MA for Cerulean

Re: MA for Cerulean

Postby Cerulean » Tue Dec 24, 2019 8:48 pm

Thanks so much for all your suggestions, guys. I'm really glad I posted yesterday and I was able to work on this today.

noobSkier, I actively tried to maintain strong ankle contraction on uphill LTE all day.
ToddW, I didn't get to see your post before going to ski today, but I will definitely try both of those out next time.

(I think precisionchiro's post was removed, which I understand due to the MA forum rules- but I saw his post from my phone while on the snow, and it ended up being very helpful, even if he is not an official instructor)
Precisionchiro, I spent the first half of the day doing your suggested LTE traverses. Predictably, I had tons of trouble, but I gradually saw some small improvement. A breakthrough was doing that slight flex with the uphill leg at the moment of weight transfer. Stops me from pushing on it.

I spent the second half of the day doing a single turn into a long LTE traverse and stopping, and a long LTE traverse into a single turn and stopping.

At the end of the day to see if progress was made I did 2 runs attempting to link turns, which I got filmed. I found it much harder to ski slowly- I rapidly picked up speed when focusing on balancing on the LTE.

Self Analysis: I think I see a very slight improvement over yesterday. I see less pushing of the inside ski uphill. I think I am still struggling to hold the LTE when moving slowly. I think I am lifting the downhill hip too much when transferring weight to uphill LTE. In each clip I start out poorly and start doing better later.

2 turn initiations that seem actually OK in this video are at 0:18 and 0:45. However by this point I have picked up speed and I know that can assist balance.



Personal plan: continue the traverses w/ CB+CA+flex when weight transfer for the foreseeable future. Seems to be moving the needle. I'm also optimistic that getting back on my own i.SLr skis after the holidays will help balance, being a centimeter thinner.

Questions: How do you keep your speed low when practicing these type of turns? An even shallower slope?
Do you see any improvement or am I only imagining?

Thanks so much for the feedback. This forum is the best. There's no where else on the Web where I could be receiving this knowledgeable a response.
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Re: MA for Cerulean

Postby tigernbr » Wed Dec 25, 2019 7:31 am

I highly recommend you go to a camp next season if you can. Get your alignment done while you are there. Can you traverse a slope balancing on one foot? It seems like you are losing your balance in your turns.

Congrats on starting this journey. You are making progress. Listen to the guys on this forum. They are a wealth of knowledge. In addition to the books, there are evideos on the HSS website which are extremely helpful. I'd start with the Eliminate the Wedge series.
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Re: MA for Cerulean

Postby noobSkier » Wed Dec 25, 2019 1:43 pm

cerulean,

when you tip the inside ski, you must allow that hip to externally rotate; this is the only way to get a visible "o-frame". Indeed the movement starts with an ankle contraction, but you still need to engage the rest of the kinetic chain. If you can do this, you will drastically increase your LTE tipping range which will help both your balance and engagement of the LTE.
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Re: MA for Cerulean

Postby noobSkier » Wed Dec 25, 2019 1:59 pm

here is a still of HH tipping stationary, and yes he can do this while skiing too.

Image
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Re: MA for Cerulean

Postby Max_501 » Wed Dec 25, 2019 3:48 pm

Cerulean wrote:Questions: How do you keep your speed low when practicing these type of turns? An even shallower slope?


IMO, you've jumped too far ahead. It is very important to have a good handle on each of the exercises in book 1 before moving to the next. It also looks like your posture is making it challenging to stay in balance so you'll need to work on that too.
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Re: MA for Cerulean

Postby Cerulean » Sat Dec 28, 2019 7:38 pm

Back to the beginning it is...

- Have no cameraman so I stuck my phone in the snow with some cardboard. Works OK for stationary drills but not so much for moving ones. There's a couple of bad angles.
- Have no poles until I return from the holidays, used a wobbly post thingy where it was written that poles were allowed to help balance.
- Didn't record every single drill, but did try them all.

I need some advice to help my releases. Specifically exercise 4-2, starting at 2:37. Especially the side where the left leg is the stance leg (2:58). I often start to sideslip even though I want to move forward and turn downhill- that's what happens here. A couple things I tried to fix this were adding hip counteraction, leaning more forward, and unweighting the free foot more, which all seemed to help. But I'm not sure if these are correct, and it still feels difficult. It often takes forever for the skis to cross the fall line for me during these releases.

All feedback is appreciated!

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Re: MA for Cerulean

Postby Cerulean » Sat Dec 28, 2019 7:47 pm

I didn't proceed farther than this today and plan to be doing the Phantom Moves from chapter 3 and the releases from 4 next time. Something doesn't quite seem right yet with the wedge-to-phantom.
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Re: MA for Cerulean

Postby noobSkier » Sun Dec 29, 2019 12:32 pm

I think the release at 2:41 shows promise, unsure about the others (cant see much from that angle). It was the first time I can make out an o-frame in the engagement phase. You lost grip on the tails there, but that's going to improve once you start exploring CA.

