 Poster: A snowHead
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DM ski & board P.16 letters - 'my thighs get really tired in heavy off piste - is there a particular exercise or technique to combat this?'
Answer : (from Warren Smith) ....sounds like you're flexing too much at the knees instead of your ankles. This pushes your weight back over your heels and your thighs have to help you stand.....'
P.28/29 'Are you ready?' ... contains exercises to work your thigh muscles
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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erica2004, I think he has a point...try, whilst standing, bending your knees (not ankles), and see how long it takes to hurt ! 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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erica2004, it's an old one but a good one. Static squats against a wall calves parallel and thighs perpendicular to the wall.
Also dynamic but slow squats using a @swiss@ ball between your back and the wall.
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I didn't make it clear - WS indicates that you shouldn't need to do such exercises because your thighs only burn if you're skiing wrong. C'est vrai ?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I would agree that sitting back is more likely to lead to thigh burn, but I don't think it is the only cause. If you are adopting the "toilet position" you are using your muscles to say upright more than you do when you stand directly above your skis (when your skeleton is better able to support your weight). Having said that, even with a perfect stance you are still using your thigh muscles a lot because skiing is a dynamic activity, and therefore any muscles which get heavy use when they are not prepared for it will ache.
Moral of the tale? Better stance AND a bit of pre-skiing conditioning will help to reduce thigh burn.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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A nice sit down in a cafe helps as well 
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erica2004, all of the above! I only suffer with thigh-burn infrequently and if I start to feel anything, concentrating on not sitting back so doing ankle flexion with as little knee flexion as I can get away with does help. The feeling I like to aim for is that I'm relaxing into the front of my boots, so that my weight is being carried by the shin of my boot, as in if it wasn't there, I'd collapse like a rag doll. It can result in a weight too far forward stance but seeing as I had?have a tendency to sit back it balances out for me.
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To be fair, I think you'd find if you wrote in about a problem with your washing machine Warren would tell you you're not flexing your ankles enough 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Consider also, the stiffness of your ski boots. If you can't flex the boot but intend to do so, you can't flex at the ankle, thus you sit down(toilet position?). Consider if you ski often, buying a second pair of boots for off-piste with a slightly easier flex. It will help you middle the ski and because it's less stiff, your tips will not dive under the snow. 
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| ise wrote: |
| To be fair, I think you'd find if you wrote in about a problem with your washing machine Warren would tell you you're not flexing your ankles enough |
I'll second that ise.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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You know it makes sense.
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Kiss tips, rip lips! sic!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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ski, surely thigh burn can also depend on how much you are attackingthe slope you're on. Skiing normally, I don't get much thigh burn unless I am being lazy. However, I do find that if I'm skiing fast and I'm hunkering down into my turns then I can certainly feel it at the bottom (although, tahnkfully, not IN my bottom).
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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2 miles of deep powder burns the thighs, however good at skiing you are.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| flicksta wrote: |
| 2 miles of deep powder burns the thighs, however good at skiing you are. |
2miles of powder makes my cheeks hurt, grin grin.!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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zammo, flicksta, I'd say (I think) that if you are getting thigh burn, at all, then it's not a good thing. If I'm lucky enough to ski
I'd expect everything to hurt, not just my thighs
....especially my
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2miles of powder makes my cheeks hurt, grin grin
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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zammo, yep. So I'll contradict myself by saying that if I'm toddling along at a comfortable rate with good technique then I don't get thigh burn. But obviously keeping all else equal, but upping the rate and asking me to exert more pressure then of course I'm going to get puffed quicker and feel the burn, but it'll be a "nice" burn (not a "my legs feel sore" burn).
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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zammo,
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I'm hunkering down into my turns
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Do you think Hermann Maier's thighs burn at the end of a downhill? He has ultimate technique, incredible strength, the fitness of an international athlete?
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Oh yeah, he burns.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Exactly. It's not all about technique, because his is superb, as is his strength and fitness.
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ski, hmm.
Hunker (v) to really make the ski work and carve through the turn by exerting effort rather than letting the ski glide. The word implies an attempt by the hunkerer (n) to achieve greater speed and a lower centre of gravity.
Does that make any sense?
Basically, I find that the more agressive I am in my skiing, the less upright I am. I would stress that I am am a recreational skier of an acceptable but far from excellent standard and this should be taken int account when considering my 'interpretation' of technique.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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flicksta, ? Mr Mair will be using a tuck position during a downhill. Of course his thighs will burn...........
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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How Iveca Kostelic? No tuck in slalom.
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zammo, You may find that all that hunkering down isn't doing very much ! It will help you to balance (lower c of g), but other than that all it tends to do is to push you toward the back of the ski - cetainly one of the things I like to think about, skiing off-piste, is to stand up... mostly to a) keep (sort of) in the middle of the ski, and b) to absorb any bumps and undulations coming my way.
flicksta, No, no I don't think so. He'll be exhausted, his thighs will burn, along with everything else ! But he won't be feeling thigh burn in the context of this thread.
If you take your example of Hermann Mair.. a tuck will put tremendous strain on your thighs, because they're holding you up. It's quite fun to see how long you can last - and see how long a 2 minute downhill really is. If you stand centrally on your skis, or at least ensure your return to a central position at the end of each turn, you thighs won't burn.....
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You know it makes sense.
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ski,
I skied a 200m stretch of steep couloir aobut 6 weeks ago. I think it was the best technical skiing I have ever done and my whole legs were hurting.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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flicksta, Where - South America ?
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Poster: A snowHead
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Las Lenas
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FAQ
From some of your past comments,I had started to believe that Warren could walk on water 
