by h.harb » Mon Feb 07, 2011 12:17 pm
You have to be very careful how you compare and use World Cup skiers in photos or video (one frame especially) for defining a use of counteracting based on their movements and positions, for your own needs. These are super athletes and what is needed and when it is used by them, for CA, is often totally different from the timing and edge application for and by recreational skiers.
Too many assumptions are made in the previous posts, without the experience and background knowledge of coaching at this level.
Without the insider information of a coach with experience of coaching racers at this level, it is difficult if not impossible, to be accurate about the assumptions made above. Having coached and taught both types of skiers, I have some experience in this realm, which allows me to select a photo or a relationship demonstrated for certain techniques, in a photo that maybe relevant to the recreational skier and when it is not.
The photos I post, select; and explanations I offer, using World Cup skiers here on this forum, are relevant to recreational and advanced skiers and racers. Many I see and look through, before I decide what to select and post are not applicable and not relevant to skiers. I pay close attention to this, so as not to create misinterpretations.
You have to remember, always, that these are super skiers, who have amazingly strong feet and ankles, and equipment set ups that a recreational skier can't begin to imagine.
Look at the mid body or core, on Cuche, can anyone tell me, (Except Monsterman of course) , that your mid section looks anything like Cuche's, and that mass is all muscle.
I admire the involvement of defining and comparing movements of world cup skiers to PMTS and to personal skiing improvement. There is lots to discover, also lots to learn,but also much misinterpretation that can evolve. I guess that's why I'm here.
Cuche never rotates, (well almost never), but he never seems to counteract as much as Vonn, Hirscher or Ligety. Some of the reasons are; Cuche is a speed skier. He never or hardly ever runs slalom. If you don't rotate and you have mid body section and core strength like Cuche, the counter acting from side to side in speed events is much more gradual and minimized. I rarely use speed events or speed skier photos to compare skiing techniques for recreational skiers; just because they don't apply to skiers.
Slalom skiing is the closest event to recreational skiing. Because of the turns, not the speed, even slalom speeds are way beyond the capabilities of recreational skiing. They are often as high as 40 to 45 mph. In slalom, because the turns are so close together and tight, the rotational forces the skiers create are greater for the skier to control. You have to CA faster, sooner and more, than in any speed event. This discussion and the differences between needs for CA in Speed events, by different athletes, can become highly in-depth and may not serve anyone's interest for their own skiing, for now, enough said.
The best way to continue this discussion; at least the part about Cuche and others that don't "seem" to use as much CA, is to post your video. Post it on the "MA Forum" and ask about how much or little CA you need for yourself, after we see the skiing, we can help with this. Cuche's needs for CA at 70mph maybe be a topic for another time, but it is not relevant for this discussion.