The In Good Taste Team loves skiing, both downhill and Nordic. If cross country skiing isn’t in your repertoire of winter sport options, let this article by contributor Carole Jacobs be your guide to the perks. Stay tuned for Carole’s roundup of some of the best places to go Nordic in Colorado. (Please note, this article also ran on our sister site, RealFoodTraveler.com).
If you’re looking for an enjoyable way to get fit this winter without spending hours chained to the treadmill, look no further than cross-country (aka Nordic) skiing.
With a shorter learning curve than its downhill cousin, Nordic skiing is a highly aerobic sport that lets you blast calories, lose weight, build balance and coordination, and improve cardiovascular health – all while gliding through the magic of a snowbound winter.
There are two primary styles of cross-country skiing, explains REI: Classic skiing, the more common type and easier to learn; and skate skiing, which requires substantially more practice and lung power to master.
In classic skiing, your skis remain parallel as you kick and glide forward and back in a diagonal stride motion. You can enjoy classic skiing at Nordic ski areas that groom parallel tracks specifically for classic skiing. Or, for a much harder workout, you can head out into ungroomed terrain, such as forest roads or open fields, and create your own tracks.
Skate skiing is a faster and more aerobic form of the sport that uses slightly shorter skis. To propel yourself forward, you kick your skis out to the side and swing your arms in a motion that’s like ice-skating. You can enjoy skate skiing at Nordic ski areas that groom smooth, wide tracks specifically for skate skiing. It’s difficult to skate ski on ungroomed terrain.
“Nordic skiing has a relatively low barrier to entry both in terms of cost and ski-specific skills,” reports Jeff Courter, a Nordic product manager for Rossignol, one of the biggest manufacturers of cross-country ski gear. “The sport is accessible to beginners and is a great solution for getting outside and keeping a safe distance from others.”
While Nordic skiing grew by leaps and bounds during the pandemic, “The best guess is that we’re going to continue to see enormous growth of interest in cross country skiing,” reports Jonathan Wiesel, owner of Nordic Group International specializing in multi-season, multi-use trail planning and design and a founder and co-operator of California’s Royal Gorge Cross Country Ski Resort, for many years the largest privately-run Nordic area in the world.
Below are 15 reasons to make cross-country skiing your new best friend in 2025.
- It’s the best-known form of cardiovascular exercise.
Downhill skiing may get you high (literally and figuratively) and give you an adrenalin rush, says Pete Petrovski, vice president and general manager at Vail Resorts. But unlike downhill skiing, Nordic skiing is an ideal replacement for gym workouts in that it’s the best cardio workout known to humanity, reports Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning, the seminal guide on sport conditioning published by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). According to NSCA, Nordic skiing is an even better cardio workout than long-distance running, snowshoeing, cycling, and rowing, which is why it’s often regarded as the “gold standard” of winter aerobic exercise. World-class cross-country skiers exhibit some of the highest VO₂ max values ever reported, according to a study in the Journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.
Nordic skiing also has the following health and fitness benefits, according to Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning and other fitness and Nordic ski experts:
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- Cross-country skiing is a full-body workout: Nordic skiing works both your upper and lower body with “pulling” and “pushing” muscles of each region. Because you’re using your own muscles to move through the terrain, you’re using muscles you’re not even aware of to maintain balance and coordination.
- Nordic skiing burns lots of calories. According to Snow Online, unlike in downhill skiing, where lift rides and breaks lower your calorie burn, your body stays in constant motion during Nordic skiing. Depending on intensity, technique, and body weight, cross-country skiing can burn between 500 and 1,000 calories per hour – often much more than the 300 to 600 calories burned during downhill skiing. As a side benefit, because you’re constantly moving during Nordic skiing, the sport keeps you warm – so warm that you’ll need to wear the right gear to prevent over-sweating and getting chilled. Unlike the highly insulated and weatherproof layers, helmet, goggles, and huge mittens you’d wear while downhill skiing, Nordic ski apparel is closer to winter running gear, with an emphasis on breathability, mobility, and multiple layers. For a full report on the best clothing and gear to wear while Nordic skiing, go here.
- Cross-country skiing builds cardiovascular strength: Because no single muscle group is over worked, you can sustain Nordic skiing for hours on end. Maintaining an elevated heart rate during exercise can strengthen and improve your heart’s capacity to pump blood efficiently and effectively, studies show.
- Nordic skiing increases overall fitness: Research shows Nordic skiers are much healthier and fitter than people who don’t cross country ski, eat more fruits and vegetables, and are less likely to be obese, to smoke, or to suffer from depression.
- Cross-country skiing improves social engagement. Nordic skiing gets you out of the house in winter. And because it’s an easy sport to learn and master, you can enjoy it with your kids, family, and friends. In this way, Nordic skiing helps build bonds that strengthen friendships and relationships, which in turn reduces stress and lets us recharge our batteries, explains Outside.
- Nordic skiing helps reduce stress and connects you with nature. Getting out of your office and away from workaday stress and into the peace and tranquility of nature gives you time to think, clear your head and put problems in perspective. You return home feeling refreshed, renewed, and energized. Research shows that exercising in forests can reduce blood pressure and the levels of the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline, reports to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
- Cross-country skiing trains your body to move in the healthy way it was designed to move: The gliding motion of cross-country skiing is a natural movement that helps improve your daily movements.
- Nordic skiing builds endurance while improving aerobic fitness: This increases your energy level and your ability to go farther and move faster –in sports as well as in your daily life.
- Nordic skiing is an excellent form of cross training: Nordic skiing can help keep you in great shape for summer aerobic sports like hiking, running, and cycling.
- Cross-country skiing is a low-impact sport: The smooth gliding motions of Nordic skiing reduce the risk of stress and injury on your joints. Research in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise found that cross-country skiing put less force on lower hip joints than running. And during low-impact activities, the body is subject to less stress, which reduces the risk of injury, particularly in those with arthritis, says the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
- Nordic skiing builds muscle and bone density: Like running, dancing, and stair climbing, cross-country skiing is a weight-bearing aerobic exercise, which means you’re up on your feet with your bones supporting your weight the entire time (unlike sports like swimming and cycling), explains the Cleveland Clinic. As well as building muscle, weight-bearing aerobic exercise can also slow mineral loss, which weakens bones and increases your risk of breaking bones in your legs, hips and lower, spine, reports the Mayo Clinic.
- Nordic skiing improves your balance and helps prevent falls. Nordic skiing’s weight shift in skate skiing and the diagonal stride used while gliding on snow build balance and coordination.
- Cross-country skiing improves self-esteem and confidence. Like many aerobic exercises, Nordic skiing helps you feel healthier, happier, and more energetic by increasing blood flow and heightening your senses. It’s also rhythmic, which allows you to process your thoughts while you enjoy the fresh air, nature, and beauty all around you.
- Nordic skiing doubles as high intensity interval training (HIIT): One of the hottest fitness trends, HIIT involves pushing yourself hard for a couple minutes, then taking a breather. HIIT can dramatically improve your fitness level, reports the Cleveland Clinic.
-Story by Carole Jacobs
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