This video is great. I would like to point out some things here. Ankle flex is not a very good term. The real reason of doing ankle flex is to create a pressure on your boot-tongue. Ankle flex is already built in your boots and flexed ankles does not mean that you really put pressure on the boot-tongues. This pressure makes it possible to steer your skis. I call this "pulling steering", because you can feel that your body (COM) is ahead of your skis and pulls them behind your body. The opposite is the pushing steering, when you push your skis ahead of your body. Everyone in this video talk about what to do during the first phase of the turn (shaping phase), until apex of the turn. In this case you keep your body ahead of your skis. Then the transition starts and in this phase you can also have pressures on your boot tongues by pressing your feet upwards inside your boot. This is a great tool, especially if your speed is low. It is like when you go on your heels, the same movement will do it. I call this kind of ankle flex "active ankle flex" because you do it with your own muscles, close to your ankles. Real carved turns are the cross under turns, when you have highly flexed knees during the transition. This knee flex puts your COM over the tales of your skis and ankle flex at this situation helps a lot. At the moment you start your turn you have to make a body projection first. By this your body takes over the skis and pulls the skis into the new turn. This creates a passive ankle flex, and you can put some of your body weight on your boot-tongues. You can find my english books here, the short one is free. skiingtechnique.wordpress.com/
I love the term “pull steering!” I never realized it also closes my ankles, but that is obvious in hindsight. Thanks for confirming the evanescent (but great!) feelings I’ve experienced while carving. Maybe now I can reproduce them consistently.
I love your brother's comment! What he said totally rings true for me. On gentler slopes, flexion for me is easier to achieve. It's like my brain only has to focus on that one thing, but on the steeper pitches, my brain starts to overthink because of the increased dangers I perceive I am putting myself in. That's when I really have to fight to have confidence in my skiing and trust that my body will just remember the process of ankle flexion!
Deb, I like the compound movement comment. For me, ankle flexion increases in the transition by moving the hips forward and pulling the feet back (using hamstrings). The difficulty in maintaining ankle flexion, I believe, is because in street shoes, when one extends the leg (or jumps), the ankle joint opens (along with the knee and hip joints). In skiing, the trick after the skis pass flat in the transition, is to extend the new outside leg, while closing the ankle joint. So it is a movement pattern that is contradictory to that used in street shoes.
This comment is the perfect lead-in to the hip forward motion necessary to maintain that ankle flexion as you extend that outside leg which will then catch up with the hips at the end of the turn.
My thoughts on ankle flexion being difficult: Alpine skiers wear foot gear that is designed to hold their lower extremities in a static position. They go to a specialized boot fitter to hold this part of their body in a static position. The traps are designed to hold the boot to the ski in a static position. And… the more advanced the alpine skier, the more static the equipment is designed to perform (boot flex, DIN setting). Now, the alpine skier has been locked into boots that barely flex, and those boots are secured to skis with a locked toe and a locked heel… and now ski coaches are telling the young skier to twist your foot, flex your ankle, etc. Its almost impossible to see this on the ski run for a young skier, boots are not transparent. Seems counterintuitive, both psychologically and physically. But once you get it, the g-forces and smiles that come out of each turn… it’s so much fun!
Deb, you are becoming the Barbara Walters of skiing interviews. Excellent question, posed to high level skiers, gives various was of communicating an important point. Thank you!
I have been using the suggestion of “knees over toes” that one of the athletes mentioned. I have noticed that when I helped customers with ski boot fit that saying bend your knees can result in them dropping their hips/ but back into the sitting down position. However when they hear place knees over their toes they have to move forward and flex the ankle forward. Absolutely love your videos and try to work on one of your tips every day on the hill. Skiing is such a dynamic sport and we have to constantly adjust to the forces and terrain as we move. That’s part of what makes is so interesting ⛷⛷🙏🙏
Deb, your brother hit the nail on the head, steeper terrain, more speed. Whoa Nelly! Much harder to stay engaged with the front of the boot, but it’s something to keep working on. Thanks!
100% correct; the brain tells we don’t want to fall forward, but you can never be too far forward when skiing. But when you release, it’s like being launched out of a cannon.
GREAT video. I have been skiing for 20 years. You have cleared up the entire miss direction, for me, of shin on tongue of the boot. One can get the shin on the front of the boot but still be in the back seat. The shin contact only comes from proper movement of the ankle. I discovered it by accident last year and this completely confirms I am on the correct path. I never realized how active is your ankle in proper skiing. THANK YOU !
I am asking those questions myself on other channels but the best answers I am finding here by Deb Armstrong, without even asking. Best ski channel by far.
Oh I identify with your brother’s last statement “put your shin on front of your boot”. He’s such an honest guy to tell this personal struggle. This is going to change my skiing forever because I finally felt the difference and power. ❤❤❤
Great video. To many of these athletes, ankle flexion come naturally over years of training. They've been exposed to every type of snow, pitch, weather, visibility, etc. and can apply proper ankle pressure over changing terrain and conditions. For the rest of us, not so much. As your brother said, we're distracted by self preservation. For these people, my advice would be to find an empty groomed slope with consistent pitch that doesn't require you to check your speed. Remove all the distractions. I also think it's easier to do with a shorter radius ski because the speeds will be lower. Once you get the awareness and feeling of good ankle flexion, try to repeat it ALL THE TIME.
Brother Olin totally nailed it. It’s one thing to do it recreationally quite another in the gates. I never trusted myself to do it in the gates out of a fear missing a gate or losing control. Needless to say I was a mediocre racer. I always get something valuable or thought provoking from Deb’s videos and this is no exception.
The best hint I ever got for this was from an Austrian Ski instructor at Taos. For me it's feeling the pressure in my feet both on my shins and through my heels.
Thanks Deb! Loved the consistent feedback from the racers regarding ankle flexion. One other factor is that the ankle is hidden by the stiff plastic boots we ski in. I really liked the gal who demoed the "pull back the feet and put knees over toes" - that made it visible. I may struggle to see it with my 8 year-old students...
Whoa, WTF! Great video Deb. Way to be the cause of great content. Interesting that the most provoking question was with a race coach, and your brother.😃 Thank you❤
Great video! I think ankle flexion has been known as "being in the front seat, tongue pressure, and fore pressure." It's certainly a must for good controlled skiing. For me I don't have to think about much now except when I come out of the last quarter of the turn's apex and I get a snappy rebound energy from my ski tails. When I do this right it is so much fun utilizing the whole ski, but the rebound energy can throw me in the "back seat" if I'm not on top of it. This occasionally still happens with me when I ski hard and fast. Even though I'm not into racing I still have to anticipate the exit acceleration by driving my hands forward to maintain a good ankle flexion position for the beginning of the next turn.
Now I see what your brother is saying. You know what you are supposed to do in your head and think you are doing it, but you actually aren't. But then, one day, suddenly you encounter this aha moment or breakthrough where you realize that you have not been doing it right or not enough all along. My most recent aha moment was when I was practicing one-ski skiing a whole day. I realized that, when I get much more forward than I used to, i.e., ankle flexion and shin against the front of the boot, one-ski skiing becomes easier. In other words, I was in backseat even though I thought I was forward. Thank you!
Viewing this video was highly rewarding for me. The last insight was a great way to conclude. I now have far greater clarity about how to flow over my main obstacles to effectively using the ankles.
Agreed with the pull your feet back comment. I was taught pop tall and slide them back and just slightly unlock your knees, boom you're in the cuff of the boot. Popping tucks your butt under so you don't get back weighted and pulling the heels back gives you that aggressive forward lean while keeping the boot pressure constant without getting back weighted.
Awesome and Universal! I wish I could get people into softer boots until they figure out that they can bend the ankle in the ski boots! Thank you Deb for helping me, us and everyone!
