Center of Mass is NOT a body part nor in a fixed location!

[Abbi]

Lol! Well - it's just a snapshot, but looking at your Avatar, you could definitely use a lot more ankle flexion and less knee bend to get those shoulders forward over the toes.

Have fun playing with it!!

Yeah, that's about all the ankles can bend! But I'll keep fussing with it.

 

[bounceswoosh]

Yeah, that's about all the ankles can bend! But I'll keep fussing with it.

My instructor had me doing something last weekend that helped with this. Different situation - I (think I) have flexed effectively in the past, but since coming back from my knee surgery, I've been guarding the knee and keeping myself from flexing, no matter what I told myself.

I'm not sure I'll communicate this correctly, but maybe @Skisailor can comment. After watching me a few ski days in a row, my instructor finally had me stand still in my skis and leaaaaan forward until I lifted my ski tails off the snow just with body weight. Then he had me adjust so that I could do the same thing but just with my lower body, without bending forward at the waist. (This is the part I'm not sure I'm communicating correctly, or remembering exactly correctly.) Then he told me to do that at the bottom of every turn.

Sure enough, it got me to flex my ankles, and of course the knee bone is connected to the ankle bone, as the song (sort of) goes, and everything just clicked. In my case, I immediately connected to that feeling and knew that it was correct, which made it easier for me to keep doing the move once I'd gotten that kinesthetic memory back.

 

[Skisailor]

Yeah, that's about all the ankles can bend! But I'll keep fussing with it.

Well if that's the case, just unbend your knees a bit and bend forward at the hips a little more.

 

[Skisailor]

My instructor had me doing something last weekend that helped with this. Different situation - I (think I) have flexed effectively in the past, but since coming back from my knee surgery, I've been guarding the knee and keeping myself from flexing, no matter what I told myself.

I'm not sure I'll communicate this correctly, but maybe @Skisailor can comment. After watching me a few ski days in a row, my instructor finally had me stand still in my skis and leaaaaan forward until I lifted my ski tails off the snow just with body weight. Then he had me adjust so that I could do the same thing but just with my lower body, without bending forward at the waist. (This is the part I'm not sure I'm communicating correctly, or remembering exactly correctly.) Then he told me to do that at the bottom of every turn.

Sure enough, it got me to flex my ankles, and of course the knee bone is connected to the ankle bone, as the song (sort of) goes, and everything just clicked. In my case, I immediately connected to that feeling and knew that it was correct, which made it easier for me to keep doing the move once I'd gotten that kinesthetic memory back.

Sounds interesting! Having trouble picturing that second part though . . .

 

[bounceswoosh]

Sounds interesting! Having trouble picturing that second part though . . .

Yeah. I had trouble replicating it on my own later. I just know it magically worked! I think it was kind of a trick to get your ankles flexed using your whole body's weight, and then step back (not literally) and just flex forward with your ankle.

 

[Abbi]

Yeah. I had trouble replicating it on my own later. I just know it magically worked! I think it was kind of a trick to get your ankles flexed using your whole body's weight, and then step back (not literally) and just flex forward with your ankle.

Can you just call me?! I seem to work better with 'how to' in my head with a voice!

 

[Abbi]

Well if that's the case, just unbend your knees a bit and bend forward at the hips a little more.

That gives enough pressure on the skis to keep them from taking off? I'm picturing myself pretty much as a human pretzel! I'm going to play with ankles today.

 

[bounceswoosh]

Can you just call me?! I seem to work better with 'how to' in my head with a voice!

Umm.. Well, I can't seem to describe it correctly on "paper," so I doubt I'll be able to do it on the phone in real time!

 

[Little Lightning]

Well if that's the case, just unbend your knees a bit and bend forward at the hips a little more.

Ok, this sounds simple but... until I learned to touch my toes and then trained to hip hinge I bent at the waist. It was the only way my body knew how to bend forward. So there's an assumption that everyone knows how to bend at the hips but many don't. As a kid I lost this ability, not sure why. It took specific training to regain my hip hinge.

 

[bounceswoosh]

Ok, this sounds simple but... until I learned to touch my toes and then trained to hip hinge I bent at the waist. It was the only way my body knew how to bend forward. So there's an assumption that everyone knows how to bend at the hips but many don't. As a kid I lost this ability, not sure why. It took specific training to regain my hip hinge.

I think this a distinction I first learned in yoga, many years after I started skiing. I think ski instructors talked about it, but it never clicked for me.

