Another video, comments appreciated

[40below]

Man, that is a fantastic visual from your vertical handheld video!

Gives me an idea to tether a small cam to a wide belt strap,
with a wider angle lens, and capture the look of full-on edging & carving from above.

(nice parallels too

Thanks for your efforts T. !

[Tommi]

My pleasure,

Here is a pic of the boot:

http://personal.inet.fi/perhe/antila/im ... ipcant.jpg

I took the video myself because my son got a slight flu and had to stay in. I've taken same kind of video before, and the struggle with the right foot especially was very clear.

One more thing, I can say from experience now that it's quite hard to find the correct setting yourself. That is due to the fact that the initial sensations say that this can't be right. You have to ski at least 10 runs and play with the outer edge balance to get the balance system activated in a natural way. It will take even more time if you have skied for a very long time with incorrect settings and the body has adapted too well..

I think this plastic strip test is just for verification and first aid. The forces are quite high and this kind of canting does not give full support to the boot. I just cant wait to get the proper parts fitted in.

Fantastic weather continues, time for some stretching before getting into training again. The racers have a morning GS, i'll go see the youngsters pull some G.

Ciao,

T2

[Tommi]

Have to say that alignment seems to be THE essential nbr 0.5.

If its way off like I had with the new boots, nothing works well. Difficult balancing makes the body sort of stiff. Like Harald says, when you balance with the mid and upper parts of your body using large muscle groups in order to compensate for problems at your ankles it just won't work well. What made things worse for me was the fact that the new boots were otherwise perfect, so I did not recognise that now the lateral alignment is even worse than before!

After getting used to the new settings the feeling was like relaxing, especially in the upper body. I think you can very clearly see this from my hands in the videos. The grunigen is quite a demanding drill, and my upper body is very relaxed with the better alignment compared to the first videos I posted.

Moreover, I'm very relieved that now I can try to perfect my skiing. I have to say that it was pretty impossible before adjustment in spite of lots of hours used for training. I was really surprised to note how this correction of alignment affected in so many areas in my skiing. If one has to struggle for grip, it will destroy or at least weaken almost all movements in your skiing!

From now on, I will follow EVERY detail of advice and drills Harald says. He knows. Not to forget the other PMTS gurus, of course.

Ciao,

T2

Now an even happier HSS customer.

PS Geoff, cu in Tux!

[richk]

Many of us have had experiences with alignment producing big changes in our own skiing or that of others. When I had boot heaters installed and the cable was run under the footbed, I found I couldn't make a decent right turn anymore, or, at least until it was re-routed! Tommi's experience is certainly confirmatory. Indeed, alignment that is out of whack is a bit of an Achilles heel for PMTS--it is hard to overcome even with great movements.

What I find most remarkable, though not surprising, is that Harald picked it right up. So, I've been trying to figure out what the clues were that tipped him off that it was an alignment issue.

When I was looking at the videos I saw the effects clearly and had it mind movement changes that I thought might help. Reviewing the video post-revelation, it is clear that the movements were basically good, but the effects on the skis were not as good as would be expected from the movements. Is that the clue? Are there others?

[h.harb]

Rich, I don't undersand what you meant by:

Indeed, alignment that is out of whack is a bit of an Achilles heel for PMTS--it is hard to overcome even with great movements.

Maybe you can explain, why you think that is the case.

[h.harb]

Tommi, I would try 2 strips of credit card as well and then video. Also you looked like you were doing an exercise. It would be good to see your arcs and the lower leg angles with the new set up.

[richk]

alignment that is out of whack is a bit of an Achilles heel for PMTS

The ability to carve is strongly influenced by equipment-- boots that are too loose, alignment that off, skis that are too wide under foot-- all make it more difficult to achieve high C/two thin lines turns. That is, the movements need to be stronger or more precise to have the desired effect, and the highest level of performance is unachievable.

I suppose equipment limitations aren't unique to PMTS, and there has been plenty of discussion of ski turning radius on the forum so perhaps the point about the influence of equipment is obvious to all. In fact, it could be said that recognizing the importance of alignment is a strength of PMTS because is done so explicitly in Book I, in camps, and in instructor training/certification.

Nonetheless, it is pretty common to be teaching PMTS movements and to have students experience difficulty achieving the expected outcomes because of an alignment limitation. Perhaps the point is that if a skier is using rotation to make turns, alignment is less of a limitation. That said, the quality of the turns we're aspiring to with PMTS won't be achievable that way, anyway.

My real question is, what are the clues, when looking at a skier, that alignment is the issue and not the always possible refinement of the movements?

[h.harb]

If you are skiing with poor alignment your chances of pure carving or even brushed carving are going to be difficult to achieve. If you use steering movements or rotary leg emphasis, you will never achieve any kind of efficiency. At least with PMTS and poor alignment you can improve you ski performance and learn proper adaptive movements for bad alignment. TTS movements don?t even allow adaptive movement improvements, as they are dominated by movement activity that diminishes ski performance, and creates ski activity that overrides and overpowers the ability to engage a ski at any point in the arc, except for at the very bottom.

