Wednesday Workout: Strong Glutes, A Recipe for Skiing Efficiency (with Video and Podcast)

Dave Cieslowski, a Physical Therapist with a practice in Bend, Oregon and who works with the U.S. Nordic Combined team, demonstrates the glute firing Wednesday Workout. (Photo: still frame capture from video) — Dave Cieslowski, a physical therapist based in Bend, Ore., demonstrates a glute-firing workout.

BEND, Ore. — Dave Cieslowski comes with an alphabet soup of suffixes after his name. There’s DPT (Doctor of Physical Therapy), CSCS (National Strength and Conditioning Association Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist). He also helps the U.S. Nordic Combined Team in and out of the competition season.

As all that education implies, Cieslowski, of Bend, nerds out on the neuromuscular and biomechanical aspects of sport. Yeah, you guessed it, if you don’t already know of Dave, and since this is primarily a cross-country ski site — Cieslowski admittedly could spend days analyzing the minutia of how we ski and how we could ski more efficiently.

Cieslowski is at once both a powerful and graceful skier. His style distinct: a dash of ballet like grace, a big sprinkle of Force = Mass x Acceleration. And he possesses an upright skate ski motion. He’s not dead vertical — his knee and ankle flex look textbook.

When it comes to skiing wellness, Cieslowski emphasizes strengthening and engaging the glutes.

In this Wednesday Workout, Cieslowski offers up a unique, not exactly simple, exercise that focuses on ski-specific use of the glutes.

If you want to improve balance and power on the ski or are dealing with any lower extremity, hip or lower-back injury having to do with skiing, this workout may be what you are looking for.

What you need:

– SkiErg

– Two pieces resistance tubing. One piece around both legs just above knee level, the other wrapped around the waist (just below the pelvic bone) and held in place with tension…note the kettlebell four feet behind Dave on the SkiErg

– Kettlebell or dumbbell to hold resistance tubing around pelvic bone in place

– 12″ x 12″ x” 2 inch block, placed under “leading foot” while simulating V1

Here’s a video of Cieslowski in action. In it you’ll see the exercise setup and how to properly align the body to “fire” the glutes.

(Dave Cieslowski Wed. Workout #1: Ski ERG and Glutes from FasterSkier on Vimeo)

The workout can be incorporated into SkiErg interval sets or a longer slower endurance type SkiErg session. One thing is certain, you must engage the glutes.

And lastly in this Wednesday Workout multimedia extravaganza, here’s the podcast interview. Press the play button (the arrow) to have a listen.

Jason Albert

Jason lives in Bend, Ore., and can often be seen chasing his two boys around town. He’s a self-proclaimed audio geek. That all started back in the early 1990s when he convinced a naive public radio editor he should report a story from Alaska’s, Ruth Gorge. Now, Jason’s common companion is his field-recording gear.