One distinction my instructor made this weekend - he said he hates it when people talk about tilting the hips (this is NOT what skisailor said) - he said you tilt the pelvis, but the hips are joints.

For those of us with an engineering or precise language background, these distinctions are very meaningful - in fact, if someone is cavalier with terms, I start spinning my wheels trying to figure out WTF they are talking about. For others who are looser with language, I think it can be harder to conceptualize the difference.

 

[Abbi]

Ok, this sounds simple but... until I learned to touch my toes and then trained to hip hinge I bent at the waist. It was the only way my body knew how to bend forward. So there's an assumption that everyone knows how to bend at the hips but many don't. As a kid I lost this ability, not sure why. It took specific training to regain my hip hinge.

I just noticed your reference to Gray Cook in your tagline. One of the people I went out of my way to find in CEU seminars when I was keeping my CPT up. When I think hip hinge, I think of the kettlebell swing (and no, one is not supposed to lift the thing!) to activate the lift through what is more or less a hip snap.

I wasn't thinking about that today, but it does make some sense. What ever it was I had a productive day. I got the boots with a bit less heel lift and worked on what I'd started on Friday. Worked well!

I also had an interesting chat with the boot fitter who admitted his boots have a lift in them. We talked about difference in flexibility between the genders, something I am aware of in teaching Pilates.

 

[Obrules15]

Yeah, that's about all the ankles can bend! But I'll keep fussing with it.

Do your boots have enough forward lean angle in the cuff? Yes, you need to bend the boot, but boots are available in different angles.

 

[Abbi]

Do your boots have enough forward lean angle in the cuff? Yes, you need to bend the boot, but boots are available in different angles.

So far the fitter and I think so, but the boots are a work in progress. Just nice not to have my feet ache (neuroma) in two hours!

4.5 hours today with barely any quad burn so the difference in the lift is big for my comfort.

 

[bounceswoosh]

When I think hip hinge, I think of the kettlebell swing (and no, one is not supposed to lift the thing!) to activate the lift through what is more or less a hip snap.

Wait, can I change my answer? Now that I think about it, the ahah moment probably came from kettlebell swings, not yoga!

 

[Skisailor]

Ok, this sounds simple but... until I learned to touch my toes and then trained to hip hinge I bent at the waist. It was the only way my body knew how to bend forward. So there's an assumption that everyone knows how to bend at the hips but many don't. As a kid I lost this ability, not sure why. It took specific training to regain my hip hinge.

Then bend at the waist! The idea is simply to get our body weight over the balls of our feet - just like we do to play most other sports. A helpful cue is that shoulders should be over our toes. It's easiest if we involve the ankles. But if there is an issue with flexing them, we can also bend forward a bit at the hip or the waist to get shoulders over toes (the cue we are using for the actual goal - weight over the balls of our feet).

And as far as ankle range of motion goes: if you stand on a flat surface in bare feet and can flex your ankles so that your lower leg moves say 15-18 degrees from vertical - that's plenty enough for skiing! We don't need super flexible ankles to ski.

The key is to think ankles and hips/waist before knees. The knees will bend some for sure - but over bending the knees is a sure recipe for having our overall weight too far back.

 

[Little Lightning]

I did bend at the waist, now I don't thanks to a personal trainer who taught me the importance of the toe touch and hip hinge.

 

[volklgirl]

Heel lifts seem to help me. Instructors generally say I have good fore/aft balance (with the lifts) - including my current one who's scrutinizing me. I was very suspicious of them, but ... sometimes they help. They also have to be the correct size, which I'm sure is a science in itself.

Me as well. I've tried skiing without heel lifts and I just can't. It's awful. As a corollary, though, I need a 2x6 under my heels when doing squats and dead lifts, also.

Oddly, though, I can fold forward and put palms on the floor with no problem.

 

[Skisailor]

I did bend at the waist, now I don't thanks to a personal trainer who taught me the importance of the toe touch and hip hinge.

That's awesome!

I was just responding to your earlier post and wanting to clarify that even if someone has trouble hinging at the hip, it's still possible to get weight over the balls of the feet by bending at the waist.

 

[bounceswoosh]

Then bend at the waist!

I'm sorry, but this just really does not sound like good advice.

 

[bounceswoosh]

(I posted before I saw the additional posts.)

I can't imagine someone who cannot bend at the hips but can at the waist.