Exploring The Movements of Skiing With Steven Nyman - Project your Hips into the Transition
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 5 фев 2025
- Unlock Your Skiing Technique: Mastering the Art of Skiing!
Today we Join Steven Nyman for a fun chat about the hip movements in skiing. He gives his take on where the hips project into the turn and How to stay balanced over the skis. This is a remarkably simple take and one well worth your time.
Steven is a 3 time Olympian and 3 time World Cup winner who spent 14 years competing on the Audi FIS World Cup tour.
Check out Steven RUclips channel here
/ @thestevennyman
Are you ready to elevate your skiing skills and unlock the secrets of perfect carving technique? Whether you're a beginner looking to make your first turns or an experienced skier aiming to refine your style, this video tutorial is designed just for you! Dive in and discover how you can improve your carving with essential tips and techniques that will transform your skiing experience.
Why Perfect Your Carving Skills?
Carving is more than just a skiing technique; it’s an art that allows skiers to glide smoothly down the slopes, carving perfect arcs while maintaining speed and control. Mastering this skill not only enhances your skiing performance but also boosts your confidence on the mountain. In this comprehensive tutorial, we will delve deep into:
The Fundamentals of Carving: Understand the physics behind carving and how it impacts your skiing performance.
Optimal Body Positioning: Key insights on how to keep your feet underneath you and maintain your center of mass (COM) over your base of support (BOS).
Compact Transitions: Learn the correct techniques to transition smoothly between turns and maintain speed.
Advanced Carving Techniques: Discover advanced methods such as edge control and body angulation that will take your skiing to the next level.
What You’ll Learn:
Essential Carving Tips for All Skill Levels
Why Choose This Video?
This detailed analysis is presented by a seasoned ski instructor with years of experience on the slopes. Our instructor is dedicated to providing easy-to-follow guidance that’s packed with practical advice, ensuring you get the most value from every moment. You will also receive insights into how professional skiers carve with precision and grace!
Elevate Your Skiing Experience Today!
Join our growing community of ski enthusiasts! After watching, don't forget to practice the techniques discussed. The more you apply them, the better you will carve! Remember, skiing is not just about downhill speed; it’s about enjoying the ride and mastering your craftsmanship on skis.
Get Involved:
If you find this tutorial helpful, please consider supporting our channel! Your contributions help us keep producing quality content. Check out links below:
💳 PayPal: www.paypal.me/skidadtv
💰 Venmo: @SkiDadTV
Join the Conversation!
We love hearing from you! Leave a comment below to share your experience, ask questions, or tell us how this technique helped improve your skiing. Don’t forget to hit the like button if this video resonates with you and subscribe for more amazing content on skiing techniques!
Instagram: @SkiDadTV
Let’s carve our way to success on the slopes!
#CarvingTechniques #SkiingTips #SkiImprovement #AdvancedSkiing #SkiingSkills #WinterSports #SkiCarving #SkiTraining #SkiLessons #MasterSkiing 
Спорт
Thank you for this video! As a woman in my 50s returning to skiing after decades off the slopes, I’m actively focusing on improving this season. I’m still working to fully understand and describe the terminology, but this was a treat to watch as a visual learner. Those turns... WOW!!!
Steven skis so nicely!
Starting fundraising for the said video ;-)
Thank you 🙏
Simply beautiful turns!
Thanks!
Thank you so much!
Sweet! Great tips and insight from Steven. Looking forward to more. I've been paying particular attention to what's happening at the transition and I'm noticing, along with that lateral move/sensation going into it, when I do it right, I feel like I'm solid on my outside heel- like squashing a bug. Not backseat, but using ankle dorsiflexion to get that strong heel pressure. I'm interested to hear some expert opinions on this.
Congrats on getting on the top of the list. Scoring 174, topping Legerty is impressive!
I have seen Steve free ski black diamond challenging terrain, he is an incredible skier.
Great examples of flexion and extension with great flow
More superlative content! :)
Noticed his pole planting is just a very light touch if any. That inside knee drops low and he comes close to touching his fist on the snow as well.
