THE BEST OFF-SNOW SKI SPECIFIC TRAINING
by WINA STURGEON
Snow is starting to fill the top furrows of the mountains. The ski-hornys making people yearn. But the lifts won't start for months.
But how would you like to get this kind of training: The ability to work on your inside and outside edges while gliding fast on a smooth surface, the ability to improve your carving and practice the racer-specific move of outside knee to inside boot top, to work on your balance and speed; all while moving through cool air.
You don't have to wait till the resorts open. You can improve your skiing right now---at an ice rink. Nearly all towns have one or more rinks.
Ice skating is totally ski specific when it is done as cross training.
Skates have four edges, just like skis. They require balance on a slippery surface, just like skiing. And because skate blades are so much shorter than skis, your skate training will give you a precision that will radically improve your skiing, whether you race or cruise the groomers.
Everything you need to know for ski-specific training on skates is summed up by this statement: do the same moves on the ice that great skiers do on snow.
Now for the details.
First, do your workout in hockey skates rather than figure skates. Skis don't have toe picks. Second, call the rink (or rinks) in your town to find out which public skating session has the fewest people; ski training is easier if the rink isn't crowded. Third, work on one thing at a time until you get it down. A good place to start is with ankle work. The best and fastest turns today are made totally on the edges of the ski; not with the base just slightly off the snow, but with the skier riding on both edges and the ski base straight up and down, 90 degrees to the snow. The only way to do this is to bend the ankles sideways, so the side of the boot rides close to the snow at the apex, or roundest, part of the turn.
Most good skiers can easily bend the ankle of the foot on the outside of the turn to get the outside ski on edge. The big difference between 'expert' and 'intermediate' is that the expert bends the inside ankle as well, and gets the inside ski on edge.
On ice, it's a lot easier than it is on snow to learn to bend your inside ankle, and to imprint the movement into your muscle memory. Here's the biomechanical cookie: Think of touching both ankle bones to the ice and bend them over to the left. See how that makes you turn left? Now make the same movement, but tilt your ankle bones to the right.
Practice this double movement for ten minutes, turning in one direction and then the other, using only the bending of your ankles to make the turn. Keep doing it even when the rink curves, so you are turning both left and right even though you are following the curve of the rink. This will help increase your sure-footedness. Look down to check that you are edging over on the inside skate.
Once you feel confident bending the inside ankle over in a skate, which is less supportive than a ski boot, you're ready to exaggerate the movement to make it more ski specific.
Hold onto the boards (the edge of the rink)---hold yourself up securely so you don't risk spraining your ankle---and think of making a left turn. Now, bend both your left inside knee and ankle bone over until they are almost sideways. Keeping your back straight, squat down so that your left knee is almost to your chest. At the same time, bend your right knee sideways so that it touches the top of your left skate. Your right skate will be sideways on the ice, radically edged. Now think of making a right turn, and get in the same position with knees and ankles bent to the right.
This is basically the stance of the World Cup racer. Try to memorize how it feels. You want to get the feeling of the angulation into your muscle memory so that you can recreate it on the snow.
While you won't be able to create the same extreme angulation on ice, the practice of the movement while on skates will help you memorize it so you can use an approximation of the movement when you get back on snow. And, at least twice during every skate session, spend a few minutes holding onto the boards and getting into the extreme angulation of the World Cup racer position.
Next, learn to use your upper body to help your turns. This is something most skiers, even racers, neglect. Skate down the straightaway of the rink, and turn your upper body smoothly, so that your shoulders are facing front and back instead of across the rink. Surprise! See how your skates turn? While coaches and ski instructors tell you to keep the upper body still and the shoulders facing downhill, World Cuppers know that the mass of the upper body can be used to add incredible 'oomph' to each turn, and can also be used to get yourself back on course if your skis are in trouble.
This is a movement that, again, you want to transfer to your muscle memory. You can use delicate movements of your upper body mass to add more expert-ness to your skiing, but the place to learn those very subtle moves in on the ice.
Another great skill to be learned during ice training is the hip swing of quick slalom turns. Without using your skates to turn, swing your hips out to one side until your skates begin to turn. Then swing them to the other side. Once you have confidence in the movement, practice swinging your hips from side to side quickly, making short quick turns. If you race, this is the movement to accurately and quickly get through a flush. If you're a cruiser, this is how to get down a mogul field with ease.
Once you have all these movements memorized: angulation by bending the ankle bone, the shoulder turn and the hip swing, practice doing it faster. The faster you practice, the less time you have to think about each part of the movement. Speed forces you to memorize the sequence of a movement because you don't have time to think it out if you're going fast.
You will be a much better athlete when you can make your moves by physical instinct because they're part of your muscle memory, than you ever will be if you have to think how to do the movement before doing it. It's a whole lot slower, and much less skillful, to use your brain to tell you how to edge or turn.
So get your expert on before the lifts open; all you need is a pair of skates.