 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Keep your hands out in front. The rest of your body will follow.
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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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| 2000overdrive wrote: |
Any advice to get me off the toilet would be very much appreciated!  |
You know you shouldn't do it. You know you are doing it. So stop doing it!
Hands forward might help. Feeling the front of your boots so you know where you are in relation to your centered position might also be helpful. Being aware of the feedback that you get from your skis is also helpful - you will know when you are centered, especially in variable snow conditions, because you will feel much more in control rather than struggling to stay balanced. Try to 'tune in' to this feedback.
Skipping lessons to spend time with your mates can mean you make much less progress with your technique than you'd like to. Would it be a disaster to book a couple of hours of private instruction one afternoon a week?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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2000overdrive, Oooo! I do that too. I'm not proud of my a**e so why do I stick it out??? Can't help, just empathise 
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Stand like a coathanger at all times.
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| Quote: |
Deep heat rubbed on ur back bottom cheeks that will make you lean forward and dont worry what you lokk like you will be the fastest on the slopes
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I slipped on some ice a couple of years ago and pulled a muscle in my thigh... I put some deep heat on it, got some on my love spuds by accident and spent the rest of the day skiing in the "John Wayne" stance!!! 
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Try skiing without poles for a couple of runs, keeping your hands right forward and let your back curve at the shoulders rather than keeping a straight back (it'll feel unnaturally far). "Pretend you're a tiger" is what I'm telling my kids this year... - basically, this is to keep your centre of gravity over your skis - you're sticking your bum out to try and counteract the force pulling you forward, which isn't a very good stance for actually controlling skis. You'll find that skiing with weight forwards is a lot less tiring too, as it allows your bones to support you not your muscles.
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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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"F**k your turns don't S**t them"
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Right, a shagging tiger with deep heat on his bum, got it!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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2000overdrive, here's an idea (but I agree with rob@rar that a couple of hours one afternoon for a private can't be too bad)...
Do a quick warm up before you start skiing - everyone will benefit enormously and ski better for the rest of the day, not just racers. You only have to do a couple of drills, and you can focus them on your perceived weakness - in your case, your posture/stance/fore-aft balance. A couple of drills that I quite like for these are:
Hoppsving - do lots of small two-footed hops/jumps as you're skiing along for a few wide GS turns. You'll soon get your balance right: if you're too far forward your tips won't leave the ground, and, if you're too far back, in the back seat, sat on the lavvie etc the backs of your skis won't leave the ground. You know you're roughly right when the skis come up in the jump pretty much parallel to the ground.
Etiquette training... no idea why I called it that, but it is all about posture and keeping your @rse in slightly. Take off your poles and put them together. Place them behind your back and hold them in place with the inside of your elbows. This should encourage your back upwards and forwards (along with your @rse).
Hope they help. (If you don't quite know what I'm describing for the second one let me know and I'll come up with a very bad picture...)
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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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| skisimon wrote: |
| Etiquette training... no idea why I called it that, but it is all about posture and keeping your @rse in slightly. Take off your poles and put them together. Place them behind your back and hold them in place with the inside of your elbows. This should encourage your back upwards and forwards (along with your @rse). |
Another drill along those lines is to ski with one pole held swordlike in your outside hand (draw an arc in the snow if you want). At cross-over pass the pole from one hand to another, passing it behind your back. It forces you to get your hips up and forwards so you have room behind you to get the pole across. But it is really important to focus on the feedback you get from your skis when doing this (and remember what it feels like) otherwise you will immediately slip into the backseat when skiing 'normally' again.
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| skisimon wrote: |
| Hoppsving - |
"Turn of the 1,000 steps" achieves a similar thing I think. When you're doing a long radius turn step inside with your inside foot, then follow it by stepping inside with your outside foot. Do this as many times as you can manage in one turn. It forces you to be centered.
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You know it makes sense.
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Thanks for the advice everyone... I'll try those exercises to try to bring my arms further foward and centre myself over the skis. If I find I'm not getting anywhere I'll go for a couple of lessons to sort it out - I don't want to spend my whole skiiing life squatting on the floor, especially after seeing myself and realising that I look like a complete plank!
Is everyone's idea of the way they ski so different from reality or is it just me? I think I look like Kjetil Andre Aamodt. I actually look like an old woman pulling a tartan shopping trolley.
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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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| 2000overdrive wrote: |
| Is everyone's idea of the way they ski so different from reality or is it just me? I think I look like Kjetil Andre Aamodt. I actually look like an old woman pulling a tartan shopping trolley. |
Video feedback can be brutal!
