6 Keys to Elevating Mental Training in Ski Racing

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Whenever I speak with racers and coaches, I ask how important the mind is to ski racing success. Almost always, they say it’s as important, if not more important, than the physical and technical side of our sport. I’m obviously biased, given what I do for a living, so I won’t rank one above the others. Let’s say they’re all essential. Still, athletes often overlook the mental side, even though it plays a critical role in performance.

Yet when I ask those same racers and coaches how much time and energy they devote to mental preparation, they admit it isn’t much—certainly not as much as it deserves. Most athletes approach mental training inconsistently, with scattershot efforts that are often disconnected from other parts of their development.

Here’s my question: Why isn’t mental training treated the same as physical and technical training in ski racing? Compared to its physical and technical counterparts, mental training takes a back seat. While the U.S. Ski Team and nearly every academy and club have full-time technical and conditioning coaches, few have structured mental training programs—and only one or two in the U.S. have mental coaches on staff. Moreover, when mental training is offered, it looks vastly different from the physical conditioning and technical regimens that racers benefit from.

Let’s consider what makes physical conditioning and technical development effective and then compare it to the use of mental training in ski racing today. Six essential elements stand out.

Comprehensive: Covering Every Piece of the Puzzle

First, physical and on-snow training programs develop every physical, technical, and tactical element of ski racing performance. They follow a comprehensive structure designed to maximize each athlete’s potential. For example, conditioning programs include strength, agility, stamina and flexibility. Technical progression encompasses stance, balance, upper-body position and many other aspects.

Structured: Organized With Purpose

Second, when you work out, you don’t just walk into the gym and do random strength or agility exercises; you engage in organized workouts based on a structured program that coaches believe will result in optimal physical preparedness for ski racing. Similarly, when you go on snow, you don’t just ski around and hope to improve; you follow a technical progression based on your level of skiing. In sum, both the physical and technical components of ski racing development follow a clear program built on a framework and process that move you steadily toward your goals.

Consistent: Showing Up Every Day

Third, you wouldn’t get more fit if you only worked out every few weeks. And your skiing wouldn’t improve if you only skied once a month. What helps you get stronger and ski better is training consistently—showing up and putting in the work. Day in and day out, week in and week out, and month in and month out, you consistently dedicate time and effort to conditioning and technical work

Periodized: Timed With the Season

Fourth, you don’t do the same physical conditioning and on-snow training all year round;  you focus on specific areas at different times of the off-season and competitive season. You train more with greater intensity early in your conditioning phase, then taper off as race season approaches. Additionally, you focus on technique during your summer on-snow training, then transition to tactics and race preparation as the competitive season approaches

Personalized: Built Around Your Needs

Fifth, all racers follow the same core pillars—conditioning, technique, and tactics—but effective programs tailor those elements to your specific needs, goals, and stage of development. Therefore, your coaches may have you focus on lower-body strength if that’s an area that needs improvement. Or they may focus on turn shape if that’s something you’re working to improve.

Effort: The Fuel That Drives It

Of course, you can have a truly world-class conditioning or on-snow program, but if you don’t consistently put in the effort, it will have little to no benefit. To maximize your gains from a conditioning or on-snow program, you must be committed to giving your best effort during every single rep, every set, and every workout.

The Mental Side Is Still Missing Out

Using these six criteria—comprehensive, structured, consistent, periodized, personalized, and effort—it becomes apparent that the mental side still doesn’t get the attention it deserves. Based on my own experience and feedback I’ve received from racers, coaches, and parents around the country, mental training for most U.S. racers still lacks these six essentials that maximize its value in athlete development.

Apply the Six Criteria to Mental Training

As your prep season training progresses—whether physical, technical, or mental—you should apply these six criteria to ensure that you get the most out of your preparation for next race season.

It will likely take some time before mental preparation earns the same attention as its physical and technical counterparts. However, as the stakes rise and the competition intensifies in our sport, from the development level to the world stage, racers, coaches, and parents will seek every opportunity to gain the precious fractions of a second that separate success from failure in ski racing.

Additionally, as the limits of physical conditioning, ski technique, and equipment are reached, it will be both natural and necessary to tap into everything mental training can offer. Only then will mental training finally stand out as equally important to physical conditioning and technical training as ski racers strive to take advantage of every opportunity to achieve success in pursuit of their goals.

If you have big goals for your ski racing, don’t wait for the sport’s culture to catch up.  Create a real competitive edge by applying these six areas in your mental training program this off-season..