Chemmy Alcott defied all the odds to get to where she is today
Former World Cup representative and the UK's highest ranking British female skier; Chemmy Alcott is defintiely a star player. As well as getting 4 A's at A level, she has managed to be the number one British woman skier for a record seven years.
And all of this more astounding when you consider that on the eve of the opening day of the World Cup downhill race, Chemmy broke her leg in two places after crashing during training resulting in her being unable to ski for the rest of the season. Until her accident she was Britain's only female representative in the World Cup but continues to take the lead as the UK's number one female British Skier.
Since her accident, Chemmy has concentrated her energy on getting fit and ready to ski again. Please see below for Chemmy's exclusive tips for getting back on her feet and ready for the winter season. This includes her food diaries and her exercise warm up routine, preparing her for a record-breaking ski season ahead.
Chemmy's food diary:
7:45am: Big glass of water.
8:00am: A bowl of 'special' porridge sent over by a friend from Morgenstund in Germany by Jentschura to help alkaline my diet, topped with greek yoghurt, cinnamon, ground almonds, chia seeds and fresh fruit. A large coffee. A herb tea, also from Jentschura.
11:00am: Rice cakes with almond butter.
1:00pm: Salmon, brown rice and kale. And a green tea.
4:00pm: Maximuscle protein shake.
7:00pm: Ginger chicken stir-fry.
Exercise diary:
Workout twice a day for two hours with a further two hours of recovery and maintenance.
Her strength sessions are three times a week and last 90 minutes – 2 hours.
Cardio ranges from 45 minutes to 4 hours daily, depending on the time of year.
Chemmy's Ski Fitness Exercise warm-ups…
Standing Leg Swing:
- Stand in a neutral body position not overly arching your back with your Transverse Abs (TA) switched on (these are your deep abdominals - you should be able to breathe freely and talk comfortably but feel like you are slightly sucking your belly button into your spine).
- Holding on to something secure, actively swing the leg as far forward and backward as you can. I say active as it should be a conscious mind to body swing of the leg not just gravity pulling it to and fro. The movement comes from your glutes and quads (bum and thighs!!).
- Remember to switch sides.
- Repeat until you feel the tensions ease and the legs are warm.
The Rotating Lunge:
- Stand in the neutral position with Transverse Abs switched on.
- Lifting one leg step forward. You can play with the distance but the farther you go the deeper you can lunge and the more you get out of it - you will know if you have gone too far and in the deepest lunge position you should still be pushing your front knee over your front middle toe.
- In this deep position; gently, with intention, rotate your thoracic (core - torso) from side to side, making sure you breath deeply into the extreme limits.
- Step gently up to neutral and switch sides.
- Do as many as you can whilst maintaining good form but start with 8-10 reps each side. This is a full lower body warm up using all the different muscle groups and by adding in the upper body rotation, you start training the ski specific skill of separating the upper and lower limbs.
Round The World Leg Swing:
- Lying on the floor on your back, bring your knees up to almost 90 degrees.
- Drop one leg down and circle across the body, twisting your lower torso.
- As you can see by the photos, I have quite flexible hamstrings so can get my leg quite high - this is just a warm up so you should feel comfortable.
- This exercise is a dynamic lying down leg pendulum.
- Continue until legs feel loose and warm.
Threading The Needle:
- Start on your hands and knees on the floor.
- Make sure your hands are underneath your shoulders and your hips above your knees.
- Extend one arm.
- Whilst exhaling thread through underneath the other arm, rotating your thoracic.
- This should feel like a lovely release of the back.
- Repeat 5 times each side.
Dynamic Hamstring Stretch:
- Standing neutral, step forward with one leg digging the heels into the ground, pointing the toes skyward.
- Keeping a flat back lower the upper body towards the ground till you feel a pleasant hamstring stretch.
- Alternate sides.
- Repeat up to 20 times.
Chemmy Alcott will be attending this years Ski and Snowboard Show at London's Earls Court on 30th October – 3rd November. For tickets and more information on the coolest day out visit www.skiandsnowboard.co.uk
Tagged in exercise Nutrition Diet Healthy eating fitness tips