Don’t think of your poles for planting. They are 1) feelers for the snow, to help judge inclination from one turn to the next, and 2) for adjustments to upper body rotation. Using your pole tips as feelers or ‘whiskers’ on the snow is fundamental. Actually, it is the ‘basket’ that feels the snow - I prefer Levi cone shaped GS ‘baskets’ which are not baskets - they are designed to not grab the snow, or you might like the tiny baskets Steve uses - the feel is a personal preference. The ‘touch’ is just a realignment of ‘whisker’ (ie ‘basket’) to a more optimal position to ‘feel’ the snow and judge the amount of inclination. Your hand should always stay ahead of the basket, so no ‘planting’. Now watch Nyman ski. If he is on a pitch and has already executed an effective dynamic carved turn on one side, he just needs to duplicate that on the other side (the next turn). He is inclined a certain amount in a turn, and therefore needs to be inclined a similar amount in the next turn. Check out 2:48 and observe how much he has flexed (bent) his left pole as he ‘feels’ the snow. Try that using a wide staircase, placing your pole tip at the tread/riser and allowing yourself to lean against it until your pole bends as much as Steve’s does.
@@hughgeiger9353thanks! Also noticed how he feels the snow, I'm assuming, in the turn with his inside ski pole, actually dragging it in the snow as his wrist almost hits the ground.
@@swingman50Yes I am referring to the inside hand. The outside hand is often described as ‘driving forward’, a description I am not that fond of. Instead, from a more internal perspective, imagine a thin flexible bamboo rod extending from one hand to the other, attached at your wrists and elbows, stretching across your back and shoulders. Of course, this bamboo rod is athletic muscle tension - in the extreme you can think of the Hulk pose. As your skis engage at the top of the turn, your momentum is tangent to the turn arc, and the turning forces (mostly directed radially inward) include a tangential component. Leaving aside that you can accelerate into the top of the turn as your COM moves closer to the slope (lots of other possibilities in this phase, including skivot, extension of feet ‘behind’ your COM), and focusing on when skis engage with substantial edge angle - you will feel the push of your ski tips, shin pressure - from this tangential component of the turning forces. Allow some of this force to be absorbed by the bending of this bamboo rod, so both hands move forward relative to the alignment of your shoulders and chest. From an external perspective, with inclination and the evolution of the tangent of the arc, it may appear the inside hand is dropping inside and back, but you don’t want to be allowing that to happen from an internal perspective. In the video, Steve is only able to flex the inside pole by driving his inside hand forward, and in any case you will need to feel that if you are resisting the dragging forces of your pole tip (basket). The net result of this athletic elastic flexing of the imaginary bamboo rod is that your outside hand naturally ‘drives’ forward. Then at the moment of turn initiation (which has nothing to do with a pole plant), as your turn initiation progresses top down from intent (your brain) to eyes, to head to shoulders and chest, you can release this built up tension in the bamboo rod quickly, allowing your head, shoulders and chest to freely go in the direction of momentum, resetting the bamboo rod (your elbows and wrists ‘pop’ back, but can also be released in a more controlled manner), so the bamboo rod can now build up flex in the new turn. Meanwhile, you are still completing the previous turn with your lower body (because you are unwinding from the top down), the skis cross under in compact transition, creating a rapid rotation about your COM from being inclined in the previous turn to being inclined in the new turn. Your new inside pole is the feeler for the right amount of inclination to aggressively extend your feet behind you, which from an external perspective appears to be an extension of your feet way out to the side (as per comment by Ski Dad) - internally you want to get up over the new inside ski so you can drive the inside knee closer to the snow, hence there is no need for a massive displacement of your feet side to side - an illusion of the external perspective. Back to your poles and the imaginary bamboo rod. As the turning forces rapidly increase and you feel the bamboo rod flexing, this is your internal reference for ‘leveling’ your shoulders (another term I am not fond of because it suggests an external reference so wrong awareness). The leveling is a flex of the spine, the bottom of your rib cage getting closer to your outside hip, some call it ‘pinching’. Now imagine you have a second bamboo rod, from your head, along muscles back of neck, linked through back muscles to hips - this rod is a bit more challenging to imagine because it switches from one side of your spine to the other with each turn, but it works in harmony with the bamboo rod across your shoulders. Final thought - the build of flex in the bamboo rod is progressive, but the release is quick. Hence the turn transition is a quick move, even in longer radius GS turns. In fact, it is often faster in GS than in slalom, because in slalom there is often a lengthening of the release at the top of the turn so that the skis engage at almost full edge angle, leading to a quick rebound. But also in slalom, a pole plant is almost never used (perhaps at transitions to steep, or to control excess upper body rotation). The inside pole and hand feel the slope, to provide feedback on the correct inclination and leveling (where leveling is defined internally).
