Skills and drills for successful mogul skiing

all right so I did a mogul video tactics where we're turning this particular video let's talk about movements really focusing on our pressure movements some absorption movements and talking about some of our steering and turning movements alright so I'm going to take my boot off so that I can really emphasize what's happening with my ankle okay I took my boot off I'm going to keep it right here for a little safekeeping I want to emphasize the ankle joint and the muscles deep down in our boots that can work our foot a lot of ankle and foot articulation when we're in the moguls one there's going to be times when you want to work your ski tips down the backside of a bump that's gonna come out of your ankle it's gonna come out of your knees but also your ankle look at how much I'm working that ankle literally your ankle in your boot is not going to work that much but you have to have that intention to try to work that foot also for steering look at my foot how much my foot how much steering action I can have in my lower leg out of my foot for the little J turn at the back side bottom of the Mogul to control our speed if you're going a little too fast you want to turn up the hill just a little bit so you don't get going too fast before you start your next turn that's coming out of the foot bang look at that steering action down in your booth and it's not a heel push it's not my leg it's not a heel push I want to stress to you all that I believe my superpower when I'm skiing happens down in my boots what I do with my ankles and my feet is invisible to all of you my pressure management foot to foot and how I'm articulating my foot and my ankle within my boot let's talk a little all right we got to be able to absorb those moguls those moguls are going to press up on our feet and we allow that and not only do we allow the mogul to press up on our feet we're gonna help that with our hip flexors and with our muscles boom absorb that bump imagine we're biking and maybe you have clips on your you're biking shoes and you pull up on a bike pedal or maybe you're using a Stairmaster at the gym both feet are in contact with the Stairmaster but one of those legs get shorter hip flexors are involved with moguls both legs are going to absorb absorb absorb absorb absorb so I'm going to do a drill and I'm going to traverse across the bumps and I'm going to have to actively engage my hip flexors and absorb these muscles the absorb these moguls absorb absorb absorb absorb absorb absorb absorb that is a weird word you could say it retract okay but we are taken in those legs taken in those knees now there's so many different lines and moguls I did a video on skiing out to the neighboring bumps so you can be more on your bases and smear the turn more I love that line that lines not for everybody nor is that line for every situation and even when you do focus on that line you have to at a moment's notice go over a bump and actively absorb you have to be able to adjust that line now let's talk about more steering and more turning in the bumps okay so earlier when I had my boot off I showed how much I'm articulating my lower leg and my foot from my knee down so I'm gonna do a falling leaf exercise the way I do falling leaf I think there's a lot of ways to do a falling leaf exercise but I'm going to demonstrate right now and I'm really emphasizing and highlighting the steering of the lower leg and the foot for that little bit of a j-turn that I was talking about for your speed control at the end of the turn in your moguls before you start your new turn steer your toes up the hill all the way let yourself go backwards steer the toes up the hill let yourself go backwards sweep the ski tips back down the mountain good upper body control my upper body is not following my feet my toes points up the hill and then sweep back down the hill my lower body is going to steer up hill my upper body stays down the hill lower body steers my lower body turns up they'll you don't have high edge angle so that we can steer our skis the same way when we're in bumps have to be able to articulate our feet steer the lower leg short radius turns on the groomer and mix up the rhythm a little bit you need to be able to mix up rhythm in the bump you got to be able to do this on a steep pitch with short radius turns before you move into the moguls so active foot to foot active leg steering okay if you can't make controlled turns on the groomers you won't have a prayer to make them in the bumps so we practice our controlled turn and the groomers and now we can be real steer e bringing it all together I'm finding the neighboring bump actively steering so remember I've said skiing moguls takes versatility there's not one way ever to go about it you have to have all sorts of tools in your toolbox different lines different approaches I just not mentioned foot to foot skiing on the groomer finding your new foot good ankle flexion balance with that foot so you can steer and shape the top of your turn so you don't have heavy pressure at the end distributing the pressure throughout the entire turn that idea works with the tactic of finding your neighboring bump and its foot to foot skiing it's not always going to work because there's some times you have to absorb with both legs the bump but different ways to go about it foot the foot skin all right if you have longer bumps maybe you're gonna make a turn or two on top of the bump that's another playful way to go about it neighboring bombs a couple turns on top of the bomb I know I know I need to shorten my poles my poles are too long you see when I plant and my hands have extra movement okay I need to shorten my poles my favorite poles from the 80s I'll take care of that later but when poles are too long it does affect your triangle of power I talked about the triangle of power nut in another video you got your hands here in front and your belly button and this is your triangle of power so that your legs can move your legs can absorb and so your legs can steer bumps all about versatility all right it is absorption it is steering it is tactics it's bringing it all together we practice a lot of that on the groomers okay let's try to bring it all together but it is you it is your engagement with your muscles your skis aren't going to do it for you the moguls aren't going to do it for you you're actively absorbing with those hip flexors you're actively steering with your legs and that lower foot you're keeping that ankle engagement and your balance over your feet there's a lot going on when we're skiing bumps

Channel: Deb Armstrong

Views: 95,987

Rating: 4.8977356 out of 5

Keywords: how to ski moguls, how to ski bumps, bump skiing, bumps, mogul skiing, moguls, skills for skiing the moguls, Deb Armstrong skiing, Debbie Armstrong, Debbie Armstrong Olympic Gold Medalist, PSIA, learning to ski the moguls, ski instruction, Steamboat ski instructor, falling leaf, ski drills, skiing drills, absorption for bumps skiing, absorbing bumps, absorbing moguls, hip flexors

Id: _yKez2M5G4w

Length: 9min 37sec (577 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 09 2020