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Quick little weight transfers: what to work on?

Scruffy

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Do you think it's necessary, or if not necessary, beneficial to wear ski boots while doing balance board and other proprioceptive work? (Note: I will weight answers based on how likely I think you are trolling and just like the idea of imagining me being a dumbass in ski boots indoors in summer) At least shoes?
I read somewhere way back in time that Roberta Tomba used to hike up mountains in his ski boots in the summer, and no he wasn't skiing back down; these were lower elevation mountains with snow during summer--it was just for training. It doesn't really relate to your question, bit just made me remember it.
 
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Yepow

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These are super expensive. Gimmick? Anyone tried?
 

James

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Interesting you can turn the carriage sideways. Don’t thin Skier’s Edge does that.
More useful than Peloton for skiing.
 
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Yepow

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Yeah, Skier's Edges are REALLY expensive. I think there's a lot of money that goes there to cross cardio (where there's already tons of different things you can do to work on cardio) with something specific to skiing. It's the skiing specific stuff that is interesting, and feels like both of these are a lot of expense for some marginal involvement of skiing. I would buy one of these if the money were negligible (like a coffee) but at some point on the path to independently wealthy, I would buy a chalet at a resort :)
 

Fuller

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I think a well thought out gym routine combined with inline skating and mountain biking is the best approach to the off season. Keep it fun with an emphasis on strength and balance.
 
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Yepow

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Yup, I have a good, reasonably-heavy weight 4xweek gym program which gets switched up every 3 months or so, designed by a personal trainer / Kin guy who I've been working with for years who knows my goals. I have definitely underfocused on balance in previous off-seasons, and am going to rectify that this year. And, the inline is something I'm looking at getting back into once the roads are not all gravel. Finally, flexibility is a big issue for me, to the point where the needed amount of separation doesn't physically come easy, so I'm going to get on that (*cries*, I hate stretching). Maybe I need to start a thread in the rehab/training forum :)
 

LiquidFeet

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....One of the things I definitely cannot do is these super quick weight transfers/little turns. All of my turns are overcommitted (and as we'd discussed on another thread, I don't have much sense of neutral yet). I often struggle in irregular bumps or off piste because I simply can't do a couple of very quick turns in succession.
....
More "what are the precursors to this that I should be working on, and what drills should I be focusing on?"

Will be drilling more sideslipping, falling leaves, and working up to pivot slips on the menu for me and learning to get cleanly released turns. For this in particular type of little course correction, anything obvious come to mind?
Two suggestions for dryland training for bumps here. The first is a classic with Jonny Moseley. But it's for zipperline competitive bump skiing, so Jonny isn't rotating his skis left and right much at all since that would slow him down. I suspect, since you mention pivot slips, that you are interested in rotating the skis without rotating the upper body. But from comments in this thread it seems that your RoM doesn't allow you to rotate feet/skis without rotating the hips. You could do some version of Jonny's extreme drill with that rotation, once you get the rotation going in the first place.

Jonny Moseley dryland training 2001

And to get to that point, you could first do ladder drills. Here's a fantastic set of 25 agility drills on a floor ladder. You could create drills for yourself that involve rotating the feet/legs but not the hips as you make your way along the ladder. Drills like this, on the floor in the gym, could certainly help you increase your foot/leg rotation speed. You wouldn't need to take a shovel to a hill and cut out steps like Jonny did. But that option is always a thought.

25 Agility Ladder Drills

One more. This one addresses the rotational upper-body/lower-body separation itself, which isn't addressed in the two videos above. I've looked for other dryland training videos for separation but can't find any.

Dryland Counteracting.

.
 
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Sanity

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Two suggestions for dryland training for bumps here. The first is a classic with Jonny Moseley. But it's for zipperline competitive bump skiing, so Jonny isn't rotating his skis left and right much at all since that would slow him down. I suspect, since you mention pivot slips, that you are interested in rotating the skis without rotating the upper body. But from comments in this thread it seems that your RoM doesn't allow you to rotate feet/skis without rotating the hips. You could do some version of Jonny's extreme drill with that rotation, once you get the rotation going in the first place.

Jonny Moseley dryland training 2001

And to get to that point, you could first do ladder drills. Here's a fantastic set of 25 agility drills on a floor ladder. You could create drills for yourself that involve rotating the feet/legs but not the hips as you make your way along the ladder. Drills like this, on the floor in the gym, could certainly help you increase your foot/leg rotation speed. You wouldn't need to take a shovel to a hill and cut out steps like Jonny did. But that option is always a thought.

25 Agility Ladder Drills

One more. This one addresses the rotational upper-body/lower-body separation itself, which isn't addressed in the two videos above.

Dryland Counteracting.


.

