How to become more flexible?

[severou]

I started skiing last season, took one lesson back then and then skied probably 20 days or so, about 15 this season. Recently I took a private lesson again. Instructor had me work on separation keeping upper body still etc. this part was clear and actually worked very well(skied few days after and benefit is massive) could finally ski a thigh deep powder run in a nice clean fashion holy crap it is addictive.

The other part however was working on engaging and disengaging edges on a relatively steep slope then making short turns ending up with skis aligned shoulder and head facing downhill etc. problem was I can barely twist myself into that while being stacked Also the bend of the knees and ankles to release and reengage edge is borderline for my legs, maybe because I am sort of duck feeted person so when I make skis parallel my knees are turned in.

So question is what exercises I can do to become more flexible and being able to play with edges better? Overall I am quite fit, I run a lot, climb mountains etc but flexibility always been my weakness.

 

[tinymoose]

I'm a gymnast and have the flexibility of a corpse, so I get the frustration. I was an inflexible child who really had to work at it then, and I'm an even less flexible adult now. Honestly, best I can suggest is yoga or, if you're disciplined enough, a stretching routine at home. I do neither consistently, which is why I'm still basically undead.

I am curious though, how much can you rotate your upper body in relation to your lower body not on skis? Like if you're just standing around in socks/shoes? Also, your knees turning in, to me, sounds more like an alignment issue than flexibility. My ankles, like most of me, are also undead... but my knees still track straight.

 

[severou]

I'm a gymnast and have the flexibility of a corpse, so I get the frustration. I was an inflexible child who really had to work at it then, and I'm an even less flexible adult now. Honestly, best I can suggest is yoga or, if you're disciplined enough, a stretching routine at home. I do neither consistently, which is why I'm still basically undead.

I am curious though, how much can you rotate your upper body in relation to your lower body not on skis? Like if you're just standing around in socks/shoes? Also, your knees turning in, to me, sounds more like an alignment issue than flexibility. My ankles, like most of me, are also undead... but my knees still track straight.

I can rotate 90 degrees when standing straight

For knees, issue is that my feet when I stand relaxed don't point straight forward, but a bit sideways. When I make feet parallel I have to turn knees in a bit. This makes bending them laterally harder. When slope is steeper and I want to make skis flat and have to bend ankles and knees it is really hard.

For stretching any ideas for a program I can follow? I can suck it up and do it for a few month to see if there is improvement. I kind of hate yoga, I would rather do something myself at home before I run in the morning.

 

[Pete in Idaho]

Yoga really helps. When I do all my stretches at home emphasis is given to the core.

 

[Pequenita]

The feet/knees thing isn’t about flexibility - you’re describing either a muscle imbalance/weakness in the glutes and/or an anatomical alignment issue. Btw, I’m impressed you’re skiing thigh-deep powder after only 35 days on the snow.

 

[severou]

The feet/knees thing isn’t about flexibility - you’re describing either a muscle imbalance/weakness in the glutes and/or an anatomical alignment issue. Btw, I’m impressed you’re skiing thigh-deep powder after only 35 days on the snow.

I see. I am not sure how can identify and fix it though. Is it something that can be fixed by a boot? Or?

I live in Japan, so I had a lot of opportunity to practice, I also bought Bent Chetler 100 188cm skis (I am 80kg 178cm) that helps a lot, they plane easily and front is super soft. Basically what instructor helped me fix was that I was turning my upper body too much which time to time resulted in spectacular crashes and turning backwards. Once she pointed it out and I spent half a day working on just keeping shoulder straight and always pointing fall line I could keep skis close together, bounce, pivot, bounce etc Bounce was not all the way down but just to get the tip completely out. I hit the run first thing in the morning and it being Japan this was right off the groomed part(which still had calf deep snow!) I was hollering like madman! I still cant do proper pole plant either, I kept poles up ahead of me like doing an exercise and just using feet to pivot.

Japan is really something as snow goes. I used to snowboard back when I lived in Canada(east coast) but it was just ice on top of ice and $$ and busy as hell. Here it is cheaper and 100 times better, not to mention no lift lines except at super popular resorts on big holiday or long weekend.

 

[François Pugh]

"Bend zee knees. Five dollars please."
Stretching will increase flexibillity, but from your description it doesn't sound like flexibility is your problem as much as the actual movement and your perception of same. The knee is a hinge joint; it doesn't bend sideways. You ankle is in ski boots, so it won't bend much. In order to decrease your edge angle and release the edge, you need to get your knees down hill. To do this effectively you need to have your knees bent and rotate your femurs from at hip.

Also, have your alignment checked (canting especially, and forward lean, not just cuff angle).