A very good reason to pick a boot that’s not too stiff to prevent flexion. One point brought up by Stein Holsted that flexion helps the sensing of your edge on the snow. A stiff boot prevents that. Try loosing your buckles, not too much, you don’t want to be swimming in them, in your warm up runs. You can feel the snow texture and respond to the it. Than buckle them up super stiff and ski the same run. Your ski will over turn loosing edge control. Then find the medium in buckling them according to snow conditions and steepness. This early season routine will help you feel the snow through your feet. Thanks Deb, continue to enjoy your vids and the food of thought they provide!❤
Another brilliant and fantastic video. I love the fact that you are asking other people to explain their own perception especially finishing off with the coaches point on jeopardy, Thank you very much, Deb
boot stiffness is a factor in ankle flexion. ive been trying different boot flexes, a head raptor 120 flex boot vs a head raptor 130. i found that on my rec skis, 184 head e titans and 183 blizzard bonafide skis, that i had better fore and aft balance over the ski and a better ability to angulate and engage the shovel, when using the softer 120 flex ski boot. that boot allowed more ankle flexion. also, especially in powder skiing, its necessary to get proper ankle flexion, without over pressuring the shovels, which happens with a too stiff boot
This encompasses my thing that everyone should learn to ski on telemark equipment.. These guys here are racers and have an understanding of the dynamic movements required to make their equipment work and the biomechanics behind it. Teaching old dogs new tricks is hard and your regular skier who hasnt been exposed to dynamics of racing are usually stuck in a comfort zone is almost an impossible task.. It's hard for competent alpine instructors to Telemark as they're stuck in the "I can ski" mode and have to transition but they understand movement. Beginnwrs / intermediates need confidence and the alpine equipment gives them that so much so that they can just go for a ride on it, rather than really engage . You can park and ride tele turns, but you have to be a lot more dynamic. Ankle flexion, weighting, pressuring, pushing etc on the front of your boot whilst dropping the knee ( not lifting your heel) is a necessity... Movement..and engagement on alpine can be promoted by undoing/loosening the boots and moving to easier terrain... A real natural sense of balan e can be found then the boots can complement that rather than compensate for the lack of it.. As you progress to steeper terrain pressing into the boot fronts /tongue becomes a confidence thing for many, as its natural to lean away(back) from something that scares you, overcoming that comes from a more overall belief in self and ability, and repetition to the point of familiarity. It's where the psychological takes place over the physical
Thanks Deb! I love to hear these top racers different ideas about what 'their cue' is and how they accomplish and think about ankle flexion! Had to 'buy your coffee' this morning. Thanks again for another great video!
I like to think of it as ankle tension. More passively dropping my knees into the front of the boot does get me there but actively flexing the ankle puts me there with purpose. Gripping the boot with the ankle .
This resonates with me. When I returned to skiing after X decades (!), and wanted to start carving, I decided I should lean toward the tip of my outside ski. To maintain balance, my hips went to the inside and I got edge. The outside ANKLE FLEXED, my knee came forwards, the toe of the ski bent and the cornering POWER built up, up, up. I was carving. Then I had to tidy it up! 😂 A lot! 🤣
This season (so far), I've been focusing on your Fore and Aft tutorials. Regarding ankle flexion, and the various opinions by the pro racers, your brother, and the comments shared below, will add to my focus the next few days on the hill. Thanks as always for your content.
I love this style of video Deb. Montage open ending talking points edited in a consumable manner. Thank you for seeking and sharing the joy of being alive.
I would be interested in hearing more about the timing of the ankle flexion and release and how it coordinates with knee flexion when other lateral forces on the ankle become involved during the turn. Thanks for posting your video, by the way.
Love this video! When I work with adults they perfectly understand ankle flexion and totally get pressure at 10:00 and 2:00 just like we learned in drivers ed. 9:50 and 2:10 has less of an impact on today's digital children.
Thank you for this video Deb! Even though I am not a racer but I think most of us who reached a certain level understand we can't be on our backseat and need to flex your ankle. Like the last guy said, everybody can do it at the easy slopes. But I had such a difficult big powder day just a few weeks ago to the point I was really mad at myself. I watched 2 of your videos and I think I realize why I was so inconsistent with it. That timing and mentality of flexing is so important to your turning balance the rest of the way and I didn't have a solution. The different types of explanation from different expert really helps and hopefully I can take it with me on my next run
Another very timely topic, thank you. I’ve had lots of issues with hip position and on the last day of a ski holiday realised it came down to not skiing right through the ski because I’ve been keeping the ankle too static. It’s been a very difficult concept to turn from instruction points into dynamic movement.
alex skis so beautifully! he has attained absolute mastery of the physics of his slalom skis. see the rotation in his skiing, that is progressive new generation recreational skiing. the rotational dynamics in the turn make groomer skiing feel like powder skiing
Such helpful stuff, Deb, thank you. Another thought for folks to try: alpine/backcountry boots are softer. Used on downhill, they’re great for getting the feel of ankle flexion.
Kinda good to hear honestly from your brother how difficult it was to get the concept of ankle flexion. I can relate to that! Even better to hear that when he got it how it changed skiing for him. Wish he could elaborate on what got him to his Epiphany moment but maybe it was just hard work and constantly pushing those shins to the front of his bootS! Thanks !
Nice topic, Deb. Quick observations: Dorsiflexion is moving the top of the foot towards its knee by "up bending" the ankle. Think "dorsal fin" to remember. Plantar flexion is moving the foot in the direction of the sole of the foot. Plantar is the sole. "Flexing" the ankle is like "steering" the car. Which way? These terms indicate the direction. Second, the reason dorsiflexion while skiing is difficult for most people is that they try to use it to pull themselves out of the back seat. Never going to happen. The anterior compartment (front of the shin) muscles are not strong enough. One of the people interviewed said the turn starts with the snow. So a better correction than focusing on the ankle is to focus on the sole of the foot. Try changing where you bear your weight. Keep your heel off your footbed and your shin/calf off your boot cuff through every turn for a while and see where your weight goes. It's forward, if you are really doing both. It feels like standing on a bike pedal through the whole turn. Pressing against the cuff? Wrong. Touching down on the heel? Wrong. Staying on the ball is fast, powerful, and above all, centered. Try it for a day. It's fun!
Thanks so much! a lot of tips and cues that we can try, and the words of Deb's brother, as well as those of many comments,is comforting and informative, which i will try treat as psy cues as well. thanks again.
Hi Debbie, I just watched this video and the guy at the end who was making his coffee nailed it. Its easy to understand but harder to put into practice. I have a big problem with my left ankle (too many motor cycle accidents back in the 60's) and I was at a coaching session at the indoor slope in Hemel Hempsted on Wednesday. The coach was not giving my much sympathy for it. I always think I'm getting my ankles flexed enough, but obviously not enough, as he noticed it. I'm really going to drive those shins against tongue of the boot next week. Cheers Debbie. I met up with a bunch of "Steam boaters" back in February at Arraba in the Dolimites, great fun!
5:20 - a man I can relate to, sort of… I only watch pro racing… LOL…. Do I noticeable a bit old school style in his skiing? This is clearly a sport where technique and care of one’s physical and mental self will allow one to carry the sport well into one’s senior years. I have 2 years on him and still loving it. Once again, thanks for giving me a term, “ankle flexion”, to put something that I have learned to recognize as something I need to be doing correctly. I have thought of it as keeping the ankle in the pocket in the boot. I am very much an recreational skier who grew up skiing in the back seat and has spent a long time working on skiing technique to get out of there. As soon as I find my self skiing in the back seat I will notice that my ankle is no longer in that boot pocket, and ankle flexion is the first thing that I look to correct. But for me “knees over toes” never worked because I roll my shoulders over. Because of the rolled shoulders, I can have my knees over my toes without my weight being there. For me the correction to ankle flexion starts in the back and tightening of the lower back and core muscles to bring the shoulders back. This gives me a firm platform from which I can use my quads to drive my knees forward and pull my ankle back in to the boot pocket. Once there, all is good in the world again. I liked hearing how various skiers describe that term that helped to understand what it is. And it was interesting to hear that ankle flexion may be a simple concept that may be not so simple to achieve. Nice interviews. Thanks for sharing.
Nice one thanks Deb. I guess to add to your bros comments, flexion takes commitment and adequate speed or steepness. It's that driven acceleration that is so elusive, scary, rewarding and addictive in that order. Nice snow conditions help too 😉
I had my aha moment today. The reason it’s hard is because you have to allow yourself to to completely perpendicular to the slope and almost feel like you are jumping off it. Our natural tendency is to lean back to fight gravity. Ankle flexion forces us to fall with gravity. Thanks Deb!
