Dryland exercises to fix ingrained bad habits?

[knolan12]

Hi Divas!

I went skiing the other day and all the things that have been plaguing me for years were solved: boots, skis, lowlight conditions, etc etc.

So instead of worrying about my usual stuff, I was able to just ski and then realized I have some ingrained bad habits I need to fix But for a variety of reasons, I only can get out of a handful of times a season so I'm looking for exercises, etc I can do non-skiing to start breaking these habits.

The main one I noticed is that I'm lifting my foot in my boot when I turn. This is probably from skiing in too big of boots for years haha So if I'm turning to the right, I'm lifting my left toes and foot to get the left ski around. It is then is straining the outside of my calf and tiring them out.

Whenever I'd realize what I was doing, I would make a conscious effort to fix it. But I was doing it all.the.time. haha So clearly this is how I've been skiing and I just never realized it haha (and to clarify, my boots are a perfect fit for me now and my heel was locked in etc My foot wasn't sliding around at all in the boot).

I've seen recommendations for kids to stand on pieces of cardboard to teach them how to pizza vs parallel to get them used to the idea. Anything similar to this that you can recommend so next time I go skiing, I'm less likely to do this?

Thanks, Divas!!

 

[Peaheartsmama]

So youre lifting your downhill ski? Sounds like you might not have enough forward pressure if you can lift your skis like that. My instructor, in order to make us feel how hard our shins need to be against the front of our boot - puts a pole down horizontally on the floor/snow and makes us stand on top of it with skis on perpendicularly - such that our top binding is on the pole and the ski tips are off the ground. Then he makes us push our knees forward enough such that we tip/ pivot forward over the pole and the ski tips touch the snow. Its not possible unless you are REALLY forward in your skis - and says thats how it should feel during majority of the turn

 

[Peaheartsmama]

(Its a combination of flexing your ankle and pushing forward with your knees - what you dont want to be doing is bending forward at your waist to shift that weight)

 

[knolan12]

So youre lifting your downhill ski? Sounds like you might not have enough forward pressure if you can lift your skis like that. My instructor, in order to make us feel how hard our shins need to be against the front of our boot - puts a pole down horizontally on the floor/snow and makes us stand on top of it with skis on perpendicularly - such that our top binding is on the pole and the ski tips are off the ground. Then he makes us push our knees forward enough such that we tip/ pivot forward over the pole and the ski tips touch the snow. Its not possible unless you are REALLY forward in your skis - and says thats how it should feel during majority of the turn

I've been told in every single lesson I've taken in the last few years that I stand up really straight haha I'm working on pushing my shins forward, but again, something that is deeply ingrained at this point hahaha

I'll try what your instructor did! I think this is a great thing for me to help build the muscle memory.

 

[Peaheartsmama]

Its so hard to change ingrained habits! I think “standing up” makes sense relative to most of us being too much in the back seat and leaning backwards, or bending forward too much at the waist. Its more of a feeling of being stacked and centered on the ski and feel a forward/more downhill sense of balance over the skis. I think other instructors on here can describe it better than me