Paul - MA

Paul - MA

Postby arothafel » Thu Apr 26, 2012 2:09 pm

Skiing at Mammoth in April 2012. I'm loading this for Paul. He was mostly working on getting more forward. ( Art )

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Re: Paul - MA

Postby Matt » Thu Apr 26, 2012 11:44 pm

Is this the same camera? It's much more shaky.
I found a program called deshaker that's supposed to be very good for shaky video, but I have not gotten it to work yet. I think CarlR has used it for some of his videos. I think it requires a different format than what my camera produces. Anyway, if you want to give it a try here is a link http://www.guthspot.se/video/deshaker.htm
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Re: Paul - MA

Postby geoffda » Fri Oct 05, 2012 10:26 am

1. Work on releasing. Paul is skiing with a slight stem. He flattens the new stance foot first to give himself a platform for tipping the new free foot. You can usually see the edge change of the new stance foot just slightly leading the new free foot. 0:17 is a good example of the subtle stem: new stance foot is flat, new free foot is still on big-toe-edge. In at least one turn, there is a an obvious, full stem entry. In short, Paul is lacking a true release, and his number one priority has to be to develop one. Practice two-footed releases to start with, then move to one footed. Once he can release to flat, work on developing tipping through the release.

2. More tipping. While Paul accomplishes engagement with tipping, he goes static and stops tipping once he gets on edge. He needs to continue his tipping throughout the turn. Try tipping garlands and Power Releases where the focus is on continuous tipping.

3. Ixne on the foot steering. Paul has a tendency to twist his feet to try to "juice" the turn to finish. Unfortunately, to do that, he has to move his balance from being solidly on the outside ski to being equally distributed over two skis. Plus he has to relax his leg and ankle muscles. Doing these things actually releases his carving skis (along with whatever energy he would have had) and causes him to start skidding which completely disrupts his balance. There was a turn just after he passes the camera that shows this beatifully; he tries to steer the bottom of the turn, loses his balance and transitions with an obvious stem entry to recover. Paul needs to replace the foot steering with continuously increasing tipping. He has to be confident that he can control radius as needed solely with tipping. If the foot steering is defensive, moving to less threatening terrain would be helpful.

For now, I think his fore-aft is sufficient. Part of his problem there is that he is a bit squatty and he isn't allowing his CM to move far enough into the turn to really allow his stance leg to lengthen (which has to happen if his feet are to be significantly behind his hips). Regardless, I don't think his fore-aft is holding him back. Tip, tip and tip some more...
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Re: Paul - MA

Postby polecat » Sun Oct 07, 2012 1:30 pm

Thank you, geoffda.

From both review the video and remembering how I felt on the snow I have to agree with almost all of your assessment.


geoffda wrote:1. Work on releasing. …... Paul is lacking a true release, and his number one priority has to be to develop one. ….

Totally agree there. I plan on working on that an awful lot this season.

geoffda wrote:…. More tipping. ...

Totally agree there too. I’ll be working on that too.

geoffda wrote:…. Ixne on the foot steering. Paul has a tendency to twist his feet to try to "juice" the turn to finish. ...

Definitely need to can the steering.

Just to be honest, I’m not trying to be tricky and end the turn with a little twist. I’m fighting desperately to get the turn right up to that point and failing miserably. Then I get frustrated, give up and throw the Rubik's cube at the wall.

geoffda wrote: …For now, I think his fore-aft is sufficient....

Here I must disagree.

Besides looking like I’m sitting on a toilet, I can definitely feel that I’m standing on my heels.

I have a really, really, really hard time pulling my feet back and getting any kind of pressure at all on the tips.

Neither tipping nor flexing work worth a damn when standing on your heels. When I try to release I feel like my legs are locked underneath me. I’m always fighting for it.

The other thing I see in the vids is that I’m still leaning a lot with minimal CB and near zero CA.

I get the sense that those three things together, sitting back with little CB or CA are why my legs feel locked and why It’s such a fight to tip without losing my balance or flex by simply relaxing.


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Re: Paul - MA

Postby geoffda » Mon Oct 08, 2012 8:37 am

polecat wrote:
geoffda wrote: …For now, I think his fore-aft is sufficient....

Here I must disagree.

Besides looking like I’m sitting on a toilet, I can definitely feel that I’m standing on my heels.

I have a really, really, really hard time pulling my feet back and getting any kind of pressure at all on the tips.

Neither tipping nor flexing work worth a damn when standing on your heels. When I try to release I feel like my legs are locked underneath me. I’m always fighting for it.

The other thing I see in the vids is that I’m still leaning a lot with minimal CB and near zero CA.

I get the sense that those three things together, sitting back with little CB or CA are why my legs feel locked and why It’s such a fight to tip without losing my balance or flex by simply relaxing.
pc


Releasing shouldn't be a struggle and getting forward enough to do it shouldn't be hard. Try standing up a bit and see if that helps. It may be that your current setup won't allow deep flexion. That is fine. You don't need much flexion at all to trigger a release. See if you can do a static two-footed release in balance, with just enough flexion to tip. If you struggle with that, I would think that would point to the need for some boot work. OTH, if you can do that, see if you can progress to linking TFRs with the same level of flexion. Once you can do that, see if you can increase the tipping without squatting.

You might send Max_501 a PM and ask him to have a look. He's taken Chris' alignment class and may be able to give you some good advice. While you are definitely squatty, it looks to me like you are getting your feet far enough back that you shouldn't feel like you are on your heels. You have a noticable two-footed pullback. Since that doesn't seem to be moving you forward, it could be that you may have something going on that is boot related. Perhaps Max can give you some good suggestions to try.

