COM = Center of Mass, a point, but not a fixed point since our bodies bend and twist ... it's usually somewhere in the middle of the torso
BoS = Base of Support, fancy way of saying the feet, or the foot, or somewhere between the two, depending....
I have some questions about tracking these two points. Any responses are fine. I'd like to get a discussion going in any of these directions.
1. Tracking two points
Do you continuously sense where both of these points are as you are skiing? Do you ever pay conscious attention to their relationship? I don't mean do you feel what's happening pressure-wise at the sole of your foot or under your skis; that's different. Tracking that pressure down at the snow involves paying attention to only the pressure point under the foot or ski. What I'm asking about is sensing/feeling two things at once, CoM and BoS, with some conscious awareness of their spatial relationship to each other. Do you feel these two things at once, tracking where your CoM is and where your BoS is and how the space between them might be changing? I'm talking about not only the fore-aft plane along the length of the ski (as in, am I aft or forward or centered), but also the up-down separation (to what extent am I stretching tall then scrunching small), and the lateral separation of these two points as well (how far out from my body are my feet going? ... are they uphill or downhill of me when they are out there? ... and when I bring them back in where are they under me, in front, behind, or centered beneath?) Do you consciously track two points this way as you ski?
2. Tracking two lines
Here's a more focused way of asking about your tracking of the lateral separation of the CoM and BoS ... do you track the line your CoM takes and the other line your BoS takes? Do you "see" those lines in your mind as you ski? Do some turns lend themselves to this visualizing more than others? That's two lines, with you paying attention to both of them simultaneously? Those two lines cross each other between turns, and they move apart in the middle of each turn. (Attending to the two lines focuses on the lateral separation of the two points, and the fore-aft relationship, but not the vertical relationship.)
3. Conscious or unconscious tracking
I'm asking about consciously maintaining awareness of these two points. Do you attend to them but your attention is unconscious - because you've been skiing 40 years or so and this tracking action got embedded long ago when you were younger? Here I'm asking if unconscious tracking works, or if it's necessary to keep this monitoring somewhat conscious.
4. Learning to do this tracking
If in any way you simultaneously track these two points and where they go, when did this kick in? Do you remember how you got started doing this? Was it under instruction, or a breakthrough that came to you on your own? And a related question for you instructors out there, do you teach clients to do this, and if so, how, and at what point in their development? As instructors, we often have to deal with the client's need to consciously focus on one new thing at a time, but this is focusing on two things at a time.
5. Why do it
Comments about the worthiness (or lack thereof) of doing this tracking?
BoS = Base of Support, fancy way of saying the feet, or the foot, or somewhere between the two, depending....
I have some questions about tracking these two points. Any responses are fine. I'd like to get a discussion going in any of these directions.
1. Tracking two points
Do you continuously sense where both of these points are as you are skiing? Do you ever pay conscious attention to their relationship? I don't mean do you feel what's happening pressure-wise at the sole of your foot or under your skis; that's different. Tracking that pressure down at the snow involves paying attention to only the pressure point under the foot or ski. What I'm asking about is sensing/feeling two things at once, CoM and BoS, with some conscious awareness of their spatial relationship to each other. Do you feel these two things at once, tracking where your CoM is and where your BoS is and how the space between them might be changing? I'm talking about not only the fore-aft plane along the length of the ski (as in, am I aft or forward or centered), but also the up-down separation (to what extent am I stretching tall then scrunching small), and the lateral separation of these two points as well (how far out from my body are my feet going? ... are they uphill or downhill of me when they are out there? ... and when I bring them back in where are they under me, in front, behind, or centered beneath?) Do you consciously track two points this way as you ski?
2. Tracking two lines
Here's a more focused way of asking about your tracking of the lateral separation of the CoM and BoS ... do you track the line your CoM takes and the other line your BoS takes? Do you "see" those lines in your mind as you ski? Do some turns lend themselves to this visualizing more than others? That's two lines, with you paying attention to both of them simultaneously? Those two lines cross each other between turns, and they move apart in the middle of each turn. (Attending to the two lines focuses on the lateral separation of the two points, and the fore-aft relationship, but not the vertical relationship.)
3. Conscious or unconscious tracking
I'm asking about consciously maintaining awareness of these two points. Do you attend to them but your attention is unconscious - because you've been skiing 40 years or so and this tracking action got embedded long ago when you were younger? Here I'm asking if unconscious tracking works, or if it's necessary to keep this monitoring somewhat conscious.
4. Learning to do this tracking
If in any way you simultaneously track these two points and where they go, when did this kick in? Do you remember how you got started doing this? Was it under instruction, or a breakthrough that came to you on your own? And a related question for you instructors out there, do you teach clients to do this, and if so, how, and at what point in their development? As instructors, we often have to deal with the client's need to consciously focus on one new thing at a time, but this is focusing on two things at a time.
5. Why do it
Comments about the worthiness (or lack thereof) of doing this tracking?
Last edited: