Hip Flexion and Extension

[Steve]

Ankle flexion is always stressed, and for good reason, but I hear very little about hip flexion & extension.

When a skier is told they get their flexion too much from their knees, the solution always is to flex the ankles more.

I believe that also important is flexing at the hips to move the COM forward. It's a hard thing to feel and to describe however.

I'd rather it originate in the legs, then folding forward with the upper body, and thus the movement is the thighs coming up and down,

What are some of your suggestions for helping a skier to get more in touch with the feeling of flexion and extension in this joint?

 

[Josh Matta]

using the extreme range of motion of all the joints including the hips and spine. Realize that some people for and aft alignments, and/or ROM of their body/strength may limit their ROM. The truth is extreme ROM is only really needed to become a truly elite skier. Even on really steep bumpy slope and in most dynamic skiing you dont need to be able to take your knees to your chest to be able ski well.

but if you need to explore the limits of the range of motion simple going though some turns while the skier gets as low as they can, and as tall as they can, as coach I wouldnt specify specific joints until I saw how they did that, the vast majority of people will do this with out getting to far forward or to far back. The vast majority who are off balance while doing this are not in the correct for and aft alignment.

 

[karlo]

I think a deep hip flex is sitting back. I do feel hip extension sometimes, when extending my legs more fully over the backside of a mogul. Hips are certainly flexing and extending otherwise, but I’m not feeling it in the hip flexors. Which brings to mind, perhaps we feel it where our muscles and tendons are tightest. I don’t think my hip flexors are tight

 

[Josh Matta]

deep hip flex generally is aft, which is why it should only be done during transition and or for terrain absorption, with a strong pull back movement into the apex of the turn. with that said thouigh with proper alignment, and shoulders rolled forward you can get flexed pretty deeply and still be able to maintain balance, also realize that if you getting that deeply flexed the picture of me below, the center of mass has to be moving into the turn, or you will be aft, when it actually matters at the apex.

 

[LuliTheYounger]

Usual grain of salt since I'm not a ski instructor, but I drill hip closure a whole hell of a lot for another sport, & maybe that's useful? I think the biggest issue we see with our beginners is a tendency to try to control hip closure out of the hamstrings, which locks out the knee & puts them in this whacky position that looks "forward," but limits the shock absorption options to just wildly rotating the upper body around the hip socket. If you can get them to close their knee angle a little and drop the hip behind the foot a bit, you get a way more dynamic squat position where the knee and the hip can both open and close to absorb shock. I think sometimes it's limited by people's core/glute/quad strength, but I also think often it's just a matter of doing enough low-weight squat variation reps to get comfortable with dropping in & out of that position.

 

[jack97]

What are some of your suggestions for helping a skier to get more in touch with the feeling of flexion and extension in this joint?

Seek out 3D terrain that emphasizes flexion and extension at this joint, it could be a set of gullies a groomer hasn't quite smooth out or a set of rollers (wave track) that a groomer purposely put in.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

Deep flex at the hip doesn’t have to mean the hips go back. If there is a lot of counter the hips go to one side of the skis and the upper body the other side. It’s not really fore and aft then. When I am skiing bumps I am most flexed when I am also most countered.

 

[Steve]

I'm not speaking of deep flex. Look at my photo. The hips are one of those articulation points. When told to flex the ankles more, I wonder if adding a small amount of flex at the hips is an important thing for some people who naturally keep their hips too open.

 

[geepers]

Learning retraction:

• Hop back and forth across a pole as fast as you can
• Do it on a trampoline

http://www.ronlemaster.com/presentations/AlpineRacingTechnique-2003.pdf - page 17.


On snow, avalement turns on a gentle groomer.