Locking out leg on turns

[tika55]

I have always felt that my left and right turns feel different. I finally realized today that I often lock out my right knee when I turn left. When I turn right, my left knee stays bent and relaxed. My right turn is definitely stronger and more reliable in bumps/trees when it really needs to happen. Any insight? I assume my knee should stay bent the whole time?

 

[contesstant]

You should be thinking more about your ankle being flexed and your knee being "soft", but this could also indicate an alignment issue. That being said, try to focus on softening that knee on your left turns while keeping the ankle flexed. I have a habit that I've mostly fixed of locking up on steeper slopes causing my skis to chatter (skip) which if fixed if I focus on just remaining "soft" through the turn.

 

[Pequenita]

I had this habit for years, and it held me back, particularly on steep terrain. Bracing the downhill leg basically makes it very difficult to initiate the next turn because everything above the leg is in the wrong position (weight gets behind, and so on). The knee and ankle generally need to be soft the entire time, as @contesstant wrote, although at some point at a steep enough pitch the downhill leg will be straight-ish.

I spent years very consciously making sure there was pressure on my right boot tongue all the way up to the top of the boot, especially on the easier terrain where you can get away with technical shortcomings like this. Good luck!

 

[tika55]

You should be thinking more about your ankle being flexed and your knee being "soft", but this could also indicate an alignment issue. That being said, try to focus on softening that knee on your left turns while keeping the ankle flexed. I have a habit that I've mostly fixed of locking up on steeper slopes causing my skis to chatter (skip) which if fixed if I focus on just remaining "soft" through the turn.

Can you explain what you mean by an alignment issue?

 

[marzNC]

I have always felt that my left and right turns feel different. I finally realized today that I often lock out my right knee when I turn left. When I turn right, my left knee stays bent and relaxed. My right turn is definitely stronger and more reliable in bumps/trees when it really needs to happen. Any insight? I assume my knee should stay bent the whole time?

I know exactly what you are talking about.

After I had lessons regularly starting a dozen years ago, I managed to become a low advanced skier. It became obvious that I needed to deal with the bad habits of my left leg to progress further. I'm very right-dominant. When the left ski is the inside ski, it needs to "lead" but what my left leg wanted to do was "follow."

After a few semi-private lessons at my home hill (northern VA) and with my Alta instructor over a few years, what it came down to was becoming aware of the difference between my right and left hip movement. Also helped to work on hip mobility on both sides. That's always been completely different.

When I stand still in daily life, my left knee automatically locks so that the leg muscles don't have to do any work. The difference in leg strength and 1-leg balance ability was very obvious during PT for a right knee injury (not related to skiing). Working on 1-leg balance for both legs is an on-going process all year long.

Have you ever done the Pencil drill? Also called the Flamingo by some instructors.

 

[contesstant]

Can you explain what you mean by an alignment issue?

Sorry I always assume people know the lingo! Your boots might need some cuff alignment, fore/aft alignment, or even canting done. Fore/aft comes first, and boy does it have an impact! Once that is dialed in, the lateral alignment can start to be worked on. Binding delta (how high the heel is compared to the toe) can have a massive impact on fore/aft alignment particularly if you are in smaller boot (say, 23.5 or smaller.)

 

[tika55]

Sorry I always assume people know the lingo! Your boots might need some cuff alignment, fore/aft alignment, or even canting done. Fore/aft comes first, and boy does it have an impact! Once that is dialed in, the lateral alignment can start to be worked on. Binding delta (how high the heel is compared to the toe) can have a massive impact on fore/aft alignment particularly if you are in smaller boot (say, 23.5 or smaller.)

Thank you!! Would a good bootfitter be able to identify this by looking at the boot or do I need to figure it out?

 

[HuntersEmma57]

You should be thinking more about your ankle being flexed and your knee being "soft", but this could also indicate an alignment issue. That being said, try to focus on softening that knee on your left turns while keeping the ankle flexed. I have a habit that I've mostly fixed of locking up on steeper slopes causing my skis to chatter (skip) which if fixed if I focus on just remaining "soft" through the turn.

What @contesstant said.
Awareness is more than half the battle. This was something I still work on as I can relapse when I get uncomforable on steeper "imperfect conditions" terrain. I think of it as putting on the Fred Flintstone brakes -- stiffening up that downhill leg and always on my right turn. I found it helps to slow down just a bit to be able to soften that shock absorbing knee, and then make sure I'm completing turns, breathing, and trusting the skis to do their work. And yes, boot fitting can address a litany of maladaptations. But as I already have a wonderful custom boots, mine is a fear-based habit.

 

[contesstant]

Thank you!! Would a good bootfitter be able to identify this by looking at the boot or do I need to figure it out?

A competent fitter can identify alignment issues, yes. They should be able to check the cuff alignment first--this is done without the liner but with the footbed where you stand in the boot and they inspect where your tibia is hitting the front of the boot. You tibia should line up smack in the center of the cuff through a flexing motion. Most boots have an option to tip the cuff in or out to align with your tibia. This is a very simple parameter to change and can actually have a big impact. https://skiracing.com/your-straightforward-guide-to-boot-cuff-alignment/

After that, it gets more complicated. This video dives into some of the more nuanced stuff:

 

[snoWYmonkey]

Please know that almost all skiers will struggle to create evenness from turn to turn because of an innate discrepancy between the dominant side of our body and the less dominant side of our body. Just as most right-handed people would instinctively use that hand to grab something that's thrown at us, we tend to be more precise and deliberate with our right foot and leg. As mentioned above, just having the awareness of the difference goes a long way to helping us make sure that we try to achieve similar movements on both sides of our body. Training in a gym to develop precision and Agility with our left leg and foot can help a lot. On snow, you can work on that skill but always turning right to make a hockey stop and trying to do things more actively with that left leg where you want a little more knee flexion through the finish of the turn. It makes total sense that we would be less inclined to feel comfortable standing on a relaxed leg in steeps as it takes Trust, trust we may not have developed for the leg in question. Also as mentioned above, there can be some pretty significant differences in foot and leg morphology as a result of how you use one side more or less than the other of your body. For example, my right foot is more muscular and wider whereas the left one is narrower but more elongated probably as a result of standing on it more often while doing precise movements with my right foot off snow.

