MA request for theorist

MA request for theorist

Postby theorist » Mon Apr 20, 2015 11:42 pm

Could you please provide an MA?

ME: 56 y.o., 5'7", 148#
SKIS: 170 cm Head Mya 7, R = 14.3 m (same sidecut as iSS Speed), 3 mm delta, boot position -2 mm, 0.5 base, 3 side.
BOOTS: Dalbello Scorpion SR130, 1.5 degree zeppa; no sole modifications, but during these videos I had 0.5 degree outward cant shims on the brake treadles of both skis.

Footbeds checked by HSS, but boots are new, so alignment analysis is welcome!

There are four clips I’ve uploaded to vimeo (password is “PMTS”). In each case the clip is immediately followed (on the same video) by a 1/4 or 30% slow-mo version. The slow-mo really helps here, since the full-speed clips suffer from some camera shake. [If you'd like me to append 10% slo-mo, let me know.] Note that these don't conform to PMTS MA video standards, but they're the best video quality I have (in my new boots). All videos were done under Chair 2 (Stump Alley) at Mammoth. For best viewing, make sure the "HD" at the bottom of each video is in blue.

PHANTOM JAVELIN, GREEN SLOPE (to test alignment and balance)



ONE-FOOT STRAIGHT RUNNING, GREEN SLOPE (to test alignment and balance)



FIRST FREESKI VIDEO, BLUE SLOPE



SECOND FREESKI VIDEO, BLUE SLOPE



SELF-MA:
PHANTOM JAVELIN: left turn looks good; I’m a little back during the right turn — need to maintain better contact with left boot tongue

ONE-FOOT: balance seems a bit better on right foot than left

FREE SKIING: What's most fun for me is to ski dynamically, getting energy out of each turn, but the risk with dynamic skiing is that technique can fall apart -- extension, noisy upper body etc. So here I'm skiing moderately dynamically while trying to maintain flex-to-release (since extension's been my strongest bad habit) followed by continuous tipping (I've had a tendency to abandon tipping after the transition). In the first video think I generally (with a few exceptions) flex the old stance leg, but I'm not sure if I'm sufficiently delaying extension of the new stance leg. In the second video there may be more frequent extension of the old stance leg.

An experienced PMTS student observed that, in the transition, my inside ski flattens (as opposed to staying on the LTE) when I transfer weight to it, so I may want to work on maintaining that LTE for an additional ski length or so, to delay my getting onto the new BTE (thus helping the inside ski to stay ahead of the outside in tipping).

During these particular turns I wasn't working on NSPP, CA, CB, or keeping the inside foot back, all of which need improvement, particuarly the latter. I do some work on these separately, but as I get better at controlling extension without having to thing about it I'll be able to shift my primary focus to these.

Finally, here are two montages (15 frames/sec) showing the approach to the apex followed by the release. In each, countering seems to build too late, and then does not reverse quickly enough after the release. [Though, particularly in the first set, I do like how the ski is bending, the strong flex-to-release, and the strong phantom initiation in the next-to-last frame.]

Image



Image


Thanks!
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Re: MA request for theorist

Postby blackthorn » Tue Apr 21, 2015 12:44 am

I have always enjoyed reading your posts. I have been been doing my own MA on your video - but I'm not really qualified to make comments, but await others input with interest. In a few months I hope to be able to put something of my own for MA. Thanks.
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Re: MA request for theorist

Postby theorist » Tue Apr 21, 2015 1:05 am

Thanks for your kind words blackthorn.
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Re: MA request for theorist

Postby DougD » Tue Apr 21, 2015 6:30 am

Theorist,

I'm also unqualified to provide valid MA, but as this forum exists partly to help PMTS students improve their MA skills, I'll offer one anyway. :mrgreen: If Max, Geoffda, jbotti or any qualified/certified PMTSer offers an MA that differs from mine, believe them!

Note: my work PC won't play the videos, so this is based on your still photo sequences.

Your SMIM appears to be Free Foot Management (specifically, better Free Foot pullback and achieving/maintaining a tighter stance). At present, the Free Foot is skooting ahead and also separating laterally. When you release for the next turn, a wide, foot-forward stance makes it difficult/impossible to balance on the LTE of the new Stance Ski. The only available balance point is on the BTE. A premature BTE emphasis forced by balancing adjustments required to get onto a too-distant ski can cause sideways displacement of the ski at the top of the turn... ie, no high C and possible stemming or tail skidding.

Suggested drills:
1. Pole Press drill... to remind your feet/legs of the effort necessary to maintain a closer stance
2. Super Phantom with Touch-Tilt... as you release the Free ski, lift and touch its ankle rivet to the Stance ski boot cuff and HOLD it there throughout the turn (while tipping)... near the end of the turn, the moment the Free ski LTE touches the snow, release instantly by flexing the Stance leg and balance on the new LTE... begin tipping the new Free foot while maintaing balance on the LTE (ie, O-frame). Repeat in linked turns and do alot of these, they're effective and powerful. The kinesthetic clue is sensing actual, continuous contact of the Free boot ankle rivet to the Stance ski cuff.

