This goes along with the previous post:
Momentum, in simple terms, is like having gravity where it doesn?t exist. It would be great if gravity could change direction and always pull us to the out side of the turn, then we could always have great angles because it?s easy to lean away from gravity, drop the body inside to get angles and stay upright.
If you lean into or toward gravity in the direction it actually pulls, the point where you are not able use it properly, like in the high C part of an arc, you fall over. So extending there is futile. It is for this reason we stay flexed and balance on the edges until we feel enough force pulling the body, then we can extend into the force or pull.
You want something to be pulling on your body, so you can lean or angle away from it without falling over. Especially at the top or High C part of the turn. Gravity never goes away, but it may not be acting in the direction you need it, for the part of the turn you are in .
Extending is only worth while if it keeps you in contact with the outside ski. By contact we mean enough pressure to keep the ski edging and carving, but not so much extension to push the body downhill, in the upside down phase or too far inside in the upper third of the clock.
I see this in many of the PSIA upper types, trainers and examiners. They seem obsessed with angles, so they extend and end up leaning and dumping to the inside ski. Extend gently and progressively to keep pressure and contact in the upper third and extend to be forceful from the middle to the bottom.
Be careful with forceful, in the lower C, as if the extension force is stronger then the edge angle, the ski will break away. There is some give and take needed in this relationship.
About momentum, it is weaker then the gravitational forces and forces caused by decreasing radius at the last third of the turn, so you have to be more sensitive and delicate with extension when you are relying on momentum to be the pulling force.
PMTS - test your knowledge
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• Page 3 of 5 • 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
by Harald » Fri Sep 22, 2006 12:48 pm
Quick answer is, the shorter the arc, the faster you have to respond to force and balance changes that present themselves in the different points in the cycle, the longer the arc the more progressive and controlled you can be, in each part of the cycle.
You may not get full pressure and extension in every short turn. To me short turns are decreasing radius turns. You have to sometimes make the best of what you get.
Larger radii turns give you more time to experience and practice the elements we discussed in the earlier posts.
You may not get full pressure and extension in every short turn. To me short turns are decreasing radius turns. You have to sometimes make the best of what you get.
Larger radii turns give you more time to experience and practice the elements we discussed in the earlier posts.
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by Harald » Sat Sep 23, 2006 11:08 am
Momentum keeps this world cup racer Hans Grugger, a Head skier, who finished top three in five world cup races last season, won a super G and is Austrian National DH champion.
This is the high speed arc I was refering to earlier, here he is up-side-down to the more normal position on a mountain. He is as early as you can be for a High C arc.
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by Harald » Sat Sep 30, 2006 12:39 pm
Flexing alone doesn't create edge angles . Flexing does start the body moving to transtion for new edge angles to develop.
This started as a short answer but turned in to a book, sorry.
There is a strange thing in sports or athletic activities whether it be a formal sport or an activity like rock climbing. It comes from body coiling or muscle coiling and then letting go, relaxing and letting the body uncoil on its own. Many people who participate in these activities never get the sense or feeling of body reactions that are not premeditated, or controlled, I mean not created through concisions thought.
The actions I?m talking about are responses to proper preparation. These types of actions are responses to energy maintained and or developed through proper movement. When you release or let go, you don't necessarily have total control of the response, so you don't make that movement, you let one part of the body relax or let it go and the forces stored by proper preparation make the reaction and the body?s response happens.
Here is an example that might explain why PMTS and PSIA are so different. In PMTS, I selected movements that make many reactions happen without making the movements. This is based in energetic rebound or coiled muscles in combination with natural forces of the mountain. .
If you are trying to push your body from a previous arc to the next arc, you will never feel the sport of skiing as it is intended. If you tip to balance, increase edge angles, ride the arc, then simply let the legs relax, you will be projected into the next arc, with the body going across the skis toward the falline. This is exciting, as you don't really know where, how much or how far the force response will take you. If you have lots of experience with that response, you are more likely to use it confidently.
