Question about Alignment

[arnokamphuis]

First off, I'm very new to PMTS, I only discovered it a few weeks ago. I've been reading up on the whole system and I'm very glad I found it. But now that I'm analyzing my own skiing with respect to PMTS and trying some drills I have an issue. I think it has to do with my boot/feet alignment, but since I'm so very new to all this I might be wrong and it might be something else.

So here goes: There are two things I have to explain. The first is the problem that I have, the second is an observation that I made about my stance.

1) I have been practicing retracting my old stance/outside foot just before the transition in order to get the little toe edge of the old inside foot on the ground and thus my new inside foot/leg free to do early tipping and get the turn started. For this, once I get my balance on the LTE of the old inside leg, I have to tip my new inside foot into the new turn and thus get my knee of that new inside leg 'away' from my knee of the new outside leg. And there I somehow have a problem. The problem is that once I am on the LTE of the old inside ski my knee of the old outside ski is 'supporting' the balance by touching the knee of the old inside leg. Once I try to do early tipping of the new inside ski, therefore, by result of tipping the foot, moving my knee away from touching the other knee, I loose my balance and stability in the new outside leg. This also happens when I practice this on dry-land.

2) The second thing is my stance at rest, even on dry-land without my ski but with my boots. When I stand with my ski parallel, flat on the ground and hip-distance apart and I flex my ankles and knees my knees do not go straight forward but slightly toward each other. If you look from the front at my stance when flexed they form an X.

I think these two things are related and can be (partially) solved with alignment. Is this a correct assumption? If so, is there any way I can do my alignment myself?

Thanks for any response (hopefully related to this topic )!

[jbotti]

Sounds like you are knock kneed. If you are getting an A frame when focusing on tipping the new LTE one of two things is happening. Either you have not developed the proper muscles and technique to tip properly and enough (generally the case with skiers new to PMTS) or your alignment needs to be addressed or some of both. Not sure where you live, but finding a PMTS certified alignment tech would be the best thing.

The other point to make is that in PMTS we focus on starting our tipping movements from the feet. From the feet tipping the ankles follow and then so do the knees. Focusing on trying to move the knees or trying to drive the knee is problematic. The only question should be : how much tipping is going on in my feet and the result of this is what occurs with the knees. If you are indeed knock kneed you can tip to a large degree and still have an A frame. As well, if you aren't tipping enough you can have perfect alignment and still produce an A frame (with early BTE engagement and limited LTE tipping).

Some video will help if you can post some and you will get some feedback.

[h.harb]

John's advice is right on.

[arnokamphuis]

Thank you John for such an elaborate answer, and thank you Harb for the confirmation. In my initial post I indeed stated that I try to tip the skis starting with my feet. However, my knees automatically follow at some point. And at this point I loose the balance/stability in my new outside knee.

I thought the problems that you state I might have are indeed the case, ie. a combination of my technique/muscles and alignment. Since I live in the Netherlands I think there is only one shop that does alignment according to PMTS and that is Portes du Ski (http://www.portesduski.nl). I may have to contact them to see what they can do about my alignment.

For muscle strength, given my situation, are there any real good fitness exercises I can do to increase my muscle and tendon fitness around my knee?

You ask for some video material. Since I only started practicing PMTS techniques a few weeks ago, and I didn't have any chance to capture this on video yet, I only have two videos of my skiing before it. In these videos you see the knees also very close together, in an A frame. I do not start to tip my new inside ski as the first step in the transition after releasing my old outside ski yet.





Please remember, these videos do NOT show PMTS. This is just to show my 'problem' with my knees (and probably a lot more other problems ).

[h.harb]

First if you read my book 1, "Anyone can be an Expert Skier", you will find in it, it descries how technique and alignment are inseparable. With wrong technique anyone can look like they are incorrectly aligned. And anyone with poor alignment can look very functional, if they are using the right technique. However if a skier has poor alignment combined with the incorrect movements the poor alignment and the poor technique produce compromised skiing.

Your movements in the video, demonstrate that your outside foot is tipping first in every turn, this causes knee drive. And not much angle with the Cg. For the first few turns it looks like you can bring the inside ski closer to maintain the look of parallel shins, however as you progress down the slope, the stance gets wider and wider, so then it is no longer possible to keep your shins parallel and everything becomes A or X framed. Much of this has to do with your technique, not your alignment. If you were using Harb Ski Systems Technique, you would be tipping the inside ski first as shown in my videos. This would go a long way to solve you X legs.

[arnokamphuis]

Thanks a lot for that analysis!! I really appreciate it. What is clear from my videos and your analysis is that my technique is a clear results from all sorts of different approach that have been told to me over the years, especially the increasing wider stance at the bottom and tipping the outside ski first are remnants of this. I really want to improve and move more toward PMTS. I ordered a couple of books/dvds and I have already watched lots of your videos. I will definitely focus on getting the tipping started with the new inside ski and see how this will work out in the coming weeks. Again thanks for the feedback!!

[NoCleverName]

I realize you said in your last sentence that "now" you are starting with the inside foot as opposed to these videos where the outside foot clearly starts first. But just noticing, and I may b e wrong, when I blow this up full screen and step thru it it almost seems like the hips are turning one way and the shoulders the opposite way ... very subtly. Kind of like a racer's gate blocking move. I remember a couple of campers who were racers that had a devil of a time because of that.

You should get new video right away because it will undoubtedly show that nothing much has changed even though you think it has changed...at least that's the way it works for me. Going to PMTS is very disruptive-feeling when you are actually accomplishing real change. If it feels like it's going smoothly then probably nothing is happening.

It's much later on things start to feel "right".

[go_large_or_go_home]

I spent the whole summer skiing on a similar surface. It is not ideal, however, with slight modifications to the drills you can really practice the core PMTS movements... In fact, because of the surface, you never feel like you are wasting the rest of the mountain...so psychologically it's great for practicing the drills. Don't wait to get started....pmts practice becomes very addictive, especially as you quickly see positive gains in your skiing...

[arnokamphuis]

Well you might indeed have seen it correctly, the counter movement with the shoulders and arms, like boxing the gates away.This has been mentioned to me in the past. I have done some slalom training courses in the past and it might be the result of that training. I try to still keep my inside hip and shoulder leading, but somehow it doesn't work that well yet.

And the changes up to now have not been easy. I have a very hard time changing stuff, but I feel that progress is made, albeit slowly. Once I have tried some more I will definitely do some more videos.

The surface is indeed not ideal. BUT, I have skied on this surface for years and when I go to the snow I really enjoy it. If you can ski on this surface you can ski anywhere

[go_large_or_go_home]

The surface is indeed not ideal. BUT, I have skied on this surface for years and when I go to the snow I really enjoy it. If you can ski on this surface you can ski anywhere

That might be true...but in the context of pmts drills all your previous time will count for little as you completely rebuild your skiing from scratch. Even on snow, these drills will seem very uncomfortable as you learn how to balance. Try this on plastic, and the task becomes a little more tricky. The surface is unforgiving - but not impossible. Buy Haralds first book and work through the progressions. As I said, some drills will need slight modification. It will be frustrating at times, but you will enjoy it...

[JohnMoore]

It's a shame the Portes du Ski guys don't post on here, because I know they teach PMTS on a dry ski slope and I'd be very interested to hear their take on the subject. They're actually the nearest PMTS accredited instructors to the UK and I've been meaning to pay them a visit for a long while.

[h.harb]

I have skied on every form of ski deck, plastic and artificial surface including pavement. PMTS movements work better on all of these surfaces. PMTS movements are no harder to learn on these surfaces than the other types of movements.