Holy Crap. I was able to hit my goal of skiing or snowboarding for 7 straight days while on my trip to Park City, Utah. I'll tell you what, I am exhausted as hell. Riding for 4-5 hours a day straight with small breaks here and there started to catch up to me on the last two days. The conditions could not of been better. We've been going on a ski trip every year for the past 7 years and this is the first year that it snowed every day. On 3 of the days it dropped 4 inches while we were skiing or it dropped 2-4 inches over night.

We got into Salt Lake City on Monday around noon. We headed right to Park City Mountain Resort before we checked into our condo for some night skiing. They only had a couple runs opened but we did not care. The couple hours we spent on the hill was a great warm up for the next couple of days.

For Tuesday we headed back to PCMR. It snowed over night and there were blue skies all day. We tried to shred as much of PCMR as possible but the place is so big and the lift lines were a little busy as people were celebrating Mardi Gras. It made for a fun day. My legs were getting a great workout on all of the Blue and Black Diamonds I went down. I've had a set of Volkl Skis for a couple years now and they worked very well with my new set of Salomon Ski Boots. Besides my feet hurting a little from breaking in the new ski boots it ended up being an awesome day.

On Wednesday we decided to get into our rental car and drive out to Robert Redford's Sundance. This place had more of a rustic feel to it. The majority of the buildings were wood and much of the attention was focused on the outdoors...as it should be. It started snowing lightly at the peaks but it was near 45 degrees at the base making the snow very soft. I brought out my K2 snowboard for the day. It ended up being a great day as the views were amazing along with the mountain having a wide open but unique feel to it. I did not get to meet Robert Redford though which would of made it the highlight of the trip.

To keep the adventure going we picked Brighton to shred on for Thursday. It snowed all day again making conditions very soft and alot of fun. What I liked most about Brighton was that all of the runs funneled down to the few lifts they had making it easy to not lose each other. Brighton might be my new favorite place as it had a little bit of everything even though it was not as big of a resort as PCMR or The Canyons. I used my Salomon Snowblades which are a lot of fun when going in and out of the trees as they are easy to maneuver. You use different muscles with them compared to normal skis so its a little bit of cross training.

We had some left over discounted lift tickets for PCMR and used them on Friday. Again, it snowed a couple inches during the day making conditions nice and soft for us to snowboard on. Fatigue was starting to set in from the previous couple of days and a little bit of late night partying.

The Canyons were calling us on Saturday. This place is huge. I snowboarded again as I'm trying to get better at it. Plus, its really good cross training as you use a whole different set of leg and core muscles. It snowed all day again. We even hiked to the top of the Expert Only lift. It was a cool site to see as there was 3 feet of fresh powder to ride on. That part was cool. The rest of the run was a little bit above my ability as there were gigantic moguls everywhere. It would have been easier on skis for me. After 45 minutes of falling, taking breaks, and waiting up for a friend who was doing the same we finally made it down.

For our last day in Utah we drove to Snowbird. I wish we would have gone there during the middle of the week as most of the runs are Black Diamonds. The blue runs were challenging too. It was snowing all day again which made visibility bad. It was not a big deal the previous days but this place was moguled out from everybody skiing on it. There were a couple moments when the nerves jumped up as I did not see a bump until the last second. I even gave myself whiplash when I hit a rut on a catwalk. My snowboard flung me around and I smacked me head. Good thing I was wearing my helmet. We took the tram up to the top and hung out on the back side bowls known as Mineral Basin. If it was not the seventh day of shredding it probably would have been a lot more fun. My mind and body were in two different places after smacking my head. I was exhausted. The runs were steep and bumpy. If it would of been day 1 on my board I would of done better. Since it was not, I did not get to enjoy Snowbird as much. If I get back to Utah in the future it will definitely be the first place I go to.

So after 7 days of skiing and snowboarding I felt whipped. We would go 4 - 5 hours each day. The afternoon pass is what works for us. We use to try to do the all day passes but we would take our lunch break, drink $40 of beer, and burn ourselves out much faster during the trip. Doing the half day saves $15 - $30 on lift tickets plus we don't drink $40 of beer saving us lots of money and energy to go all out.

