Wintersports
Freeskiing
How Johnny Collinson can still do handstands
"I'm really proud of myself for still being really motivated to be skiing and to put in the work every day."
For some time now, the name ‘Collinson’ has been synonymous with freeskiing. The Utah-based sibling duo of Johnny Collinson and his sister Angel have been lifelong skiers, regularly featured in Teton Gravity Research’s films, with a reputation for usually being at the very top of their game. While Angel hung up her skis in favor of a life at sea this year, Johnny has spent the last year recovering from tearing his patellar tendon, ACL, MCL, PCL and meniscus. No stranger to injury, Collinson’s path to recovery has led him to explore new realms in maintaining an active lifestyle.
If you scroll through Collinson’s Instagram, it’s clear that he’s a bit of a fitness nut. As a lifelong athlete, his physical fitness is unsurprising. But up until his first ACL tear in 2018, he was only training in the months leading up to ski or climbing season as a last-minute approach. The 9–12-month recovery period from an ACL tear shifted Collinson’s focus to a more holistic and all-around approach to his fitness. While he still uses a dedicated ski conditioning program going into ski-season, he then works to maintain that fitness throughout winter, incorporating all the parts of his body that don’t get worked even in a ten-hour day of skiing into his routine.
Johnny Collinson
© Benjamin Wilson/Red Bull Content Pool
Since his most recent injury, Collinson has worked closely with Red Bull’s Athlete Performance Center in Los Angeles. The center helps athletes to understand their current physical and mental capabilities through its state-of-the-art health center and then helps them to train to their full potential. It’s been more than a year since Collinson’s injury, but his knee is only at about 80% of function still. So, the physical therapists at the APC have him on a structured regimen and are working to get him ready to go for the upcoming ski season. At least three days a week, Collinson is working through a weight training and PT program that’s been tailored to get his knee back to 100% percent. But the other four days a week, Collinson has found ways to get active that not only benefit his knee but help keep him a well-rounded athlete.
Collinson grew up spending most of his days in the mountains. Trail running was always an off-season go-to for him as well as rock climbing. Even during his ski season, Collinson always found that going to a climbing gym to boulder for an hour or two would help him decompress his spine after a day of hitting cliffs. “It’s such great movement, your whole body is involved, and it takes lots of coordination,” he said. But in the last year, biking has taken over most of Collinson’s down time. While he’s been mountain biking for the last ten or so years, it wasn’t really until Collinson started filming with TGR that he was excited about it and going with the other athletes he was filming with in the winter. Then, when he tore his ACL the first time, he spent a lot of his recovery time on an indoor trainer. As soon as he was able to bike outside, Collinson took up road biking. While it was much more fun for him than he’d initially expected, he still used road biking more as a training tool and mountain biking as an active pastime.
Johnny Collinson at Red Bull Raid in Squaw Valley, CA
© Christian Pondella / Red Bull Content Pool
This past year, Collinson has branched out further onto two wheels and picked up gravel biking. “In Utah, we have so many dirt and gravel roads all over the place. A gravel bike is kind of the best of both worlds,” he said. The bike brand Pinarello onboarded Collinson to their Adventure Athletes team where his teammates have welcomed him with open arms into the gravel cycling world. With his newfound passion, Collinson spandex-ed up and participated in Unbound Gravel’s 100-mile race.
I couldn’t do much and I hate the mindset of saying I can’t do things.
Gravel biking is just one of the things that’s helped Collinson to keep a good mental space throughout his most recent injury. Growing up in the mountains meant that Collinson had many ways of getting active that felt fulfilling and balancing to him. But at the core of it, just being able to move his body was what Collinson found most helpful. “I couldn’t do much and I hate the mindset of saying I can’t do things. I just try and find the things I can do. But there were so few of them that it was pretty dreary. So, the first time I could go for a walk outside, just like around the block, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is the best thing ever,” said Collinson. Looking at the time he has in a day and trying to use it as much as his body will allow him is one approach he's taken. He’s also learned how to get as comfortable as possible in the gym and find creative new ways to move his body outside his detailed workouts. Collinson considers himself a naturally motivated person, but like anyone, has off-days. Anything to get his blood flowing makes all the difference, even on those dreary, unmotivated days. If getting the blood flowing isn’t enough, a Red Bull Energy Drink usually does the trick in giving wiiings to Collinson’s workout.
Johnny Collinson
© Benjamin Wilson/Red Bull Content Pool
Collinson takes a straightforward approach to his training, active lifestyle, and skiing. While once upon a time, you would have found him with feathers in his hair and crystals in his ski pack, now Collison is a ‘take only what you need’ kind of guy when it comes to skiing and training. He’d tell a younger version of himself to take the training and recovery more seriously, but also to live a more balanced lifestyle. But even after a long and intense career, Collinson is most proud of his continued motivation. “Every day, I wake up and I’m like ‘Holy, this is still real and like still happening.’ So, I'm proud of that. I'm proud that I'm still psyched on every day and that even after like a bunch of injuries, I don't necessarily think about the injuries that much and, I'm really proud of myself for still being really motivated to be skiing and to put in the work every day,” said Collinson.
While you might not see him hucking any huge cliffs this season, as with all things, Collinson is excited to shift his focus on skiing and take on new challenges. Perhaps his newfound love of spandex from cycling will shine through and you’ll be able to find him speed-suited up and shedding grams on his skis in the Wasatch.