As you noted, CA, CB and NSPP all need work. But these should come after you've mastered FFM.
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Re: MA request for theorist

Postby jbotti » Tue Apr 21, 2015 8:39 am

The pictures are more revealing than the video (side shots although fun are not great for MA). CB as you know is an issue. The inside ski is getting too much weight and that is costing in ski load and ski bend on the outside ski. When I first saw the free skiing vids my initial response was "why isn't he finishing his turns?". The arcs start nicely but never develop into deeper angles. It could be you were just on a too moderate slope. Having said that you can arc full tight turns on moderate terrain (its actually better as you will build up less speed). The lack of CB will make higher angle complete arcs feel uncomfortable or impossible if you get too much weight on that inside ski (as you will likely go down). If you focus on CB drills (hard to beat the boot touch drill for CB) you should be able to work on full arcs with the weight fully on the outside ski. Test yourself by lifting the inside ski at the apex of the arc. If you can't then you have too much weight on it.
Balance: Essential in skiing and in life!
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Re: MA request for theorist

Postby theorist » Tue Apr 21, 2015 9:03 am

Thanks DougD. I'm definitely confused about inside foot pullback (explaining why I'm confused, so I can get an answer to alleviate that, will require a separate post). Not sure about the stance being too wide. In both of the montages, I'm think I'm "tipping them where they lie," and then pulling the free foot in after. If anything, not getting the free foot far enough away from my stance foot has been my problem -- I have other video where I boot out of the stance foot at the apex because the free foot is too close.
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Re: MA request for theorist

Postby theorist » Tue Apr 21, 2015 9:33 am

Thanks jbotti. I thought the side shots were at least useful for checking for extension -- I'm very pleased no one has yet mentioned extension, since eliminating that has been my focus.

The insufficient CB, and its effect on my balance, has really been a bother to me -- I'm going to give that a lot of focus going forward. Are you saying there are two separate issues -- how deeply I go into my arcs (related to lack of CB), and not finishing the turns (due to not holding onto the turn long enough after the apex) -- or are these two parts of the same thing?

I'm a bit confused about what I should be doing about weight distribution in these conditions. On hard snow, I don't have good grip unless I have all, or nearly all, my weight on the outside ski. But I've found in this soft spring corn it's the opposite -- when I tried 90/10, I found the stance ski tended to break loose continuously through the arc because the snow can't support too much pressure. Also, later in the day this snow can be bumpy, and at higher speeds I've hurt my ankle (from the shock) when I'm carving with all the weight on one ski. Is this because my technique isn't up to par, or is it legitimate to modify my weight distribution for these conditions? [I do understand that being in balance means that, even when you are choosing to have some weight on the inside ski, you can still pick it up at any time, and that's something I need to practice.]
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Re: MA request for theorist

Postby jbotti » Tue Apr 21, 2015 11:40 am

theorist wrote:
The insufficient CB, and its effect on my balance, has really been a bother to me -- I'm going to give that a lot of focus going forward. Are you saying there are two separate issues -- how deeply I go into my arcs (related to lack of CB), and not finishing the turns (due to not holding onto the turn long enough after the apex) -- or are these two parts of the same thing?

I'm a bit confused about what I should be doing about weight distribution in these conditions. On hard snow, I don't have good grip unless I have all, or nearly all, my weight on the outside ski. But I've found in this soft spring corn it's the opposite -- when I tried 90/10, I found the stance ski tended to break loose continuously through the arc because the snow can't support too much pressure. Also, later in the day this snow can be bumpy, and at higher speeds I've hurt my ankle (from the shock) when I'm carving with all the weight on one ski. Is this because my technique isn't up to par, or is it legitimate to modify my weight distribution for these conditions? [I do understand that being in balance means that, even when you are choosing to have some weight on the inside ski, you can still pick it up at any time, and that's something I need to practice.]


On question 1 they are pretty much the same thing.

On the second question, I didn't pay a lot of attention to the conditions. Really soft snow which breaks away makes it hard. You can ski it with lots of weight on the stance ski but it is much higher risk especially if you go for any angles (the more load on the ski the more likely you will break away). Yes it is legitimate to alter your weight distribution in these conditions. Having said that if you spend all of next season working on CB and at the end of the season you are finding that it is holding up in most of your skiing, I would either not ski in break away snow or ski in it with huge CB but with lower edge angles because you don't want bring back a bad habit.

I skied in some very sloppy conditions several times this year and I came to the conclusion that it wasn't great for my skiing. Making some compromises in it is unavoidable.
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Re: MA request for theorist

Postby Max_501 » Tue Apr 21, 2015 12:42 pm

Kudos for posting MA video. This step should help boost your progress!

The following MA was approved by HH:

For a variety of reasons, this really isn't what we'd identify as PMTS skiing and instead is a mix of your old movements and tipping (note that there isn't much ski performance which is an outcome of solid PMTS movements). Some of the releases have a small wedge so you are still BTE dominant even though you are working hard to tip. I can see that you are trying to flex to release but there is still an extension due to BTE dominance (which manifests as a push or extension onto the new ski). Also evident is an inside foot shuffle which will require drill time on inside foot management, especially the pull and hold back. When CB is present it comes mainly from the shoulders, nothing at the pelvis which is very important for outside ski hold. The camera position is not great for evaluating CA but I don't see any.