Deb, I love this one. And am going to incorporate it into our coaching training for our non-competitive Freeride team for kids here (and adult sessions as well). it is what I am always trying to develop in skiers. I like your brother's comments (along with a lot of the other really great remarks and insights from different view points) regarding WHY a simple concept become elusive. And in keeping with using good race fundamentals, which to me are just good ski fundamentals, when you are out in the chowder, the steeps, the heavy, the trees, whatever, mentally, it gets harder, and it is important to find those body awarenesses (for me, the bottoms of my feet and cuff of my boot) so that I can recenter and begin again, maybe every turn some days. Combining this video with the transition and stance series answers most of the questions and sets most of the priorities for a good basic training plan, IMO.
Deb, this is such a great structure for a video. Awesome job! Investigative, great questions, leveraging your contacts - really well done. As a developing (oldish) skier thirsty for insight on technique, this is exactly the kinda content i'm looking for. Thank you! And congrats on the bub. xo
Hi Deb, I wanted to share an insight on your wonderful channel and this video is just the cue. In the past years I have, rather unsuccessfully, attempted to learn slalom racing technique. Recently I found a video by Richi Berger, Ideal Short Turns, in which he emphasizes the float or traverse in between two turns as a separate phase that follows a correctly exited turn. Indeed we often see racers exit the turn and float across the hill then enter the next turn. A float in between turns also looks like the unweighting from classical ski instruction. I realized that this float or unweighting phase was missing from my skiing, especially in slalom. I was focused on quickly changing edges and moving directly to a high edge angle. I got no rebound and often entered the turn with too much weight on the inside ski. Berger does not give details on how to execute the float. I figured the movement would be similar to the rotating push from the ground in an athletics high jump. Or the push from the back foot when hitting a tennis forehand. In both cases, the inside knee is thrust with force leading to a hip and shoulder rotation into the direction where the athlete wants to go. In tennis this movement is also called the kinetic chain. Applied to slalom: exit the turn ahead of the gate by transferring weight to the new outside ski with much ankle flexion. This loads the energy from the turn exit on to the new outside front foot, compressing the body, as if coiling to prepare for a jump. Release at the gate to float across the hill, by pushing forward from the loaded outside foot, while driving the inside knee toward the start of the new turn, somewhat like the javelin drill. End the float by making snow contact on the new edges. By driving the inside knee, the hip and shoulders rotate toward the tips, resolving any backseat issues and fully pressuring the front of the skis. Continue to drive the inside knee to avoid weighting the inside ski, while pushing the outside ski wide, away from the COM to full stretch. Using this approach I am starting to address many issues that I had not made progress on before. Ankle flexion was a key change, so I guess it makes sense to share in this thread. I am surprised by how much more explosive and aggressive the transition now feels, when previously I aimed for a small and quick transition by just changing edges with my feet. In your video one skier makes a relatable comment how ankle flexion enables her to stay on top of the rebound. Though I do wonder if the term ankle flexion is perhaps too limited for what’s going on. Thank you for making these videos on such detailed but important technical topics.
Deb, I'm a new subscriber and have gorged on a TONNE of your videos and made SOOO many notes. Thank you so much. I'm a fit and very active advanced 50 year old skier who's constantly looking to improve. Last year I had a private lesson from a very experienced and trusted Italian instructor in the French Alps who suggested instead of flexing my outside leg at the ankle (and pushing through the shin of my boot) to instead have a stiff (almost locked) ankle and to gain power by transferring all my strength into the outside ski by pushing hard using an almost straight leg through the ball of my foot trying to get that ski to bend. He used the analogy that if I tried to push a bent ski pole with my hands into the snow it would snap, whereas pushing a straight ski pole would transfer all my power (through the ski) into the snow - which at the time made sense. I'm now a little confused as to why he would suggest that given your enlightenment of ankle flexion? I'd love to hear your thoughts and advice. Many thanks Dominic
Tu hermano me ha confirmado la conclusión a la que yo mismo he llegado con mi problema para avanzar técnicamente en el esquí. Especialmente cuando uno aprende a una edad más o menos avanzada, el gran problema es enfrentarse a fuertes pendientes. En ese instante, se olvida todo. Y vencer al miedo es la gran barrera.
Nice vid, thx. Alex's free skiing is awsome :) I can give you my 2 pences here. There are two declinations of ankle flexion wrt skiing: 1/ active: actual DORSIFLEXION of ankles at the top of the turn, That initiates fore/aft movement and tenses legs inside boots, 2/ passive: inertial force does the job. When pressure is max (power) and knee an hip are in fore POSITION (external quadicep is vertical). Then tibia is crushing front of your boots without any muscular forces. When you are practicing fore/aft, you should focus on both parts 1/ and 2/: separate and join them.
Hi Deb!!! I commented last season on one of your videos and as a physical therapist I describe ankle Dorsi flexion vs plantar flexion as simply creating a smaller angle at the ankle joint (I.e getting your shin closer towards the top of the foot.). This is in contrast to what a ballet dancer does when he/she points the foot and elongates the front of the ankle (i.e. makes a greater angle between dorsal aspect of the foot and ankle bones) which is plantarflexion. The foot is so complex as the only triplanar joint in the body, but while the foot is in a stiff ski boot with what seems like fixed angle orientation (vs certain running shoes that allow for greater amounts of foot mobility) perplexes me as a new skier at the age of 43. I will play around in my ski boot this weekend and see what my ankle is able to achieve. Thanks!!!!!!
Most of this is about feeling your feet not so much moving them. The one point I advocate that covers a lot of this stuff . Tip your skis from your toes or the toe piece of the ski this notion of tipping a ski from the entire length of the ski boot doesn't work as well.
Love this and focusing on this skill again this year. One thing I have done is put stickers on my skis and rather than trying to focus on why my body is doing focus on pressuring those stickers (ie sticker 6”, 12” and the. One near scoop) this seems to be helping me get more forward pressure and ankle flex without getting caught in my crazy squirrel brain of what my body *should* be doing - not sure if that makes sense. Keep up the amazing work Deb!! Hope to ski with you again!
This family is incredible…had a lesson with Stein Erickson as a kid and the communication was easily the same as Deb and Olin do it….good teaching is like a great running back …its just in them. How id pay to just have an hour with deb on the slopes at 58..i got it , but just to Hear the natural flow of critique …pulling apart the rhythm and flow , just adds to the enjoyment . Hey i taught grade school for 25 , i know good teachers when i see them.
Hmm... clipped in on my bike trainer I've been working on the transition of unweighting as I use my hamstrings and glutes to pull up on the pedals. The toes up prompt got me to lift my toes on the downstroke that dropped my heal creating a flex in my ankle. I'm going to try to duplicate that feeling on the ski hill tonight, thanks for the tips! I'm always impressed with how smooth the camera work is when you are skiing behind the racers!
When it's safe to do so, I make slalom turns on my roadbike and find it a great simulation of carve skiing. All aspects are there: weight transfer, ankle flexion, rebound, fore aft and lateral balance. It has reallly helped me bring these elements together in a continuous motion
@@debbielombard5132 I use a 20" Swift Folder fixie. The small wheels have a low COM for an even more ski-like feel. But you will find the same effects on a mountainbike. It's a nice way to stay skiing when not on snow. Hope you find it a fun and useful exercise and look forward to a video if you do 🙂
Ankle flexion is the pivot of aggression. As long as you are on top of your game, it's thrusting you forward. However you may need to get back during flexion. A we'll oiled technique will allow you this flexibility.
Love the idea of lift the toes. Do that and you automatically flex. I think of pulling or sucking my foot back. One thing that I find inhibiting is how stiff boots make it hard to flex which is why I ski with my top buckles undone most the time. Crazy I guess but that gives me better angles. Keep up the great work Deb! Thanks!
I love this topic. Skiers mistake the biometrics of the ankle joint and desired outcome. I like to think my foot contains a magic triangle touching the bottom of my boot. The toes are outside the triangle. Big toe side, little toe side, and the heel. If the toes become part of the triangle my ankle opens. If they are up and out of the way I move forward. We want to add pressure to the tip of the ski. Mistakenly, we think that pressure is a pushing force. The more we push the more open the ankle. This opening of the ankle is Plantar Flexion I heard one racer in your video mentioning lifting the toes. He used the term "dorsiflexion". The ball of the foot is part of a platform region of the foot called the metatarsal plate (M-plate). This plate is one side of the triangle. The heel of the foot completes the triangle. This is the most powerful stable platform we can produce. If the toes are lifted and the M-plate lifts off the bottom of the boot, that is dorsiflexion. Ankle flexion is the leg shin moving forward on the triangle platform while simultaneously lifting the toes. With the toes up, maintaining contact with the boot bottom on the M-plate the knees move forward applying pressure to the tip of the ski. We actually pull ourselves forward. Maximum tip pressure comes from pulling not pushing. Simply add a tipping of the boot and the magic happens.
