skill transfer

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skill transfer

Postby john heath » Mon Oct 31, 2005 7:16 am

quite understandably this post got lost in the inside leg extension section, so i've decided to give it a home of its own, as an answer would make a big impact on my skiing. I'm quite eager to get this technical hitch sorted before december when the local race clubs get into gear. any suggestions appreciated.


at the end of the hintertux camp there were too goals for me: flex more (legs too straight, angles only from the ankles, so i wasn't getting big enough angles to hook the skis up) and eliminate push off from the stance ski.

for my first 3 days of the season, i decided to approach the flex problem by actively trying to flex and use gentle bumps to trigger this later in the day, and to solve the push off, the weighted release and the mini javelin.
harald expressed some reservations about using the WR without a coach, but i'm glad i went ahead with it for two reasons: it showed up a balance/alignment problem on the right leg, and also showed me just how much you have to flex to get the angles. and how quickly. (skiing some gates also made clear the necessary speed and timing of transition). i took care to follow WR exercises with strong counter in normal skiiing so as not to end up banking turns.

what i found with attempts to balance on the LTE of the stance foot and eliminate the push off is that as soon as i make one foot the free foot, i feel the need to support myself with the stance foot. perhaps from playing sports where strong push off is required this is just automatic for me, but now you have me thinking that perhaps i wasn't flexing enough in these slower speed exercises. certainly the wedge entry is more noticeable in a lifted free foot phantom move, and when i release to begin my first turn down hill at the top of a run. perhaps once i'm into the run i flex more and it occcurs less.
on my last few runs i felt i used less push off when i focussed on the bases up the hill and letting the CM fall over the downhill edge of the skis. presumably the flex used here along with the general letting go meant that i didn't seek stability on the stance leg as actively. or maybe i was moving too fast to feel the wedge entry and it was still there.

where all this is going is this:

1)do you ever find that flexing and bases uphill drills with strong counter eliminate push off more effectively, or should i be working longer on LTE exercises such as the mini javelin, WR and the wedge breaker turn drills? (obviously what works for the individual works, but i'd be interested in your experience of coaching many students).
2) if it is usually a case of drilling (and here the obvious answer is 'whatever it takes', but maybe you have some ideas), what proportion of drilling to free skiing do you typically recommed (e.g. a whole morning only traverses and javelin, free skiing interspersed with javelin every other run, a whole day javelin no free skiing, 3 days only javelin). i can do the drills ok but find the skill transfer elusive when i go back to free skiing (even with focus on those SMIMs). generally with new movements it takes me time to incorporate them, so i may need to tailor any suggestions to my needs, and throw in some dry land in the boots, but i'd just be interested in what sort of program you'd suggest.
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Postby jbotti » Mon Oct 31, 2005 8:53 am

John,
I had a similar issue last season and Diana showed me an elementary drill that for the most part has eliminated this issue in my skiing. You may have done this drill yourself.
In the midst of doing longer GS type turns, at the completion of each turn traverse for a two one thousand count on the LTE of the uphill ski with all of your weight off the stance (or dwonhill ski). Initiate the new turn soley by the drawing in and tipping of the old stance leg. The two one thousand count actually has the effect of slowing your speed substantially (as you are actually traversing back up hill) and this prevents one's ability to use momentum to initiate the turn. At these slower speeds the only way that I am able to initiate the turn is with agressive and deep flexing of the old stance leg combined with agressive tipping. Flexing remains the key for me in this drill. Whenver I get upright during this drill, I have had trouble. The beauty of this is that once you are riding the LTE of the uphill ski, it is impossible to push off the old stance ski and form a stem.
I worked on this drill about a third of each ski day for about ten ski days. After two or three days I saw significant results. I still practice the drill a few times on most days that I ski, just to make sure.
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Postby john heath » Mon Oct 31, 2005 9:31 am

the push off i get is from the uphill ski. it rolls over onto the big toe edge as soon as i lighten the downhill foot. (with alignment, so more of a techique thing.)
the count drill actually really slowed my transfer at the camp and HH was keen to get me away from it. but thanks for the reply, i did play with it on my last trip and i will continue to experiment with it.
however, the real question i have for all of the drills is not so much what drills, but what strategies for integration into free skiing.
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Postby john heath » Thu Nov 03, 2005 10:12 am

having another go this weekend, john botti, i'll let you know how i get on with your suggestion.
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Postby john heath » Wed Nov 09, 2005 11:59 am

well here's how it went. i'm writing this because it assists with my own understanding of the process, plus if i have it wrong someone might tell me.

the WR exercises show me how you need to flex to release, much easier to tip. and when the outside ski is placed on the snow you get the slicing feeling, which is not what i get with regular skiing. but there is the danger of banking so i keep this drill to a minimum.

with the lte uphill ski drills, such as the wedge breaker turn and the mini javelin, i have a tendency to traverse for too long. also, i find that in an effort to make sure i'm on that edge i commit too much weight to it and end up standing up a bit on it, which causes that foot/ski to rotate. it's also hard to feel whether the ski has tipped through weight being on it or after i've tipped the free foot. the solution is an extended traverse which is pretty dangerous on a crowded glacier with most people just wanting to bomb it down or junior racers putting in some free skiing.

what i think i will do is focus on flexing, making sure that both legs flex some to release as if i'm in bumps. this should mean that i don't hang on to the uphill ski, which at present i use to push off as i flex and release the old stance leg as it becomes the new inside leg. this push off indicates lack of sucking up and therefore genuine release and if i ain't releasing right i won't transfer right and so on. so i think this should be the focus given the opposite effect coming from the drills.
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Postby jbotti » Wed Nov 09, 2005 1:30 pm

John,
One of the things that I and others had trouble with at the June Race Camp, was flexing the stance leg (for release) without straightening the leg of the free foot. I have spent quite a bit of time looking at video of FIS racers over the past month. Invariably (and it is most pronounced in Slalom where there is less time and space to release, transfer balance and intiate the next turn) there is no leg extension on the free foot, thus producing an almost squat like position in transition. Harald and Diana always find this position in transition.
I have not been on skis since Race Camp, but this was a major focus for me while I was there and I still have a ways to go to make this second nature. Having said that, I spent alot of time trying to limit the extension of the leg of the free foot (which is often just the old "stand up in transition" which is a central teaching approach in TTS and an ugly residual in my skiing). I got to the point where when I only focused on this I could do it 50% of the time. I know that this is the only path to efficient and elegant high C turns. This will be my most immediate goal when we finally get some snow in Tahoe.
My opinion (and let's preface it by acknowledging that I am a hack at best) is that your last comment is dead on the money, focus on flexing without any extension of the free foot leg. I will be doing the same.
This is also why when I listened to the concept of ILE (inside leg extension) that has had a significant run here recently, I knew immedaitely that it was the wrong concept for me to play with. I want zero extension of my free foot until after the turn is intiated and it has now become the new stance foot. This also seems to me to be obviously and intuitively more efficient.
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Postby Ron White » Wed Nov 09, 2005 4:47 pm

John Heath,
Think of extending the new stance leg only as necessary to allow the ski to engage and stay in balance. If you extend too soon, your cm will move up and not toward the new turn direction. Keep both skis on the snow and and go through neutral while flexing your old stance leg. Allow your new stance leg to bare weight as necessary to balance on it.

hope this helps

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Postby john heath » Thu Nov 10, 2005 7:33 am

cheers fellas.
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