MA for mountainbum

Re: MA for mountainbum

Postby jbotti » Wed Apr 13, 2016 8:32 pm

CO_Steve wrote:Can you see how low you are during the lower part of the C? From this position the only way to release is to stand up, and you do.


He does stand up but there is more than enough range of motion to flex the stance leg further to release without extending. WC racers are deeper flexed (than he is) at the bottom of the arc and still release by flexing the stance leg further (as are HH, Diana, and other high level PMTS skiers at times).
Balance: Essential in skiing and in life!
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Re: MA for mountainbum

Postby ChrisC » Wed Apr 13, 2016 10:13 pm

I've got a suggestion, but it doesn't involve MA for two reasons: (1) I'm not a qualified coach, so there are better people to provide this, and (2) I haven't found MA to be much help for my own skiing, even when it was provided by experts.

I was wondering if you had worked through all the exercises in the Anyone can be an Expert Skier 1 book. You look like you've done some of them, but I mean going back to the basic exercises, even the ones where you are stationary. And I mean doing every exercise in the sequence they are presented in the book.

It's a very simple suggestion, but I did this a few months ago based on comments from the forum and it made a huge improvement to my skiing. I spent 5 days just doing these exercises and then I got a PMTS black level coach to check my progress and he confirmed that my skiing was much better.

The problem with MA is that it takes your existing turn and tries to modify it to get something different. If, instead, you work through all the exercises then you isolate each movement and make sure you do it correctly before you put the movements together into parts of the turn and then the whole turn. So you're building a new turn from the ground up.

I think you'll get a better result much quicker if you follow this approach.

As for your video, I think that you're still big toe dominant. You tip your inside foot, but it's late - it's not how you initiate each turn. I had the same problem and the only way I got over it was to work through all the exercises. Even going to camps didn't work as well as the Book 1 exercises. Now I can do phantom javelin turns starting on the little toe edge of my uphill ski. In your turns you lift the inside foot late - after you're already on the big toe edge.
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Re: MA for mountainbum

Postby Max_501 » Thu Apr 14, 2016 7:06 am

ChrisC wrote:The problem with MA is that it takes your existing turn and tries to modify it to get something different.


MA is absolutely critical if one wishes to master the Essentials. A good MA for an existing PMTS student should identify the Single Most Important Movement (SMIM) and provide drills that will improve that SMIM. At some point a new movement becomes the SMIM and the drill focus will change at that point.

For skiers that are new to PMTS the process is only different in that they start with Page 1 of Book 1. But MA should still be an integral part of the skier's development.

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mountainbum,well done on visiting the shop and getting your alignment addressed! That should be the first step any serious PMTS student takes. I waited 3 years which was foolish because I was way out on my right leg so I developed a compensatory movement pattern that took years to unwind.

As far as what you should do next, Harald covered that in this post:

h.harb wrote:Your battle is just beginning. Your movements are all rotational, legs, hips. There is no sign of balance development. SO you are on the wrong path. Look at the last post on my blog. The answer lies in there and in PMTS movements. If you continue with PSIA you will dead end all your efforts and like you said, copious amounts of money to confuse your skiing. You are early in the process, you can turn it around, this advice is not negative, it's honest.

There are dozens of posts on this forum that advise people where to start and how to get into PMTS. First, you have to understand building balance through RTE. Flexing and tipping go together they can not be separated. Read book 1 first, then the Essentials. Book 2 can be studied later.


I think it took me about 40 half ski days to work through Book 1. With full days I could probably have done it in 25-30 days, but daily video would probably be required. You can accelerate even more by shooting video in the morning, MAing it at lunch, and then shooting more during the afternoon, and MAing at the end of the day. The key is identify and eliminate and flaws in the drill you are performing so they don't become habitual. The goal is perfect practice.
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Re: MA for mountainbum

Postby mountainbum » Thu Apr 14, 2016 9:20 am

In reply to flexing at initiation instead of standing up, yes, I definitely could have flexed more in every turn. I actually went back and looked and all my turns in slomo, and on almost every turn I had a slight extension. As far as not having done all of the drills, that is definitely true. I haven't really had a ski day to myself yet where I could just focus on exercises and work through them in order. Looks like I'll be shooting a lot of video for the next month! Oh, on a side note, I met two PMTS skiers at Loveland who ski there pretty regularly, usually practicing certain exercises, so I might be able to practice with someone, which would be very helpful. :P
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Re: MA for mountainbum

Postby DougD » Thu Apr 14, 2016 10:44 am

mb,

The improvement in your alignment is obvious. Good job doing that so early in your skiing development. Like Max, I waited far too long... about 30 years too long in my case. I probably don't have enough skiing years left to completely unlearn three decades of compensatory movements.

