In this clip, we look at how we can use the Ankle joint to help flex and extend the lower leg to create actions and allow us to make reactions in all aspects of skiing.
This video is pretty good and makes some good points. However, not all skiers should have a moulded footbed in their boots as is stated in this video. For some people, moulded footbeds are not needed and in fact can cause problems.
There is one very important missing point of this video. There are two ways how you can flex your ankle joint. 1. Move your body forwards over the skis, closer to the ski-tips and put more of your body-weight on the tongues of the boots. This should happen during the first part of all ski-turns (inward steering, increasing pressures on the skis). 2. Dorsal flexion of the feet. You press your feet upwards in the boot. This works during the end of the turns (during the transition). You unload the skis from the pressures, flex your knees, the body moves backwards over the skis and you keep the ankle flex by pressing your feet upwards in the boots. This is a combination of having the body over the ski-tails and having a good ankle flex at the same time. From this body/ankle position it is easy to start the new turn. All racers and all good carving skiers do the dorsal flexion but they are not really aware of it. It happens automatically.
Do you think a lot of people are skiing boots that are too stiff for their ability and ski-specific strength? There seems a marketing influenced perception that "stiffer = better".
I agree with you 100%. Many people's boots are too stiff for recreational skiing. Stiff boots are used by racers because as soon as they need pressure on the skis they want it there immediately, they don't want the slack to be taken up by the boots flexing. In addition, because of there speed they are generation much greater forces than say a recreational skier and so they need stiffer boots. So stiffer doesn't mean better. Better is whatever flex rating is appropriate for your weight, power, ability and the type of skiing you normally do. Therefore, for most people, soft or medium flex would be more suitable.
Quick questions please -- when i ankle flex - my heel slightly raises from the boot - is this ok - or should the whole foot remain flat as far as possible. Also should the two ankle straps be tightened rigid - as when looser allow easier ankle flex -- thanks in advance
Hi Warren Ski Academy, I am 170 cm/72kg. I want to progress in to steeper freeride slopes, rough terrain, bumps, , but I ride piste too. What boots stiffness would you recommend for me?
Hi Ken, we would assume from your height and weight that a 120 would be sufficient. If you are able to flex the boots with minimal speed or even stationary on a cold day we would expect them to be fine.
hi there, i need help for clarification, I am confused when it was mentioned Ankle joint flex, because it is really hard to Dorsiflex (toes pointing up) and Plantarflex (toes pointing down) with the boots on, but it is doable to ankle dorsiflex when we flex the knee and plantarflex when we extend the knee, in the video there is always knee movement to achieve ankle movement, so my question is it is really the ankle movement we need to focus or the knee movement? thanks.
wavewaker2 - you ask a good question. In order to dorsiflex the ankle correctly for skiing you need to bend at the ankle, knee and the hips which could be termed the 3 skiing joints. I think of it like relaxing those joints and allowing the weight of your body to bend those joints a bit like a concertina. If they are relaxed but at the same time 'ready for action' then it allows the skier to ski dynamically.
I find it confusing also, but it it seems to me to be an overly complicated solution. To answer your question about the focus, think first about skiing with your feet but not about pointing your toes up nor down. Simply initiate flexion/extension movements with your ankles and allow the knees to follow. This order of prioritization will help you keep your base of support ( that's your feet) aligned under your center of mass. The body will tend to move forward or backward automatically to adjust this alignment. If you can get comfortable staying centered, you can play with moving pressure fore or aft toward the tips and tails of the skis and see how it affects turn shape. I make it a game.
Do you really believe that the rigid boots are the main reason to the inability to ankle flexing? I am convinced that there is something else . All beginners i have met lack of ankle flex even if they have soft boots. The real problem according to me is the steering method of the skies. All beginners lean backwards because they are afraid of leaning the body forwards. The unconscious mind is frightened letting the body lean forwards, it believes that leaning forwards will increase the speed. It works out like this in a normal situation, but skiing is different. So even if the instructor tells the client to lean forwards it will just not happen. In my belief this is the most important issue for a beginner and intermediate skier. When you lean forwards the body pulls the boots and the skies after itself. When you lean backwards the body pushes the boots ahead of itself. When the body is perpendicular to the surface, the skier cannot steer the skies. The ankle flex is just a way of fixing the front seat steering of the skies by putting the body ahead of the boots. It is essential to have a front seat steering at the beginning of each turn. The rigidity of the boots and the bio-mechanic aspects are interesting but are much less important. Even I had this issue for many years. No instructors could help me with it. So I had to start thinking by myself.
