An Easier Way to Make a Wedge

Challenge to ski instructors:  Now that most of us are back on the snow for the 2011-2012 season, let’s bump up our game so that the new crop of never-ever skiers will have a successful time in their learn-to-ski lesson.

Let’s change the way we teach a wedge turn.  The conventional wedge uses our outside leg to initiate the turn:  our left leg/ski turns right, so we turn right; our right leg/ski turns left to make a left turn.  Most of the time this works well for our students.  After all, it is skiing’s most basic rotary movement.  Except for one minor point . . .

If the learning hill is too steep, or the student is going too fast, or their muscle strength isn’t up to par, the student opens that wedge so wide it may as well be the wing span of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.  An exaggeration maybe, but we all know that this huge wedge is awkward, exhausting, and completely ineffective.  Plus it also jams up the uphill leg so that our never-ever skier is contorted like a pretzel.

An easier way to make a wedge. Use the inside leg to initiate the turn.  Your student turns the left leg/ski to turn left, and the right leg/ski to turn right.  And no trying to remember opposite sides of the body here either.  Plus the skier’s body aligns itself more naturally to the snow so the “other” leg follows much more easily than in our conventional wedge.

Now all you need to do is . . .  Coach them to contract the appropriate thigh muscle to provide some added turning power.  Right leg, right turn—contract the right thigh; left leg, left turn—contract the left thigh.

Then watch them ski!

Ski Muscle of the Week #8: The Rectus abdominis

This is the world-famous “six-pack” muscle.  If it’s in shape, you can wow an audience with it should you be daring enough remove your shirt—as well as manage your Center of Mass (COM) while skiing.  If not, your trunk goes all over the place—and so do you.  These “abs” help you move your hips and lower trunk relative to your upper trunk.  In skiing, proper use of the “six-pack” keeps your stance erect.  I’m sure you’ve watched skiers skiing with their nose pointed at their ski boots.  Without any serious abdominal muscle contractions, their upper trunk flops over their hips.  But worse than that, that lack of abdominal engagement requires them to use their upper body to help them turn—yuck!  They could also stand to contract their glutes (Ski Muscle of the Week # 6).

So let’s give ‘em a workout:

Captain's chair.  You need to elevate yourself off the floor for this one so that our legs can dangle freely.  Most gyms have equipment for this exercise.  With your feet hanging off the floor, lift both legs from the hips. 

Bicycle crunch exercise.  Lie on the floor with your hands held gently behind your head.  Lift your knees about 45 degrees.  With a bicycle motion, alternate touching your opposite knee and elbow.

Ab crunch on an exercise ball.  Rest your lower back on an exercise ball or other flexible exercise equipment that will cradle your back.  Place hands behind your head, and slowly raise your upper torso to about 45 degrees.