But I would never use the TA muscle for anything other than a recovery move if I get inadvertently in the backseat. It's just too much work for a very small muscle. I simply manage the relationship of my CoM to my BoS and allow my WEIGHT to dorsiflex my ankle. It's extremely effective and quite effortless. And my whole foot gets to stay comfortably on, and in constant contact with the boot sole. Since I ski mainly balanced over my forefoot all of the time, this seemed obvious to me. But what I've come to realize, is that others who are employing the rocking horse technique and allowing their weight to move aft during portions of a turn might HAVE to use the TA to get the dorsiflexion they need. This didn't occur to me at first! Oops. With the technique I am using, engaging the TA is a double whammy of muscular effort and inefficiency (using that small muscle for dorsiflexion and tipping).
Even if you're out of balance, using the ta muscle will not work.Hi Steve.
Yup. My knee moves out.
BUT - it is such an effortful way, IMO, to move the knee out! It feels effortless to achieve the same outcome by simply tipping my femur at the hip joint and moving the knee out there. I know I'm a Debbie downer on this stuff.
I had a very interesting discussion with Ursula yesterday regarding the ball-arch-heel method of skiing. I may post about it in LiquidFeet's rocking horse thread since it would be more appropriate there.
Hi Skisailor
Not Debbie downer, no worries. Tipping your femur in the hip joint uses muscles too it seems to me. This TA activation is a new thing for me, but my belief is that the more I train my muscles to do things the more they will do them on their own without conscious effort.
I've spent a lot of time in past years learning difficult music on the piano and synthesizer. At first it takes real effort to play e.g. a fast melodic phrase. Eventually I play it without thinking about it or using any effort, it just flows out of my fingers. There are things I learned decades ago that I can still play with ease. Once committed to memory, I can add feeling and expression, accent individual notes (pressure management) and add other subtleties. I think of skiing the same way, as a creative expression - only possible after I've learned the notes.
Without playing the line over and over I could never do this. At first slowly, eventually at tempo.
I just don't agree with you that using this muscle involves any unneeded effort. Eventually. Or so I hope!
As Charle Parker said;
"First master your instrument, then master the music - then forget all that shit and just play."
(Guitar and viola)
I'm a musician too!
We can agree to disagree. I have no doubt that you could train your TA muscle to do this and it might get easier and less of a conscious effort. But it just seems self evident to me that using a very small muscle to do the same work we ask a large muscle to do is going to involve more effort.
Yeah, Monk notoriously quit practicing because he thought it was getting in the way of his playing. . .
When you are walking down the street your muscles are working and firing, shortening and lengthening etc. etc. But do you have the feeling like they are actually tensed up? Wouldn't it be hard to walk Very far that way? Or with your TA constantly tensed and pulling your forefoot up? A muscle doesn't have to be tense to be ready to work at a moment's notice. 
