Articles & Tips
The Skiing Machine
Prepared by Sandy Millar CSIA Level IV/CSCF Level III
“Don’t lean back!” “Bend your knees!” “Roll your ankles!”. Our ski teaching language is filled with terms like these. Each has its own meaning and interpretation by every individual teacher and student. What do they really refer to though?
Lets look at little more closely at an example and see how we might communicate more accurately with our students.
“Roll your ankles!”
“Roll your ankles!”. Ok, how do we do that? We are talking about “everting a supenated foot”, through the ankle joint, within the boot. Seems simple enough yet specific muscles must be engaged in order to actively evert the foot. Which ones?
Try to rotate your foot inwards along its length (evert it), by contracting the muscle group on the outside of your shin. Can you feel the peronius longus working?
This is effectively an edging movement. (We have previously referred to this inward rotation as “pronation”.
“By referring to specific muscle groups and activity, we can more accurately communicate with our students. This will make us more effective at helping to take our students to the next level.”
In fact, we want to minimize the flattening of the foot (pronation) and maximize the inward rotation of the foot along its longitudinal axis (eversion)). By engaging this specific muscle, a skier will feel improved grip and better edging.
How about arm stability?
When trying to quiet down over-active arms, we might suggest creating tension across the chest (pectoralis majoris), the outer back (latisimus dorsi) and outer shoulder (deltoids).
These are the specific muscles controlling the movements of the arms. Add to that a tightening of the “core” or abdominal muscles to promote upper body stability. Perhaps to encourage a centred stance, we might try engaging the gluteus maximus, providing tension that will help to resist “squatting” or relying on a stance that is too far back on the skis.
Conclusion
This is obviously a very brief outline, and the intent is certainly not to suggest we take analogies, metaphors, sensations, etc. out of our ski teaching language. The main point is to encourage ski pros to become familiar with the biomechanical/physiological aspects of skiing movements. Know how the body works when skiing.
By referring to specific muscle groups and activity, we can more accurately communicate with our students. This will make us more effective at helping to take our students to the next level. This is consistent with one of our coaching cornerstones; when providing feedback, to give it in the form of a positive.
Tell me what to do, rather than what not to do!