You make a good point and fundamentally I agree. But you should not lean forward when you ski. Many instructors will tell their students to lean forward, but what they actually mean is not to lean back. Leaning forward is actually worse than leaning back - try it and you will see. A good skier balances over the whole of his/her foot with the weight going from the ball of the foot to towards the heel. It is not a fixed position, it is constantly moving in the same way as when you walk, run etc. I believe that many people try to lean forward because they are told to but because it is wrong and worse than leaning back they cannot maintain the position. However, I agree 100% that the main reason why people don't bend their ankles is because of fear. Their legs stiffen to brace against the forces in an effort to slow down. Every skier shown in this video who isn't flexing their ankles is doing so because they are tense through fear.
@@inquistive Good comments. This one is new for me and I like it a lot. "Many instructors will tell their students to lean forward, but what they actually mean is not to lean back."
@@trouts4444 thank you. If you think about this logically it makes sense because if you lean back you are only using the backs of the skis. And it therefore follows, if you lean forward you are only using the fronts of the skis. What you should be doing is using the whole of the ski. In addition, leaning back or forwards means you are not in balance whereas you are if you stand on the whole foot. With regards to ankle flex etc., you should flex at the hips, knees and ankles. Unless you flex at all 3 of those joints you will not be dynamically balanced. The best way I have found to explain or achieve this is to relax on to the skis and making sure that you are balanced over the whole foot.
Furthy Thirtyfour yeah but it is still ok to lean forward when trying to initiate a new curve right? So end of old turn we lean forward and change the weight from old outside to new outside and the we go back to our balanced and “relaxed” position if i understood correctly. If not then how are we supposed to turn
@@walid2011_ I understand your point and I cannot say that it is incorrect but I would prefer to say that at the start of the turn for initiation you should make a forwards, upwards and inwards movement which would put more weight towards the front of the ski. I think this is a more accurate way to describe it rather than saying lean forward.
I am sorry to say that I don't agree with some of this video. Why? I will explain: We can assume that there is no doubt that all of the people shown in the video can walk perfectly well in normal shoes. When walking, every time they make a step, they bend (flex) their ankles at least as far as will ever be required to be an advanced skier. The reason they are not doing it in this video is because they are scared. Whenever someone gets scared they tense up, it is just a natural reaction. To suggest that the problem is they lack enough movement in their ankles is therefore incorrect. This video strongly suggests that if they had ski boots fitted by an expert boot fitter, their problem would be solved; this is also not correct, because the ski boots are not the problem. The video suggests that it was because they have/had rental boots. This again is perhaps not correct, as most rental boots are not that stiff. The video also states that people need a properly fitted orthotic foot bed, again this is not necessarily correct as everyone is different (my boots were fitted by the boot fitter for the Austrian ski team and he said I would be worse off with foot beds, as indeed had been proven to me by the fact that previously I always had to remove the specially fitted orthotics from my boots because they were killing me!), but either way, lack of orthotics are not the reason why these people were not flexing enough at the ankles. The video is correct when it says that most of such people learnt to ski in their first skiing week with their ankles very stiff. Again this is because they were scared and so too tense. They were indeed let down by their first week instructor who may not have been able to stop them being scared but he/she could have at least explained to them the importance of relaxing and therefore flexing at the ankles so as they became less anxious they could begin to relax and so bend the ankles correctly. In short, if you want to learn how to flex your ankles correctly whilst skiing, find a nicely groomed ski run in good visibility, that is not too busy and where you feel completely at ease and confident and then try to ski relaxed in your legs, particularly your lower legs. As you ski along, keep monitoring your legs to make sure they still feel relaxed. If they tense up, then stop and start again. What you are trying to do, is to teach your brain that it is ok to ski relaxed. Once your brain realises that skiing that way is ok, and in fact is better than the old way, it will allow you to continue. If you can do this, even for say 50m, you will immediately realise that you are doing it correct because it will feel sooooooo much better - trust me I have been there! Once you recognise what feels correct then you can work on feeling that way no matter what the conditions and/or the steepness are like - that may take time, but to begin you just need to feel it over say 50m. PS I should say that in fairness to Warren Smith, at least he addresses the issue of ankle flex, which is a subject that most ski instructors don't go near, so well done to him.
Great video - the biomechanics of skiing is an area often neglected in ski instruction. If stance and posture are wrong, the efficient skiing movements can't take place. Likewise, boot type and set up have a great influence on performance. Some good tips and advice, thanks for posting.
This video is pretty good and makes some good points. However, not all skiers should have a moulded footbed in their boots as is stated in this video. For some people, moulded footbeds are not needed and in fact can cause problems.