 

[HuntersEmma57]

Please know that almost all skiers will struggle to create evenness from turn to turn because of an innate discrepancy between the dominant side of our body and the less dominant side of our body. Just as most right-handed people would instinctively use that hand to grab something that's thrown at us, we tend to be more precise and deliberate with our right foot and leg. As mentioned above, just having the awareness of the difference goes a long way to helping us make sure that we try to achieve similar movements on both sides of our body. Training in a gym to develop precision and Agility with our left leg and foot can help a lot. On snow, you can work on that skill but always turning right to make a hockey stop and trying to do things more actively with that left leg where you want a little more knee flexion through the finish of the turn. It makes total sense that we would be less inclined to feel comfortable standing on a relaxed leg in steeps as it takes Trust, trust we may not have developed for the leg in question. Also as mentioned above, there can be some pretty significant differences in foot and leg morphology as a result of how you use one side more or less than the other of your body. For example, my right foot is more muscular and wider whereas the left one is narrower but more elongated probably as a result of standing on it more often while doing precise movements with my right foot off snow.

Or for us lefties, just the opposite. :-)

 

[MissySki]

Strangely.. I am right hand and upper body dominant… but have found with my trainer that on my lower body I am the opposite and my left side is stronger. This jives with what I have always found athletically since I was a child. I always felt more comfortable doing cart wheels to the opposite side of everyone in gymnastics class (stepping with left foot versus right), my splits with left leg forward were way easier (not sure I can actually do that anymore, now I’m curious lol), etc. And now my turn where the left leg is downhill is also my stronger and feels most natural when skiing. Not sure why this all is, except that I did have a surgery on my right knee at 3 years old for a very serious infection in the joint. So I’m not sure if that has anything to do with it anatomically.

 

[tika55]

Strangely.. I am right hand and upper body dominant… but have found with my trainer that on my lower body I am the opposite and my left side is stronger. This jives with what I have always found athletically since I was a child. I always felt more comfortable doing cart wheels to the opposite side of everyone in gymnastics class (stepping with left foot versus right), my splits with left leg forward were way easier (not sure I can actually do that anymore, now I’m curious lol), etc. And now my turn where the left leg is downhill is also my stronger and feels most natural when skiing. Not sure why this all is, except that I did have a surgery on my right knee at 3 years old for a very serious infection in the joint. So I’m not sure if that has anything to do with it anatomically.

Same! But no injuries. Turning with my left foot downhill feels so much more natural and stronger.

 

[snoWYmonkey]

@MissySki for most right foot dominant people the left leg is stronger as it is the one we stand on to execute precise movement with the agile right leg. Do you mean the outside leg being the left? I assume you mean the downhill leg at the end of a turn, but maybe not? If so it would flow with the idea of finding easier to release the new inside, right, leg/edge as it requires a lot more brain focus than when the inside leg is the left leg for righties. Please note that I am generalizing in a very big way as some skiers find that their stronger turn can switch sides over time. I mostly want to acknowledge that for many of us it takes a lot more brain power to execute a fluid turn to one side than the other and that, while frustrating, it makes sense when I look at the possible reasons why.

 

[mustski]

It is also fairly common to be right side dominant with fine motor skills and left side dominant with gross motor skills - and vice versa. I found that pretty often with theater kids. It was fairly obvious during spins and stage turns, Falls, etc.

The solution was always to practice - turning, spinning, falling the other way and balance excercises on the “bad” leg.

Practicing stopping to the right is a good idea, but I would also check boot alignment and canting for sure.

 

[MissySki]

@MissySki for most right foot dominant people the left leg is stronger as it is the one we stand on to execute precise movement with the agile right leg. Do you mean the outside leg being the left? I assume you mean the downhill leg at the end of a turn, but maybe not? If so it would flow with the idea of finding easier to release the new inside, right, leg/edge as it requires a lot more brain focus than when the inside leg is the left leg for righties. Please note that I am generalizing in a very big way as some skiers find that their stronger turn can switch sides over time. I mostly want to acknowledge that for many of us it takes a lot more brain power to execute a fluid turn to one side than the other and that, while frustrating, it makes sense when I look at the possible reasons why.

That is super interesting, I hadn’t thought about it in that way. Makes sense!

 

[Iwannaski]

on my first day I definitely noticed bracing when my left leg was the outside leg (downhill at turn end, inside edge engaged) …. My left foot is the foot I call “stupid foot” when it comes to one legged exercises, it struggles a lot. so, I did something I read here a while ago and ignored my left foot and focused on really tipping my right ski while staying balanced. And it worked and evened out my turns…. so, maybe worth thinking about if one foot is the “challenge” let the other (likely dominant) foot be the focus for just a little bit to break the “bad” pattern.

 

[tika55]

on my first day I definitely noticed bracing when my left leg was the outside leg (downhill at turn end, inside edge engaged) …. My left foot is the foot I call “stupid foot” when it comes to one legged exercises, it struggles a lot. so, I did something I read here a while ago and ignored my left foot and focused on really tipping my right ski while staying balanced. And it worked and evened out my turns…. so, maybe worth thinking about if one foot is the “challenge” let the other (likely dominant) foot be the focus for just a little bit to break the “bad” pattern.

Like this idea! Thanks!