There is no way I would have been able to go as hard as I did for all 7 days without getting myself in shape first. Leading up to my trip I focused most of my workouts on leg and core specific workouts. I mixed in P90X and Insanity workouts like P90X Legs and Back, Plyometrics, Yoga, and Cardio Circuit Training. The soreness didn't set in until the day after I got home. It was mainly because I have never snowboarded 3 days in a row in my life so those muscles got a much harder workout. My abs feel ripped right now because I was using my toe edge so much the last day on the steeps to make sure I would not fall head over heels and tumble off a 60 foot cliff.

I'm pretty pumped about making it all 7 days knowing that I did not eat all that well and partied all most every night. Its what we do on our trips. From what I've read I was probably burning about 500 calories per hour which comes out to almost 2500 calories burned on the slopes. So anything I was drinking or eating was being burned up. The only thing I wish I would have done differently was bring some P90X Recovery Drink packets and P90X Protein Bars. I didn't bring either because I like travelling light and there was no more space for those. I always take those after a workout to help me recover faster. They would of helped for sure. Its been two days since I got home and I can't stop eating. Next time I embark on a 7 day shred fest I will need to eat much more.

If you are big into skiing or snowboarding and really want to get the most out of your ski vacations then take the time to get in shape before you go. Insanity is probably the best workout to do because it uses your body weight as resistance and is a lot of leg and core work. Both of which are used in skiing and snowboarding. After this trip I think I might be done riding for the season. We put in almost 30 hours of shredding the gnar. One things for sure, I'll be taking the next week off from working out to let my body recover as I'm tired as hell.

Post from: P90X Workout

My 7 days of Skiing and Snowboarding in Park City Utah

Its that time of year again when I head on my annual "Mancation" ski trip with my buddies. This year we will be heading out to Park City, Utah for our rage fest. Its been on the short list of places to go for me and I'm happy to be shredding it this year. Last year, we had a great time at Mont Tremblant in Canada and are planning on bettering that trip. We are staying a whole week this year which is a new thing for us as we usually only go for 3 nights.

The snow reports are starting to look like it might actually drop a couple inches this year. It better as we seem to bring bad luck where ever we go. Last year it snowed for the first time ever on a trip with a steady snowfall for all 4 days on the slopes. Nothing big but just enough to make it soft.

We found a house to rent two blocks away from downtown Park City with what looks like the ability to put our skis on from the back porch and follow a trail to the Park City Mountain Resort chair lift. We are renting a mini van so we can check out the other resorts in the area like the The Canyons, Brighton, and Sundance. Hopefully Robert Redford will be at Sundance so we can see him show off some of his ski moves he put so brilliantly together in Downhill Racer.

The goal this year is to shred every single day. To do so I've been busting my ass trying to get my cardio up to do it. I've done a bunch of different workouts in the past month to hopefully allow me to shred as much gnar as possible during the day, party at night, and repeat the next day.

I've been doing more endurance workouts including 4 mile runs followed by a 3/4 mile swim twice a week. It takes me about an hour and a half to do this while only taking a break to change clothes to get into the pool. Every day after doing those I feel sore as hell but good at the same time as every muscle in my body was challenged. On the other days I've been doing a combination of P90X, P90X Plus, and Insanity workouts. The ones in particular I've been doing are Insanity Pure Cardio, Insanity Cardio Recovery, P90X Yoga X, P90X Upper Plus, P90X Interval X Plus, P90X Kenpo Cardio Plus, along with the ab workouts like Ab Ripper X and Abs Core Plus.

The mountains (hills) here in Michigan are merely a place to warm up or practice new tricks and I've been going once a week to break in some new ski boots I got for Christmas. I'm not into doing tricks so its mainly a time for me to get loosened up and get out of the house. After skiing at places like Vail, Whistler, and Lake Tahoe, the plces in Michigan are kind of a let down.

I should be able to go for it and ski or snowboard every day with the shape I'm in. The first couple runs are going to burn a little but hopefully my conditioning will help me power through and enjoy myself out there. My buddy Dave has told me he's going to shred every day also. I hope he does as I know our other friends who are coming usually burn out after the second day. Maybe with the extra two days on the slopes Dave will beat his weight loss record from last year when he lost 7 pounds snowboarding. Its an amazing feat as we ate like crap and drank lots of Canadian beer last year. He might lose 10 or more this year.