For example an intermediate skier with a knocked kneed stance and leg steering movement focus , will be dealing with not only, probable knee trouble, but also a late, sudden, hard edge set, that produces a nasty knocked kneed ?A? frame.

This is a pure and direct channel to overuse injuries.

With PMTS you never start the ski rotation, so the kinetic chain and mid body have an opportunity to use counter acting movements that reduce the femur rotation and therefore reduce the amount of sudden, hard, edge set, and ?A? frame. Some femur rotation is unavoidable as a knocked kneed stance puts you already in a femur rotation position, before leg rotatry begins. Yet TTS insturctors still teach steering to everyone.

Identification of alignment is not easy. We train many instructors to look for alignment deficiencies. Some are better than others but it takes numerous training sesssions to become perficient. PMTS instructors are very good at alignment evaluation, but not perfect. Most of the examples for identification of alignment are in Expert Book 1, and are still valid in the Alignment Chapter.

As far as Tommi, he was easy. At the end of every arc, when he was trying to release, his flexing increased the ?A? frame position, rather then help the release. If you slow the video you see there is a point where both skis are still on their big toe edges, in transition. As many of you know, in PMTS we focus on imaging both skis on their little toe edges in the transition, which is the complete opposite.

[Tommi]

Tommi, I would try 2 strips of credit card as well and then video. Also you looked like you were doing an exercise. It would be good to see your arcs and the lower leg angles with the new set up.

(First, I actually tried 2 pieces in the left boot and 3 in the right foot, because it looks to me that my right side needs more correction. But this is not so simple, because my legs are basically not looking knock kneed without ski boots on (I sent Harald some photos), my shins are curved out (tibia varum), and I look more like bowlegged when standing up. When I flex, my knees track slightly in and that must be the main thing here?)

I could feel after just a couple of runs that this is not right, came back to the cottage, added the third piece to the left foot and it was way better, based on the feel in making grunigens.

Based on the practise yesterday, I feel that I could use even more correction (damn! here I go again. Believe the expert! ) The cue: when I make single ski carves, I still feel slightly falling to the inside edge and a bit shaky to the outside. When PRESSURED, on a single ski, my knee feels to track slightly in. I think I have to video also this drill for you to see. I have noted that my own capability of understanding this is quite limited.

Harald, I just confirm your question, you want to see me skiing normally and then observe the resulting tracks and lower leg movements with the new setup?

The feeling of getting difficult drills performed with relaxed ease is quite amazing. I have all the materials, I have followed the forum for 2 years, I have managed to get my alignment slightly better myself before, but no real breakthru. But now, when the new boots were more off and corrected A LOT in one step, I really felt the difference. With one strip or making 0.5 degree adjustments you won't go crazy like I went the day before yesterday. The difference was huge.

I've skied so much during the last two days that I'm not sure I can recover my muscles 100%. Have to stretch, I'll try to get the videos taken before I'll stiffen my muscles again. It's so much fun that I've tried soo many drills. One of the most difficult for me was and is the edge change hop. It's so hard to make it even on blue slope so that you really land on the same tracks! Fantastic exercise of the Essentials.

Hups, sorry for a long post. Back to work!

T2

[Tommi]

Hi all,

Here's the last two videos, both with three piece cants under the boots:

Medium radius arcs:
http://personal.inet.fi/perhe/antila/vi ... pieces.wmv

Medium radius arcs single ski:
http://personal.inet.fi/perhe/antila/vi ... gleski.wmv

Looks a bit on the knock kneed side still to me. Anyway, feels much better. The cuffs are maxed out. I guess the right foot would work even better if the cuff is even more out. I'll make replacement hinge parts like I had in the Atomics.

You can check my tracks in the left turn in the first video end. Clean now? No divergence at all, without effort.

Thanks all for advice and interest in this thread. This sure was fun. Just cant wait the beginning of the camp in Hintertux.

Time for some rest, tomorrow is a 900 km (560miles) drive home..

T2

[tdk6]

....One of the most difficult for me was and is the edge change hop. It's so hard to make it even on blue slope so that you really land on the same tracks...

Can you please explain the edge hop exersise and especially what it means to land on the same tracks!

[Tommi]

You should definitely buy this:

http://www.amazon.com/Harald-Harbs-Esse ... F8&s=books

It's really worth the almost ridiculous price!!

T2

[tdk6]

Ok, you mean this moove:

http://sports.topeverything.com/default ... &ID=+E6DE3

T2, I have to book at home

[Hobbit]

Ok, you mean this moove:

http://sports.topeverything.com/default ... &ID=+E6DE3

No, I don't think so. What is being discussed here is the exercise from the book.
You've got to have the book in order to be able to refer to the same thing.

[Tommi]

TDK,

Oh yes it is. The version you demonstrate here with wonderful dynamics is the 'last' version in the series of drills presented in the book, done between energetic turns. I think it's even more difficult to perform in low dynamics just based mainly on body counterbalance.

The main idea is to remove any pivoting in transition and to enhance counterbalance. An excellent drill.

T2