This can be a very scary idea for skiers who have never felt it. Most skiers and instructors never feel this because they are preparing to release by pushing themselves out of a turn. This movement kills stored energy. If you ski this way and in addition use steering of the legs , no energy in the skis or in the leg is every created or stored through the arc, by the resistance to gravity and shortening of the arc.
Another example, if you steer your legs or turn your feet you are taking the energy out of the skis that should be building. This is controlled skiing and very passive. That?s why ski instructors look so controlled and boring.
With PMTS you try to rid yourself of these movements, we don?t use these movements, as by tipping, engaging, and flexing the inside leg and extending the outside leg, we build coiled muscle energy. This energy doesn?t go away, it gets used to help the transition. When we flex to release, the body is released to move across the skis. If you help the skis and feet transition, by tipping the skis to the downhill side. This is done during the transition in a very relaxed way, no rushing or panicking. As the crossing takes place we control the body that moves above the skis, downhill, by counter balancing the upper torso . Think of the transition as foot tipping and sensing the hips leading downhill through transition. Don?t push the hips, let them move with the energy created with the flexing. The legs should be relaxed almost floating, because they are light on the snow from the flexing used to begin the release.
The upper body, everything above the hips, makes a lateral move the other way, back toward up hill side as the hips go downhill. The uphill tipping of the torso, counter acts the downhill tipping of the skis, boots, legs. Once the skis are on edge, they will carve into the High C part of the arc. Remember you are still moving forward across not down, as all this is happening. If you stay balanced and don?t do anything to disrupt the skis, like steering the legs or feet, you will be fine. You will feel that you have time and you are in total control of the next arc. You don?t want to steer at this point, just increase tipping slightly to adjust grip and radius.
If you developed proper counter for the end of the turn before release you have the added benefit of stronger transition, especially on icy hard snow, in steep terrain.
On flat terrain you don?t need as much counter as on steeps, because the forces are not as great and you don?t have to create the G?s to survive, unless you want to really ski with deep angles.
What counter acting movements do, once angles are established, is align the skeleton so the whole body can support the forces created by the angles of the skis and supporting body tilt. You have to do this on steeps and ice or you won?t hold, carve or bend the skis. What counter acting movements do through the turn is coil the lower body to teh hips, so at release the skis pop out of the old edges (legs unwinding) and release the body?s prior angulation from the up hill side, to over the skis. The body moves to the new turn, creating new downhill side angles with energy. You don?t have to push the body toward the new turn if you are skiing correctly.
Spatial reference interlude here: many skiers may think I?m talking about the skis in the new turn, pointed downhill when I refer to creating new downhill angles with the torso. What I?m discussing here, so we don?t get the wrong understanding; this transition happens while the skis are still pointed toward the side of the trail, not pointed downhill.
You see, extensions of the new outside leg (a PSIA staple) kills energy, this is just a way to push the body. Steering has to be used if you killed energy in the last turn, to start the skis into the new turn. Steering is used in the turn to kill energy for frightened skiers. Energy can only be created if you don?t steer, and it is dependant on your ability to create angles and hold the ski bent through the turn.
When I was director of training at Winter Park, I had a whole fleet of PSIA trainers and examiners on my staff. They were constantly skidding and pushing the skis in the upper part of the turn. I told them to stop pushing the feet out to the side. They told me that they were instructed to get angles by getting the feet out away from the body as far as they could. I responded by telling them that you don?t get angles by pushing the feet away, you develop angles by tipping the feet and dropping the body into the arc. This was a huge deal. After some further coaching they began to understand and realized PSIA had been telling them everything backwards.
I had a minor rebellion at Winter Park within the training team, as I was phasing out the old trainers, who didn?t want to change and were stuck in PSIA thinking. I trained and recruited new smart, young trainers and began using them. There was a big transition about to happen my last year there as I had achieved my goals, phasing out the old, get in the new. The old trainers rebelled, but had no way of getting back in, until I left. Now they are back in place, same old story, the old boys took over and Winter Park lost the initiative and lead they had and were about to be recognized for Nationally for ski teaching. When I left they fell back into their old habits because none of the new trainers could stand up to the old guard. Some just gave up rather then losing their positions and acquiesced coming back into the PSIA fold.