I ankle "flexioned" so well in a Nordica Promachine 130 that I dislocated a peroneal tendon and had to have emergency surgery. I've been turning with this mantra, "Into the turn on the toes (mainly big toe) and ball, through the turn on the arch (whole foot actually) and exit the turn on the heal." Seams to work- sets the edge, ride the rail through the turn and spring into the next turn. Longer radius FIS GS skis complicate my mantra but oh well, I just want to have fun!
You and everyone interviewed on this video are way way above my pay grade and ability, but what I have found helpful for my skiing is to imagine that I’m pinning a quarter between my shin and tongue of my boot. I not only try not to “let the “imaginary quarter” slide down but also apply enough pressure that if I were tk take off my boot the the quarter would leave an imprint on the boots tongue. Also, I make sure to tighten down my buckles enough.
@@DebArmstrongSkiStrong skiing Taos for the first time tomorrow. I’ll work on the ankle Flexion and driving my inside knee forward while carving up some GS turns!!!
Particularly loved the link between avoidance of risk (mental) and the difficulty acheiving appropriate ankle flexion. If this is not only an innate response but also a learned one (so whats nature vs nurture) can we train the psychologicsl aspect at the same time as the physical?
Hi Deb - on the off chance you see this, I'm a boot fitter and I tend to pay more attention to the individuals range of motion when recommending boot flex than some of my fellow boot fitters. I'd love to hear your take on ankle flexion and boot flex.
Bending your ankles is difficult because the skier is constantly being pushed into the back seat by the forces of a turn. Which means you constantly need to be adjusting your position over the skis so that your ankles are flexed preserving your ability to tip the ski into the next turn and pressuring the ski through the initial phase into the belly of the turn. Which, of course, creates forces that push the skier backwards with a slippery ski underneath wanting to jet out from under the skier. A straighter ankle drops the hips behind the heels, making it harder to finish the turn and initiate the next one (not to mention, pressuring the middle of the ski). As your interviewees have said, the ankle is the joint closest to the snow...step 1 in the progression ankles-knees-hips. I could go on and on, but will get off the soapbox. Ankle flexion, ankle flexion, ankle flexion...
Deb, I love your videos! I'm actually a baseball catcher in the warm months and masters racer in the winter. I have been having trouble with my boot setup as I have extreme ankle flexion ability due to catching yet I find I'm having a mental block with boot stiffness, forward lean setup etc. Please make more content like this!!! Also, is your webstore back up? Cheers from Boston!!!
I recommend to my students and athletes, DO NOT open your ankles, especially at the end of a turn. An open ankle may happen anyway without you forcing it. No sense exacerbating the negatives of being in the back seat on purpose. I suggest Keeping your ankle crank, this makes it easier to find the tip of the ski much easier without having to rock forward to start a turn. Thanks for you videos Deb.
Great video! Great comments from the skiers about how they do it. I just don't fully understand what the slalom skier said about pole planting; what the 68-year old man said about inside edge; and what your brother was trying to say about how/why it is difficult to do.
@@DebArmstrongSkiStrong I like your videos and think I've seen most of your videos if not all. I clearly understand your explanations and instructions, but sometimes have difficulty understanding what your guests, who are experts and coaches, are saying. It's not your fault, but it would be great if you could clarify or edit out some comments that are clearly not very helpful for your viewers.
This is a great video of pro skiers way of understanding of Ankle flexion, but as Deb's brother said it's kinda still not an easy thing to do. And it's still not so obvious from the video how the ankle should work during the turn. Am I right to say that: 1. In the beginning of the turn before the gate the downhill ankle must be (or happens to be) more open, you kinda have to push the imaginary button with the fingers of foot in order to bend the ski, and get bigger angles and tight turn 2. In the beginning of the turn before the gate the uphill foot ankle is (has to be) more flexed and tense but with almost 0-20% weight to create bigger angle and more tight turn 3. Right at the gate the downhill ankle must go very tense and flex so you pull the fingers of downhill foot up as hard as you can, most of the weight shifts to the heel of the foot and you push the downhill ski forward to create more grip and bite the snow as hard as possible 4. The uphill foot kinda does the same as in paragraph#2?? 5. In the beginning of transition phase you have both ankles flexed and try to let them go open to unload skies and let the new downhill foot and uphill foot do their work from paragraph#1 and 2. Pls let me know if my understanding of ankle's work during the turn is wrong.
Really good inquiry; hope Deb responds. IMHO ankle flex and shin pressure max and pressure centered thru ball of foot occurs at rise line ie top of turn to initiate the turn. Then slightly less shin pressure and balance more thru mid arch thru mid turn. Then balanced over back of arch for the last 10% of turn ie release.
Thoughts on ankle flexion. Human beings in order to align our muscular skelatal system with the pull of gravity lean back when walking down hill. To lean back while going down hill is an ingrained survival instinct. To go against a life long habit is difficult to say the least. To maintain the functional tension needed to keep your body perpendicular to the ever changing slope so that the entire ski can be used to your advantage requires vigilance. And is a huge leap of faith. Just an idea. Deb I love your channel and passion for skiing that you and everyone watching shairs
Deb, love this video! Follow up question: Flexion indicates direction of rotation of the foot around the ankle from the side. It doesn’t imply the use of the shin muscle necessarily. It can be achieved by relaxation as gravity works on the body from a standing position and/or in a skiing context, leaning down the slope. I’d there a benefit to achieving ankle flexion through activation of the shin muscle vs the more passive method I describe above? I’m a beginner-intermediate skier, just interested in this topic.
Deb, was the second racer you interviewed in the video Chase Seymour? What he said about flexing the ankle of the outside ski was most illuminating! I watched this video again and I think its just brilliant. // Marshall
QUESTION: With ankle flexion being so important, would your recommend most recreational/advanced skiers choose a more flexible boot stiffness. I feel like many people believe they need a 120,130 boot rating (ratings really mean very little since there is no flex standard) to achieve top performance.
Erroring with a boot that is too stiff causes more problems than a boot that is too soft. Must be ballpark appropriate stiffness but hedge on the softer side
This video is great. I would like to point out some things here.
Ankle flex is not a very good term. The real reason of doing ankle flex is to create a pressure on your boot-tongue. Ankle flex is already built in your boots and flexed ankles does not mean that you really put pressure on the boot-tongues. This pressure makes it possible to steer your skis. I call this "pulling steering", because you can feel that your body (COM) is ahead of your skis and pulls them behind your body. The opposite is the pushing steering, when you push your skis ahead of your body.
Everyone in this video talk about what to do during the first phase of the turn (shaping phase), until apex of the turn. In this case you keep your body ahead of your skis.
Then the transition starts and in this phase you can also have pressures on your boot tongues by pressing your feet upwards inside your boot. This is a great tool, especially if your speed is low. It is like when you go on your heels, the same movement will do it. I call this kind of ankle flex "active ankle flex" because you do it with your own muscles, close to your ankles. Real carved turns are the cross under turns, when you have highly flexed knees during the transition. This knee flex puts your COM over the tales of your skis and ankle flex at this situation helps a lot.
At the moment you start your turn you have to make a body projection first. By this your body takes over the skis and pulls the skis into the new turn. This creates a passive ankle flex, and you can put some of your body weight on your boot-tongues.
You can find my english books here, the short one is free.
skiingtechnique.wordpress.com/
I love the term “pull steering!” I never realized it also closes my ankles, but that is obvious in hindsight.
Thanks for confirming the evanescent (but great!) feelings I’ve experienced while carving. Maybe now I can reproduce them consistently.
I love your brother's comment! What he said totally rings true for me. On gentler slopes, flexion for me is easier to achieve. It's like my brain only has to focus on that one thing, but on the steeper pitches, my brain starts to overthink because of the increased dangers I perceive I am putting myself in. That's when I really have to fight to have confidence in my skiing and trust that my body will just remember the process of ankle flexion!
Deb, I like the compound movement comment. For me, ankle flexion increases in the transition by moving the hips forward and pulling the feet back (using hamstrings). The difficulty in maintaining ankle flexion, I believe, is because in street shoes, when one extends the leg (or jumps), the ankle joint opens (along with the knee and hip joints). In skiing, the trick after the skis pass flat in the transition, is to extend the new outside leg, while closing the ankle joint. So it is a movement pattern that is contradictory to that used in street shoes.