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Poster: A snowHead
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So that it doesn't hold you back so much you could try taking a few things out of the tartan trolley.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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Focus on flexing at the ankles instead of the knees.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Why not try having some qualified tuition.
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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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Is the video on youtube.. if so stick it up and passing judgement will be a lot easier than just guessing what your doing wrong. On my part anyhoo.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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2000overdrive, As bucking bronco, says Ankle Flex is important. It's worth checking to see if your boots are too stiff.
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arv, ooh yes, good idea. A few of us have posted up vids before. If you've ever popped over to Epic you'll see it's all anyone ever does...
So, 2000overdrive, put it up - don't be shy. 
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skisimon, yeh I tend to just read over at epic a little-different user name. Gotta keep a low profile
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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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I couldn't spot you on the video (or couldn't be sure it was you!), so this is not related to that specifically, but I really would recommend having a couple of lessons, either on your own, or persuade a couple of your mates to join you.
H and I had been meaning to take a couple of private lessons for years, but put it off for the same reasons as you, and then last year we took the plunge (and persuaded two friends to join us). It ended up being great fun, and rather than 'stealing away' from our time enjoying ourselves on the mountain, it enhanced it many times over. It ended up being nice and sociable as there were the four of us together with one private instructor, and we all learnt so much.
It doesn't have to be like ski school all day every day, we did two afternoons on our last trip, and this year will be upping it to three afternoons as we loved it so much and really felt the benefit.
If your mates don't want to join you, then do it anyway for an afternoon or two, you might find that the noticeable improvement might tempt them to join you next time around.
We will now be doing it every trip.
D
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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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2000overdrive, stand on the balls of your feet.
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You know it makes sense.
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2000overdrive, something I've found useful is whenever you get to gentle straight sections ski on one ski. Very good for general balance and getting properly centred. It shows up where your weight is very clearly, if the ski off the snow is tip up your weight is too far back, make sure you can feel the tongue of the boot on your shin and your hips are pulled forward and the ski will level out. Gets you used to being in a good stacked position.
Also as the slopes get steeper your body needs to maintain the same relationship to the ski not to vertical. This always feels uncomfortable at the beginning, it feels as though you're pitching your body down the slope.
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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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2000overdrive, a few ideas for you.
- First, stand tall while you ski. Sitting on the throne requires big time flexion in the knees. When the knees bend you move aft,,, when they extend you move fore.
- Focus on the pressure you feel on the base of your foot. Practice skiing with all the pressure on the balls of your feet, and none at all on your heels. Once you can do that consistently, back off to 50-50
- Pushing the hands forward CAN help, by encouraging the rest of the body to go along. But if the body doesn't go along, or you over do it, it can actually add to the problem. Your arms are part of your overall mass. To stay center balanced, your center of mass has to be centered over the middle of your foot. If you move some of your mass (your arms) ahead of center, something has to move back to keep you in balance, and it's usually the hips via bending the knees. Surprisingly, putting your hands behind your back forces the hips to move forward to compensate for the extra mass moved aft.
- Drill baby drill (my new favorite expression thanks to this years US election). You need to practice and develop your skills. Good balance skills are crucial in this sport, and they seldom self generate. You have to work on them. Lessons are great, but your drilling doesn't have to be reserved to lesson time, and shouldn't be. Lessons are for learning what skills to work on,,, freeski time is for working on those skills. Skiing with friends is not an excuse for ignoring your training. Even when sking with your freinds you can be practicing. They won't even know.
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Poster: A snowHead
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I have a friend who skis in a similar fashion, although more pronounced (imagine old fashioned French hole in the floor bog, rather than something you sit on). He was told to imagine he had a £50 note clenched between his buttocks - if you don't want to let go, you really can't stick your backside out.