 

[severou]

"Bend zee knees. Five dollars please."
Stretching will increase flexibillity, but from your description it doesn't sound like flexibility is your problem as much as the actual movement and your perception of same. The knee is a hinge joint; it doesn't bend sideways. You ankle is in ski boots, so it won't bend much. In order to decrease your edge angle and release the edge, you need to get your knees down hill. To do this effectively you need to have your knees bent and rotate your femurs from at hip.

Also, have your alignment checked (canting especially, and forward lean, not just cuff angle).

So go to a boot fitter I assume? I am new to this I just bought pair of boots that I felt fit from a guy at a local store. Of course I had no clue what I was doing. They fit in a sense that I don’t lose feeling in my feet and my heel does not lift. This is as much as I know (they are Nordica Speed Machine 100 for reference).

BTW what you said about rotating femurs makes total sense. Hmm and yeah knees don’t really bend sideway. I need to play around and try to get what is going on.

Is there a good place to understand what you describe: canting, forward lean vs cuff angle? Like how to measure and what it means. I like to do some reading before I go to the shop

Thanks a lot.

 

[Stephen]

I agree that there could be many factors causing the frustration, however if you are looking for more flexibility, try P90X yoga at home. It is brutal but it’s something you can do at home while following the video. Don’t expect to run after you do it unless you are in incredible shape. It’s the best program I’ve ever used for gaining flexibility.

 

[Andy Mink]

Is there a good place to understand what you describe: canting, forward lean vs cuff angle? Like how to measure and what it means. I like to do some reading before I go to the shop

Canting is the side to side tilt of the boot and therefore the leg. With the Speed Machine you might be able to get a bit with heat on the shell but more likely the first will grind off the bottom of the boot or add shims to the sole.

Forward lean is the angle that the boot leans, well, forward. It is the angle your ankle is bent from 90°.

Cuff alignment is a small adjustment that can be done on most boots by adjusting one or two hinge points. The goal is to have as equal as possible gap on each side of your leg at the top of the cuff. Cuff alignment and cant are not the same though some call the cuff alignment cant. Not correct.

There are s lot of videos on Youtube that are helpful.

 

[martyg]

Look up Anne Healzer. She is a PSIA L3 teaching out of Stevens. She's also a physical therapist with an office in Seattle.

Without an assessment by someone who really understands the physics of skiing, and really understands the body (and Anne's orbit includes both), and root causes, you will be limiting your progression. You can get good advise now from a professional, implement it, and be skiing much more efficiently next year. Or you can rely on free advice from the internet, trial and error - and maybe crack this nut in three to five years. What is your time worth?

Anne can advise from a distance via Skype. If you are in the Seattle area, and not going to Anne for an FMS analysis every few years, you are doing yourself a dis-service.

Enjoy.

 

[Chris V.]

I live in Japan, so I had a lot of opportunity to practice, I also bought Bent Chetler 100 188cm skis (I am 80kg 178cm) that helps a lot, they plane easily and front is super soft. ...bounce, pivot, bounce etc. ...just using feet to pivot. ...I was hollering like madman! Japan is really something as snow goes.

Sounds like huge fun! But here's a suggestion. To build versatility into your technique, spend some time on a ski with a lot more of a traditional camber, and get instruction on using the design of the skis to create your turns, just by putting them on edge. In any but the most forgiving snow conditions, you don't want to have to rely on that foot pivot. Enjoy!

 

[markojp]

Canting is the side to side tilt of the boot and therefore the leg. With the Speed Machine you might be able to get a bit with heat on the shell but more likely the first will grind off the bottom of the boot or add shims to the sole.

Forward lean is the angle that the boot leans, well, forward. It is the angle your ankle is bent from 90°.

Cuff alignment is a small adjustment that can be done on most boots by adjusting one or two hinge points. The goal is to have as equal as possible gap on each side of your leg at the top of the cuff. Cuff alignment and cant are not the same though some call the cuff alignment cant. Not correct.

There are s lot of videos on Youtube that are helpful.

Nordica speed machine is cantology shim compatible. Nordica also makes their own shim kits as well. No need to grind the sole, only route the lugs.

1. Footbed.
2. Cuff alignment.
3. Then finally, addressing bottom of the boot (lateral, and sometimes fore and aft) a la canting.

Fore and aft can be addressed to different degrees in all three above.

 

[Yo Momma]

2nd for Yoga......... just some light Hatha helps and you can mix in some pilates and sun salutations (Google them) as an easy, quick pre-ski warm up. I rarely ski w/o yoga first, esp on a powder day.

 

[severou]

Sounds like huge fun! But here's a suggestion. To build versatility into your technique, spend some time on a ski with a lot more of a traditional camber, and get instruction on using the design of the skis to create your turns, just by putting them on edge. In any but the most forgiving snow conditions, you don't want to have to rely on that foot pivot. Enjoy!

I hear you. This technique is what works very well in soft deep snow. BC 100 actually has a lot of camber just that front is very soft so they easily bend and get on top of snow. I am working on groomers as well, actual lesson I took was to work on short turns.

