Is Your Alignment Holding You Back?

We are currently coaching five-day Harb Ski Camps.

So my mind is racing with ski improvement thoughts to share with you.

The last few weeks has reinforced the value of working with skiers' alignments, understanding and movements.

This month I'll look at some glaring alignment issues, which I see day after day after day after day here on the slopes.

So what is 'ideal' skiing alignment?

Simply stated. Ideal skiing alignment is the ability to stand on one ski in balance. When aligned your muscles are in harmony and it is easy to stand on one ski.

If you are misaligned, you need to recruit additional muscles to stand on one ski.

Through tailoring ski equipment, we can align skiers and free up these muscles, so these muscles can be recruited to ski well, rather than maintain balance.

Around 80% of skiers are misaligned.

The numbers we have skied with so far this season continue to support the 80/20 rule.

For example, Paul an accountant from Sydney is blessed with excellent alignment. Although we did build Paul a footbed to help stabilise his arch and foot from rolling in toward his big-toe-edge, so he is now A1 alignment wise.

So what about the rest the 'misaligned' group!

To be fair, many of our Harb Ski Campers come to us after reading chapter 12 on alignment of Anyone can be an Expert Skier - The New Way to Ski.

Or after visiting the Harb website (http://www.harbskisystems.com/) or are referred to us by other instructors for alignment and ski coaching.

The mother of all misalignments - Being knocked kneed

Skiers who are knocked kneed find their big-toe-edges dominate and often, their knees continue to track in further to their big toes when trying to balance on one ski.

This means they have to recruit many additional muscles in an attempt to stand on one ski.

Before I met Harald Harb in Aspen in 1997, I suffered from being knocked kneed, so this subject is very close to home.

Harald was the first person to ever identify and mention this to me.

Finally, after working in many Ski Schools around the world, looking for answers to my lack of skiing progress and sore knees, I had found the solution to unlock my skiing.

The amazing thing for me was Harald was able to re align my equipment and therefore me in just a few days, for which I remain eternally grateful.

Now there are various levels of misalignment.

Some of the symptoms of being knocked kneed to look out for are:

Wide stance with a-frame of lower legs
Difficulty riding the t-bar!
Difficulty balancing on the uphill little to edge - a must for short radius turns.
Difficulty making turns on one ski - blue to black progression requires the ability to ski on one ski.
Difficulty releasing the ski - rolling from big-toe-edge to flat of stance ski to begin a new turn. Inside ski getting caught on it's big-toe-edge making it difficult to ski parallel. One turn is better than the other.
Sore knees.
Skiing with pain.
Sore back muscles in the morning form skiing.

When you consider more than 60% of skiers are knocked kneed, it amazes me how resilient you lot are, given the daily challenges you face when you click into your bindings.

The Cow Boy Syndrome - Bowlegged misalignment.

Skiers who are bowlegged find their little-toe-edges dominate.

Often their edge performance comes later than ideal in the turn. Bowlegged skiers are often forced to make compensatory moves to accommodate for this. Bow legged skiers suffer from many of the same symptoms knocked kneed skiers do.

And finally for all you racers out there.

It surprises me to see racers prepare for competition.

They spend hours preparing their skis. What they don't realise is the wrong wax may cost them a few tenths of a second. However, selecting the wrong ski boot will cost up to two seconds.

And being misaligned in the start gate will cost another couple of seconds, at least.

So what is the solution?

Determine what your indoor alignment is
Determine what your on snow dynamic alignment is
Select the right ski equipment to suit your alignment requirements
Tailor your equipment further so it is easy to balance on one ski
Detune your old compensatory misalignment movements and tune up efficient ski movements

The end result will be skiing with less effort and more success.

Article brought to you by ex-ski coach now peak performance life coach Peter Stone from www.peak-performance-coaching.com.au. Visit us for free resources on how to live a rich and fulfilling life with all the energy, time and money you need to do what you want!