Why is it that Witherall said, ?PSIA instructors are like golf carts, they all go slow and they all look the same.? It ?s because they use the same mechanics, they steer and push with extension.
OK, some don?t skid and try to lay down a carve, but they can?t do it, why? They use different mechanics, with the attempt to stay true to PSIA dogma. I see it all the time. At transition there is an up move, to get out of the old turn, then there is a sinking move to get in position to extend. This is still done in the High C. Then they steer the legs to turn the skis. Once the outside leg extension is completed they are in trouble, they do have the ski on edge and the skis are holding, but the extension caused the problem. They get over extended so the ski is railing on the edges, rather then staying balanced and pressuring the outside ski, their skis are railing and runnnig away.
Balance is not over the stance ski, it is inside the turn on the inside ski, which is aggravated by the wide stance they so love. They use the wide stance because they have to have it. I agree with a wide stance if you ski like a PSIA guy trying to carve, because you need it to hold yourself up. So in fact, with these shenanigans the outside ski is in effect a run away ski. When you know you have a run away ski you have to do something, so you bail out of the turn in hopes the next turn will be more purposeful in controlling speed. No way, the same thing happens again. After four attempts of this in a row, you can imagine speed is excessive and control is just a word.
So they have to bail out, throw them sideways or traverse.
This is why the PSIA instructor is so into steering in steeps and especially in steep bumps. They can?t control speed by their attempts at carving movements or brushing carved movements. That is why they talk about different techniques for different situations, they can?t ski PMTS turns which work everywhere, so they have to change to defensive PSIA tactics.
With PMTS you can ski steep ice, steep bumps, and crud with the same tactics, mechanics and you can ski slowly and in control. I just happen to like to challenge the slopes, so I ski them aggressively, but I like that feeling of not knowing how the release is going to project me to the next bump on my new edges, until I?m there. That?s the fun of skiing, the thrill of letting go and letting the forces put you in place. If you do it right, it is effortless and you glide from bump to bump or arc to arc.
This started as a short answer but turned in to a book, sorry.
There is a strange thing in sports or athletic activities whether it be a formal sport or an activity like rock climbing. It comes from body coiling or muscle coiling and then letting go, relaxing and letting the body uncoil on its own. Many people who participate in these activities never get the sense or feeling of body reactions that are not premeditated, or controlled, I mean not created through concisions thought.
The actions I?m talking about are responses to proper preparation. These types of actions are responses to energy maintained and or developed through proper movement. When you release or let go, you don't necessarily have total control of the response, so you don't make that movement, you let one part of the body relax or let it go and the forces stored by proper preparation make the reaction and the body?s response happens.
Here is an example that might explain why PMTS and PSIA are so different. In PMTS, I selected movements that make many reactions happen without making the movements. This is based in energetic rebound or coiled muscles in combination with natural forces of the mountain. .
If you are trying to push your body from a previous arc to the next arc, you will never feel the sport of skiing as it is intended. If you tip to balance, increase edge angles, ride the arc, then simply let the legs relax, you will be projected into the next arc, with the body going across the skis toward the falline. This is exciting, as you don't really know where, how much or how far the force response will take you. If you have lots of experience with that response, you are more likely to use it confidently.
This can be a very scary idea for skiers who have never felt it. Most skiers and instructors never feel this because they are preparing to release by pushing themselves out of a turn. This movement kills stored energy. If you ski this way and in addition use steering of the legs , no energy in the skis or in the leg is every created or stored through the arc, by the resistance to gravity and shortening of the arc.
Another example, if you steer your legs or turn your feet you are taking the energy out of the skis that should be building. This is controlled skiing and very passive. That?s why ski instructors look so controlled and boring.