It takes a bit of skills development before you can really start getting forward enough to get real pressure on the tips. For that to happen, you need all of the movements working together. At the start, you should just be looking to get forward enough to develop basic tipping/release skills. Work on the primary movements first (tipping, flexion/extension, dorsi/plantar flexion and moving the skis underneath you), then worry about the secondary movements like CA/CB and coordinating pole plant. With primary movements alone, you should be able to develop a "no frills" brushed carve (as well as larger radius arced turns).
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Re: Paul - MA

Postby polecat » Mon Oct 08, 2012 10:03 am

geoffda wrote:....Releasing shouldn't be a struggle and getting forward enough to do it shouldn't be hard. Try standing up a bit and see if that helps. ….

Thanks. I plan on doing a lot of TFR drills this season. I’ll give that a shot.


geoffda wrote:.... See if you can do a static two-footed release in balance, with just enough flexion to tip. If you struggle with that ….

It’s always a struggle. On the rare occasion you see me up on the hill doing the happy dance it’s because I got a couple to work. Since I’ll be concentrating on it this year I hope to increase the frequency of things going right and maybe even get to where I can link them together.


geoffda wrote:.... that would point to the need for some boot work...

It’s been a few years, but Diana set up my boots. I’m confident it’s me, not the boots.

That's a good thing, it means I should be able to improve through hard work.




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Re: Paul - MA

Postby geoffda » Mon Oct 08, 2012 10:14 am

polecat wrote:
geoffda wrote:.... that would point to the need for some boot work...

It’s been a few years, but Diana set up my boots. I’m confident it’s me, not the boots.

That's a good thing, it means I should be able to improve through hard work.


Did she ski with you? Have you changed skis since? Fore-aft is something that is difficult to work out and it is affected not only by the boot, but the binding delta as well. You can be sure that if Diana did you boots that your lateral balance is spot on, but unless she saw you ski on the skis you are currently using, you can't necessarily make the same assumptions about fore-aft.

The reason I'm harping on this is that it shouldn't be hard to be able to release in blance and stay there. When you are first starting PMTS, it is more about just holding the feet back versus actively pulling them back. The one-footed pullback that you do with the Phantom Move should be all you need. From a relaxed, upright stance all you should have to do is relax the stance foot and invert it (barely any flexion required). Dorsi-flex a little to stay on the front of the cuff as the skis start to slide and they should seek the fall line. Finish with a Phantom Move, paying attention to holding the free foot back. If that is hard for you to do in balance, that is a big red flag.

One thing to try before the full two-footed release would be to just release to a side-slip and then engage again. Can you do that in balance from both sides? If so, practice that a bunch, then play with dorsi-flexion/plantar-flexion to explore how that affects the direction your skis want to slide. Dorsi-flexion should make the tips seek the fall line, while plantar-flexion should make the tails seek the fall line . Play with a "falling leaf" pattern where you let the tips slide towards the fall line, then reverse and let the tails seek the fall line. Don't steer while doing this; just ride the ski. That should help your balance. After you can do that, then try adding the Phantom Move finish. It may be that you just need to develop more balance awareness. Doing those drills should help.

If you can't even release in balance (you may feel out of balance once you start to move, but the relase should be easy), I'd have somebody take another look at your equipment.
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Re: Paul - MA

Postby polecat » Tue Oct 09, 2012 1:24 pm

geoffda wrote:…Did she ski with you? Have you changed skis since? …

Yes, she did. No, I haven’t.


geoffda wrote:.... The reason I'm harping on this is that it shouldn't be hard to be able to release in blance and stay there. ….

I don’t doubt that it shouldn't be hard. But it is for me.

It’s always much harder to unlearn bad habits than build good ones from scratch. I skied badly for years, stemming, leaning, deliberate up/down (all encouraged by TTS methods). Losing stuff that deeply engrained has been slow for me. I know I’ll get there, a little at a time.


geoffda wrote:…. From a relaxed, upright stance all you should have to do is relax the stance foot and invert it (barely any flexion required). Dorsi-flex a little to stay on the front of the cuff as the skis start to slide and they should seek the fall line. Finish with a Phantom Move, paying attention to holding the free foot back. If that is hard for you to do in balance, that is a big red flag….

OK, it’s a big red flag. What’s it telling me? That I’m doing something wrong? I knew that.

When the snow comes, I’ll try to get video of TFR’s so we can actually see.


geoffda wrote: … One thing to try before the full two-footed release would be to just release to a side-slip and then engage again. Can you do that in balance from both sides? ….

That I can do. Strangely enough, it was something I used to practice before I’d heard of PMTS.


geoffda wrote: … If so, practice that a bunch, then play with dorsi-flexion/plantar-flexion to explore how that affects the direction your skis want to slide. Dorsi-flexion should make the tips seek the fall line, while plantar-flexion should make the tails seek the fall line . Play with a "falling leaf" pattern where you let the tips slide towards the fall line, then reverse and let the tails seek the fall line. Don't steer while doing this; just ride the ski. That should help your balance. After you can do that, then try adding the Phantom Move finish. It may be that you just need to develop more balance awareness. Doing those drills should help…..

I’ve played with this a little, but not much. When I’ve tried I’ve always felt that leg lock thing. That, and I struggle with balance.

I’ll try playing with it some more.



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