Mental Thoughts/Images to Keep Weight Forward

[ATLSkier]

I struggle sometimes on more steep slopes to keep my weight forward. What are the thoughts or mental images you use to help you keep your weight forward?

 

[scott43]

The "Oh Shit!" handles are in front of me..reach for them..

 

[raytseng]

I think it all comes into the hands and poles and if you are using them or if they're just along to help you get through the lift line.
If you are able to perform proper pole technique that should get you on track. Often this is just hands up and out and reach out with poles plant to time and start your turns, and you won't go backseat.
This is assuming you don't have a fundamental flaw or technique issue or basic ski level you need to improve on first.
Of course the Ski school subforum should have a gazillion different tips for you if you want to delve there.

 

[Ken_R]

I struggle sometimes on more steep slopes to keep my weight forward. What are the thoughts or mental images you use to help you keep your weight forward?

Try to ski and look down the fall line while keeping your torso square to it and your hands in front. If you dont, as soon as you rotate your torso across it and your skis you will start to traverse and probably get into the backseat and accelerate to the side and most likely eat it.

 

[Tricia]

I try not to think of it as keeping my weight forward. I try to think of it as pulling my feet back under me.
That seems to help me keep stacked a little better.

 

[Seldomski]

Flex toes up and push knees toward ski tips (ie press against the tongue of boot). Pole plant with conviction helps to.

 

[trailtrimmer]

If you can't feel pressure on the balls of your feet and on your shin, you aren't forward enough.

If you can't see your pole plants or your poles at all, you are not forward enough.

 

[Michael Kane]

Push the bush

 

[YolkyPalky]

Do "The Fonz"!

Open this vintage 1982 issue of Skiing Magazine (look and laugh at the ads of the day) and scroll to page 22. No joke, I still remember reading this in 1982 and today still think about doing "The Fonz" (hands forward in front like you're doing the double thumbs-up a la "The Fonz") when I notice my hands dropping behind and out of position, which can lead to shoulders turned back and not square to the fall line. The article focused on pole plants, but I use it as a reminder to keep hands out front which helps me to keep my weight forward as well.

https://books.google.com/books?id=UCj6HaXdWcMC&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=ski+magazine+fonz&source=bl&ots=F3HXNVynGQ&sig=0zH8Vv0rLEJs7LS6VSaa8YsaIco&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi47L_h06jZAhVCw1QKHT1oCNsQ6AEIaDAG#v=onepage&q=ski magazine fonz&f=false

Oh and what Trailtrimmer said, feel your shins in the front of your boots, not your calves in the back of your boots.

 

[cantunamunch]

Oh and what Trailtrimmer said, feel your shins in the front of your boots, not your calves in the back of your boots.

Only useful to the tiny-calved.


For the rest of us it's more like "What? You mean it's supposed to be either/or, NOT Both All The Time, By Default?"

 

[Crank]

I like to think of a tree standing up straight and then I think don't be like that tree. Embrace the gravity of the situation.

 

[Josh Matta]

Push the bush

whats further forward hips or shoulders?

 

[Ogg]

Best tip I got from my younger brother who happens to be a former competitive mogul skier, who won national duals, is make sure you can see both of your hands when looking downhill. This is where proper pole plants come in, IME. If you're reaching to plant for the next turn, your weight is going to be forward.

 

[martyg]

Your question prompts me to ask a question - what diagnostic have to undergone to assess that this is an issue?

Keeping your hands in your peripheral vision is a good sensation to capture.

Flexing your toes is another good one for standing on the flat of your feet - which is where you want to be. You want to stand on your tibia which intersects with your foot forward of your heel, just aft of your arch. If you stand too far forward your tails wash out at the end of a turn. I can also tell when a person's weight is too far forward - their ski tips in initiation and shaping phases tend to grab a bit and act nervously. As Tricia said, pulling your feet under you does the same thing.

My favorite is push the bush. However I use this more for getting students to keep their momentum - their energy - flowing from one turn to the next - no effort from the upper body but rather skiing from the feet and driving the outside hip, and driving the outside ski. Too often I see the telltale signs of core and upper body tension starting the turn, and speed at the end of the turn being controlled with a bit of checking. It is how a lot of patrolled ski. It works for them, but it is not the most efficient way to move down a mountain.

In many cases we are getting away from a pole plant except in bumps and when we want a bit of a blocking pole plant on steeps. A pole plant tends to be a trigger for other behaviors in skiers who have been at it a while, and for medium or long radius turns a pole plant does you no favors.

In all cases.... trying to get meaningful feedback off of a forum group has its limits. Working with an instructor who is skilled at MA and skis with a video camera will allow you to build body awareness and capture sensations that we can't even begin to address remotely. Just as all of the above have their place, I have about 6 - 10 ways to say the same thing. Some phases resonate with some, but not others.

Enjoy the journey.

 

[CalG]

I've got wandering hands.
I need to keep an eye on them,

 

[Philpug]

Keep my elbows forward...because if my elbows are forward, my hands are forward.

 

[Snuckerpooks]

Keep your hands where you can see them, and feel the tongue of your boots.

Those are my top two to get the feeling locked in.

 

[HardDaysNight]

Flexing your toes is another good one for standing on the flat of your feet - which is where you want to be. You want to stand on your tibia which intersects with your foot forward of your heel, just aft of your arch. If you stand too far forward your tails wash out at the end of a turn. I can also tell when a person's weight is too far forward - their ski tips in initiation and shaping phases tend to grab a bit and act nervously. As Tricia said, pulling your feet under you does the same thing.

This is money!

 

[slowrider]

Stay balanced over both arches by always moving downhill, leading with all my body parts. As far as being too far forward. Haven't seen that too often. 90% of riders are in the backseat.

 

[Dwight]

I struggle sometimes on more steep slopes to keep my weight forward. What are the thoughts or mental images you use to help you keep your weight forward?

Mental image of my son demonstrating hips forward. He makes look so easy.