With PMTS you try to rid yourself of these movements, we don?t use these movements, as by tipping, engaging, and flexing the inside leg and extending the outside leg, we build coiled muscle energy. This energy doesn?t go away, it gets used to help the transition. When we flex to release, the body is released to move across the skis. If you help the skis and feet transition, by tipping the skis to the downhill side. This is done during the transition in a very relaxed way, no rushing or panicking. As the crossing takes place we control the body that moves above the skis, downhill, by counter balancing the upper torso . Think of the transition as foot tipping and sensing the hips leading downhill through transition. Don?t push the hips, let them move with the energy created with the flexing. The legs should be relaxed almost floating, because they are light on the snow from the flexing used to begin the release.
The upper body, everything above the hips, makes a lateral move the other way, back toward up hill side as the hips go downhill. The uphill tipping of the torso, counter acts the downhill tipping of the skis, boots, legs. Once the skis are on edge, they will carve into the High C part of the arc. Remember you are still moving forward across not down, as all this is happening. If you stay balanced and don?t do anything to disrupt the skis, like steering the legs or feet, you will be fine. You will feel that you have time and you are in total control of the next arc. You don?t want to steer at this point, just increase tipping slightly to adjust grip and radius.
If you developed proper counter for the end of the turn before release you have the added benefit of stronger transition, especially on icy hard snow, in steep terrain.
On flat terrain you don?t need as much counter as on steeps, because the forces are not as great and you don?t have to create the G?s to survive, unless you want to really ski with deep angles.
What counter acting movements do, once angles are established, is align the skeleton so the whole body can support the forces created by the angles of the skis and supporting body tilt. You have to do this on steeps and ice or you won?t hold, carve or bend the skis. What counter acting movements do through the turn is coil the lower body to teh hips, so at release the skis pop out of the old edges (legs unwinding) and release the body?s prior angulation from the up hill side, to over the skis. The body moves to the new turn, creating new downhill side angles with energy. You don?t have to push the body toward the new turn if you are skiing correctly.
Spatial reference interlude here: many skiers may think I?m talking about the skis in the new turn, pointed downhill when I refer to creating new downhill angles with the torso. What I?m discussing here, so we don?t get the wrong understanding; this transition happens while the skis are still pointed toward the side of the trail, not pointed downhill.
You see, extensions of the new outside leg (a PSIA staple) kills energy, this is just a way to push the body. Steering has to be used if you killed energy in the last turn, to start the skis into the new turn. Steering is used in the turn to kill energy for frightened skiers. Energy can only be created if you don?t steer, and it is dependant on your ability to create angles and hold the ski bent through the turn.
Don't confuse PMTS extending with PSIA extending, they are totally different. PSIA extending happens at the end of turns to push the body into the next turn or out of the turn, and at the beginning to push the body into the next turn, at or after the High C.
PMTS extending is used to maintain snow contact as angles for the new turn are developed in the High C.
When I was director of training at Winter Park, I had a whole fleet of PSIA trainers and examiners on my staff. They were constantly skidding and pushing the skis in the upper part of the turn. I told them to stop pushing the feet out to the side. They told me that they were instructed to get angles by getting the feet out away from the body as far as they could. I responded by telling them that you don?t get angles by pushing the feet away, you develop angles by tipping the feet and dropping the body into the arc. This was a huge deal. After some further coaching they began to understand and realized PSIA had been telling them everything backwards.
I had a minor rebellion at Winter Park within the training team, as I was phasing out the old trainers, who didn?t want to change and were stuck in PSIA thinking. I trained and recruited new smart, young trainers and began using them. There was a big transition about to happen my last year there as I had achieved my goals, phasing out the old, get in the new. The old trainers rebelled, but had no way of getting back in, until I left. Now they are back in place, same old story, the old boys took over and Winter Park lost the initiative and lead they had and were about to be recognized for Nationally for ski teaching. When I left they fell back into their old habits because none of the new trainers could stand up to the old guard. Some just gave up rather then losing their positions and acquiesced coming back into the PSIA fold.
Why is it that Witherall said, ?PSIA instructors are like golf carts, they all go slow and they all look the same.? It ?s because they use the same mechanics, they steer and push with extension.