Also, we hear so much about angulation- keeping shoulders and hips level, but with those sweet, arcing GS turns, there's more tipping and toppling going on especially at the transition.
Question. What advice you have for movement for taller skiers. He seems like a pretty tall guy. I'm tall too (6'3, with all my height in my legs). I've been trying to focus more on keeping my hips level to level out my shoulders, and it doesn't seem like he is too worried about that, or achieving that, despite having great turns and turn shape. Any thoughts ski dad about how skiing changes based on physiology given that will change the center of mass of everything.
Great vid, Joe!
I know he said you're on point, but he really doesn't say there isn't a forward movement with the hips--he basically says that sometimes there is, but that it (obviously) should not be down the hill. I also found it surprising that he's talking about a countered position (he didn't use that term but that's what he's describing) when I can't really see him countering at all (maybe a tiny, tiny bit, or maybe it would be more obvious looking up the hill at him). Anyway, I find it interesting since this is something I've thought a lot about, and the orthodoxy really seems to be (still) that hips need to move forward/up through transition.
You just triggered me to watch your other videos again 😂
I’m trying to understand the feeling and timing. Here are some questions I have.
1. So, during the turn, do you actively retract both feet and actively extend to the other side or just flex and wait for your body to travel with gravity while feet cross under body with rebound force and away from body with momentum from the last turn?
2. Do I need to drop my hip as low as possible before apex to achieve max edge angle or the angle is developing continuously during apex?
You don't drop the hip. You pull up the leg as force increases and the ground comes up to you.
Mr Nyman looks very tall compared to every other person on in this video. Good as always skidad.
That’s because he is bigger than everyone else, much bigger!
He is 6'4" and a big guy!
@@skidadTV F=m times a.. where a is velocity times velocity. Imagine a smaller "normal" person with same ski abilities on the same ski. 🎉🎉
@@skidadTV Not everyone, not everyone. Bryce Bennett is even bigger!
Love the channel. Was going to leave a tip/thanks but there's no Thanks button?
Super thanks is now enabled! 🙏
How much do you guys actively lengthen the outside leg?
There is a lot of discussions about creating pressure vs just bracing against the build up of pressure.
When actuvively lengthening the out side leg (in a carved turn) I assume you automatically move COM further into the turn and thereby generate even more power and speed. And u stand stronger with on a more lengthened outside leg.
I don’t think about it at all. My focus is on holding the edge once it’s engaged.
When getting onto the edge it is about bracing against the forces. No active extension there either
In a carved turn, you are using gravity, friction, and other forces to your benefit - meaning you can't replicate any of it standing still. You can push your outside ski out as far as you want, as long as you can balance and hold the edge. It's all about that lateral movement, in all of these turns your skis are always pointing downhill, you're just rolling your ankles and going from edge to edge. Your skis should be off to the side of you in carve turns, if they are constantly under you, then you are not carving... just my opinion.
There are a few factors that can determine your ability to lengthen your leg in the turn (mainly in your boots or ramp angle of bindings). If you're having trouble you can try cutting down the height of your upper cuff on your boot. This will allow you to keep your skis under your COM easier.
If you look at what the best WC skiers are doing there is a lengthening of the new outside leg. Between turns when the skis are flat on the snow, the legs are typically deeply flexed to a 90 degree angle or more. At the apex of the turn, the outside leg is long, almost straight and the inside leg is flexed. This difference in leg length creates the angle to the snow. When you tip a ski on edge it bends into an arc and this creates the pressure you feel. This isn't the way Steve Nyman is skiing in this video, though. He extends to initiate the new turn and when his skis are flat his legs are more extended. You won't see this move from any of the top 10 in WC GS anymore.
I've always wondered, how fast do you need to go to be able to drop your hip so low without falling in!
