Balancing with the hips

To continue our discussion on balance, I wanted to make sure we covered the issue of “hip balancing” which is a natural as well as an instinctive attitude among beginner skiers, and if not cured can stay with the individual for a life time. Remember that travel distance between brain and joints can be significant; and in the case of a sport as counterintuitive as skiing, the brain tends to order the closest joint to execute an urgent job. Balancing is one of these situations. Just observe young kids or even adults who begin skiing: They balance themselves by flexing the upper body. This has for effect to stiffen both their knees and ankles, making their balancing with the upper body quite slow, imprecise, uncomfortable and inefficient. This is totally typical and shows the need for moving that balancing function down to the ankles. When this becomes second-nature, all other joints are free to accompany the ankles in their work and act as efficient shock absorbers. In an upcoming discussion we’ll discover how we can best train our ankles to take over our skiing lives and bring bliss into what should be our favorite on-snow activity.