MA request for sashalex

Re: MA request for sashalex

Postby go_large_or_go_home » Thu Mar 05, 2015 10:04 am

Now we can finally get somewhere.

Your sking at 'speed' is masking a whole heap of technical errors. Just look at the first video of your phantoms...every turn is started with an extention of the stance leg, a rotation of the upper body into the direction of the turn, an inclination of the body 'inwards' and the skis are changing direction because you are skidding/ pivotting them. There is no evidence of tipping and balance transfer is brief and happening after the fall-line

I appreciate your keeness to progress, but at the moment you are just practicing and reinforcing bad habits. I asked the question earlier, but do you have a copy of ACBAES1? You need to go right back to page one. Do you own a slantboard? Can you balance on one ski throughout the ENTIRETY of the turn??

You need to follow the progression as written. Skip nothing. I spent hours practicing each and every drill in turn - both on the snow and dryland. You need to relearn how to balance, and you can't do it by skiing at speed.
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Re: MA request for sashalex

Postby sashalex » Thu Mar 05, 2015 5:26 pm

So from what you guys are saying and from what I can see...its hard to point out obvious errors when I'm skiing fast, but when I'm trying to do phantom turns (and other exercises) at slow speeds, all balance and technique deficencies come up to surface. So even though I'm not showing extension movements when I'm going fast, the fact that they exist in the phantom turns is an indicator of deeper balance issues that will always prevent me from reaching my skiing potential. And if i master the excercise, there is a direct, immediate, and subconscious improvement in my free skiing? Am I understanding this correctly?

Does this essentially imply, that skiing fast is worthless until the exercises have been mastered in the correct order? Or is it useful to do some exercises and then test the results once in a while with some free skiing? I have ACBES 1&2 videos but I'm contemplating on getting the books too.
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Re: MA request for sashalex

Postby BigE » Thu Mar 05, 2015 5:43 pm

go_large_or_go_home wrote: Can you balance on one ski throughout the ENTIRETY of the turn??


IMO, this is the most important question.

It is a skill that I worked on for a long time. I still do. I spent last season on a Green run. The same Green run all day long. Working on balance and balancing movements. It helped *A LOT*, and it still does help *A LOT*.

Without the ability to balance on one leg around an entire turn, (then switch legs and do the other) learning anything will be impossible. And certainly, when you ski fast you'll revert to the old ways.

One should work on one footed balance until it is EASY. No effort easy.
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Re: MA request for sashalex

Postby Max_501 » Thu Mar 05, 2015 7:18 pm

sashalex wrote:So from what you guys are saying and from what I can see...its hard to point out obvious errors when I'm skiing fast, but when I'm trying to do phantom turns (and other exercises) at slow speeds, all balance and technique deficencies come up to surface.


The first two videos suggested that you had jumped ahead before mastering one footed balance, that's why I asked for video of the Super Phantom. We could have pointed out the areas that needed more attention but it would have been much harder for you to see what we meant because speed helps to hide movements that are either missing or not strong enough.

sashalex wrote:And if i master the excercise, there is a direct, immediate, and subconscious improvement in my free skiing? Am I understanding this correctly?


That's the general idea, however it's not completely subconscious. Even HH after decades of skiing with PMTS movements thinks about movements while he is skiing.

sashalex wrote:Does this essentially imply, that skiing fast is worthless until the exercises have been mastered in the correct order?


Yes.

Start with page 1 of Book 1. Don't skip chapters or drills. Don't move forward to the next chapter until you have mastered the material in the current chapter. After book 1 go to book 2 and master each chapter. If you want to ski anything like Harald that is the way to get there.

It is quite common for PMTS students to skip ahead and then realize they are missing key fundamentals that are holding them back. See these threads -

Bullet Proof Short Radius Turns!!

Your favorite exercise to practice Tipping. Short/long turns
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Re: MA request for sashalex

Postby JerryS » Thu Mar 05, 2015 8:52 pm

sashalex wrote: And if i master the excercise, there is a direct, immediate, and subconscious improvement in my free skiing? Am I understanding this correctly?


Not quite sure it makes it to the subconscious that quick . . . when I "free ski" after drills I ski with the intention to use that skill consciously while I open my skiing up a little bit.

I have ACBES 1&2 videos but I'm contemplating on getting the books too.


The books are the meat of the PMTS model, and carry far more detail and drills than the video. The videos support the books in that they help you integrate the movements and visualize what to movements looks like with a higher level skier demonstrating.

Sashalex, it's good to see the light go on and the realization that this takes a slow, conscious effort to ingrain the essentials. It's a paradigm shift from the conventional model that is taught, and will require concerted effort to ingrain the concepts. Next thing you know you'll find yourself at a PMTS camp :)
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Re: MA request for sashalex

Postby h.harb » Thu Mar 05, 2015 8:53 pm

The first step is alignment, his is way off!!!!!
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Re: MA request for sashalex

Postby go_large_or_go_home » Fri Mar 06, 2015 1:53 am

Sashalex - i think you have got it..this leap in understanding is vital. The next question is, 'are you prepared to make the changes?' Although it feels like you are having to start from square one, your skiing will be imporving. Each an every one of us that has made a conscious decision to change, practices these movements ALL the time. Although they are called drills, they are actually movement patterns that need to be at the core of your skiing. The Phantom move is NOT a drill...there might be drills/ exercises and a progression to develop this 'move', but it is not a drill. It should be fundimental to how you ski. The drills and progressions found in ACBAES1&2 are there to develop your movement patterns by isolating key aspects. Some of these you might already own in isolation, but they still need to be practiced in order to lay the foundation..

