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You know, on a beautiful morning like this I’m sometimes tempted to just jump right in to some high-energy skiing my first run of the day, but I’ve learned that I’ve got to warm up. I’ve got to get the muscles moving. I relate it to when I play tennis. I try to play mini tennis first to get the feet moving, or maybe you're a golfer, so you go to the range and hit some balls before your match. So, I’m going to show you my warmup routine.
The first thing I think about is lots of movement, a ridiculous amount of movement, lots of vertical movement. I leave the skis loose on the snow. I’m not going to try and stop them sliding just yet, up and down in kind of an exaggerated fashion to get everything moving. Then I want to make sure that I’m feeling the feet are turning. Then I want to make sure that I’ve got the feet moving back and forth. I’m continuously moving. I don't stop the movement with an edgy movement -lots of up and down with the skis sliding loose on the snow. Everything kind of feels soft and light. I’m not stopping the movement by adding an edge set at this point, up and down. This is my everyday first run warmup routine.
Okay, something else I try to do is vary the radius to, sort of, medium round and then really short, kind of stupid short, get everything moving and then maybe just some longer carving turns. In other words, I try not to lock in on my first run of the day. I want to make sure that whether I’m making big turns or little turns, my legs are always moving and I don't get overly tight.
Again, lots of movement. Start with vertical movement. Leave the skis free on the snow. Let them slide. Try a variety of turns and shapes, short, long, medium but above all, keep moving. That's what you want on your first run of the day. That's what I want anyway. Try it, I hope it works for you.
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