Great demonstrations but would be nice with audio instead of reading so you can concentrate on the movements instead of reading
There is one very important missing point of this video.
There are two ways how you can flex your ankle joint.
1. Move your body forwards over the skis, closer to the ski-tips and put more of your body-weight on the tongues of the boots. This should happen during the first part of all ski-turns (inward steering, increasing pressures on the skis).
2. Dorsal flexion of the feet. You press your feet upwards in the boot. This works during the end of the turns (during the transition). You unload the skis from the pressures, flex your knees, the body moves backwards over the skis and you keep the ankle flex by pressing your feet upwards in the boots. This is a combination of having the body over the ski-tails and having a good ankle flex at the same time. From this body/ankle position it is easy to start the new turn.
All racers and all good carving skiers do the dorsal flexion but they are not really aware of it. It happens automatically.
Do you think a lot of people are skiing boots that are too stiff for their ability and ski-specific strength? There seems a marketing influenced perception that "stiffer = better".
I agree with you 100%. Many people's boots are too stiff for recreational skiing. Stiff boots are used by racers because as soon as they need pressure on the skis they want it there immediately, they don't want the slack to be taken up by the boots flexing. In addition, because of there speed they are generation much greater forces than say a recreational skier and so they need stiffer boots.
So stiffer doesn't mean better. Better is whatever flex rating is appropriate for your weight, power, ability and the type of skiing you normally do. Therefore, for most people, soft or medium flex would be more suitable.
Quick questions please -- when i ankle flex - my heel slightly raises from the boot - is this ok - or should the whole foot remain flat as far as possible. Also should the two ankle straps be tightened rigid - as when looser allow easier ankle flex -- thanks in advance
Hi Warren Ski Academy, I am 170 cm/72kg. I want to progress in to steeper freeride slopes, rough terrain, bumps, , but I ride piste too. What boots stiffness would you recommend for me?
Well described
Great
So I’m using a pair of Dalbello 120s, should I be using 100s or even 90s? I’m 115kg and 187cm.
Hi Ken, we would assume from your height and weight that a 120 would be sufficient. If you are able to flex the boots with minimal speed or even stationary on a cold day we would expect them to be fine.
Warren Smith Ski Academy thanks for that guys. So I guess I have to work on my basic hip, knee and ankle flexibility this autumn.
hi there, i need help for clarification, I am confused when it was mentioned Ankle joint flex, because it is really hard to Dorsiflex (toes pointing up) and Plantarflex (toes pointing down) with the boots on, but it is doable to ankle dorsiflex when we flex the knee and plantarflex when we extend the knee, in the video there is always knee movement to achieve ankle movement, so my question is it is really the ankle movement we need to focus or the knee movement? thanks.
wavewaker2 - you ask a good question. In order to dorsiflex the ankle correctly for skiing you need to bend at the ankle, knee and the hips which could be termed the 3 skiing joints. I think of it like relaxing those joints and allowing the weight of your body to bend those joints a bit like a concertina. If they are relaxed but at the same time 'ready for action' then it allows the skier to ski dynamically.
I find it confusing also, but it it seems to me to be an overly complicated solution. To answer your question about the focus, think first about skiing with your feet but not about pointing your toes up nor down. Simply initiate flexion/extension movements with your ankles and allow the knees to follow. This order of prioritization will help you keep your base of support ( that's your feet) aligned under your center of mass. The body will tend to move forward or backward automatically to adjust this alignment. If you can get comfortable staying centered, you can play with moving pressure fore or aft toward the tips and tails of the skis and see how it affects turn shape. I make it a game.
I do focus only on ankle flexion, and knee flexion just comes naturally with that
Do you really believe that the rigid boots are the main reason to the inability to ankle flexing?
I am convinced that there is something else . All beginners i have met lack of ankle flex even if they have soft boots. The real problem according to me is the steering method of the skies. All beginners lean backwards because they are afraid of leaning the body forwards. The unconscious mind is frightened letting the body lean forwards, it believes that leaning forwards will increase the speed. It works out like this in a normal situation, but skiing is different.
So even if the instructor tells the client to lean forwards it will just not happen. In my belief this is the most important issue for a beginner and intermediate skier.
When you lean forwards the body pulls the boots and the skies after itself. When you lean backwards the body pushes the boots ahead of itself. When the body is perpendicular to the surface, the skier cannot steer the skies. The ankle flex is just a way of fixing the front seat steering of the skies by putting the body ahead of the boots. It is essential to have a front seat steering at the beginning of each turn.
The rigidity of the boots and the bio-mechanic aspects are interesting but are much less important.