I'll be the first to argue that someone can ski the zipperline with very low stress and impact to the knees without any long term chronic knee problems; however, that Jonny Moseley dryland training is not in the same category. It's likely to develop patellar tendonitis. It's something to watch, not something to recommend.
 

LiquidFeet

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And finally, try this inside, on a wood floor, standing on paper plates or slippery cloth, so your feet will rotate on the floor. Lean a full length mirror against the wall in front of you.
--Best training of all for the separation. No impact on your knees, and immediate feedback from the mirror.

Pivot Slips

.
 
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Yepow

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And finally, try this inside, on a wood floor, standing on paper plates or slippery cloth, so your feet will rotate on the floor. Lean a full length mirror against the wall in front of you.
--Best training of all for the separation. No impact on your knees, and immediate feedback from the mirror.

Pivot Slips

.
I'm in the process of doing some of the stretching that lets me get sufficient separation. Thanks!
 

pchewn

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I read somewhere way back in time that Roberta Tomba used to hike up mountains in his ski boots in the summer, and no he wasn't skiing back down; these were lower elevation mountains with snow during summer--it was just for training. It doesn't really relate to your question, bit just made me remember it.

Roberta Tomba? Surely you mean Alberto Tomba. Unless of course Alberto is now Roberta and is killing it on the women's WC circuit like that swimmer.....
 

raytseng

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Yup, I have a good, reasonably-heavy weight 4xweek gym program which gets switched up every 3 months or so, designed by a personal trainer / Kin guy who I've been working with for years who knows my goals. I have definitely underfocused on balance in previous off-seasons, and am going to rectify that this year. And, the inline is something I'm looking at getting back into once the roads are not all gravel. Finally, flexibility is a big issue for me, to the point where the needed amount of separation doesn't physically come easy, so I'm going to get on that (*cries*, I hate stretching). Maybe I need to start a thread in the rehab/training forum :)
Good idea,
I followed along the similar thread in that variety will reveal and stregthen. Of course, if you are short on timeand you want the tailored program; but don't discount the benefits of new random exercise.

A few years back at my local crunch gym, they had a lot of classes, so one summer i just did all the general fitness classes, with a lot of different general class instructors.
This was all over the place, from
  • general fitness classes (which varied from strength to more "dance" fitness classes that require coordination to music (but not full on zumba) ,
  • to yoga and pilates
  • bosu ball- both balance and dynamic aerobic
  • kangoo bouncy shoes class
  • slider class (often just as a part of the general class)
  • an instructor that did more boxing/fight type routine,
  • a more crossfit-lite HIIT routine who pushed us to do circuit routine on time rather than on technique.

I think I got improvement out of it, even the more dancy ones. Especially with the rotation of instructors for the specific class times. So unless you are so focused on optimizing your exercise , don't discount just throwing in any new exercise to keep things fresh.
You could be in the gym 4x a week and can lift very heavy things; but if you can't do the simple 4 step aerobics routine in time to the music; you are worse at that skill than the front row skinny person with matchstick arms/legs.

For your goals, I'd say the bosu (and yoga/pilates) and even those general fitness classes may help the most. I'll also +1 the agility ladder drills, but could be more boring and you end up doing it less than committing to classes and being guilted to finish the entire class.
 
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Seldomski

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What shoes are those? I mention because I find balance exercises like this to be much more difficult in a running shoe vs a minimalist shoe (or barefoot). Lots of compliance/squishiness in the sole makes these types of balancing exercises much more difficult, and not in a good way. Lunges, squats (weighted, pistol, on bosu, etc) are better done with minimalist shoes, otherwise you are fighting to maintain a good platform. They do take a little while to get used to as all the little muscles in the foot are more active in these.

Something like these are good for the gym:

These are not good for running long distances, unless you are on a cushioned surface (ie treadmill).
 
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Yepow

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What shoes are those? I mention because I find balance exercises like this to be much more difficult in a running shoe vs a minimalist shoe (or barefoot). Lots of compliance/squishiness in the sole makes these types of balancing exercises much more difficult, and not in a good way. Lunges, squats (weighted, pistol, on bosu, etc) are better done with minimalist shoes, otherwise you are fighting to maintain a good platform. They do take a little while to get used to as all the little muscles in the foot are more active in these.

Something like these are good for the gym:

These are not good for running long distances, unless you are on a cushioned surface (ie treadmill).
I notice reasonably grippy socks or barefeet (at home) work pretty well...
 

Scruffy

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Roberta Tomba? Surely you mean Alberto Tomba. Unless of course Alberto is now Roberta and is killing it on the women's WC circuit like that swimmer.....

Surely. Good catch :golfclap:
 

markojp

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Don't forget to work on range of motion... lots of skiers have none, and yes, you need it.
 

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