Great observations. Stealing!
This comment is the perfect lead-in to the hip forward motion necessary to maintain that ankle flexion as you extend that outside leg which will then catch up with the hips at the end of the turn.
My thoughts on ankle flexion being difficult: Alpine skiers wear foot gear that is designed to hold their lower extremities in a static position. They go to a specialized boot fitter to hold this part of their body in a static position. The traps are designed to hold the boot to the ski in a static position. And… the more advanced the alpine skier, the more static the equipment is designed to perform (boot flex, DIN setting).
Now, the alpine skier has been locked into boots that barely flex, and those boots are secured to skis with a locked toe and a locked heel… and now ski coaches are telling the young skier to twist your foot, flex your ankle, etc. Its almost impossible to see this on the ski run for a young skier, boots are not transparent. Seems counterintuitive, both psychologically and physically.
But once you get it, the g-forces and smiles that come out of each turn… it’s so much fun!
Deb, you are becoming the Barbara Walters of skiing interviews. Excellent question, posed to high level skiers, gives various was of communicating an important point. Thank you!
Ha! Thanks
I have been using the suggestion of “knees over toes” that one of the athletes mentioned. I have noticed that when I helped customers with ski boot fit that saying bend your knees can result in them dropping their hips/ but back into the sitting down position. However when they hear place knees over their toes they have to move forward and flex the ankle forward. Absolutely love your videos and try to work on one of your tips every day on the hill. Skiing is such a dynamic sport and we have to constantly adjust to the forces and terrain as we move. That’s part of what makes is so interesting ⛷⛷🙏🙏
Knees over toes, nose over toes. Tony knows! A mnemonic, or way to remember.
What about "hips over bindings" ?
Deb, your brother hit the nail on the head, steeper terrain, more speed. Whoa Nelly! Much harder to stay engaged with the front of the boot, but it’s something to keep working on. Thanks!
100% correct; the brain tells we don’t want to fall forward, but you can never be too far forward when skiing. But when you release, it’s like being launched out of a cannon.
GREAT video. I have been skiing for 20 years. You have cleared up the entire miss direction, for me, of shin on tongue of the boot. One can get the shin on the front of the boot but still be in the back seat. The shin contact only comes from proper movement of the ankle. I discovered it by accident last year and this completely confirms I am on the correct path. I never realized how active is your ankle in proper skiing. THANK YOU !
I am asking those questions myself on other channels but the best answers I am finding here by Deb Armstrong, without even asking. Best ski channel by far.
Thanks. Spread the word😉
@@DebArmstrongSkiStrong gladly ma'am and thank you!
Love it! That 68 yr. old put down some turns! Every bit as clean as the younguns run. Thanks for a great video.
Oh I identify with your brother’s last statement “put your shin on front of your boot”. He’s such an honest guy to tell this personal struggle. This is going to change my skiing forever because I finally felt the difference and power. ❤❤❤
Great video. To many of these athletes, ankle flexion come naturally over years of training. They've been exposed to every type of snow, pitch, weather, visibility, etc. and can apply proper ankle pressure over changing terrain and conditions. For the rest of us, not so much. As your brother said, we're distracted by self preservation. For these people, my advice would be to find an empty groomed slope with consistent pitch that doesn't require you to check your speed. Remove all the distractions. I also think it's easier to do with a shorter radius ski because the speeds will be lower. Once you get the awareness and feeling of good ankle flexion, try to repeat it ALL THE TIME.
Warren Withal said 60 years ago good skiing starts in the feet work up from there
Brother Olin totally nailed it. It’s one thing to do it recreationally quite another in the gates. I never trusted myself to do it in the gates out of a fear missing a gate or losing control. Needless to say I was a mediocre racer. I always get something valuable or thought provoking from Deb’s videos and this is no exception.
The best hint I ever got for this was from an Austrian Ski instructor at Taos. For me it's feeling the pressure in my feet both on my shins and through my heels.
Thanks Deb! Loved the consistent feedback from the racers regarding ankle flexion. One other factor is that the ankle is hidden by the stiff plastic boots we ski in. I really liked the gal who demoed the "pull back the feet and put knees over toes" - that made it visible. I may struggle to see it with my 8 year-old students...
Thanks Deb’s brother I think you nailed it (At least for me) Easy to understand Difficult to do
Whoa, WTF! Great video Deb. Way to be the cause of great content.
Interesting that the most provoking question was with a race coach, and your brother.😃
Thank you❤
Great video! I think ankle flexion has been known as "being in the front seat, tongue pressure, and fore pressure." It's certainly a must for good controlled skiing. For me I don't have to think about much now except when I come out of the last quarter of the turn's apex and I get a snappy rebound energy from my ski tails. When I do this right it is so much fun utilizing the whole ski, but the rebound energy can throw me in the "back seat" if I'm not on top of it. This occasionally still happens with me when I ski hard and fast. Even though I'm not into racing I still have to anticipate the exit acceleration by driving my hands forward to maintain a good ankle flexion position for the beginning of the next turn.
Now I see what your brother is saying. You know what you are supposed to do in your head and think you are doing it, but you actually aren't. But then, one day, suddenly you encounter this aha moment or breakthrough where you realize that you have not been doing it right or not enough all along. My most recent aha moment was when I was practicing one-ski skiing a whole day. I realized that, when I get much more forward than I used to, i.e., ankle flexion and shin against the front of the boot, one-ski skiing becomes easier. In other words, I was in backseat even though I thought I was forward. Thank you!
Viewing this video was highly rewarding for me.
The last insight was a great way to conclude.
I now have far greater clarity about how to flow over my main obstacles to effectively using the ankles.
Wow, that first guy's technique is just amazing, he's making it look like a walk in the park, dancing .Love it.
Agreed with the pull your feet back comment. I was taught pop tall and slide them back and just slightly unlock your knees, boom you're in the cuff of the boot. Popping tucks your butt under so you don't get back weighted and pulling the heels back gives you that aggressive forward lean while keeping the boot pressure constant without getting back weighted.
Awesome and Universal! I wish I could get people into softer boots until they figure out that they can bend the ankle in the ski boots! Thank you Deb for helping me, us and everyone!
A very good reason to pick a boot that’s not too stiff to prevent flexion. One point brought up by Stein Holsted that flexion helps the sensing of your edge on the snow. A stiff boot prevents that. Try loosing your buckles, not too much, you don’t want to be swimming in them, in your warm up runs. You can feel the snow texture and respond to the it. Than buckle them up super stiff and ski the same run. Your ski will over turn loosing edge control. Then find the medium in buckling them according to snow conditions and steepness. This early season routine will help you feel the snow through your feet. Thanks Deb, continue to enjoy your vids and the food of thought they provide!❤
Like Goldie Locks & the three bears, getting the buckles JUST RIGHT. ;)
Thanks, I'll try this on my next trip in 2 weeks
Another brilliant and fantastic video. I love the fact that you are asking other people to explain their own perception especially finishing off with the coaches point on jeopardy,
Thank you very much, Deb
Thank you. Thanks for the comment
boot stiffness is a factor in ankle flexion. ive been trying different boot flexes, a head raptor 120 flex boot vs a head raptor 130. i found that on my rec skis, 184 head e titans and 183 blizzard bonafide skis, that i had better fore and aft balance over the ski and a better ability to angulate and engage the shovel, when using the softer 120 flex ski boot. that boot allowed more ankle flexion. also, especially in powder skiing, its necessary to get proper ankle flexion, without over pressuring the shovels, which happens with a too stiff boot
I love your brothers explanation!! I totally understood it. More videos of him please 😊
This encompasses my thing that everyone should learn to ski on telemark equipment.. These guys here are racers and have an understanding of the dynamic movements required to make their equipment work and the biomechanics behind it. Teaching old dogs new tricks is hard and your regular skier who hasnt been exposed to dynamics of racing are usually stuck in a comfort zone is almost an impossible task..
It's hard for competent alpine instructors to Telemark as they're stuck in the "I can ski" mode and have to transition but they understand movement. Beginnwrs / intermediates need confidence and the alpine equipment gives them that so much so that they can just go for a ride on it, rather than really engage . You can park and ride tele turns, but you have to be a lot more dynamic. Ankle flexion, weighting, pressuring, pushing etc on the front of your boot whilst dropping the knee ( not lifting your heel) is a necessity...
