Physiological aspects of competitive cross‐country skiing

Abstract

The physiological demands of cross-country skiing require competitive skiers to have high maximal oxygen uptakes and anaerobic thresholds. Anaerobic capacity has a relatively less important role, but may be of greater importance today with the faster race velocities resulting from the new skiing techniques of ski skating. Although use of the ski skating techniques results in faster race velocities than the classical techniques, it has been found that under some conditions the double-pole technique is more economical than other skiing techniques. It is suggested that this results from a more effective storage and recovery of elastic energy, a greater proportion of the forces being directed along the line of travel, and a lower air resistance due to greater trunk and hip flexion with the double-pole technique. The greater economy of the double-pole technique suggests that this may be advantageous in certain race conditions if the upper body is adequately prepared. The greater propulsive forces generated with the upper body with ski skating also suggest that training of the upper body should receive more emphasis. The potential cardiovascular adaptations from cross-country ski training appear to be similar for the classical and skating techniques, yet training specificity is important for optimal performance.

Effects of carbohydrate dose and frequency on metabolism, gastrointestinal discomfort, and cross‐country skiing performance

“…The order effect in the current study limits the confidence in the current findings relating to the performance outcome. There may be multiple reasons for the apparent order effect, including improving treadmill roller skiing technique, improving pacing strategies with increasing familiarization to the 30‐km TT course (Swart et al., ), and rapid physiological adaption to the exercise stimulus (Hoffman & Clifford, ; Jeukendrup, , ). While the extensive familiarization strategy applied in the current study was designed to prevent improvements in treadmill roller‐skiing technique throughout the trials, the possibility of this occurring cannot be excluded.…”

Pacing Profiles in Age Group Cross-Country Skiers in the Vasaloppet 2012-2016

“…Female endurance athletes have a lower skeletal muscle mass (36) and a higher body fat (26) compared to male endurance athletes. A higher percentage of slow twitch muscle fibres and higher anaerobic threshold and low percentage of body fat have been observed in elite cross-country skiers (12,20,38).…”

“…This study has some limitations since anthropometric and physiological characteristics (39) as well as training aspects (23, 43) of these more than 66,000 finishers are not known. Furthermore, environmental conditions (47) and race equipment (20) might considerably influence race outcome. 'Vasaloppet' is a race performed in a relatively flat terrain, which implies the increased use of the upper-body dominant technique of double poling; thus, the present findings should not be generalized to races with large elevations.…”

A Biomechanical Approach to Paralympic Cross-Country Sit-Ski Racing

“…[5][6][7][8][9][10][11] In standing skiers, DP is typically used under fast conditions or on moderate downhills, where a glide phase would occur after poling 7 because DP is more economical on flat terrain compared with other techniques. [11][12][13] Hoffman and Clifford 11 concluded that the DP technique was significantly more economical than skating or kick DP, as demonstrated by a 12% lower oxygen consumption in trained CC skiers, and they further supported these findings by demonstrating significantly lower oxygen consumption compared with the diagonal stride technique (26% lower) in elite CC skiers.…”