That is such an incredibly insightful question! IMHO it is a question that can only be answered by a trust in technology - and yes technique but even 20 years ago a trust in todays technique would result in catastrophic failure, given technology of 20 years ago. And so there is an element of faith. A Kierkegaard ‘leap of faith’. Not easy to do when we old skiers have lived through inferior technology, yet so easy for 8-12 year old kids to master. And in that sphere of life lies possibilities. Possibilities that you must seek, judging the risks and rewards, for which you are personally responsible for every outcome. And yet within those constraints lie the possibilities that Ski Dad is trying to convey to you.
I must say I am a bit lost what he means by a lateral shift to the new initiation point vs throwing your body downhill.
If your center of mass is just traveling down the hill you will slide the top of the turn until you hit the fall line then the ski can engage. You don't want that. To truly carve a full clean turn you need to move your COM laterally toward the upcoming initiation point, this transfers the energy to the new outside ski earlier, your new outside ski is coiled underneath you and allows you to develop the new turn above the fall line. @skidadtv we need to make a video with both examples of the movement side by side. Better to see visually then try and describe via comments
Well put. Yes that would be a great video
@@thestevennyman Thank you very much! I appreciate you taking time to explain it. Explanation re. downhill makes perfect sense given how physics works. Now I think I start to understand laterally as in moving your COM laterally across the hill (from the apex?). Hopefully it is correct. Waiting for the video though to make it more clear.
@@thestevennyman Interesting to hear your comments at the end of this vid. One question: what did you mean by "...elongate the new outside ski..." (5:35 in the vid)?
Looking forward to seeing more content from the two of you.
Something that is really confusing me: While you, Ted, and Steven look amazing with your inside hand brushing the snow, I thought the inside hand is supposed to be higher than the outside hand which, then, hopefully, means your shoulders are aligned with the slope angle, too? If you want your COM going downhill and inside the turn, it seems counter intuitive or impossible to get your inside hand that low. I've tried it and gotten frustrated. Drills like "swords" and "statue of liberty" to feel angulation seem to drive the opposite(outside hand lower and shoulders aligned with the slope).
What am I missing? Please help! Thanks.
Inclination. You are missing the concept of inclination. And you are trying to imagine everything from an external reference frame and what it looks like from the outside, rather than from an internal reference frame (your body in continuous movement, in motion through linked turns) and how it feels from the inside. Take a screen shot of Nyman at the apex of each turn and use the edit rotate function to realign to vertical an imaginary line connecting 1) the point between his feet and 2) the point of his belly button (slightly above top of his hips, centered between hip bones laterally and centered between top of hips and bottom of rib cage vertically). If you have done the rotation/realignment correctly, the two screen shots should be mirror images of each other - ie you can flip one of them left-right and they will look identical. That is much closer to what Nyman ‘feels’ internally and also what he is trying to explain - just stick that initiation point at the top of the turn.
Re: estimating point 2) in my comment above: at the start of the video, he rubs his back with both hands - right between his hands is as good an estimate as you can make (also COM).
Re: apex of turn (my definition): when skis are in fall line - think of camera centered on wide railway tracks where the rails converge at a distant point down the hill ie in one-point perspective. Pretty much where his tips are hidden behind his shins.
As racers each of us spent years working on our core strength and stability in the turn.
I can only speak for myself on this point, I worked for years to keep my hands level while skiing. Once I established my balanced position and was sufficiently strong in it, I was able to allow my hand/arm to drop to the ground from the shoulder joint. My hips core and shoulders remain in the same position regardless of my hand dropping.
Now that I drop my hand down, I use it to feel the snow and it gives me more information. Also it aids in my ability to balance in the turn. Just like standing on one leg and touching a wall with your hand for balance
I would rarely drop a hand when racing. With the carving skis these days it is easier to carve and therefore drop the shoulder because the skis come around easily. It's fun dragging the hand. The key is establishing the new ski early, then you can build on it and progress to laying it over more and more.
@thestevennyman do you think it's required and or easier with ~75mm or lower underfoot?
Much more interesting than balance and all the other carving stuff, .....what the hell do Americans do to get these cool cowboy voice 😉
steve being 6' 4" might have something to do with it! 😆
His dad Scott. They sound a lot alike.
He has big guy look about him.
Thanks!