PERSONAL PERFORMANCE TIPS

Bumps     If you’re looking for a lower impact way to ski the bumps, here’s a mantra you can try. Back straight, bend legs, turn skis and straighten legs. I’ll show you again, back straight, bend legs, turn skis, straighten legs. And again, back straight, bend legs, turn skis, straighten legs. Now this is not the only way to ski the bumps but it’s kind of a low impact way. Steeper section of bumps – a little bit tighter, and so on – I’m looking to kind of slither my way down there. I’m not looking to edge very hard. Try to absorb the impact. If you have a straight back, bent legs, then turn my skis when my legs are bent, and then I straighten my legs out again so that I will be able to do that on the next bump. I’ll show you again. I’m going to show you the first two elements of this right here. Right in front on me there’s a nice big bump, so as I approach it I’ve got to keep the back straight and let the legs bend. Okay, did you see that? Now here’s the next two elements. We’ve got the legs bent, now we’re going to start turning the feet and we’re going to straighten the legs out. Now, if you’re sitting on the couch watching us, here’s something I want you to try. Just pull your feet off the floor for a second. Now as you pull your feet off the floor, that’s when you want to be turning your feet. I’m going to show you that again. Back straight, pull feet up, turn feet, straighten legs. So we’ll try and slither our way down here with this technique and we keep the back straight, we bend the legs, we turn the feet, and then we straighten the legs so we can do it all again. And it’s not the only way to ski the bumps, but it is a good way to reduce the impact and get down a mogul field like that at a moderate speed. If you’re the kind of skier that gets bounced around on the bumps, that could be a good approach for you to practice. Give it a whirl, I hope it works for you.