OK, some don?t skid and try to lay down a carve, but they can?t do it, why? They use different mechanics, with the attempt to stay true to PSIA dogma. I see it all the time. At transition there is an up move, to get out of the old turn, then there is a sinking move to get in position to extend. This is still done in the High C. Then they steer the legs to turn the skis. Once the outside leg extension is completed they are in trouble, they do have the ski on edge and the skis are holding, but the extension caused the problem. They get over extended so the ski is railing on the edges, rather then staying balanced and pressuring the outside ski, their skis are railing and runnnig away.
Balance is not over the stance ski, it is inside the turn on the inside ski, which is aggravated by the wide stance they so love. They use the wide stance because they have to have it. I agree with a wide stance if you ski like a PSIA guy trying to carve, because you need it to hold yourself up. So in fact, with these shenanigans the outside ski is in effect a run away ski. When you know you have a run away ski you have to do something, so you bail out of the turn in hopes the next turn will be more purposeful in controlling speed. No way, the same thing happens again. After four attempts of this in a row, you can imagine speed is excessive and control is just a word.
So they have to bail out, throw them sideways or traverse.
This is why the PSIA instructor is so into steering in steeps and especially in steep bumps. They can?t control speed by their attempts at carving movements or brushing carved movements. That is why they talk about different techniques for different situations, they can?t ski PMTS turns which work everywhere, so they have to change to defensive PSIA tactics.
With PMTS you can ski steep ice, steep bumps, and crud with the same tactics, mechanics and you can ski slowly and in control. I just happen to like to challenge the slopes, so I ski them aggressively, but I like that feeling of not knowing how the release is going to project me to the next bump on my new edges, until I?m there. That?s the fun of skiing, the thrill of letting go and letting the forces put you in place. If you do it right, it is effortless and you glide from bump to bump or arc to arc.
"Maximum Skiing information, Minimum BS
- Harald
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by dewdman42 » Sat Sep 30, 2006 3:31 pm
Wow, what a post with a ton of insight in there. Can you tell we're all itching to get on the snow or what? 
Amen... that is the thrill of skiing for me too. A long time ago I remember reading this article on the back page of Powder magazine about skiing from the feet up. The the concept of the article was more or less that our skiis do have a bit of a life of their own, in concert with what the mountain is doing to them. Obviously we are giving them a lot of input too, but these external forces are also acting on them, sometimes in unpredictable ways... The idea in the article was to let the skiis live. React to them, don't force them to do exactly what you want completely.. But as they respond to forces and conditions, flow with it...let the data coming from your skiis upwards go to your brain and then respond to the skiis the way the skiis are responding to what your brain and body is trying to tell them. Skiing from the feet up.
I never forgot that article and mention it often. I sorta feel like I'm in the zone when I feel a bit like I have relinquished "absolute control" of the situation. There is a certain amount of free-falling, or recoiling as you mentioned, rebounding, etc..and we never quite know exactly how that will be even though we've done it a million times, consiously our brain is still just a little bit surprised and we get a mini adrenaline rush.. Like riding a roller coaster I suppose.
Make no mistake, I know how to take back absolute contol of my skiis whenever I feel I need to, but when I'm in the zone, I'm inputing maybe 50% of the equation of how the turn is going to go. The other 50% is coming back at me from the connection between my skiis and the mountain and Physical laws...and I find that when I can accept that..relinquish the absolute control, and flow with it..that's when I get into the zone and ski my best.
Getting back to Max's original question. Just wanted to clarify what I said above. Its not really fair for me to say its not related because nearly everything we do in skiing is related in some way, even if indirectly, to every other thing. However, I do feel that flexing has little to do with building edge angles or even initiating them, other than what Harald said...you flex to release, which starts the transition. If anything, flexing is the action that releases the old edge angles, not neccessarily builds the new ones. The tipping actions and other things seem far more relevant to me to build edge angles... I guess while tipping you do have to flex the inside free leg as you tip it and pull it back, but to me that flexing is unconcious...the tipping and pulling back are what is important to focus on, that leg will just flex automatically, especially since you're standing on the stance foot hopefully.