Even I had this issue for many years. No instructors could help me with it. So I had to start thinking by myself.
You make a good point and fundamentally I agree. But you should not lean forward when you ski. Many instructors will tell their students to lean forward, but what they actually mean is not to lean back. Leaning forward is actually worse than leaning back - try it and you will see. A good skier balances over the whole of his/her foot with the weight going from the ball of the foot to towards the heel. It is not a fixed position, it is constantly moving in the same way as when you walk, run etc.
I believe that many people try to lean forward because they are told to but because it is wrong and worse than leaning back they cannot maintain the position.
However, I agree 100% that the main reason why people don't bend their ankles is because of fear. Their legs stiffen to brace against the forces in an effort to slow down. Every skier shown in this video who isn't flexing their ankles is doing so because they are tense through fear.
@@inquistive Good comments. This one is new for me and I like it a lot. "Many instructors will tell their students to lean forward, but what they actually mean is not to lean back."
@@trouts4444 thank you. If you think about this logically it makes sense because if you lean back you are only using the backs of the skis. And it therefore follows, if you lean forward you are only using the fronts of the skis. What you should be doing is using the whole of the ski. In addition, leaning back or forwards means you are not in balance whereas you are if you stand on the whole foot.
With regards to ankle flex etc., you should flex at the hips, knees and ankles. Unless you flex at all 3 of those joints you will not be dynamically balanced. The best way I have found to explain or achieve this is to relax on to the skis and making sure that you are balanced over the whole foot.
Furthy Thirtyfour yeah but it is still ok to lean forward when trying to initiate a new curve right? So end of old turn we lean forward and change the weight from old outside to new outside and the we go back to our balanced and “relaxed” position if i understood correctly. If not then how are we supposed to turn
@@walid2011_ I understand your point and I cannot say that it is incorrect but I would prefer to say that at the start of the turn for initiation you should make a forwards, upwards and inwards movement which would put more weight towards the front of the ski. I think this is a more accurate way to describe it rather than saying lean forward.
I am sorry to say that I don't agree with some of this video. Why? I will explain: We can assume that there is no doubt that all of the people shown in the video can walk perfectly well in normal shoes. When walking, every time they make a step, they bend (flex) their ankles at least as far as will ever be required to be an advanced skier. The reason they are not doing it in this video is because they are scared. Whenever someone gets scared they tense up, it is just a natural reaction. To suggest that the problem is they lack enough movement in their ankles is therefore incorrect.
This video strongly suggests that if they had ski boots fitted by an expert boot fitter, their problem would be solved; this is also not correct, because the ski boots are not the problem.
The video suggests that it was because they have/had rental boots. This again is perhaps not correct, as most rental boots are not that stiff. The video also states that people need a properly fitted orthotic foot bed, again this is not necessarily correct as everyone is different (my boots were fitted by the boot fitter for the Austrian ski team and he said I would be worse off with foot beds, as indeed had been proven to me by the fact that previously I always had to remove the specially fitted orthotics from my boots because they were killing me!), but either way, lack of orthotics are not the reason why these people were not flexing enough at the ankles.
The video is correct when it says that most of such people learnt to ski in their first skiing week with their ankles very stiff. Again this is because they were scared and so too tense. They were indeed let down by their first week instructor who may not have been able to stop them being scared but he/she could have at least explained to them the importance of relaxing and therefore flexing at the ankles so as they became less anxious they could begin to relax and so bend the ankles correctly.
In short, if you want to learn how to flex your ankles correctly whilst skiing, find a nicely groomed ski run in good visibility, that is not too busy and where you feel completely at ease and confident and then try to ski relaxed in your legs, particularly your lower legs. As you ski along, keep monitoring your legs to make sure they still feel relaxed. If they tense up, then stop and start again. What you are trying to do, is to teach your brain that it is ok to ski relaxed. Once your brain realises that skiing that way is ok, and in fact is better than the old way, it will allow you to continue. If you can do this, even for say 50m, you will immediately realise that you are doing it correct because it will feel sooooooo much better - trust me I have been there! Once you recognise what feels correct then you can work on feeling that way no matter what the conditions and/or the steepness are like - that may take time, but to begin you just need to feel it over say 50m.
PS I should say that in fairness to Warren Smith, at least he addresses the issue of ankle flex, which is a subject that most ski instructors don't go near, so well done to him.
Wow, very helpful and professional video. Thanks a lot!
Great video - the biomechanics of skiing is an area often neglected in ski instruction. If stance and posture are wrong, the efficient skiing movements can't take place. Likewise, boot type and set up have a great influence on performance. Some good tips and advice, thanks for posting.