Technique / Ski Tips

Ok, so the ski season is just around the corner. Check out the ski conditioning page for a glimpse at some of my favorite exercises. New exercises will be showing up weekly. As for the ski tips, I have not forgotten. New tips will be showing up before too long, but the snow is still a few weeks away. In the meantime consult your physical trainer and/or doctor and plan your conditioning program. You will thank yourself when you hit the slopes!!

A coaching tip often used by the German’s is “start late, end early”. Meaning preparing for the turn takes time. If one spends more time getting in position for the turn by starting late- establishing the proper balance and alignment – then the rest of the turn can end properly, and early. This may be a psychological cue as much as anything but the time spent early in the turn getting the body in position will pay off in the end.

Angulation. Maybe people think angulation is on its way out because coaches aren’t barking out that verbiage any longer. I was beginning to wonder if young racers even knew what that word meant these days - but believe me they are doing it! Angulation was the mantra of the 70’s and 80’s. Knee, hip, knee and hip angulation….. In referance to some questions out there, here are my thoughts on this subject for the moment. Yes it does exist and as long as we edge our skis while skiing and try to remain in balance then it isn’t going anywhere. The thing with these new modern skis is that they are made to turn so easily. They will turn with total inclination, they will turn using the old “A-frame”, and they will turn using an outrigger. But how precise do you want to be. That is the key these days, precision, because most skiers today can carve these modern skis. We need to create angles in the body as we edge the ski but in my opinion these angles are not as acute as they used to be. In the past we saw major angles at the knee or hip. We see this today but not such radical angles. The angles also tend to be developing a bit higher in the body than in the past, say the upper torso. I can change the level of my shoulders while sitting here at my computer without making major angles at my hip. This all comes from the upper torso. Hum, what else. All in all we are able to use larger muscle groups and align more skeletally than in the past. The knees and ankles are used as the fine turning mechanisms.

People speak of the separation of the upper and lower halves of the body. How about the separation between the foot and the lower leg? Again, this fits into the continuous movement theme. When in the bumps or crud folks often would make one large, abrupt, sometimes desperate, movement followed by a total lack of movement. Why make such an attempt at a frantic movement followed by nothing at all? Sounds manic to me. In this instance keep moving or keep turning the legs under the stable upper body but don’t stop there. Keep moving or turning even more. Get that final 8th or 16th of the turn by continuing to steer the feet just a bit more. Use that ankle joint! We think of our ankles often when edging the ski but it comes in handy also when turning the ski by way of more rotary motion (this is not to be mistaken as a pivot or heal thrust).