I don't know why I hadn't come across this video before. But honestly, this is the best basic bump instruction video that I've seen- bar none. I think the fore/aft movment excercise can, or even should be used to train skiers for skiing on the groomed stuff as often skis can get away from you even without having bumps, crud or other obstacles in the way. 5 stars!
I have trouble keeping my feet the same hip-width apart. Are you pretty much locking them together, not exactly, but looks like your legs are touching? Thanks. Great videos.
This is just completely wrong. He Sort Of touches on it with the skis forward and back comment but even that is NOT what you want to think about. You can't stand in place like that and demonstrate what you do in bumps. That's because your upper body would have to be elevated so you can extend your feet down and relax and pull your knees up to rise over and then down a bump. Think of a steel cable that runs from top to bottom and it goes through your chest. As your skis contact a bump, you suck your knees up by relaxing your thigh muscles to absorb the bump and then flexing them to push your feet back down the other side. While you do this, keep your upper body in the fall line while your skis turn back and forth. If you don't keep it there or put it back there as you change your weight for the next turn, your skis won't be able to turn fast enough to follow the line and you will just shoot off to the side. 4:00 Notice his upper body is in a constant, forward position and his feet are NOT going forward and back. His toes are going up and down. You NEVER think about a forward and back movement of your upper body. It has to be in a constant free fall down the hill so you are always over the tips of your skis so they can make contact with the snow most of the time. 4:30 There is too much focus on what the feet are doing and not the most important thing. Your upper body has to be in a constant free fall down the hill as you stand on your feet and allowing your legs to stiffen and relax to absorb the moguls. You think less about your feet and more about your upper body. If it is in the wrong place, you are doomed. Not so much with the feet. You lead with your chest and your skis follow. 4:48 Play this at the slowest speed and watch his kneecaps in relation to the rest of his upper body and then see what his skis are doing. His kneecaps are like headlights pointing the way and what happens in the bumps is dictated by his chest heading down the fall line. As his skis turn, BECAUSE OF THE POSITION OF HIS UPPER BODY AND HIS WEIGHT CHANGE FROM ONE FOOT TO THE OTHER, he is hardly moving from the knees up, his femurs just rotate to accommodate the position of his feet side to side. An Economy of Motion. 5:28 There is NO forward and aft ability in skiing. There is only forward, down the fall line. If you push your hands and chest down the fall line and stay over the tips of your skis, they will turn every time your leg angle changes from side to side and you change your weight from foot to foot. In general, the feet are the Last thing you think of not the first. Your eyes, your brain and the position of your upper body from your chest to your kneecaps determines what happens under your feet.
