by dewdman42 » Wed Jan 16, 2019 5:54 pm
Greg's post is a great one and to the point!
@NoobSkier... I would recommend you buy the eVideos from harbskisystems about offseason exercises and strength training...some of them are directly applicable to strength with abbductors and other stuff that is need to create counteraction. Flexibility, per the webpage that was quoted earlier is definitely a factor too, but so is strengthening certain muscles needed for counteraction which actually are not ones that we use in our every day life that much..it requires some focused training to train them. I defer to others to name the muscles specifically, but the eVideos at harbsystems are going to target them!
I think its good that you are really focusing and trying to develop counteraction, but as others have noted, you have extremely limited counteraction showing in your videos. IMHO, developing counteraction is partly developing the muscle memory to engage the right muscles to do it while you're skiing...since you probably haven't up until now done that much. Similar to developing a habit of flexing instead of extending, it takes a lot of practice to groove in the neurological triggers to make counteraction happen systematically in your ski turns. It will take a while.
But on top of that, there can be hip mobility issues and strength issues as mentioned above. In watching your videos where you are earnestly attempting to counteract; and your still photos at home, its pretty obvious that you are either constricted in the hip joint or weak in the necessary muscles, or both.
In some cases, some people do have hip mobility issues that are hard to work around. For example, this summer I was diagnosed with femur impingement in that area, which in some cases can block in the bones my ability to counteract on my right side. I am still working through how to shift my hip around and relax in the right way to get around the blockage. But the other thing is that if you have some hip mobility issues of some kind that has been blocking you, then you may have, over many years, developed shortened muscles, which then make it even harder to get that mobility due to inflexibility AND lack of strength.
I recommend strongly you get the off season videos and spend all year working on both flexibility and strengthening related to counteraction. While you're at it, get the angry mother vids. There might be a couple others related to counteraction, I can't remember now.
I think people are posting the comments about SMIM won't be fixed overnight, because basically, it usually won't...especially if you've been skiing another way for a long time. You have to overcome all three factors...the muscle memory reprogramming in terms of making sure to even TRY to make counteracting movements while skiing....plus possibly in your case...some long built up constrictions and weaknesses in related areas.
Keep up at it though...even if you can't get to the point that you can move your hip like Heluvva or DoubleDiamond....you can definitely improve it!