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Evaluate my technique - 2nd attempt

musicmatters

Getting on the lift
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Feb 14, 2019
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Atlanta

Ok let’s see if I can post the video correctly this time.


I’ve been skiing about 5 days a year for the past 35 years, but this season have really begun to think about technique and have about 20 days on the Moutain this year.

Appreciate any feedback or advice, I am looking to become more smooth and improve on the “infinity move” technique.

I the guy in the red helmet.

Thanks!!
 

dj61

Getting on the lift
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Feb 25, 2017
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Well, you are definitely enjoying yourself and you seem relaxed on ski's. First things I would be working on in your situation are: edging and a more disciplined upper body and pole plant.
 

slowrider

Trencher
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Dec 17, 2015
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edging and a more disciplined upper body and pole plant.

Heel pushing your skis. Move forward and use all of the ski.

Your CoM is too far inside in your turns. Counter to the outside. Check out some drills on the Net.
 

KingGrump

Most Interesting Man In The World
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Love your pole plants.Especially the left ones.
 
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musicmatters

musicmatters

Getting on the lift
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Yea that left pole is all over the place!!

C’s instead of Z’s...I like that. Thanks

I’m going to try it on this run once I get off the lift!!
 

Steve

SkiMangoJazz
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You ski well. You use your upper body a lot and it works. You should try however another approach and see how it works for you. Get all the action from the legs. Instead of the up move and pole plants that energize your pressure management, have the legs and hip flexors create all of that and presto/chango the upper body will quiet down.

Don't stop doing this, or stop doing that. You can't tell a noisy kid to "be quiet!" You gotta give them something else to do that is so cool they shut up.

Using your legs will quiet the upper body.
 

Smear

Getting off the lift
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Mar 15, 2016
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Hilarious pole plants :) Have a friend who used to plant the exact same way. Well it didn't stop him from skiing in some pretty nice places :) So there is hope, but probably a habit worth breaking....

IMG_5718.JPG
 

Nancy Hummel

Ski more, talk less.
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Where do you ski? It may be helpful to take a lesson with a good instructor who can help you change some movement patterns. Lots of what to do here but it would be more beneficial for you to work with someone in person.
 
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musicmatters

musicmatters

Getting on the lift
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I ski at Deer Valley. Any recommendations for some of the better instructors?
 

geepers

Skiing the powder
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As others have stated, lessons with an instructor is very much your best bet as soon as you can arrange it.

It's also worth developing your own ski knowledge as it is likely to help you get more out of lessons. (At least that's what I find - as long as I also listen to the instructor!)

If you do want to start a journey of ski improvement then this Canadian guy is a good place to start. Here's a few vids that focus on some important items for what's visible in your skiing right now:

Stable upper body - ski with the lower body

Turn with the toes not with the nose

Turn shape

Steering the skis (Note: although Josh says "...front of foot..." he turns his whole leg in the hip socket. Which can be seen in the bit about the bow tie.)

The feeling under your feet

Good luck!
 

Seldomski

All words are made up
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If someone has a good mental trick or drill for eliminating the "Hi Mom!!!" arm wave pole plants, please follow up. My wife does the same thing.

Makes it easy to spot her on the slope, but gets her into trouble sometimes.
 

geepers

Skiing the powder
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If someone has a good mental trick or drill for eliminating the "Hi Mom!!!" arm wave pole plants, please follow up. My wife does the same thing.

Makes it easy to spot her on the slope, but gets her into trouble sometimes.


Can do the slightly wider turns. It provides a focus - pole on the line. Rather than saying "don't wave your poles about!"Which is a bit like asking some-one not to think about pink elephants.
 

Steve

SkiMangoJazz
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I'm not sure what thread I said this in, but the best way to quiet an upper body is to focus on making all of your movements with your lower body. Really zone in on your legs. Hold your arms steady, but don't focus on "not" moving something, that puts your mental attention to muscles that shouldn't be doing anything so why think about them? Focus on doing something else.
 

Kneale Brownson

Making fresh tracks forever on the other side
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One of the key factors in the floppy pole syndrome in the OP's video is how the pole is being aimed ahead and down the hill to do the reaching. That is cocking the wrist and making the arm stiff while also taking attention away from the other hand, which then tends to drop. Making slow, round extension turns on gentle terrain with the pole touch occurring at the TOP of the extension instead of triggering the extension and with the pole being vertical instead of pointed ahead can help reduce the floppy pole syndrome.
 

Fuller

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Skiing without poles is one of those things that sounds silly and ineffective but it's not. Have you ever gone to a bar and not had a glass of something in your hand? Well the first time you ditch the poles you will feel the same way, a bit awkward and exposed. But pick a day and a place where the lift line issues are minimized and spend the whole morning doing pivot slips, hockey stops, garlands, flat 360's, all the one footed drills and anything else you like. By noon you will be wondering why you even bother with poles and your skiing will be that much sharper, guaranteed. Hopefully you weren't waving your arms about the whole time like before, just keep them mostly pointed down the fall line with palms down.