That said, skiing all looked fine to me, although clearly THAT hat and those BLADES are clearly unacceptable behaviour 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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2000overdrive, assuming you're not already overloaded with advice, here's a bit more for you. FastMan's suggestions are, of course, right on the money, but there are a couple of variations I like. The thrust of this is all to get you dialling into that "centred" feeling everyone's talking about. I think one of the best ways of doing this is to remove the arms from the balance equation, as we are always tempted to use foreward/aft/side movements of your arms to counterbalance unwanted movements we make with our core. So park them somewhere they can't get involved, and then we can concentrate on the important stuff. I'm not personally convinced by holding hands behind your back - yes it does sort of work, but I think there is also a psychological tendency to hollow your back too much and push your ar$e out below them. I'm a much bigger fan of hands on hips - and probably spend about half my drill time skiing like this. First off, it parks your arms out of the way in a very definite manner. Secondly, it really focusses your attention on where your hips are, so you get immediate feedback if your hips are falling back. And finally it gives you a good feeling of side-to-side stability. Best off without poles altogether, but as that's likely to be impractical, hold each pole at it's midpoint and hold against your hips, parallel to the snow surface. (Unfortunately you can't then get your palms facing downwards , which helps with keeping your shoulders from dropping too far forwards, but that's life). Do this while skiing along an easy blue or conecting track - essentially anywhere you can ski without having to concentrate on the slope too much.
Then do what FastMan says, stand tall and (as rob@rar said) make sure you can feel gentle pressure from your shins on the fronts of your boots - that last bit is the absolutely crucial point. Experiment with leaning gently forward from your ankles (not hips) and then gently back - you should feel when the skis engage smoothly with the snow, when the fronts get overloaded, and when they start to get a bit squirrely (as you lean too far back). Then experiment with bending your knees a bit or straightening them - and again feel where your balance goes and the effect it has on the skis. Then do both together and feel how you are essentially giving your body an air-suspension ride. Extend your range of motion getting as low as you can then as tall as you can, concentrating on moving as much as possible primarily at the ankles (your knees and hips will be moving plenty enough, as those are the movements are making already) - all the time feeling your shins on the fronts of your boots and getting feedback from the skis on your balance point.
Another variation on this, maybe a bit more fun but requires a bit more brashness, is to ski down with hands out the side in a cross/crucifix position. Again, arms are held in a fixed position out of the way, and you can let your poles just hang down. Holding your arms up will also encourage you to feel the "standing tall" thing. Try and feel that your body is hanging from your shoulders rather than being held up by your legs - and you'll get an excellent feel of your centre of balance around your solar plexus. You also get a good side-to-side balance assist with this, which will help with another thing you'll want to correct before too long (if I've picked out the right guy on the clip) - your feet are quite a lot too far apart, I would susect as a legacy of a lot of snowploughing in your past. As your balance improves you'll be able to get this down from your current >shoulder width to a more natural hip width.
And, I repeat, this can be done in all those flat connecting spots that are the boring cruises between the steeper bits, so you can blend in the drills with your "normal" skiing. And do it time and time again, and again......and again.......and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....
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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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Brilliant... Thanks everyone, I'm going to jot down all these different techniques and ideas and have a try of each of them. I'm not too worried about being brash so I'll give the crucifix idea a go too. All these tips seem ideal to push the hips forward a bit more, centre the body and move the shins towards the front of the boots so my bum's going to be tucked away out of sight for my next trip!
Oh yeah, zammo, I have to apologize for the mulitcoloured-wang hat and the blades. Those two should definitely know better! 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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2000overdrive, you could do worse than spend a day on blades. If your weight is back on blades, you'll fall over. Being without poles is also a good idea.
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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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2000overdrive, You could also buy Fastman's DVDs! Click on his link. 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Thanks for the tips, I have the same problem! Hopefully I can get it sorted out with some of these drills and some lessons.
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stevehaskew, It's always possible to sort it out if you want to.
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| Quote: |
you could do worse than spend a day on blades
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... Really? But really though? I'd rather ski with my bum out for the rest of my life than ski on blades for a day. Drills- good, blades- bad!
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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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| ifu02325 wrote: |
| Quote: |
you could do worse than spend a day on blades
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... Really? But really though? |
Ya Rly.
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GrahamN, the hands on hips drill you suggested is a great one. I especially like it when working on rotational states. Your hands tell you (if you have normal proprioception) exactly which way your hips are pointing. Excellent for those who ski constantly square (hips pointing same direction as the skis), and need to learn counter (hips facing toward the outside of the turn) to facilitate more dynamic carving and bigger edge angles, or even anticipated positions when skiing the steeps and bumps. Excellent too for those who over counter, and end up back, inside and scissored. And finally, great for developing broader general versatility skills, and more refined awareness of the rotational state one is in.
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FAQ
Does anyone have any tips or techniques I could use to rectify this? I know the obvious thing is to have a few more lessons (I'd say I'm intermediate level) but you know what it's like going on a ski holiday with your mates and they're not doing lessons, you just want to head off with them. Any advice to get me off the toilet would be very much appreciated! 
