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Skis have been used for over five centuries for work, transportation, competition, and recreation. They have been an asset to people throughout the world, and with their development have evolved a number of different skiing techniques.

For cross-country skis, the classical technique is used by kicking straight backward to create a gliding motion. If you want to generate speed, however, use the skate technique, which is performed by pushing backward and outward with each ski one at a time.

Alpine ski techniques include schussing, traversing, the wedge, and carved parallel. Schussing is performed by skiing straight down the “fall line” of the hill, and is the fastest way down.

Traversing is like schussing, but taking the hill at an angle down the fall line to control speed. When traversing, you can change direction, control speed, and maneuver around or over obstacles. In order to maintain speed, turn slightly downhill and switching directions every 20-30 feet.

The wedge technique is used mainly by beginners, and is the best way to control your speed when attempting a new hill. In order to perform the wedge, make a V-shape with the ski tips angled towards each other and downhill. This is a great way to move slowly down the hill if you are a little bit hesitant to move more quickly. The wedge technique can also be used to stop slowly. Read the rest of this entry »

Many expect their ski gear, specific ski instruction, advanced ski techniques and/or ski lessons to help take their skiing to the next level. If you exhausted all the above mentioned variables and you are still stuck at the same skiing/riding level, where do you look next?

Skiing and snowboarding involves a series of complex movements all lumped together. The physical demands that are placed on the body are so great, that if you are not conditioned for these demands — then the best ski equipment in the world won’t help you! That is where you have to start looking at investing some time in training your body for the slopes.

Skiing and riding requires activity from the entire body. From a training stand-point, one should train by activating the entire body so as to have the most transfer into life and true function as much as possible. However, many exercises and programs still attempt to train the muscles in isolation, which to the body is “unnatural.” Not that there is anything wrong with that, since your training is dictated by your goal. However, if your goal is to “winterize” your body and help your on the snow performance, then sitting on a bench and doing preacher curls is probably not the best exercise (unless you are talking about apres ski!).

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