As to your skiing development, I'll echo Jbotti's comments that greater flex range is available. Exaggerate the h*** out of that. The amount of flexing you need or can learn is far greater than you think. It will feel crazy and wrong at first... which is a sign that you're breaking away from comfortable (and ineffective) patterns.

Beyond that, I wouldn't dream of adding anything to recommendations from HH or Max. Enjoy the journey, you're on a great path.
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Re: MA for mountainbum

Postby mountainbum » Tue Apr 19, 2016 4:12 pm



Here is a video that Walker took today. We tweaked my alignment a bit and I focused on flexing and tipping at the same time. Also, I have been trying to counteract more but haven't quite figured out the timing. We are working on technique tomorrow :mrgreen:
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Re: MA for mountainbum

Postby hyper_squirrel7 » Tue Apr 19, 2016 6:43 pm

You are looking better and better! Your transitions have improved, and in terms of CA, your CA is a little better on the right.
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Re: MA for mountainbum

Postby DougD » Wed Apr 20, 2016 5:54 am

Wow. Major improvements in less than a month. Just compare your first videos to this... very impressive. HSS strikes again!

You're lucky to have found this level of coaching at 20yo. It's much easier to learn when you're young, and you have fewer inefficient movements to un-learn.

Your CA does need work (whose doesn't?) Whether that's your SMIM I leave to a qualified coach. The following observations may be helpful:

- On some turns to your L (stance ski = R), your left foot occasionally creeps forward through the middle of the turn. Keep pulling it back... more.

- On both turns, your outside hand (especially the L hand) reaches downhill for the next plant. This unwinds your CA. I have the same issue (probably worse) with my L hand and this was actually my SMIM from camp. There are drills for this in ACBAES2 and Essentials. One that I worked on for 3 days straight in camp and still work on every ski day is the Pole Drag drill. Basically, stop pole planting altogether (it causes problems if not done right). Ski with both poles held straight vertical, well out to the sides, tips just brushing the snow. As you link turns, do not let the tips get swept backward, but also do not swing your arms around or forward. This requires constant forward pressure with your wrists, but no arm swinging is allowed. A day or two of this on easy greens will help your hand discipline, which will quiet your upper body and prepare it to learn the movements and timing of proper CA.

Keep it up!
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Re: MA for mountainbum

Postby Max_501 » Thu Apr 21, 2016 7:49 am

mountainbum wrote:Here is a video that Walker took today. We tweaked my alignment a bit and I focused on flexing and tipping at the same time. Also, I have been trying to counteract more but haven't quite figured out the timing. We are working on technique tomorrow :mrgreen:


Based on that vid the SMIM looks to be tipping.



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Re: MA for mountainbum

Postby mountainbum » Tue Dec 06, 2016 10:13 pm

So, I have been working on my tipping, and this is the result. Since my last video I have skied half the month of april and may last year, and I have skied about a weeks worth of days this year. This is the result. I think that my SMIM has changed, but I could be wrong.

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Re: MA for mountainbum

Postby mountainbum » Tue Dec 06, 2016 10:41 pm

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Re: MA for mountainbum

Postby mountainbum » Sun Feb 05, 2017 11:26 pm

The last video I posted wasn't very good...this one is much better. I am hoping to get some MA on what my SMIM is. Most recently it was tipping. I think it may be time to work on my counter. FYI I am on 19m icelantics...not the best but they were cheap! This is a blue run at CB that the racers use for slalom training, very consistent pitch and fall line. I'll post a slomo run in a bit!

Thanks! :D

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Re: MA for mountainbum

Postby mountainbum » Sun Feb 05, 2017 11:58 pm

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Re: MA for mountainbum

Postby Jeet » Mon Feb 06, 2017 3:27 am

I will have a go at the MA:

[Caution] This will have to be validated/corrected by others on the forum. Please wait for their feedback.

Compared to the previous videos you have posted I would say this is a great improvement. The work on tipping has paid off. I would agree, work on CA I would also add foot pull back too. Sometimes I see the outside arm hooking round which does not help CA.

1. CA - Angry mother drill
2. CA - No swing pole plant
3. CA - on the slant board (hands on hips or use a hip o meter)
4. CA - the s-walk (I find you can do the s-walk whilst have a strong mental focus on your SMIM)
5. HH also just posted a great thread on CA (Austrian counter) - viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5090

Foot pull back threads.....

If you search the forum there are plenty of threads talking about foot pull back. Below is one...

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4864


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Re: MA for mountainbum

Postby mardale » Tue Feb 07, 2017 6:46 am

The deep flexing on that shallow run, while good flexing practice, seems to interfere with the tipping and fore/aft.
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