Progressing to CA and CB

[jbotti]

Helluva, my ROM dorsifexion is modest. My right foot is worse than the left. The right had a displaced fracture and it is set wrong at 13 degrees turned out. I measure at 10-11 Degrees of dosrsiflexion on this foot but that is probably slightly misleading becaue the foot can only fully dorsiflect when it is tunred out at that 13 degree offset. The left side measuers at 12-13 degrees which is legit.

[BigE]

Here is a description from Harald. Note that he says if you do CA without first tipping, you'll skid. And the videos show that.

http://www.pmts.org/pmtsforum/viewtopic ... nteraction

Also note that he states in a later post in the thread that modifying angles of the stance foot itself comes after proper CA.

[Max_501]

As John says, in short turns, aggressive (yet progressive) CA will absolutely cause the ski to whip around.

Absolutely and it is counter intuitive!

[jbotti]

So here are two shots that highlight the improvement in my CA. The first shot (wearing a black jacket) is from this past Sunday. The second shot (wearing a red jacket) is from early 2 seasons ago. The second shot shows my old tendency to get too much weight on my inside ski because there was not enough CB and CA and I was leaned in. It wasn't always this bad but this is quite indicative of the chronic issue I was having. As well, I would raise the right shoulder and push that arm forward some, again hurting whatever CA I might have had. This is all vastly improved in the photo from Sunday.

These are both on my bad side (turns to the left). On my good side the improvement is less dramatic.

[Max_501]

In the video above, John provides an example of the NSPP drill. He is working on exaggerating CA with a NSPP. This is an awkward feeling/looking drill that yields big results. Because he is so focused on CA/NSPP he is getting lazy with the foot pullback and tipping could be stronger. Its this combination of factors that leads to the tails whipping around. Fairly common to see this happen when students focus on exaggerating a specific movement. My guess would be that many PMTS campers have heard "Yes, you got the XYZ, now do more of ABC too!" from their coach.

For an example of what a brushed carved looks like when everything is done the right amount and at the right time:

[BigE]

So, the pivoting/heel push should not appear when doing the drill?

What is the cue for success of the CA drill John is doing? To me, pivoting looks like a good candidate, and we risk steering the legs.

[Max_501]

What is the cue for success of the CA drill John is doing?

Because this is an advanced and complicated drill, video is the best method to determine success. Cues include a strong inside arm and the outside arm and pole pointed towards/over the outside boot.

[BigE]

Would you say that John's version of the drill is a success?

I've seen Harald do the NSPP, and it looks somewhat different. He does something with his upper back that I can only say is Austrian, though Canadians did this too at one time.

[Max_501]

Absolutely a success. Just look at the improvement in John's weak side in this picture.



HH is the consummate perfectionist therefore his demos are better and look a bit different. This drill is challenging (feels very awkward at first) and there is no way anyone but HH and some of the coaches are going to do it perfectly. The good news is that if I focus on CA/CB and very quiet hands/arms I can get the benefits of the drill quickly.

Again, this is an advanced drill. Its pointless to work on this drill if you don't already have tipping/pullback/flexing mastered. In addition the student should already have some degree of CA/CB in their turns.

[BigE]

Oh I agree totally on the result of the skiing. but in terms of video only, how would you rate it as a model?

BTW: I think it is super to see real people doing real drills. Harald's are so perfect and everything is so "just right" it can look a lot like magic.

John, thank you for posting those videos.

[newskier]

John, thanks for sharing the information. The comparison images are impressive. I guess you probably can control the turn by how fast you reach maximun CA.

[jbotti]

I guess you probably can control the turn by how fast you reach maximun CA.

It's also about how much tipping and how quickly that occurs as well. I am pretty sure I can and have done these better (less early displacement of the skis/tails) but I was real focused on showing the early CA (as it is an important part of what I have been working on). I will have to check with video next time I ski. This was on Sunday after 4 hard days of skiing with a bunch of guys and I remembered midway through the day that we hadn't gotten this video after we looked at the stuff shot with the other camera and it was pretty unusable. I was happy I had something to post.

On an unrelated topic, I was impressed enough with the HD video quality from the cyber shot that with the help of Max I bought a new camera that has 16X optical zoom and OIS in a very small form factor. Super easy to carry around all day. I will shoot some video with it and my guess in advance is that it will be more than satisfactory to do MA with. If so, shooting video has gotten real easy!! The camera also only cost $169!! I won't get too excited until we see the quality of the video and of the zoom (and OIS), but we are now in an age where there really is no excuse for not shooting video of yourself almost every time you ski.

One of these days we may get Max to retire Old Faithful for a new fangled device!!

[Max_501]

One of these days we may get Max to retire Old Faithful for a new fangled device!!

I have a wonderful new HD camcorder that I'll start playing with soon. The quality is excellent, but its just a hair bigger than I like. Old Faithful was a nice pocket sized camcorder and the OIS and zoom speed are great. Too bad Canon doesn't use that form factor for their newer HD cameras.

[newskier]

I read your earlier description and put your video in a loop to try to understand this drill. I think I got what your are doing. I notice you extended your arm forward like you said you would in the beginning of the video but your arm is not as active when you get closer to the camara. Do you agree with this observation? I just want to know what to focus on when I watch your video.

[jbotti]

Perhaps my video is causing more confusion and creating less clarity rather than more. Extending the inside arm in each arc is a way of getting some CA. It isn't worth much if the hips don't follow and create CA as well. As well extending the inside arm won't even create maximum CA and CB with the upper body, to get that you will need make sure the hips create CA as well. What I at times try for in this exercise to max out the amount of CA available to me (with my level of flexibility). That means hips pushed to their CA limit, inside arm extended as far as they will go and upper body countered as far as it will go. This is a very awkward feeling exercise an no one is going to ski this way all the time, but in PMTS we try to exaggerate the movements when we are working on them. Maxing out CA in every turn at slow speeds is a great way to feel the full range of motion available and to also engrain these movements into ones skiing. On some level this is the NET. When you move the NET into less of a drill (not maxing CA in every turn but still making sure plenty is there) and you do more skiing, managing the timing and amplitude between tipping and CA is what produces perfect brushed carved turns. In many ways this is what is going on with great off piste skiing, managing the speed and amplitude of all the essentials on terrain that is in constant flux.

As for what I was trying to show in the video, I think it's fairly clear at this point that I didn't think it through very much and this was a mistake. It was late, I was tired and I wanted to come back with some video. The only thing that I knew that I was focusing on was making sure my hips got full or close to full CA in every turn. Maybe I can do better next time. I have never viewed my skiing as a model for teaching and I now realize that when you shoot video (to demonstrate) you need to be very clear about what you are trying to show and accentuate and it has to be constant all the way through the video.

The one thing that I do think I accomplished is giving people a sense of what hard work on CA can do for ones skiing. That still shot above from Sunday was the first time in my life that I have looked at my turns to the left and liked what I saw!! I do think the difference is dramatic and I was beginning to believe that my bad side would always be marginally functional but not very good. Let's also bear in mind that I did this in 35-40 ski days (which in the grand scheme is not very long). Hopefully this will inspire others to get focused on CA. Again when you can tip, flex and manage your fore aft balance, CA may be the thing that will propel your skiing most!

It probably is also the case that if you are not where you should be with tipping, flexing and fore aft balance, you will probably reap bigger dividends improving those before dedicating all your time to CA.