Movement..and engagement on alpine can be promoted by undoing/loosening the boots and moving to easier terrain... A real natural sense of balan e can be found then the boots can complement that rather than compensate for the lack of it.. As you progress to steeper terrain pressing into the boot fronts /tongue becomes a confidence thing for many, as its natural to lean away(back) from something that scares you, overcoming that comes from a more overall belief in self and ability, and repetition to the point of familiarity.
It's where the psychological takes place over the physical
My husband and I were just having this conversation! Great insight
Thanks Deb! I love to hear these top racers different ideas about what 'their cue' is and how they accomplish and think about ankle flexion! Had to 'buy your coffee' this morning. Thanks again for another great video!
Great!!!!
I like to think of it as ankle tension. More passively dropping my knees into the front of the boot does get me there but actively flexing the ankle puts me there with purpose. Gripping the boot with the ankle .
This resonates with me. When I returned to skiing after X decades (!), and wanted to start carving, I decided I should lean toward the tip of my outside ski. To maintain balance, my hips went to the inside and I got edge. The outside ANKLE FLEXED, my knee came forwards, the toe of the ski bent and the cornering POWER built up, up, up. I was carving. Then I had to tidy it up! 😂 A lot! 🤣
This season (so far), I've been focusing on your Fore and Aft tutorials. Regarding ankle flexion, and the various opinions by the pro racers, your brother, and the comments shared below, will add to my focus the next few days on the hill. Thanks as always for your content.
I love this style of video Deb. Montage open ending talking points edited in a consumable manner. Thank you for seeking and sharing the joy of being alive.
Love it
I would be interested in hearing more about the timing of the ankle flexion and release and how it coordinates with knee flexion when other lateral forces on the ankle become involved during the turn. Thanks for posting your video, by the way.
Love this video! When I work with adults they perfectly understand ankle flexion and totally get pressure at 10:00 and 2:00 just like we learned in drivers ed. 9:50 and 2:10 has less of an impact on today's digital children.
Another valuable video on the nuances of skiing technique.
I love the insight from your brother at the end. He really nailed my problems. Didn’t solve them yet , but nailed them.😳
I love your brothers comments. it is about trusting that your skis will respond to the input from your shins.
Deb is da bomb. She makes people love to learn the technical aspects of skiing
Thank you
Thank you for this video Deb! Even though I am not a racer but I think most of us who reached a certain level understand we can't be on our backseat and need to flex your ankle. Like the last guy said, everybody can do it at the easy slopes. But I had such a difficult big powder day just a few weeks ago to the point I was really mad at myself. I watched 2 of your videos and I think I realize why I was so inconsistent with it. That timing and mentality of flexing is so important to your turning balance the rest of the way and I didn't have a solution. The different types of explanation from different expert really helps and hopefully I can take it with me on my next run
Chase wise beyond his years ankle flexion well said . The standards knees over toes shins on front of boots helps. Good work Deb 💯👍🇺🇸
Finally a video explains it well. As a newbie, this helps
Another very timely topic, thank you. I’ve had lots of issues with hip position and on the last day of a ski holiday realised it came down to not skiing right through the ski because I’ve been keeping the ankle too static. It’s been a very difficult concept to turn from instruction points into dynamic movement.
alex skis so beautifully! he has attained absolute mastery of the physics of his slalom skis. see the rotation in his skiing, that is progressive new generation recreational skiing. the rotational dynamics in the turn make groomer skiing feel like powder skiing
Such helpful stuff, Deb, thank you. Another thought for folks to try: alpine/backcountry boots are softer. Used on downhill, they’re great for getting the feel of ankle flexion.
Kinda good to hear honestly from your brother how difficult it was to get the concept of ankle flexion. I can relate to that! Even better to hear that when he got it how it changed skiing for him. Wish he could elaborate on what got him to his Epiphany moment but maybe it was just hard work and constantly pushing those shins to the front of his bootS! Thanks !
Nice topic, Deb. Quick observations: Dorsiflexion is moving the top of the foot towards its knee by "up bending" the ankle. Think "dorsal fin" to remember. Plantar flexion is moving the foot in the direction of the sole of the foot. Plantar is the sole. "Flexing" the ankle is like "steering" the car. Which way? These terms indicate the direction. Second, the reason dorsiflexion while skiing is difficult for most people is that they try to use it to pull themselves out of the back seat. Never going to happen. The anterior compartment (front of the shin) muscles are not strong enough. One of the people interviewed said the turn starts with the snow. So a better correction than focusing on the ankle is to focus on the sole of the foot. Try changing where you bear your weight. Keep your heel off your footbed and your shin/calf off your boot cuff through every turn for a while and see where your weight goes. It's forward, if you are really doing both. It feels like standing on a bike pedal through the whole turn. Pressing against the cuff? Wrong. Touching down on the heel? Wrong. Staying on the ball is fast, powerful, and above all, centered. Try it for a day. It's fun!
Thanks so much! a lot of tips and cues that we can try, and the words of Deb's brother, as well as those of many comments,is comforting and informative, which i will try treat as psy cues as well. thanks again.
Hi Debbie, I just watched this video and the guy at the end who was making his coffee nailed it.
Its easy to understand but harder to put into practice.
I have a big problem with my left ankle (too many motor cycle accidents back in the 60's) and I was at a coaching session at the indoor slope in Hemel Hempsted on Wednesday.
The coach was not giving my much sympathy for it.
I always think I'm getting my ankles flexed enough, but obviously not enough, as he noticed it.
I'm really going to drive those shins against tongue of the boot next week.
Cheers Debbie.
I met up with a bunch of "Steam boaters" back in February at Arraba in the Dolimites, great fun!
“That guy at the end” is my brother. He knows his stuff😉
5:20 - a man I can relate to, sort of… I only watch pro racing… LOL…. Do I noticeable a bit old school style in his skiing? This is clearly a sport where technique and care of one’s physical and mental self will allow one to carry the sport well into one’s senior years. I have 2 years on him and still loving it.
Once again, thanks for giving me a term, “ankle flexion”, to put something that I have learned to recognize as something I need to be doing correctly. I have thought of it as keeping the ankle in the pocket in the boot. I am very much an recreational skier who grew up skiing in the back seat and has spent a long time working on skiing technique to get out of there. As soon as I find my self skiing in the back seat I will notice that my ankle is no longer in that boot pocket, and ankle flexion is the first thing that I look to correct. But for me “knees over toes” never worked because I roll my shoulders over. Because of the rolled shoulders, I can have my knees over my toes without my weight being there. For me the correction to ankle flexion starts in the back and tightening of the lower back and core muscles to bring the shoulders back. This gives me a firm platform from which I can use my quads to drive my knees forward and pull my ankle back in to the boot pocket. Once there, all is good in the world again.
I liked hearing how various skiers describe that term that helped to understand what it is. And it was interesting to hear that ankle flexion may be a simple concept that may be not so simple to achieve. Nice interviews. Thanks for sharing.
Nice one thanks Deb.
I guess to add to your bros comments, flexion takes commitment and adequate speed or steepness. It's that driven acceleration that is so elusive, scary, rewarding and addictive in that order. Nice snow conditions help too 😉
One of the best advanced ski videos I've seen.
Great!!!!
Pass it along😉
I had my aha moment today. The reason it’s hard is because you have to allow yourself to to completely perpendicular to the slope and almost feel like you are jumping off it. Our natural tendency is to lean back to fight gravity. Ankle flexion forces us to fall with gravity. Thanks Deb!
Deb, I love this one. And am going to incorporate it into our coaching training for our non-competitive Freeride team for kids here (and adult sessions as well). it is what I am always trying to develop in skiers. I like your brother's comments (along with a lot of the other really great remarks and insights from different view points) regarding WHY a simple concept become elusive. And in keeping with using good race fundamentals, which to me are just good ski fundamentals, when you are out in the chowder, the steeps, the heavy, the trees, whatever, mentally, it gets harder, and it is important to find those body awarenesses (for me, the bottoms of my feet and cuff of my boot) so that I can recenter and begin again, maybe every turn some days. Combining this video with the transition and stance series answers most of the questions and sets most of the priorities for a good basic training plan, IMO.
Deb, this is such a great structure for a video.
