 Poster: A snowHead
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...about 10 years ago I had a coaching session in which the (very experienced) coach said - OK, we're doing this steep in slow motion - "what?"...I said."Slow motion - just slow everything down in your head and repeat 'slow motion' very slowly in your mind, at every turn". I did, and it worked. I've used it a lot to deal with mega-steeps. I've kind of kept this to myself other than when coaching a few very timid people. But I read two things recently. One was a biog of Ayrton Senna. In this he talked of how things seemed to happen very slowly when he went into a corner, he said he 'slowed time down in his mind'. He was noted for his immensely fast reaction times. Although criticised, one of his techniques was to stuff a car into a corner at an excessive speed but sort it all out in the corner. I logged this issue of 'slowing things down' and linked it back to the coaching technique I had been exposed to. Then a couple of weeks ago I read a research paper on the reaction time of formula one drivers and this repeated the notion that they were able to experience time differently. This of course speeds up their reaction time. I tried this driving home, deliberately trying to slow things down in my mind even though driving at 60mph. For me, it works - and it's weird - you can attend to all sorts of details you normally miss, it's as if you could look around at things in a way which is not possible normally. It seem to be a different mental state. Guff? I don't think so, since the literature seems to link it to high level performance. I try to keep up my reaction speed during the summer by playing games like table tennis, and this has always cross-trained into skiing. I think there's a lot in this - or should I simply go back to readign Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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There is a lot in it, but it really boils down to a high level of concentration and awareness. By consciously forcing yourself to be more aware of everything that's going on your brain works harder, dealing with more sensory input and by dealing with far more information you normally process for those same actions, it seems like things slow down.
The hard part is maintaining that state for a significant length of time. It's one aspect of mental acuity that is also physically exhausting.
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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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So playing Fruit Ninja on the train is cross training for skiing. Excellent.
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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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I suppose it's partly because thinking that way makes you hyper-focussed on doing just what you're doing. So, back to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Doing just one thing at a time is really difficult.
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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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valais2, What do you consider high performance skiing ?
I feel that I often concentrate too hard when I'm racing and it slows me down.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| rjs wrote: |
valais2, What do you consider high performance skiing ?
I feel that I often concentrate too hard when I'm racing and it slows me down. |
Depends what you're concentrating on I suppose.
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valais2, maybe he wanted to slow down your movements, or to make them smoother? I often ask people I'm teaching to imagine they are skiing in slow motion, usually because they are "snapping at" their turns. Making smoother, more progressive movements is often a good way to raise performance.
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Pretentious guff. You get faster reaction times through experience then end up in the situation rjs describes where thinking about what you're doing starts to interfere with actually doing it. Rob's description makes a lot of sense. On steeps in particular forcing yourself to 'slow down' calms your skiing making you less likely to do something stupid like catch an edge and also stops you tensing up.
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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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Slowing first phase of turn good practice in short radius to allow arc, but should be unconscious competence in expert.
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Although criticised, one of his techniques was to stuff a car into a corner at an excessive speed but sort it all out in the corner
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Of course it was ??
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He was noted for his immensely fast reaction times.
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No kidding. A formula multiple world champion had fast reactions. Shock.
You're getting the effect before the cause.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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This is quiet interesting.
I've used this tecnique before both whilst training and actually competing.
They talk about Sportsman being in the 'Zone' and when in it, it does seem like everything has slowed down.
I've experienced it when playing Golf and when Ski Racing.
Sometimes it just flows and seems effortless.
For me it works sometimes, but not always.
There maybe something in it...who knows.
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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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spud, in psychology that's actually called flow although I'm not sure the evidence is good that it is an actual brain state rather than just an unconscious mastery of something. Sports in particular are very good at promoting cod psychology just like they are great at latching onto the latest pseudoscientific wibble.
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Flow is good in skiing but I think as above it's something different from learning technical precision by slowing down your actions. I liken it to driving on a busy motorway and then turning off to drive on a 30mph urban road, suddenly driving seems almost trivial because you've been reacting at 80mph.
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You know it makes sense.
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I am not convinced it is the slowing down that is the secret - it is the avoidance of rushing (I know almost the same thing) - good ball players always take the ball later in the stance - the tempotation is the faster the ball comes at you - the harded you push out to hit it and have less effect as you take it early and you have less power to follow through on it. Watch good cricketers and they take the ball in the "V".
Same I thinkn with skiing - fear factor - a steep slope - you rush into the turns - the body is not set up right to provide the power in the right place through the boot, the ski slips and you rush even more............
Oh well, a nice Sunday morning theory - probably absolute rubbish but..........
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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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I know a while back I posted a wikipedia link saying that people talking about being in the zone sounded a bit like flow experience, but a sense of everything slowing down and effortlessness do not constitute 'flow' in psychology. Flow is a psychological state that results from deep concentration and absorption in the task that, for many, makes it seem that time has passed more quickly, but it does not require mastery of the task. It is about absorption in, and satisfaction from, the task to the exclusion of everything else.
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