Cool fun: Cross-country skiing is a great workout

It may come as news to many that there's anything at all enjoyable about cross-country skiing. The only time a lot of people think about the sport is every four years, during the Winter Games, when it's easy to shudder at the sight of an activity so taxing that it makes Olympic athletes collapse in a heap.

Make no mistake, cross-country can be very exhausting — especially if you're trying to go as fast as you can for as long as you can, like those lunatics at the Olympics. But another way to think of it is as a fantastic, full-body workout, one that gives you an avenue for outdoor exercise during cold weather and, really, is only as 'brutal' as you want to make it.

'It's tremendously fun and exciting and beautiful,' says Clare Anderson.

'We just prefer the Nordic skiing,' she says, using another term for cross-country (versions of the sport where the heel can be lifted fall into the Nordic category), 'in part because it is great aerobic exercise, and once I started Nordic skiing, it really changed the face of winter for me. I get outside more, I exercise more in the winter than I ever have before, and really saw it as an opportunity to get healthier.'

A sizable snowfall is required, and when it does, 'the entire world opens up as a potential trail,' says M. Scott Smith, editor of DCSki.com, which covers snow sports in the Mid-Atlantic region. 'When the snow hits, it can be much easier to get out and about on XC skis than on feet.'

Cross-country is a bit like ice skating, in that the most often-used motion, the 'diagonal stride,' involves pushing off one leg and shifting all your weight onto the other, then gliding. The sport targets hip flexors and the groin more than most.

But really, there aren't many parts of the body that don't get involved in some way. Unlike ice skaters and, to a large degree, Alpine skiers, Nordic skiers propel themselves with their poles, so they get a terrific upper- and lower-body workout.

The website NutriStrategy.com says that in an hour, a 180-pound person can burn 654 calories by engaging in 'moderate' cross-country skiing, which would be roughly equivalent to the same person running five 12-minute miles.

Get skiing

• Find trail maps and grooming updates at Iowaski.blogspot.com.

• For equipment advice, check out Geoff's Bike and Ski in Iowa City. Find them online at Geoffsbikeandski.com

• Iowa City Nordic Ski Club brings together enthusiasts for the sport at Iowacitynordicclub.com.

• Students, faculty and staff, as well as community members can rent a variety of outdoor equipment — including cross-country skis — for a day or up to a week from the Outdoor Rental Center at the University of Iowa. Find details online at Recserv.uiowa.edu.

• For cross-country skiing trails across Eastern Iowa and information on other winter activities, read Hoopla's 'Winter is snow fun'