|
|
POSTED IN 01/10
DAVID LAWRENCE
Contributing Editor
|
 |
Every skate skier I have ever taught has said the same thing, “I want to be more efficient.” No problem, just ski in the tunnel of power.
Where is the Tunnel of Power? The tunnel of power is everywhere you ski, so finding it is pretty easy, you just have to know what you are looking for.
How to Find the Tunnel
Without poles, imagine standing in a tunnel that’s too short. If you stood upright, legs straight, you would hit your head on the ceiling. So bend your legs and relax your upper body to fit in the tunnel.
Don’t bend your legs then bend your waist to fit in the tunnel. You didn’t drop anything, so don’t bend over like you’re trying to pick it up. Instead look down the tunnel, bend your knees and flex your ankles so you don’t hit your head and ski.
Great you’re skiing in a tunnel that’s too small, but there’s one catch, the tunnel is too wide!
The Tunnel is Too Wide
Stand in the tunnel without hitting your head. Now, if I asked you to straighten a leg without standing up straight, what would you do? If you guessed what I was thinking, you would extend your leg out to the side while the leg you are balancing on stayed bent.
Now bring the leg back under you, recoiling the leg into a bent position and extend your other leg to the side of the tunnel. Notice that your upper body stays on the same level plane, head just a few inches below the ceiling of the tunnel even while your leg extends out to the side.
This time when you ski in the tunnel, try to touch the sides of the tunnel with the tips of your skis by extending your leg and not hitting your head on the ceiling of the tunnel.
You just found the tunnel of power! The tunnel of power is too short to stand tall and too wide to touch the sides. In order to get more power out of our skis without exerting too much energy, all we have to do is drive our skis a little further away from our body. So now you’re skiing inside the tunnel, really driving each ski out to the sides of the tunnel.
Want to find more power in the tunnel? Step on your belly button line.
What if you brought your non glide ski further underneath your body, so far underneath your body that if there were a line directly below your belly button, you would step on it?
If you brought your ski so far underneath your body that it was almost directly under your belly button, you would be able to drive your ski further along the snow. Why? Because your new glide ski, the ski you just stepped on, would have a greater distance to travel to reach the side of the tunnel. And if you’re driving and gliding on your ski longer, then you are taking fewer steps to cover the same amount of ground as you did before. Inside the tunnel of power, you are more efficient and more powerful without using up extra energy.
So when you’re inside the tunnel of power, keep your head just a few inches below the ceiling, extend your glide ski all the way to the side of the tunnel, trying to touch the side of the tunnel with the tip of your ski and step on your belly button line. Blend these three movement patterns together for better performance.
One more thing
For optimal efficiency, slow your rate of turnover; in other words, slow your tempo down. Can you touch the sides of the tunnel by slowly extending your leg rather that quickly extending your leg and retracting it? As many skiers can attest, you can fake it going fast. The true test is slowing it down!
|
For more articles like this one, subscribe today to The Master Skier. |
|