I also wanted to comment about the Countering comments Harald made. That is another area I need to work on myself, getting countered sooner. I so often find myself at the fall line thinking, "oh i should be more countered", and then I usually complete the turn with decent counter. But I'm quite sure I would be more effective if I got on top of this sooner during early high C. And I also find that on the hard pack..this makes such a huge difference for edge hold. Last season I read LeMaster's book which explains all the physics about angulation and countering pretty well. It was actually revelation to me to have it explained WHY it works.
Anyway, in my own mind I compare angulation to riding a dirt bike..where you have to get your head out forward over the handlebars to make a turn to get the front tire to hold in the mud. The muddier it is, the more you need to get forward over that tire. I believe this is very similar concept of directing forces downwards down the forks, through the wheel and into the mud instead of sideways. And it definitely works.
So when I'm skiing on steep icy surfaces I make sure to angulate over that stance ski and just reach out there as much as I can...and I can FEEL the difference it makes for making my edges dig in and hold...even for arcs which in the past I would have just washed out on in ice. I just keep forgetting to do it.. ha ha. But when I do..what a difference it makes.
By the way LeMaster's explanation for counter is similar to Harald's, that it is basically to line up the skeleton so that it can more efficiently support an angulated body with large muscle groups. I guess that's why I need to get countered the very instant or before angulation starts to build.
Please forgive a bit of non-PMTS language here.
but I like that feeling of not knowing how the release is going to project me to the next bump on my new edges, until I?m there. That?s the fun of skiing, the thrill of letting go and letting the forces put you in place. If you do it right, it is effortless and you glide from bump to bump or arc to arc.
Amen... that is the thrill of skiing for me too. A long time ago I remember reading this article on the back page of Powder magazine about skiing from the feet up. The the concept of the article was more or less that our skiis do have a bit of a life of their own, in concert with what the mountain is doing to them. Obviously we are giving them a lot of input too, but these external forces are also acting on them, sometimes in unpredictable ways... The idea in the article was to let the skiis live. React to them, don't force them to do exactly what you want completely.. But as they respond to forces and conditions, flow with it...let the data coming from your skiis upwards go to your brain and then respond to the skiis the way the skiis are responding to what your brain and body is trying to tell them. Skiing from the feet up.
I never forgot that article and mention it often. I sorta feel like I'm in the zone when I feel a bit like I have relinquished "absolute control" of the situation. There is a certain amount of free-falling, or recoiling as you mentioned, rebounding, etc..and we never quite know exactly how that will be even though we've done it a million times, consiously our brain is still just a little bit surprised and we get a mini adrenaline rush.. Like riding a roller coaster I suppose.
Make no mistake, I know how to take back absolute contol of my skiis whenever I feel I need to, but when I'm in the zone, I'm inputing maybe 50% of the equation of how the turn is going to go. The other 50% is coming back at me from the connection between my skiis and the mountain and Physical laws...and I find that when I can accept that..relinquish the absolute control, and flow with it..that's when I get into the zone and ski my best.
Harald wrote:Flexing alone doesn't create edge angles . Flexing does start the body moving to transtion for new edge angles to develop.
Getting back to Max's original question. Just wanted to clarify what I said above. Its not really fair for me to say its not related because nearly everything we do in skiing is related in some way, even if indirectly, to every other thing. However, I do feel that flexing has little to do with building edge angles or even initiating them, other than what Harald said...you flex to release, which starts the transition. If anything, flexing is the action that releases the old edge angles, not neccessarily builds the new ones. The tipping actions and other things seem far more relevant to me to build edge angles... I guess while tipping you do have to flex the inside free leg as you tip it and pull it back, but to me that flexing is unconcious...the tipping and pulling back are what is important to focus on, that leg will just flex automatically, especially since you're standing on the stance foot hopefully.
I also wanted to comment about the Countering comments Harald made. That is another area I need to work on myself, getting countered sooner. I so often find myself at the fall line thinking, "oh i should be more countered", and then I usually complete the turn with decent counter. But I'm quite sure I would be more effective if I got on top of this sooner during early high C. And I also find that on the hard pack..this makes such a huge difference for edge hold. Last season I read LeMaster's book which explains all the physics about angulation and countering pretty well. It was actually revelation to me to have it explained WHY it works.
