- Live ski academy tour returns to 15 venues across Scotland and England
- Starts on October 6 in Inverness and ends October 27 in London
- NEW plyometric and ski specific exercises introduced after trials during the ‘Covid’ winter
- Proven ‘6 Way Foundation Tests’ remain in the program, now in its 6th year
- Learn ‘Ski Technique Hacks’ to develop strength before lessons and help reduce risk of injury
The Warren Smith Ski Academy is pleased to announce the return of the SKI TECHNIQUE LAB TOUR, this autumn.
Formulated over 20 years by working with thousands of skiers, the Warren Smith Ski Academy team brings GAIT Analysis to skiing technique, enabling the learner to develop their level even before a ski lesson. This pre, during and post-ski development formula makes the skier biomechanically sound, reduces the risk of injury and makes for faster development when they next hit the slopes. In other words, Ski Technique Hacks.
Now in its 6th year, the workshops will now have 3 Way Lineage (Ski Technique – Ski Biomechanics – Ski Equipment Precision) and explanations on why it’s vital for ski technique development. There is the ‘6 Way Foundation’ tests and the new Ski Plyometric Exercises.
NEW FOR 2021: Tested last year on the tour with reduced capacity due to Covid, the Academy had the chance to put people through a series of basic plyometric (involves jumping, hopping and skipping) ski specific exercises. The results significantly helped skiers on take-off and landing side to side, within 15 minutes raising huge awareness and changes that took place on the night. This extra element will be an additional part of the October tour.
Warren Smith said:
“You can’t cheat biomechanics even with the best instructor or coach in the world. Skiers will be individually assessed by the team and helped to identify their specific movement ranges and what they need to do to either balance out differences between the right and left side of the body or to generally improve range. They will have enough information to build their own technique development program off the snow and dramatically change their skiing before the winter season starts”.
The talks conclude with an open Q&A session – the evening lecture allows keen skiers to hit the ground running ahead of the fast approaching winter season.
SKI TECHNIQUE LAB UK TOUR – OCTOBER 2021 DATES & VENUES
Oct 6th Craigdon Mountain Sports: Inverness, 7pm
Oct 7th Craigdon Mountain Sports: Aberdeen, 7pm
Oct 8th Ellis Brigham Mountain Sports: Glasgow, Braehead, 7pm
Oct 10th Helly Hansen: Edinburgh, 7pm
Oct 11th Silksworth Ski Centre, 7pm
Oct 12th Glide n Slide Otley, 7pm
Oct 13th Snow & Rock Manchester: Chill Factore, 7pm
Oct 14th Rivington Alpine: Bolton, 7pm
Oct 18th Solutions 4 feet: Bicester, 7pm
Oct 19th Snowfit Revolutionz: Norwich, 7pm
Oct 20th Snow & rock: Chertsey, 7pm
Oct 21st Ellis Brigham Mountain Sports: Bristol, 7pm
Oct 25th Snow & Rock: Hemel Snow Centre, 7pm
Oct 26th Equinox Gym: London, 7pm
Oct 27th Altimus: Kensington High Street London, 7pm
Cost: £20 (1.5 hour session)
Bookings for the tour can be made through Eventbrite.
Further Information
THE 6 WAY FOUNDATION TESTS EXPLAINED
1. LEG FLEX PATTERN TEST
By taking a measurement of how far each person’s ankle allows them to flex, we can tell early on if the simple mechanics of the sport will work or not. The ideal drop test range for safe skiing is between 15cm and 20cm with equal range on the right and left ankle. Our previous findings showed the national average was 11cm, with the lowest score being 4cm. Most importantly over 95% of people showed a clear difference between their left and right ankle flex ranges.
2. SKIER SYMMETRY TEST
Symmetry describes how skiers manage their width of stance from the feet up to their hips and maintain a consistently symmetrical position. To test this range, we use our simple 10 second test where attendees try to pull their feet together on a slippery surface in a slow controlled movement without their knees dropping in. Previous findings showed that over 70% of people had to take 3 attempts to make it last 10 seconds or more. Muscle fatigue was also evident.
3. LEG STEERING RANGE TEST
The ability to steer the legs independently from the hips is one of the most fundamental movements in skiing. This is the ball rotating inside the socket joint of the hip. We measured the range the outside leg is able to rotate inwardly (i.e. left leg steering inwardly towards the right) without the hips following. The average inward rotation range on our last tour was 45 degrees. 90% of people showed over 20 degrees difference between left and right and only 5% of people tested showed a clear range of 70 degrees in each direction.
4. BODY ANGULATION TEST
Learning how to move laterally and create angles in the body. This is a key factor in skiing and a movement range that many people struggle with especially on one side of the body. Our exercise will help identify and improve this range.
5. LEG EXTENSION TEST
Learning the correct action and understanding how to activate the outside leg to achieve edge grip and pressure during your turns. We’ll show a great exercise to try at home or in the gym.
6. CORE STABILITY TEST
Becoming aware of core strength and how to keep it activated whilst skiing. This helps deal with the pressure that skiing puts through the middle of your body. We’ll give you some practical ski-specific exercises to try.
The simple fact is that for skiing specific movement ranges are required. Our findings demonstrate that the majority of skiers go to the mountains without these required ranges. If the range isn’t there off the snow it won’t be there on snow!
DRYLAND TRAINING allows skiers to understand these ranges and their body plus gives them a clear direction to train towards in the run up to their next ski trip.
At the Ski Technique Lab, we hope to educate people to go away and build these ranges and use additional movement pattern based drills to create a solid physical platform ahead of the coming winter season.
By logging the scores and keeping in touch with the Academy team, we can continue to monitor people’s progress!
