Top ski coach and freeskier Warren Smith takes you through a series of exercises to get you fit for the slopes, improve your skiing and reduce your risk of injury. Part one works the upper and lower legs.
The following series of ski fitness exercises are based around a new method of instruction, previously only available to elite athletes in national teams.
It works on improving on-slope technique, through an awareness of biomechanics and physiology, to strengthen a skier's weakest side. Pretty much all skiers have a weaker turn direction - partly because most of us are naturally left or right handed. This causes problems once you start skiing outside your comfort zone, skiing faster, steeper or away from the piste.
The weaker turn comes down to a series of potential physiological blocks and imbalances, mainly centred around the hips and legs, for example, one hip might be more flexible than the other or the muscles in one leg stronger. A skier's ability is limited to what their body can physically do - increase the power and range in your weakest side and you'll improve your skiing.
Follow these simple exercises and you will not only improve your technique and fitness, but greatly reduce the risk of knee and back injury.
STEP ONE: Lower leg exercises to correct ankle flexibility
Most skiers flex their knees more than their ankles. This causes body weight to rest consistently over the middle and back of the skis, tires out thighs and puts strain on the knee joint. This can be because your boots are too stiff, preventing the ankle from flexing properly - so make sure your boots are fitted correctly. The following exercises will work to correct and improve ankle flexibility.
Exercise A: Ankle flex drop test to loosen tight calf muscles
Stand against a wall with your heels, backside and shoulders against it. Focus on flexing your ankles and see how far you can drop down keeping your heels on the ground and back against the wall. Your limit is when your heel or heels lift off the ground. The distance you drop could range between 6cm (poor flex range) to 30cm drop (good flex). If you drop less than 20cm practice the following stretch to increase to your range.
Using a wall, stand with one foot in front of the other. Bend the front knee, keeping the back leg straight and feel the calf muscle of the straight leg stretch. Stretching is best done after exercise.
If one heel lifts off the ground before the other, then the calf muscle, or hamstring, on that side is shorter and can affect your skiing. Work to lengthen the muscle in the weaker leg by repeating the stretch an additional time on that side.
Exercise B: Dry-land flex exercises to improve ankle and knee flexing action
Part 1:
Test your flex pattern when jumping from left to right
Using ski turn simulation jumps (shown in the diagram), try to make about 10 jumps from side to side. With some feedback from a friend, preferably with a stills or video camera, try to see from a sideways angle what is happening with your flex. Look specifically at your ankle flex and knee flex.
Part 2:
Work on awareness of your ankle joint flex
Start to work the ankles more in the flex process when you take off and land. Try to land your jump without too much noise.
Part 3:
Slightly reduce your knee joint flex
Because of the habit of sitting back when skiing, try to reduce the amount of knee flex that typically happens when you land. Instead feel the hips drive down more over the balls of your feet with your thighs remaining a little more towards vertical than horizontal. Think thigh high! This will also help you avoid overloading the knee joint if you're often in the back seat position.
Part 4:
Now re-test your flex pattern when jumping from left to right
Once you've had a chance to become more aware of the relationship between your ankle and knee flex, and when you've felt the differences between them and how they affect your balance, try to re-test yourself, preferably on video. If you can see a more centred posture and less noise from your landing you've improved your flex pattern. Once you have the muscle memory of this you can easily transfer it to your skiing.
STEP TWO: Upper leg exercises to correct skiing symmetry
In an ideal world when parallel skiing, all skiers would be able to keep their legs symmetrical and avoid their feet being wider apart than their knees. Unfortunately most skiers adopt the A-frame shape in the legs, which can put stress on the knee joints, cause inconsistency between turns and create problems in powder. One of the main reasons why A-frame's are so common is lack of awareness of lateral control muscles.
Exercise A: Dry-land exercises to improve awareness of lateral control muscles
To improve your lateral control you need to activate your inner thigh (adductor muscle group). It's a muscle group that doesn't get used heavily in sport and everyday life so this training routine will first raise awareness of the muscles and develop your strength and skill at using them.
Practice at home or in an area with a polished surface. Use a T-shirt or cloth and lay it on the floor beneath you. Then with a foot either side, pull your feet towards each other. The goal is to pull your feet together without your knees dropping, at the slowest possible speed.
Try to pull in about 10 times in a set and repeat that about four times. If you perform this exercise three to four times a week you will switch on lateral control in your skiing stance and help avoid the legs dropping in at the knees or splitting away at the feet. The result is a mechanically sound power frame (P-frame) stance rather than an A-frame stance. This P-frame stance will reduce the risk of knee injury, result in smoother turns, and also leave you feeling less fatigued.
Exercise B: Dry-land test to control leg symmetry
Part 1:
Test your symmetry when jumping from left to right
Using the ski turn simulation jumps (see diagram below), try to make about 10 jumps from side to side. With some feedback from a friend, preferably with a stills or video camera, try to find out what position your legs are in during takeoff, while in the air and on landing. Common problems here are:
1. The feet closing and widening during the jump
2. The feet opening wider to land
3. The knees collapsing inwards as you land and takeoff
Part 2:
Improve lateral control in the jumping exercise
Using the ski simulation exercise, try to feel yourself control the width of your stance at the knees and feet. It's not as easy as it sounds and will take 10 or 15 minutes of work to get it right. However, once you crack it you can go ahead and practice with the correct technique, using the right muscles to ski symmetrically.
Part 3:
Now re-test part 1- symmetry jumping from left to right
Once you can see the difference you'll understand that specific areas of muscle control are needed when turning or jumping from left to right.
• Find more exercises, tips and information online at warrensmith-skiacademy.com
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