Balance is key and underpins everything. It needs to be learnt, relearnt and worked on. We ALL work on it, all of the time..

step 1 - as hh has said, get your alignment sorted. I bet you can balance and hop around all day on one leg when out of your boots, but it's a very different story when you are buckled into them..this SHOULDN'T be the case. Without proper alignment, you are severely handicapping yourself with adaptive movements. When you get aligned, it all makes sense..
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Re: MA request for sashalex

Postby DougD » Fri Mar 06, 2015 7:03 am

If HH says your alignment is "way off", there's little value in working on ANYTHING else until you get it fixed. Skiing mis-aligned is more likely to teach you accommodative movements than correct ones, which you'll just have to unlearn later. Any skier whose alignment is "way off" will have trouble making PMTS movements correctly. Some movements may be impossible. That's why HH called this step #1.

I skied with one leg slightly mis-aligned for 30 years. That leg was less stable in turns, the knee occasionally hurt and I (rightly) lacked confidence in it when conditions got challenging. I put up with it because I didn't know any better and - sadly - the professionals I worked with didn't either. A dozen bootfitters never spotted the issue. A PSIA Level III Instructor/fitter whose shop sold me $800 boots "evaluated" my alignment in shop and on snow during a $200 private "lesson" - and pronounced me issue free. Bogus.

Once I discovered PMTS, one hour in the HHS shop solved the problem. The improvement was instant and obvious. I lost 30 years of better, pain-free skiing out of ignorance but you're incredibly lucky! In your first skiing season you've found the only source of genuine alignment knowledge that's available to recreational skiers.

Get to a PMTS fitter. Go to the HHS shop in CO if you can't find anyone closer. It will be the best money you'll ever spend on skiing.
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Re: MA request for sashalex

Postby sashalex » Fri Mar 06, 2015 5:05 pm

Thanks everyone for your input. So I bought ACBES 1 book. I read the first chapter and the chapter on alignment and I quickly realized that I have never acually started a tipping movement from the ankle! What I was doing to accomplish a "pseudo-tipping" movement was a flexion of the upper leg. So I jumped in my boots to see if I could start the movement at the ankle....and lo and behold, I could not! The boot was preventing me from getting enough movement in my ankle joint to actually begin to tip! Im a lifelong tinkerer, so ill take a shot at fixing the problem myself (as flying to colorado is not an option). Hopefully in future videos you guys will see some improvement.
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Re: MA request for sashalex

Postby go_large_or_go_home » Sat Mar 07, 2015 5:51 am

sashalex wrote:What I was doing to accomplish a "pseudo-tipping" movement was a flexion of the upper leg.


Your FLEXION is separate to how you are turning your skis....your turn initiation is still with am extension....just because your legs may be bent doesn't mean that you haven't pushed off it...even bracing is considered and extension...until you RELAX the leg to initiate the turn, you are extending....

A poorly aligned boot will not stop you tipping your ankle when standing in them on dryland...however your range of motion either side of center will not be equal...a straight leg will stop tipping. A bent leg that you are 'pushing off' will stop tipping. You have to learn to sink or relax your legs to enter/ start the transition. Use a mirror...your impresion of "enough" relaxing is 99.9% definately NOT enough....this is just the 'tip of the iceberg' (excuse the the pun) with PMTS. EVERY movement is opposite to what you know, believe and are doing...

Your realisation of this is the biggest hurdle..welcome to the club. You can now look forward to a tried and tested path to true skiing awesomeness...the next bit is up to you...
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Re: MA request for sashalex

Postby Max_501 » Sat Mar 07, 2015 8:40 am

sashalex, what type of footbeds are you using?
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Re: MA request for sashalex

Postby sashalex » Sat Mar 07, 2015 9:54 am

Max_501 wrote:sashalex, what type of footbeds are you using?


These are the insoles currently in my boots

Image

I realize now that proper foot support and position is the last thing they were designed for. We had a particularly frigid ski season in eastern ontario and I was skiing in consistently -20 weather and worse. Hell, me and zeK skied tremblant in -34. So i bought these insoles and designed my own rechargeable battery packs for them.
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Re: MA request for sashalex

Postby go_large_or_go_home » Sat Mar 07, 2015 1:46 pm

You need proper footbeds, not insoles....with your engineering skills, i am sure you can work out a way of installing the heating pads from these onto your footbeds...
Besides, when you start skiing with your feet and not your legs, your feet actually start to work and therefore keep warm...
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Re: MA request for sashalex

Postby sashalex » Sat Mar 07, 2015 5:34 pm

Ok, so after my revelation that tipping starts inside the boot, and after attempting to fix my alignment myself (an ongoing process)....I was itching to try it out. I trekked it out to a small hill near my house (more of a bump in the ground really..) and got my wife to film me doing some phantom turns. Unfortunaly the size of the hill only allows me to get one turn, so I compiled a video of 2 turns on each side.



It was MUCH more difficult to keep balance on the left turn, which may well end up being an alignment issue. All tips and comments welcome.
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Re: MA request for sashalex

Postby Max_501 » Sat Mar 07, 2015 8:30 pm

Video of the alignment tests from Book 1 would be useful.
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