Later that afternoon you will be rockin' and rollin.

Also note that it is absolutely necessary to do the drills correctly, so make sure you are aware of when you have it right or not (your instructor will tell you). Then reintroduce a proper pole plant and add it to your new skills.

Delete old program - reinstall.
 

oldschoolskier

Making fresh tracks
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Ontario Canada
You are forcing the turns with your butt. This one of those common things that happens as you progress, you get one good turn and are now trying to repeat it with force, but just don’t grasp what caused it.

Get a little over your skis (bring hands forward). Try reaching for your tips, don’t worry about the pole plant (your timing is off) as at this stage you are planting because you think it’s what required, it’s not it about balance and edge control.

@Kneale Brownson says it very short and sweet on the money.

Ski on if you’ve got snow.
 

LiquidFeet

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@musicmatters, you are making snappy, rhythmic turns, looking ahead, controlling your line. On this snow, on this terrain, your turns are working. Skiing is a sensation sport. We ski for the sensations, and it looks like you are enjoying the activity of making these turns. But, on more challenging terrain and on hard snow you may find your current movement pattern doesn't work as well.

What do you avoid skiing now in terms of snow conditions, pitch, groomed/non-groomed, trees, bumps? With a change in your fundamental approach to making turns, you could venture into new territory on the mountain and broaden the types of snow you enjoy skiing. Replacing your current movement patterns involves learning some new fundamentals and putting them in control, and suppressing what you do now. This change will be most successful if you find an instructor with whom you work well and take a series of lessons over a season.

At this point your turns depend on a lot of upper body activity. Your arms get a good workout as you swing them high and low to establish your rhythm. Your torso leans left for left turns and right for right turns, which helps edge your skis. Your shoulders rotate left to get everything below them started turning left, including the skis. Same for right turns -- the shoulders lead the turn. Your legs are doing some work, too, to help those turns work, but not nearly as much as they could. The legs follow along with what happens up above, while your feet and ankles simply go along for the ride.

Ideally, your upper body, arms included, should step away from the controls and let the legs and feet take over. With feet and legs motoring your turns beneath a "quiet" upper body, you could create the same rhythm you now have, the same short radius turns, and ski the same line, with less mass moving around above the skis and do it not only on this terrain but eventually on steeps, ice, bumps, and trees. The stable upper body would no longer threaten to throw you around and make you miss your turns -- on terrain where a missed turn matters. The skiing sensations will be just as rich and enjoyable, but produced by more subtle means. Take lessons, as this change requires someone watching you to tell you when you're successfully replacing the old habits. You won't be able to tell by yourself, as the current movements happen by habit, without conscious control.

By the way, @musicmatters, what instrument do you play?

================================================================
Here are some stills from your video that show...
...the arm swings, which are more dramatic on the left side:
1. left arm swing .png 2. left arm swing .png
...the shoulder rotation:
3. shoulder rotation after left pole plant.png 4.  shoulder rotation to the right after right pole plant.png 5.  shoulder rotation to the left leading the turn.png
...and the whole body lean:
6.  Whole body lean to the left to edge the skis.png 7.  whole body lean to the right.png
 
Last edited:

JESinstr

Lvl 3 1973
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May 4, 2017
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Has anybody bothered to notice that the OP skis in the back seat, balancing through his heels? Not to bring up old PSIA stuff but remember the Circle of Skills we called BERP? The "B" stands for BALANCE but it must be proper balance and fore/aft implementation is Numeral UNO on an instructor's todo list.

Notice I wrote "PROPER" balance and that's an important point. Many, if not most, self taught skiers can survive and make it through their entire "ski life" balancing through their heels. And they will look back with pride at all the great times and experiences the sport provided.

Although @geepers didn't mention it, he did provide a good vid in Josh Foster's "The Feeling under your Foot" above.

This season on this forum, we talked a ton about skiing from the bottom up and yet most of the analysis here focused on the OP's flailing hands and upper body rotary. IMO the hand/wrist "flag waving" movements were inconsequential. The OP's ingrained, fore/aft heel based balance creates movement patterns aimed at pushing the heels out as his means of obtaining short radius re-directions (Rotary). @slowrider did pick up on this. His upper body counter rotations are in support of this heel based thrusting.

As I have stated before, changing this heal based movement pattern begins with moving our fore/aft balance focus just forward of the heel to the arch and creating a new movement pattern that redirects the ski around the center of the foot vs pushing out the heels. Easy to say....
 

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