Anyway, in my own mind I compare angulation to riding a dirt bike..where you have to get your head out forward over the handlebars to make a turn to get the front tire to hold in the mud. The muddier it is, the more you need to get forward over that tire. I believe this is very similar concept of directing forces downwards down the forks, through the wheel and into the mud instead of sideways. And it definitely works.
So when I'm skiing on steep icy surfaces I make sure to angulate over that stance ski and just reach out there as much as I can...and I can FEEL the difference it makes for making my edges dig in and hold...even for arcs which in the past I would have just washed out on in ice. I just keep forgetting to do it.. ha ha. But when I do..what a difference it makes.
By the way LeMaster's explanation for counter is similar to Harald's, that it is basically to line up the skeleton so that it can more efficiently support an angulated body with large muscle groups. I guess that's why I need to get countered the very instant or before angulation starts to build.
Please forgive a bit of non-PMTS language here.
- dewdman42
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by ChuckT » Sat Sep 30, 2006 4:04 pm
How does flexing (used in a release) help to create edge angles?
I guess more aggressive flexing allows the skier to get on bigger edge angles earlier in the turn while maintaining good balance when combined with more aggressive tipping. I suppose I could get "big edge angle" without flexing aggressively by a combination of pushing myself into the new turn and swinging, or pushing, the new stance leg out aggressively. But in doing so I would risk losing balance, skidding out of control, or a disatrous fall - not exactly a description of good skiing.
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by Max_501 » Sat Sep 30, 2006 5:16 pm
dewdman42 wrote:I guess while tipping you do have to flex the inside free leg as you tip it and pull it back, but to me that flexing is unconcious...the tipping and pulling back are what is important to focus on, that leg will just flex automatically, especially since you're standing on the stance foot hopefully.
In my case I have to think about flexing the inside leg or I get lazy as you can see in some of my pics.
There are a couple of ways that I see flexing at release helping with angles. As HH said above when you flex to release you start your CM moving across the skis. By staying flexed in the float you allow the CM to move across at its natural rate (no changes in the path caused by an up move). If you keep your inside leg flexed while you gradually extend your outside leg you end up with your inside leg well out of the way allowing your hips to drop far into the turn. This is an area I have a problem with. My inside leg starts aggressively flexed at the release but as I move into the turn and lengthen my outside leg I get lazy and allow my inside leg to lengthen as well (not as much as the outside but enough to block me from getting the big angles we see in HH, Diana, and Jay).
If you don't maintain the flexing of the inside leg you aren't going to get big angles. So I see flex as a very important component to angles.
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Max_501 - Posts: 4124
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by Theophanis » Mon Oct 16, 2006 10:25 am
Your body is centered over your skis.
You avoid back sit posistion especialy on bumps.
You get a better transition.
Helps on maintaining narrow stance.
You avoid back sit posistion especialy on bumps.
You get a better transition.
Helps on maintaining narrow stance.
- Theophanis
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by j.clayton » Mon Oct 16, 2006 12:24 pm
Getting back to the flexing issue during release , to my mind , before the extension of the new stance foot , the flexing allows a high C early edge change . Vis a vis the exercise Harald had us do changing from edges to edges while still travelling across the slope . Many times it was via a jump but ideally it would be via flexing into a mini float and having the feeling of almost flopping onto the hew edges .
Free foot pull back , as Mr Theophanis says above , but to be done as flexing starts to be effective ( for me at least )
Free foot pull back , as Mr Theophanis says above , but to be done as flexing starts to be effective ( for me at least )
You can take the skier out of the snow but you can't take the snow out of the skier . Hooked for life !!
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Re: Free Foot
by onyxjl » Mon Oct 16, 2006 3:39 pm
Max_501 wrote:What are the benefits of pulling and holding the free foot back?
It keeps the skeletal system aligned with the hips over the feet, which in turn allows the kinetic chain to be properly activated by the tipping motion of the feet. All the other good benefits result from this.
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