stiff outer leg - help!

A snowHead

Hi guys been having some group lessons - i am an earlyish intermediate skier. am skiing parallel most of the time but once i hit steeper terrain having problems. The instructor has told me i have a very stiff outer leg when applying pressure to the downhill ski and the leg is locking/bracing, resulting in the skis chattering. he has told me to try and soften/flex anles more - im finding skiing hard work at the moment due to this problem. however it seems to be easier said than done to soften/flex the leg more. can anyone suggest any way to correct this/any drills/exercises i can do (on or off the slopes) to help overcome this as it a big problem for me.
thanks

A snowHead

Find an instructor who can help you find the cause of the problem, rather than one who tells you to fix the symptom.
Without seeing you ski it's hard to say what is causing a stiff outer leg but it is likely that you can't soften/flex you ankles more because you are in a position that won't allow it.
What your instructor was describing is the result of something that is happening earlier in the turn.
Sorry I can't be more helpful with drills/exercises - I would need to see you ski to know what would be most useful.

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Try bringing both arms forward in the 2nd half of the turn, it will unbalance you if your lower leg is rigid and may encourage you to bend that knee. Once you see that the ski holds and turns better with a bent knee then you will want to do it more. Fatigue can also be another reasion for the "stiff leg".

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Not sure what its called but what about that drill where you lift the uphill ski whilst doing a long turn and bounce gently up and down on the downhill ski by flexing your ankle joint.

A good tip skimottaret gave to me that I felt useful was to imagine it as trying to touch your knee to the front of your ski.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

mmdpkaaa, if it happens only on steep terrain it might well be the result of anxiety. Lots of people brace their (outside) leg because they are worried about picking up too much speed on steep terrain. Unfortunately bracing the outside leg makes it much more likely that you will pick up speed. Maybe spend a bit more time on terrain which isn't so steep to refine your technique so you are more confident with your ability to soften your leg and skid the turn, thus controlling your speed.

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Just to add to what rob@rar suggests. The tendency when there is something ahead of us that is frightening is to shy away from it. In a skiing situation, if we "shy away" from the downhill side because it is steep, we pull our head back from what frightens us and the rest of the upper body follows. Thus we lean into the slope (ie away from what is scary) and at the same time, as has been said, push away from downhill by stiffening and straightening the downhill leg. It's all, I reckon, just a natural defensive reaction which unfortunately means in skiing that you are moving your upper body the wrong way and also losing the the essential support of your outside leg. Don't feel you are unique mmdpkaaa, I guess we have all been there.

A remedy? Once again good advice from rob@rar about spending time on easier terrain specifically working on this aspect of your skiing. Try leaving your poles aside and skiing with your hands on your knees. Again without poles, try reaching out and pointing at the snow slightly behind your feet with your downhill hand as you turn (not just waggling a finger but allowing your upper body to "follow" the hand so it is inclined downhill more and your hips are more uphill. Develop this exercise this time with your poles by tracing a line in the snow on the outside of the turn with a pole. Practise reasonably wide radius turns and this exercise will assist in ensuring that your shoulders follow the direction of your travel (ie don't separate your upper and lower body at the waist)

After all it is free

Practice collasping your downhill leg and extending your other leg just after the apex of the turn (on easier terrain first). Keep your shoulders parralell to the slope (body ca 90 deg to slope). Plant your pole and imagine a door between your skis and the pole - get your body through this door. When all is going well you will feel as though your body is dropping down the slope and your skis are dealing with the terrain underneath rather than you standing on skis with your body being taken along for the ride.

mmdpkaaa, just a thought; how stiff are your boots?

Rob@rar's tip from skimottaret is a good one. But can be difficult if your boots are stiff and it's hard to flex at the ankles.

Using progressive flex of the ankles into the last part of the turn can facilitate the above, pulling your hips forward over your feet. Along with Frosty the Snowmans tip of bring your arms forward helps bring your centre of mass over the ski sweet spot. (I prefer to think of driving my arms forward ready for a pole plant. And strive to control flex from the ankles.)

The movements above also need continuous and measured in range and rate for the desired turn shape. Too much, too soon/late, and harsh can upset the balance. (Edge control may also need to be addressed.)

An instructor/coach should be able to help you, not only with the movement of joints, but also with the timing and range of those movements throughout the turn.

Boots too stiff or tightly buckled may get in the way. Boots loosely buckled at the top or even undone for drills may also help - under the guidance of an instructor/coach.

Hope this helps.

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thanks for the advice guys. i find i definitely ski better without poles - havent been shown how to use them properly and i manage to get my weight forward better without them. i find my left turns easier than my right - in the latter my inside ski seems to drag a bit and it seems a real effort to try and bring it round. have loosened my boots a little today and that definitely helped. are there any leg exercises anyone can suggest when away from the slopes to help with balance/strength?

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sorry another question i had - i find it alot harder and much more difficult to ski parallel on flat terrian compared to steeper stuff. again it seems like a real chore to get my inside ski parallel. any tips for this as i end up just snowploughing on the flat stuff as i become unbalanced if i try and ski parallel.

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Then don't try to ski parallel on flat terrain until you have developed further on the steeper bits. It's to do with your stiff outer leg. Because it is stretching out and you are probably leaning away from it your weight is not sufficiently supported on the outer ski to lighten the inner ski enough to steer it round parallel without effort.

mmdpkaaa, Do you find yourself following your inside ski?

If so, consider obtaiing the services of a coach/instructor. You may also wish to consider various single ski drills with a view to improving balance over the outer ski in the turn.

Once you've improved balance, build the control of what you do from the ankles. Knees and hips should follow naturally. Practice on the shallow gradients to get it right.

Being progessivelly and constantly active at the ankles, knees and hips, also helps.

If you can master nice balanced turns on a shallow slope at slow speed, I'm sure it will enhance your enjoyment of steeper terrain at higher speeds.

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stiff outer leg - help!

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