Regarding your dryland tipping, the next step up from there is to use as little help from the upper-body as possible particularly when you "match" the stance leg. You really have to try to isolate your tipping as much as possible in the lower-body. Just like the hip externally rotates for inside-ski tipping, the stance ski hip must internally rotate to match it (plus ankle eversion). Note that I'm not saying the upper body is uninvolved (you progressively add it as angles increase), just that if there is no connection through the hip, your kinetic chain is broken. I'd recommend comparing your dryland tipping to Harald's in his essentials of skiing tipping video.
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Re: MA for Cerulean

Postby Cerulean » Sun Dec 29, 2019 7:38 pm

Thanks for all your replies, noobSkier. When I got on the snow after you said this

noobSkier wrote:when you tip the inside ski, you must allow that hip to externally rotate; this is the only way to get a visible "o-frame". Indeed the movement starts with an ankle contraction, but you still need to engage the rest of the kinetic chain. If you can do this, you will drastically increase your LTE tipping range which will help both your balance and engagement of the LTE.


I immediately realized that while I had been contracting my ankle, I was subconsciously stiffening my entire leg. Cutting off or resisting motion above the ankle. After consciously allowing my knee to travel forward, bend, and then affect the hip, tipping felt very different, as you said. Good eye!

Basically spent all day working releases today...I am starting to feel some improvement. :D

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Re: MA for Cerulean

Postby noobSkier » Mon Dec 30, 2019 9:32 pm

Cerulean wrote:feel


This is a dirty word around here :lol: As far as improvement, there are positive signs in terms of LTE tipping but in truth its still pretty weak and uncoordinated. It's important to remember that tipping is an exotic movement skill that improves over many many reps. It's as much muscular as it is technical, ergo you build "tipping strength" every time you work on it. Much of this can be achieved on dryland, so work on it religiously and build a slant board if you can. The simplest construction is just a 2'x2' subfloor panel with a 2"x6" screwed vertically to one side; staple some cheap carpet to it and you are good to go.

Try to release solely with LTE tipping, and remember to keep that inside ski pulled back. IMO you can start cautiously applying some upper body CA in these slow drills (this will facilitate the release and engagement). Start with your zipper facing downhill and try to end the same way.
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Re: MA for Cerulean

Postby Cerulean » Fri Jan 03, 2020 3:24 pm

Got a couple more days on snow and while working releases, I've been focusing on:

- Holding the stance foot on LTE while the new free foot is tipping to LTE
- pulling the free foot back
- adding some CA

I can see (not "feel" :D ) slightly more of an o-frame in this video than in previous videos. My CA still needs improvement.

Today I attempted to link several of these 2-footed releases together. When I got home to look at the book, I discovered I may have moved too quickly.
What I have been doing is 6-2: Two-Footed Release to Full Turn.
What's next is One-Footed balance/traverses, Two-Footed Immediate Release, Uphill Foot Release to Phantom Move, which all revolve around lifting one foot from the snow completely.

Would it be appropriate to start working on those one-foot drills? Or continue hammering on the 2-foot single release?

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Re: MA for Cerulean

Postby noobSkier » Fri Jan 03, 2020 8:06 pm

cerulean,

the goal is not actually to get as large of an o-frame as possible, its to release and engage the skis with tipping to the LTE instead of rotation. We practice these slowly and one at a time to eliminate excess rotation, only then can we link them with fidelity. Counter-action is basically anti-rotation and it greatly facilitates the release and the engagement. Refer to this video:



notice that Diana is heavily countered at the beginning and at the end of the turn (also, she has poles :) )
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Re: MA for Cerulean

Postby skifastDDS » Sat Jan 04, 2020 9:42 am

noobSkier wrote:Refer to this video:



notice that Diana is heavily countered at the beginning and at the end of the turn (also, she has poles :) )


This is probably the hardest drill in PMTS. It helps to try it on a trail with some pitch in the beginning to make the skis easier to release. It takes *enormous* amounts of CA to do it, and it will not work at all without pulling both feet back hard. GeoffDA spent hours grinding it into me a couple of years ago :D
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."
-Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken"
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Re: MA for Cerulean

Postby Cerulean » Sat Jan 04, 2020 11:06 am

Got it. So next time my focus will be on adding lots of CA.

I'll also have my poles back. The pace of skiing/videos is going to slow a lot though now that holidays are over :(
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Re: MA for Cerulean

Postby Max_501 » Sat Jan 04, 2020 1:45 pm

Max_501 wrote:IMO, you've jumped too far ahead. It is very important to have a good handle on each of the exercises in book 1 before moving to the next. It also looks like your posture is making it challenging to stay in balance so you'll need to work on that too.
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