Awesome job! Investigative, great questions, leveraging your contacts - really well done.
As a developing (oldish) skier thirsty for insight on technique, this is exactly the kinda content i'm looking for.
Thank you! And congrats on the bub. xo
Hi Deb, I wanted to share an insight on your wonderful channel and this video is just the cue. In the past years I have, rather unsuccessfully, attempted to learn slalom racing technique. Recently I found a video by Richi Berger, Ideal Short Turns, in which he emphasizes the float or traverse in between two turns as a separate phase that follows a correctly exited turn. Indeed we often see racers exit the turn and float across the hill then enter the next turn. A float in between turns also looks like the unweighting from classical ski instruction. I realized that this float or unweighting phase was missing from my skiing, especially in slalom. I was focused on quickly changing edges and moving directly to a high edge angle. I got no rebound and often entered the turn with too much weight on the inside ski. Berger does not give details on how to execute the float. I figured the movement would be similar to the rotating push from the ground in an athletics high jump. Or the push from the back foot when hitting a tennis forehand. In both cases, the inside knee is thrust with force leading to a hip and shoulder rotation into the direction where the athlete wants to go. In tennis this movement is also called the kinetic chain. Applied to slalom: exit the turn ahead of the gate by transferring weight to the new outside ski with much ankle flexion. This loads the energy from the turn exit on to the new outside front foot, compressing the body, as if coiling to prepare for a jump. Release at the gate to float across the hill, by pushing forward from the loaded outside foot, while driving the inside knee toward the start of the new turn, somewhat like the javelin drill. End the float by making snow contact on the new edges. By driving the inside knee, the hip and shoulders rotate toward the tips, resolving any backseat issues and fully pressuring the front of the skis. Continue to drive the inside knee to avoid weighting the inside ski, while pushing the outside ski wide, away from the COM to full stretch. Using this approach I am starting to address many issues that I had not made progress on before. Ankle flexion was a key change, so I guess it makes sense to share in this thread. I am surprised by how much more explosive and aggressive the transition now feels, when previously I aimed for a small and quick transition by just changing edges with my feet. In your video one skier makes a relatable comment how ankle flexion enables her to stay on top of the rebound. Though I do wonder if the term ankle flexion is perhaps too limited for what’s going on. Thank you for making these videos on such detailed but important technical topics.
Wow, love it!!!!!
Deb, I'm a new subscriber and have gorged on a TONNE of your videos and made SOOO many notes. Thank you so much.
I'm a fit and very active advanced 50 year old skier who's constantly looking to improve.
Last year I had a private lesson from a very experienced and trusted Italian instructor in the French Alps who suggested instead of flexing my outside leg at the ankle (and pushing through the shin of my boot) to instead have a stiff (almost locked) ankle and to gain power by transferring all my strength into the outside ski by pushing hard using an almost straight leg through the ball of my foot trying to get that ski to bend.
He used the analogy that if I tried to push a bent ski pole with my hands into the snow it would snap, whereas pushing a straight ski pole would transfer all my power (through the ski) into the snow - which at the time made sense.
I'm now a little confused as to why he would suggest that given your enlightenment of ankle flexion? I'd love to hear your thoughts and advice.
Many thanks
Dominic
I suppose what I'm conflicted by is should most of my power be transferred through the shin or through the ball/heel of my foot through the turn?
Tu hermano me ha confirmado la conclusión a la que yo mismo he llegado con mi problema para avanzar técnicamente en el esquí. Especialmente cuando uno aprende a una edad más o menos avanzada, el gran problema es enfrentarse a fuertes pendientes. En ese instante, se olvida todo. Y vencer al miedo es la gran barrera.
Dang. You got Mr. Halsnes with you. For me, he is a legend. He was a great inspiration for me in my youth.
Oh my goodness! This is helping me SO much today!! THANK YOU Deb!!!
You are welcome😉
Nice vid, thx. Alex's free skiing is awsome :) I can give you my 2 pences here. There are two declinations of ankle flexion wrt skiing:
1/ active: actual DORSIFLEXION of ankles at the top of the turn, That initiates fore/aft movement and tenses legs inside boots,
2/ passive: inertial force does the job. When pressure is max (power) and knee an hip are in fore POSITION (external quadicep is vertical). Then tibia is crushing front of your boots without any muscular forces.
When you are practicing fore/aft, you should focus on both parts 1/ and 2/: separate and join them.
Hi Deb!!! I commented last season on one of your videos and as a physical therapist I describe ankle Dorsi flexion vs plantar flexion as simply creating a smaller angle at the ankle joint (I.e getting your shin closer towards the top of the foot.). This is in contrast to what a ballet dancer does when he/she points the foot and elongates the front of the ankle (i.e. makes a greater angle between dorsal aspect of the foot and ankle bones) which is plantarflexion.
The foot is so complex as the only triplanar joint in the body, but while the foot is in a stiff ski boot with what seems like fixed angle orientation (vs certain running shoes that allow for greater amounts of foot mobility) perplexes me as a new skier at the age of 43. I will play around in my ski boot this weekend and see what my ankle is able to achieve. Thanks!!!!!!
Most of this is about feeling your feet not so much moving them. The one point I advocate that covers a lot of this stuff . Tip your skis from your toes or the toe piece of the ski this notion of tipping a ski from the entire length of the ski boot doesn't work as well.
Love this and focusing on this skill again this year. One thing I have done is put stickers on my skis and rather than trying to focus on why my body is doing focus on pressuring those stickers (ie sticker 6”, 12” and the. One near scoop) this seems to be helping me get more forward pressure and ankle flex without getting caught in my crazy squirrel brain of what my body *should* be doing - not sure if that makes sense. Keep up the amazing work Deb!! Hope to ski with you again!
This family is incredible…had a lesson with Stein Erickson as a kid and the communication was easily the same as Deb and Olin do it….good teaching is like a great running back …its just in them. How id pay to just have an hour with deb on the slopes at 58..i got it , but just to Hear the natural flow of critique …pulling apart the rhythm and flow , just adds to the enjoyment . Hey i taught grade school for 25 , i know good teachers when i see them.
Ah, thank you
As always, so many great insights. Thanks for sharing!
Michael saying "everything starts from the feet up" is something probably say about 10 times a day when I'm coaching skiing!
Getting ready for ski season again and I’m back to your wonderful videos!
Great!!!!!
Hmm... clipped in on my bike trainer I've been working on the transition of unweighting as I use my hamstrings and glutes to pull up on the pedals. The toes up prompt got me to lift my toes on the downstroke that dropped my heal creating a flex in my ankle. I'm going to try to duplicate that feeling on the ski hill tonight, thanks for the tips! I'm always impressed with how smooth the camera work is when you are skiing behind the racers!
When it's safe to do so, I make slalom turns on my roadbike and find it a great simulation of carve skiing. All aspects are there: weight transfer, ankle flexion, rebound, fore aft and lateral balance. It has reallly helped me bring these elements together in a continuous motion
@@maxwerks Thanks for the information, I'm going to use this when I get back on my mountain bike!
@@debbielombard5132 I use a 20" Swift Folder fixie. The small wheels have a low COM for an even more ski-like feel. But you will find the same effects on a mountainbike. It's a nice way to stay skiing when not on snow. Hope you find it a fun and useful exercise and look forward to a video if you do 🙂
So great, this spoke to me and where I'm at in my ski journey. I will be putting these tips to use this season. Thanks Deb!
Smart people talking ski technique. Love it.
Ankle flexion is the pivot of aggression. As long as you are on top of your game, it's thrusting you forward. However you may need to get back during flexion. A we'll oiled technique will allow you this flexibility.
Love the idea of lift the toes. Do that and you automatically flex. I think of pulling or sucking my foot back. One thing that I find inhibiting is how stiff boots make it hard to flex which is why I ski with my top buckles undone most the time. Crazy I guess but that gives me better angles. Keep up the great work Deb! Thanks!
Lift the inside big toe was the nugget that my trainer gave us in the prep session before my cert 1 exam.
I love this topic. Skiers mistake the biometrics of the ankle joint and desired outcome.
I like to think my foot contains a magic triangle touching the bottom of my boot. The toes are outside the triangle. Big toe side, little toe side, and the heel.
If the toes become part of the triangle my ankle opens. If they are up and out of the way I move forward.