Nordica speed machine is cantology shim compatible. Nordica also makes their own shim kits as well. No need to grind the sole, only route the lugs.

1. Footbed.
2. Cuff alignment.
3. Then finally, addressing bottom of the boot (lateral, and sometimes fore and aft) a la canting.

Fore and aft can be addressed to different degrees in all three above.

Thank you, there is a shop in Tokyo that I think can help me with this.

Look up Anne Healzer. She is a PSIA L3 teaching out of Stevens. She's also a physical therapist with an office in Seattle.

Without an assessment by someone who really understands the physics of skiing, and really understands the body (and Anne's orbit includes both), and root causes, you will be limiting your progression. You can get good advise now from a professional, implement it, and be skiing much more efficiently next year. Or you can rely on free advice from the internet, trial and error - and maybe crack this nut in three to five years. What is your time worth?

Anne can advise from a distance via Skype. If you are in the Seattle area, and not going to Anne for an FMS analysis every few years, you are doing yourself a dis-service.

Enjoy.

Will do, it would have to be over skype as I live in Japan atm

So my current plan is to play around tomorrow on the slope trying to rotate the femurs more, maybe I am just doing it completely wrong. Then next step I will go to a boot fitter and have everything checked. I will also look into maybe trying some Yoga, for p90x I need to buy dvds? That is an issue as I don't have dvd player, any other programs I can buy online that I can just download?

Lastly I will see if I can talk to Anne Healzer, but because of time zone and having to do it over skype this might take a while.

Thank you everyone, this was incredibly useful.

 

[Rod9301]

I hear you. This technique is what works very well in soft deep snow. BC 100 actually has a lot of camber just that front is very soft so they easily bend and get on top of snow. I am working on groomers as well, actual lesson I took was to work on short turns.



Thank you, there is a shop in Tokyo that I think can help me with this.



Will do, it would have to be over skype as I live in Japan atm

So my current plan is to play around tomorrow on the slope trying to rotate the femurs more, maybe I am just doing it completely wrong. Then next step I will go to a boot fitter and have everything checked. I will also look into maybe trying some Yoga, for p90x I need to buy dvds? That is an issue as I don't have dvd player, any other programs I can buy online that I can just download?

Lastly I will see if I can talk to Anne Healzer, but because of time zone and having to do it over skype this might take a while.

Thank you everyone, this was incredibly useful.

Instead of thinking of rotating the femurs, better try to orient your hips towards the outside ski.

 

[markojp]

Severou, where are you based in Japan?

 

[James]

Do you walk with feet splayed out? Learning how to walk properly could help a lot. We have to ski with feet aligned forward, so learning to walk that way can help. But if this is a big issue a competent physical therapist, pilates instructor, etc should be consulted. It's beyond me.

 

[severou]

Instead of thinking of rotating the femurs, better try to orient your hips towards the outside ski.

I will think about both it makes sense, thank you

Severou, where are you based in Japan?

I live near Matsumoto in Nagano, usually go to ski in Hakuba(Goryu/47, Iwatake, etc) or Mt Norikura, sometimes go to Shiga Kogen or Nozawa.

Do you walk with feet splayed out? Learning how to walk properly could help a lot. We have to ski with feet aligned forward, so learning to walk that way can help. But if this is a big issue a competent physical therapist, pilates instructor, etc should be consulted. It's beyond me.

Yeah when I walk my feet are splayed somewhat(it is not really extreme). I don't think I can really change it completely. I talked to a physio before about it while recovering from an injury(dislocated ankle from bouldering) and she said nothing can really be done about it, when running or doing anything else it does not cause any problem for me. My knee hinge is not parallel with the thigh but at an angle.

 

[martyg]

I hear you. This technique is what works very well in soft deep snow. BC 100 actually has a lot of camber just that front is very soft so they easily bend and get on top of snow. I am working on groomers as well, actual lesson I took was to work on short turns.



Thank you, there is a shop in Tokyo that I think can help me with this.



Will do, it would have to be over skype as I live in Japan atm

So my current plan is to play around tomorrow on the slope trying to rotate the femurs more, maybe I am just doing it completely wrong. Then next step I will go to a boot fitter and have everything checked. I will also look into maybe trying some Yoga, for p90x I need to buy dvds? That is an issue as I don't have dvd player, any other programs I can buy online that I can just download?

Lastly I will see if I can talk to Anne Healzer, but because of time zone and having to do it over skype this might take a while.

Thank you everyone, this was incredibly useful.

This video series is what I send to a lot of students. Note that it may or may not help - it is not a diagnosis since I have never seen you ski or examined range of motion. Enjoy! https://medium.com/@supremeski/the-...ke-your-skiing-to-the-next-level-280e3c9a86e0