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Dryland drills for absorption?

TheArchitect

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Are there any dryland drills people do to get better at absorbing bumps? I sometimes have problems with being too inflexible (body and mind ogsmile ), hitting a bump and getting launched.
 

Jerez

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An elliptical machine, preferably lateral elliptical. instead of letting the machine push your feet, use it by keeping your upper body (from hips up) stationary vertically. That is, use only your legs going up and down under a still top half. Concentrate only on bringing your leg/knee up, not your foot down to make it go. Make sense? Great for that.
 

Kneale Brownson

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If you can’t find some rollers like that, you can try shallow angle traverses across a bump field, especially a less steep bump field. The goal is to be able to relax the legs and let the terrain push your feet up and then extend the legs to maintain ski/snow contact. The rollers would be easier for starting out.
 

Plai

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Pump track

Everyone should have one of these in their yard.

That reminds me... I took up a little skateboarding when I started skiing in order to train balance and forward stance. Hadn't thought of it as absorption drill, but yeah, see it now. Cool!
 
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TheArchitect

TheArchitect

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Thanks guys. I'll try those things out. That skateboard park looks pretty cool.
 

Josh Matta

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the best way to learn flex and extend is to go find a flat a bump run and traverse keeping you upper body as quiet as possible by pro active flex and extend. Pump tracks are great for learning this as well, but ARE much harder than traversing bump field because you arent just absorbing, and extending, you have to learn to PUMP and gain speed, since they are basically impossible to pedal on.
 

LuliTheYounger

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"Learn to gallop horses from a bunch of wayward jockeys" is my real answer, but that might be a bit much. :rolleyes:

Failing that - I don't know if this is part of the issue, but I've noticed in a couple sports that a lot of people struggle with shock absorption because they're uncomfortable getting in/out of a squat when they're moving. Sometimes it's purely the muscle strength, sometimes it's keeping their balance fore/aft while they squat, sometimes they can do the first two but they're just mentally freaked out by doing it at speed. A lot of people are totally capable of the same motion on dry ground but absolutely lose it in motion for whatever reason.

If that is part of the issue, doing squats on a balance board and on skates has really helped me solidify the muscle memory a bit more. I think I started out with just unweighted holds, and then worked up to doing random variations like doing it on one foot, adding weights, moving my upper body & arms to try to shake myself out of alignment, and just testing how fast I can get up & down in different variations without losing it.
 

mister moose

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The goal is to be able to relax the legs and let the terrain push your feet up and then extend the legs to maintain ski/snow contact. The rollers would be easier for starting out.
When I first started trying this, I was late. Someone told me to actively suck up my feet, and I found this worked better (for me at least). If you wait for the bump or roller to push your feet up, and you wait for that to happen, you miss most of the absorption. For me, pro active absorption works better than passive absorption.
 

Bad Bob

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A BOSU ball laid flat side down.
Go side to side keeping your head level and hands in front of you for a couple of minutes and you just had a pretty good bump run.
Note to self, must get a new BOSU ball to replace the one the dog chewed.
 
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TheArchitect

TheArchitect

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A BOSU ball laid flat side down.
Go side to side keeping your head level and hands in front of you for a couple of minutes and you just had a pretty good bump run.
Note to self, must get a new BOSU ball to replace the one the dog chewed.

I even have a Bosu ball at home!
 

Novaloafah

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Bosu are great. I got into it because a physio had me using it to rehab an MCL. I do squats on it (flat side down) turning torso left then right with hands out front. one leg balancing holding still, side jumps. Never thought how it could be used for bump training cuz I rarely see bumps, but it makes perfect sense to me.
 

Wilhelmson

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With this weather you could make a flume off your roof and waterski down it. Or other stuff like ski boot base jumps off your deck, run into the garage door, ride your bike or skateboard into a curb.

People at the Weston ski track train on skis on wheels - that could get very ugly. For me I would have to put a chair on roller skates to mimic crashing into objects while in the backseat position; I think it would train me to get upright to brace for the impact.
 
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TheArchitect

TheArchitect

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reACT trainer. Not sure if they still make them, but my local gym has one.


That’s pretty cool but it don’t know if that’s a real option. I’ve never seen one in a gym around here
 

T-Square

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A Skier’s Edge can help.


Practice keeping your hips at the same level. Great for learning the feeling of the cross under move too.
 

skix

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Dryland training? You could try doing it like Jonny Moseley back in the day ...

 

KingGrump

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The Skier's Edge machine is a good way to learn A&E.
A step from that set up is to swap out the that platform for a mogul/powder platform.
 

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