous system so that it's more alert and ready to respond and ready to react. I have in my program, it's called a ready to shred on snow warm-up and it's just a 10 minute routine that you can do with boots on with your gear on with you know because the idea is we get to the hill and then you're at the bottom of the chair and you go I should have warmed up I didn't do anything up too late too late I'm already here but instead that's a good time to just unclip and you can boots on gear on poles in hand you can go through this easy warm-up and again it's a 10 minute routine even doing five minutes is better than nothing.

Colleen Cardarella: 34:00

I'll do that at the base and then when I get to the top sometimes I'll kind of do a a quick refresher before that first run and then off we go start with a you know a milder run first to just again tell the body what we're gonna be doing and let everything sort of wake up and get the small stabilizing muscles engaged to protect your joints and then you gradually build up great really really good information for people we're about at the end of our time where do people go to find your program oh thank you aclstrong.com is the place to go go find it there on the signature program is a great program to start with and just build through that eight weeks right now we have a lifetime access offer for it so you can actually repeat this program every year going into the season and then maintain throughout but really that ramp up is is important so yeah aclstrong.com okay thank you so much for your time check Dr. Leslie's program at aclstrong.com for her elite offer going on now thank you to Dimitri at the mountain for today's music I'm your host Colleen Cardarella of course if you haven't already sign up at goldskis.com for our membership and newsletter and follow us on Instagram and join our group on Facebook. Have a great day