Friendly reminder to reserve your classes through the Zen Planner app or our online member portal. This is a courtesy to your fellow members but it also allows our coaches to see the class size and plan accordingly.

In This Newsletter

Holiday Hours

Food Drive For Utah Food Bank

A Note From Lo Segal

Current Training Phase

Holiday Hours

A note on Dec 31st festivities

Millcreek Common will be having a New Year’s Eve celebration so some parking may be affected in the afternoon. 

As always, please utilize our back parking lot and park on the turf if needed. 

A Note From 

Lo Segal, MS, RD, CD

Fueling isn’t about one day—it’s about the consistent patterns that prevent you from running on fumes. Strength, power, and recovery all depend on giving your body steady, balanced energy throughout each and every day—not just before or after you train. That means eating regular meals and snacks about every 3–4 hours and building each one with a mix of carbs for energy, protein for muscle repair, colorful plants for inflammation reduction, and fats for staying power. In addition to providing energy, carbs preserve protein for building muscle. When you fuel regularly with carbs and balanced nutrition, you keep your body in “build mode” where it can adapt, grow, and show up stronger every time you train. Think of training your nutrition the same way you train your lifts: with intention, consistency, and respect for the long game. 

If you struggle with consistent meals and snacks, try implementing the rule of 3s: 3 meals, 3 snacks, ~3 hours apart. Look at your schedule, plug in meal and snack times, and try your best to commit to eating at those times. If one meal/snack time is harder than others (ex. breakfast), focus on that first before tackling others. It doesn’t have to be perfect; try your best! 

 Need support? Reach out to sports dietitian, Lauren Segal, to discuss how to best fuel your performance.

Winter Prep Block I 

Winter Block I will be about emphasizing strength, power, work capacity, and unilateral balance. Focusing on strength and power will translate to speed on the slopes, higher performance, and the ability to ski or ride for longer. In addition to creating more strength, power, and longevity, being strategic about strength can also decrease injuries (1,2,3,15).   

Working strength is not limited to our main lifts but also important in our accessory work for balance. Think glutes, hamstrings, upper back, and lower back work. Implementing posterior chain strength will keep your body producing force for longer, with less likelihood of injury (15).  A strong power lift or Olympic lift can benefit athletes, but a balanced body, with a strong posterior chain, has been shown to directly increase performance (4,15). Many programs overlook accessory work, but it’s important for isolating certain areas and concentrating on imbalances that may be missed during major lifts.   

From Research

• Increase in torso strength will increase skiing performance through trunk stability and the ability to rotate faster, at a sharper angle (10). Core work will be a top priority throughout this block of training.  
• Non sport specific training (aka strength training) improves performance more than sport specific training. (4) 
• Strength training directly improves running economy in cross country skiers (1,13,14).

You do not have to be a skier to benefit from this block. All of the emphasized elements will be beneficial in building lean body mass and influencing body composition.  

Periodization Principles

• Undulating
• Linear
• Autoregulation
• Triphasic
• Concurrent

References

1-Castañeda-Babarro, A., Etayo-Urtasun, P., & León-Guereño, P. (2022). Effects of strength training on cross-country skiing performance: A systematic review. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(11), 6522. 

 2-Losnegard, T., Mikkelsen, K., Rønnestad, B. R., Hallén, J., Rud, B., & Raastad, T. (2011). The effect of heavy strength training on muscle mass and physical performance in elite cross country skiers. Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports, 21(3), 389-401.  

3-Hoff, J., Helgerud, J., & Wisloeff, U. L. R. I. K. (1999). Maximal strength training improves work economy in trained female cross-country skiers. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 31, 870-877.  

4-Stöggl, T., & Holmberg, H. C. (2022). A systematic review of the effects of strength and power training on performance in cross-country skiers. Journal of Sports Science & Medicine, 21(4), 555.  

5-Beattie, K., Kenny, I. C., Lyons, M., & Carson, B. P. (2014). The effect of strength training on performance in endurance athletes. Sports Medicine, 44, 845-865.  

6-Hughes, D. C., Ellefsen, S., & Baar, K. (2018). Adaptations to endurance and strength training. Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in medicine, 8(6), a029769.  

7- McGuigan, M. R., Wright, G. A., & Fleck, S. J. (2012). Strength training for athletes: does it really help sports performance?. International journal of sports physiology and performance, 7(1), 2-5.  

8- Yang, J., Christophi, C. A., Farioli, A., Baur, D. M., Moffatt, S., Zollinger, T. W., & Kales, S. N. (2019). Association between push-up exercise capacity and future cardiovascular events among active adult men. JAMA network open, 2(2), e188341-e188341.  

9- Carbone, S., Kirkman, D. L., Garten, R. S., Rodriguez-Miguelez, P., Artero, E. G., Lee, D. C., & Lavie, C. J. (2020). Muscular strength and cardiovascular disease: an updated state-of-the-art narrative review. Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation and Prevention, 40(5), 302-309.  

10-Turnbull, J.R.; Kilding, A.E.; Keogh, J.W.L. Physiology of Alpine Skiing: Physiology and Alpine Skiing: A Review. Scand. J. Med. Sci. Sports 2009, 19, 146–155. [Google Scholar][PubMed] 

11-Zadic, A., Ordean, M. N., Monea, D., Grosu, V. T., Pop, R. M., Popovici, C., … & Simon, S. (2025). Improving Balance and Technical Skills of Young Alpine Skiers: Outcomes of a 10-Week Complex Dry-Land Training Program. Applied Sciences, 15(5), 2831. 

12-Sandbakk, Ø., Tønnessen, E., Sandbakk, S. B., Losnegard, T., Seiler, S., & Haugen, T. (2025). Best-practice training characteristics within Olympic endurance sports as described by Norwegian world-class coaches. Sports Medicine-Open, 11(1), 45. 

13-Murlasits, Z.; Kneffel, Z.; Thalib, L. The physiological effects of concurrent strength and endurance training sequence: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J. Sports Sci. 2018, 36, 1212–1219. [Google Scholar]

14-Ambrosini, L., Presta, V., Goldoni, M., Galli, D., Mirandola, P., Vitale, M., & Gobbi, G. (2021). Are we able to match non sport-specific strength training with endurance sports? A systematic review and meta-analysis to plan the best training programs for endurance athletes. Applied Sciences, 11(16), 7280. 

15-Bautista, I. J., Vicente-Mampel, J., Baraja-Vegas, L., Segarra, V., Martín, F., & Van Hooren, B. (2021). The effects of the Nordic hamstring exercise on sprint performance and eccentric knee flexor strength: A systematic review and meta-analysis of intervention studies among team sport players. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 24(9), 931-938.