Lateral alignment is knock kneed and I suspect fore/aft is off because of the shim installed under the front binding (or boot) - I'm looking at the very upright tibia and how far back the hips drop (in relation to the heels) when trying to flex.

Steps for improvement -

1) Alignment
2) Master the phantom move so you eradicate the BTE dominance. I'd suggest revisiting Book 1 and moving forward only as you've mastered the material in the current chapter.

With regards to your question on the ski weighting. The outside ski breaking away is a classic symptom of lack of CB and/or too much weight on the inside ski. Could the snow conditions be contributing? Maybe, but we don't know if or to what degree in this case because there is no effective CB, therefore the outside ski loses grip when the angles are increased.

With regards to booting out. We create room for the outside boot by pulling the inside foot up rather than widening the stance.
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Re: MA request for theorist

Postby theorist » Tue Apr 21, 2015 12:56 pm

Thanks Max (and Harald) for the detailed analysis!

The shim is actually under the heel (on the brake treadle), and averages about 1 mm thick. The toes of these bindings (Head PRD12's) have been lifted by 2 mm, but since the shim adds 1 mm under the heel, effectively my delta is 2-1 = 1 mm flatter than stock, so 3 mm instead of 4 mm.
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Re: MA request for theorist

Postby Max_501 » Tue Apr 21, 2015 1:06 pm

theorist wrote:Thanks Max (and Harald) for the detailed analysis!


You are quite welcome. BTW, skiers that have reached your current level (without PMTS) may have a real challenge to embed PMTS movement into their skiing because making the change in movements requires an even greater dedication to the drills (e.g. it's easier for someone that is basically a rank beginner to learn the phantom since they aren't fighting very strong old habits each step of they way).

theorist wrote:The shim is actually under the heel (on the brake treadle), and averages about 1 mm thick. The toes of these bindings (Head PRD12's) have been lifted by 2 mm, but since the shim adds 1 mm under the heel, effectively my delta is 2-1 = 1 mm flatter than stock, so 3 mm instead of 4 mm.


It looks like you may need more delta or forward lean so the hips are closer to the heels when you flex. BUT - this is difficult to diagnose from the footage provided.
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Re: MA request for theorist

Postby theorist » Sun May 03, 2015 10:04 pm

I have this video, from earlier in the season, in my old boots, but with the same skis (170 cm Mya 7). I'd be interested to hear if there are any notable differences in my skiing vs. that in my new ones, above. I've also included a montage (at 10 fps) with a front view. Thanks! [Password is PMTS]

Image

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Re: MA request for theorist

Postby sgarrozzo » Mon May 04, 2015 5:53 am

HI Theorist,
I'm not qualified to give the right answer, but my two cents.....(of euro)
It is difficult to make an exact comparison because they are taken from different angles.
Anyway here your right turn is worse. Your inclination greater and your weight is all on the inside ski before that you have to do that. And one can see that you have a clear A Frame at the end of your right turn, your left ski becomes light and tends to go straight to the tangent. Your left foot appare to me more knock kneed :D
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Re: MA request for theorist

Postby sgarrozzo » Mon May 04, 2015 7:35 am

sgarrozzo wrote:HI Theorist,
I'm not qualified to give the right answer, but my two cents.....(of euro)
It is difficult to make an exact comparison because they are taken from different angles.
Anyway here your right turn is worse. Your inclination greater and your weight is all on the inside ski before that you have to do that. And one can see that you have a clear A Frame at the end of your right turn, your left ski becomes light and tends to go straight to the tangent. Your left foot appare to me more knock kneed, and the right too :D
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Re: MA request for theorist

Postby theorist » Mon May 04, 2015 7:58 am

Thanks sgarrozzo. Yes, the left side (stance side for right turn), being my non-dominant, has always been a bit weaker, and this has been compounded in recent years by injuries to the L knee (torn meniscus -> surgery) and hip (L SI sprain). I then had a bad fall at the beginning of this season, re-injuring my L SI, making it uncomfortable to hip angulate with the L leg. This past off-season I had to focus my PT on my R leg, because I tore *that* meniscus (but managed to avoid surgery, and thus recovered well), but this off-season I'm going to focus my PT on my left SI.

I practice a martial art in which we use the principle that "the smart side teaches the dumb side," since there are always asymmetries. So once I reduce the physical limitations, I should be able to apply that here, focusing on replicating the stronger aspects of the left turn's movement pattern in the right.

Sorry the different views make comparison difficult. I do have some older video of me in my new boots from the back, but the video quality (resolution) is lower than that of others I've posted. Nevertheless, maybe it will be of some use, so here it is in regular speed and slow-mo [password is PMTS]. [Setup's a bit different from first videos -- same skis, but no cant plates under heels, so delta is 1 mm flatter.]




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