That's it for now. I'll do a recap in a week talking about the trip and if I was able to shred everyday. Dave and I write more about our ski/snowboarding trips at a snowboarding blog that we run. Feel free to check it out and tell us your shred stories.

Post from: P90X Workout

Off to Park City Utah for Skiing and Snowboarding

Its that time of year again when me and some friends of mine head off for our annual "Mancation." We have been going on this trip for about 6 years now. This will be the first year when we do not fly somewhere. Economy stinks around here in Michigan and we are all counting our pennies. Instead we have gone on the idea of driving 11 hours from Detroit to basically Montreal instead. It sounded like a lot but when you think about the hour it takes to get to the airport to be two hours there before your flight, plus flight time, then getting a rental car and driving to the hotel it takes about 11 hours anyways. Even if we spend $400 in gas, that would only be one plane ticket. With 5 of us driving in a Ford F-150 (its gonna be tight with 5 dudes) and splitting the bill its going to be about $80 per person there and back for gas...hopefully.

Mont Tremblant does not look like the mountains out in Colorado, or Wyoming that I have been to recently. This one is defintely smaller. It does keep up with our theme of no repeat trips so this will work. I decided to get a couple quick workouts in before we left. I did Kenpo X for the first time in awhile on Monday. For Tuesday I went to the gym and did 3 miles on the treadmill with a .5 mile swim and did a round of plyometrics. I am feeling sore all up and down my back today though. I think it was because I wore "weighted gloves" for the first time doing a workout with Kenpo. That little extra weight made a big difference. The plyometrics was necessary to get my legs ready for 3 full days of shredding. 

I will update next week when I get back if I did anything awesome on the slopes. Rage!!

Post from: P90X Workout

Off To Mont Tremblant In Canada For Skiing And Snowboarding

This past Saturday I went to Pine Knob with a couple friends of mine to go and rage out on the slopes. I don't know if you can call it raging in Michigan because you spend more time on the chair lift then you do the slopes. It was still a great day of skiing. We had a snow storm which dropped about 5 inches of snow through out the day and into the night which made for some of the best skiing in Michigan I have seen. It was not cold or windy and the snow was powder. Very enjoyable to say the least. It reminded us of when we take our annual "mancation" out west to go skiing and the types of snow we see out there.

When its a powder day I prefer to snowboard. There is very little work needed to be done on 3 inches of snow when your on a board. On ski's its a little bit different. I grew up skiing and took up snowboarding 4 years ago. I'm ok on the board but my confidence is lower when its icey. If there is ice I am on my skis.

For Christmas this year my girlfriend bought me a pair of snow blades. I had wanted a pair because I saw other people doing wicked sweet tricks on them and having a good time. Plus, normal skiing in Michigan does not get me excited anymore. Sure I could practice more on the board but my next step on the board is the terrain park, but let's take it one step at a time.

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After boarding for about 3 hours I ran back to my car and put on my snowblades. It feels like your not even on them when your going down the hill. On to the small terrain park. My buddy Dave brought his video camera to document anything awesome that happens. On my first run I hit a jump then went over a box rail and landed it no problem. Next time I went over I landed the box rail but my ski popped off and I wiped out. It got me thinking that these little skis cannot handle all of my weight coming down on them so hard.

We headed over to the big terrain park and I was feeling ready to hit some of the bigger jumps and get some air. I hit the first kicker and landed it no problem. On my approach to the second jump I checked my speed and hit it. Well, I landed the jump right at the point where it goes from the flat part of the gap to the down slope. No problem if I was on big skis but the snow blades could not handle it. As soon as I hit both snow blades flew off. It was ice that I landed on so of course I slid face first and smacked my chest off of it. It knocked the wind out of me. First time I had ever had both skis come off of me after a jump. If I would have been going about another 1 mph faster I would have landed on the down slope and would have been fine. Next time I need to go faster.

I finished the night of skiing but I was sore as hell yesterday. It must have been a bigger impact then what I thought. My whole upper body felt like it had whip lash. Dave was filming it and when he gets the video uploaded I will update this post so you all can laugh with me.

I found some videos on YouTube showing the same exact thing that happened to me.

This is just cool. I guess I am gonna have to try this.

Post from: P90X Workout

I Hit A Jump On Snow Blades And Wiped Out