Ski Tip 1 – Bend & Stretch

Exercise 1, Bend & Stretch

In almost every lesson I teach I encourage students to explore their “range of motion”.   I ask them to see how far they can move up and down on the spot while staying in balance.  Most of them respond with disbelief when I explain the importance of this move.   “The realm of expert skiing will be unachievable”, I say, “without developing the ability to move freely in and out of this low balanced position – you will never become an expert skier without mastering this simple but unusual move.”  I say this because many students often fail to recognize the importance of  practicing exercises which they often consider beneath their ability level, or simply unnatural and silly.  The fact remains however; expert skiing will elude all who do not master the following fundamentals.

Move

Take a look at how the positions shown above are put into practice below.

Notice how the side-on picture of expert bump skiing resembles the stationary position shown in figure 1.2 above.  Both pictures show appropriate bending from the knees and hip in order to keep the shoulders over the knees.  Both pictures also show the hands well out front as the skier adopts a bent but balanced position.  When dealing with rapidly changing terrain such as bumps, an expert skier is comfortable moving quickly in and out of this position.

This is a prime example of how a very simple movement pattern can be applied in an expert situation.  This is the a major philosophy behind the Alltracks system and a method which has proven successful with countless academy members who have joined us for 11 weeks or less, and taken their skiing from recreational to expert.

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