Skiing isn’t necessarily a heavy aerobic sport—it can be if you’re ski touring or have the good fortune of skiing at a very large mountain—skiing is more of a high intensity interval training (HIIT) type of activity.

So, of course skiing requires a certain level of general fitness. But it’s not the duration or intensity of the movements that tends to wear your legs out fast, it’s the type of muscle strength skiing requires. Unfortunately, many of us don’t include movements in our usual workouts that give us the right kind of strength to be strong skiers, so we end up using the first half of winter to develop our ski legs.

So here’s the juice: there are two type of muscle strength, eccentric strength and concentric strength.

Concentric strength is the type that we train most. When you flex and extend your joints in a controlled movement, like a squat or a benchpress, you’re training concentric strength.

Eccentric strength is the sort of strength that we use for absorbing impact. The movements still involve flexion and extension of your joints, but in a less controlled manner. This is the type of strength you need for skiing, since much of the work involves absorbing the impact of bumps and the energy from your skis as they flex.

The bad news is that many people don’t do much eccentric strength training.

The good news is that you don’t have to do ONLY eccentric leg strength exercises to have enough strength and endurance for long ski days. The other good news is that most eccentric strength training movements are great additions to your workout program, in any case.

Here are five exercises that you can add to your workouts to ensure that you’re ready to hit the hill when the snows finally come:

1. Jump squat. Jump squats are great for training eccentric leg strength. Then, if you’re into high intensity training, they’re also excellent for interval workouts. Add three sets of ten jump squats to your leg days to keep your ski legs all year round.
2. Jump lunge. Jump lunges are just as good as jump squats for building eccentric leg strength, but could be considered more ski-specific, since you tend to load one leg more than the other, similar to your inside ski and outside ski. Three sets of ten jump lunges is enough to build a good base of eccentric leg strength.
3. Box jumps or bag hops. Depending on what equipment you have available, try putting these in between your squat sets for a workout that’ll wear you out. Again, three sets of ten will do the trick. If you do box jumps, step down off the box after each jump. Never jump down, as this can cause achilles injuries.
4. Burpees. These only work for training eccentric strength if you jump at the end of each burpee, so no cheating. Burpees are a great movement to finish off a workout. Do thirty burpees as quickly as possible to get the most eccentric strength benefit from your workouts.
5. Running. Yep. I said it. Good old-fashioned running. Running builds eccentric leg strength and cardiovascular health, both of which are key to a solid set of ski legs. However, running by itself won’t be enough to really prep you for serious ski days. It’s great exercise, but doesn’t train the sort of explosive muscle strength that’s really valuable for skiing, so be sure to pair your running regimen with some heavier movements for the best results.

These are just a handful of all the exercises you could use to prep for ski season, but if you consistently throw them into your workouts, you’ll find that it takes a lot longer for the snow to send you back to the lodge to catch your breath over a beer.

An additional benefit of eccentric strength training, is that eccentric strength helps promote joint stability, and protect you from joint injuries. So there are a few levels to how these exercises can help you become a better skier.

If you’re looking for workouts built especially for skiers, check out this leg blaster circuit.

So, don’t be sad that this winter is on its way out, start getting ready for next winter!