We want to add pressure to the tip of the ski. Mistakenly, we think that pressure is a pushing force. The more we push the more open the ankle. This opening of the ankle is Plantar Flexion
I heard one racer in your video mentioning lifting the toes. He used the term "dorsiflexion".
The ball of the foot is part of a platform region of the foot called the metatarsal plate (M-plate). This plate is one side of the triangle. The heel of the foot completes the triangle. This is the most powerful stable platform we can produce.
If the toes are lifted and the M-plate lifts off the bottom of the boot, that is dorsiflexion.
Ankle flexion is the leg shin moving forward on the triangle platform while simultaneously lifting the toes.
With the toes up, maintaining contact with the boot bottom on the M-plate the knees move forward applying pressure to the tip of the ski. We actually pull ourselves forward.
Maximum tip pressure comes from pulling not pushing. Simply add a tipping of the boot and the magic happens.
Awesome. Thanks
I ankle "flexioned" so well in a Nordica Promachine 130 that I dislocated a peroneal tendon and had to have emergency surgery. I've been turning with this mantra, "Into the turn on the toes (mainly big toe) and ball, through the turn on the arch (whole foot actually) and exit the turn on the heal." Seams to work- sets the edge, ride the rail through the turn and spring into the next turn. Longer radius FIS GS skis complicate my mantra but oh well, I just want to have fun!
Your brother nailed the explanation!
Love your BRO 😅, perfectly aligned with him!!!! 🤩
Best instructor out on RUclips. Got to donate
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Skiing today and thinking about ankle flexion among the million other things to think about when skiing. It’s hard!
But I think I’m improving . Thanks deb your videos are awesome and motivated me/ given me tools to learn skiing !!!
Great content , such interesting varied racers cues and views...
What a great video! Gosh it makes me want to go ski…fingers 🤞 for better weather on the east coast soon!
Can you talk about the importance of good correct fitting boots to ankle flexion? p.s. Olins' answer is genious!
As usual Deb another terrific upload THANK YOU!
You and everyone interviewed on this video are way way above my pay grade and ability, but what I have found helpful for my skiing is to imagine that I’m pinning a quarter between my shin and tongue of my boot. I not only try not to “let the “imaginary quarter” slide down but also apply enough pressure that if I were tk take off my boot the the quarter would leave an imprint on the boots tongue. Also, I make sure to tighten down my buckles enough.
But remember the ankle is not fixed. It flexes and opens
@@DebArmstrongSkiStrong skiing Taos for the first time tomorrow. I’ll work on the ankle Flexion and driving my inside knee forward while carving up some GS turns!!!
Amazingly informative and helpful.
Particularly loved the link between avoidance of risk (mental) and the difficulty acheiving appropriate ankle flexion. If this is not only an innate response but also a learned one (so whats nature vs nurture) can we train the psychologicsl aspect at the same time as the physical?
Really enjoyed this video Deb.. thanks for sharing!
Hi Deb - on the off chance you see this, I'm a boot fitter and I tend to pay more attention to the individuals range of motion when recommending boot flex than some of my fellow boot fitters. I'd love to hear your take on ankle flexion and boot flex.
Yes, very important part of the equation
Bending your ankles is difficult because the skier is constantly being pushed into the back seat by the forces of a turn. Which means you constantly need to be adjusting your position over the skis so that your ankles are flexed preserving your ability to tip the ski into the next turn and pressuring the ski through the initial phase into the belly of the turn. Which, of course, creates forces that push the skier backwards with a slippery ski underneath wanting to jet out from under the skier. A straighter ankle drops the hips behind the heels, making it harder to finish the turn and initiate the next one (not to mention, pressuring the middle of the ski). As your interviewees have said, the ankle is the joint closest to the snow...step 1 in the progression ankles-knees-hips. I could go on and on, but will get off the soapbox. Ankle flexion, ankle flexion, ankle flexion...
Such a precious video! Thank you!❤
Deb, I love your videos! I'm actually a baseball catcher in the warm months and masters racer in the winter. I have been having trouble with my boot setup as I have extreme ankle flexion ability due to catching yet I find I'm having a mental block with boot stiffness, forward lean setup etc. Please make more content like this!!! Also, is your webstore back up? Cheers from Boston!!!
I’m new here and I just wanted to say this is such a good channel with tons of great content 👍🏼 greetings from 🇵🇱
Welcome!! Glad you found me
Hey Deb! Ankle flex is critical- ankle extension (do we call it that?) too… Without one I don’t think we can have the other.
True yet ankle flexion is more difficult to achieve and yes, both happen
I recommend to my students and athletes, DO NOT open your ankles, especially at the end of a turn. An open ankle may happen anyway without you forcing it. No sense exacerbating the negatives of being in the back seat on purpose. I suggest Keeping your ankle crank, this makes it easier to find the tip of the ski much easier without having to rock forward to start a turn. Thanks for you videos Deb.
Great video! Great comments from the skiers about how they do it. I just don't fully understand what the slalom skier said about pole planting; what the 68-year old man said about inside edge; and what your brother was trying to say about how/why it is difficult to do.
Watch more of my videos😉😉😉👍🤣
@@DebArmstrongSkiStrong I like your videos and think I've seen most of your videos if not all. I clearly understand your explanations and instructions, but sometimes have difficulty understanding what your guests, who are experts and coaches, are saying. It's not your fault, but it would be great if you could clarify or edit out some comments that are clearly not very helpful for your viewers.
Crap.. I wish I had watched this a couple weeks ago. Just got back from my ski trip. I think this is my barrier to conquer next year.
This is a great video of pro skiers way of understanding of Ankle flexion, but as Deb's brother said it's kinda still not an easy thing to do. And it's still not so obvious from the video how the ankle should work during the turn. Am I right to say that: 1. In the beginning of the turn before the gate the downhill ankle must be (or happens to be) more open, you kinda have to push the imaginary button with the fingers of foot in order to bend the ski, and get bigger angles and tight turn 2. In the beginning of the turn before the gate the uphill foot ankle is (has to be) more flexed and tense but with almost 0-20% weight to create bigger angle and more tight turn 3. Right at the gate the downhill ankle must go very tense and flex so you pull the fingers of downhill foot up as hard as you can, most of the weight shifts to the heel of the foot and you push the downhill ski forward to create more grip and bite the snow as hard as possible 4. The uphill foot kinda does the same as in paragraph#2?? 5. In the beginning of transition phase you have both ankles flexed and try to let them go open to unload skies and let the new downhill foot and uphill foot do their work from paragraph#1 and 2. Pls let me know if my understanding of ankle's work during the turn is wrong.
Really good inquiry; hope Deb responds. IMHO ankle flex and shin pressure max and pressure centered thru ball of foot occurs at rise line ie top of turn to initiate the turn. Then slightly less shin pressure and balance more thru mid arch thru mid turn. Then balanced over back of arch for the last 10% of turn ie release.
Thoughts on ankle flexion. Human beings in order to align our muscular skelatal system with the pull of gravity lean back when walking down hill. To lean back while going down hill is an ingrained survival instinct. To go against a life long habit is difficult to say the least. To maintain the functional tension needed to keep your body perpendicular to the ever changing slope so that the entire ski can be used to your advantage requires vigilance. And is a huge leap of faith. Just an idea.
Deb I love your channel and passion for skiing that you and everyone watching shairs
Nice!!!!! I love that, and act of vigilance
Deb, love this video! Follow up question: Flexion indicates direction of rotation of the foot around the ankle from the side. It doesn’t imply the use of the shin muscle necessarily. It can be achieved by relaxation as gravity works on the body from a standing position and/or in a skiing context, leaning down the slope. I’d there a benefit to achieving ankle flexion through activation of the shin muscle vs the more passive method I describe above? I’m a beginner-intermediate skier, just interested in this topic.
Watch this,
Forward and Ankle Flexion, the Difference Explained
ruclips.net/video/c_NcZ9NfYq8/видео.html
Deb, was the second racer you interviewed in the video Chase Seymour? What he said about flexing the ankle of the outside ski was most illuminating! I watched this video again and I think its just brilliant. // Marshall
Yes
QUESTION: With ankle flexion being so important, would your recommend most recreational/advanced skiers choose a more flexible boot stiffness. I feel like many people believe they need a 120,130 boot rating (ratings really mean very little since there is no flex standard) to achieve top performance.
Erroring with a boot that is too stiff causes more problems than a boot that is too soft. Must be ballpark appropriate stiffness but hedge on the softer side