ALPINE


PSIA Alpine Team member Jonathan Ballou demonstrates the utility of a dominant outside ski in high-speed turns.


COURTESY OF JONATHAN BALLOU


CREATE A DOMINANT OUTSIDE SKI WITH AN OFF-SEASON REGIMEN OF SINGLE-LEG EXERCISES


By Hilary McCloy, with Harold Smith


nyone who has arced a high-speed turn, or linked turns down a steep trail, knows how much outside leg strength is needed to resist the forces developed while turning. What may be less obvious are the combined fi ne motor skills


A


in the legs and the core stability required to precisely balance against that outside ski, and to accurately adjust the ski’s path through an arc in the snow.


As a former member of the U.S. Ski


Team, I developed the skills needed to balance against an edged outside ski, whether in the steep section of the giant slalom at Sölden, Austria, or on the injected snow of the slalom under the lights in Levi, Finland. And, as an examiner in PSIA-AASI’s


VIEW VIDEO


Eastern Division, my co-author Harold Smith often works with PSIA members to develop such skills, using on-snow activities such as skating downhill, tapping an inside ski through the arc of the turn, or linking outside-ski-only turns. While we both have a wealth of on-snow experience, my post- U.S. Ski Team experience as a physical therapist inspired me to develop a nine- week, pre-season training block for a group of instructors and recreational skiers to develop outside leg strength.


WHY FOCUS ON SINGLE-LEG EXERCISES?


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*HW PRUH LQVLJKW RQ FUHDWLQJ fl RZ LQ WXUQ transitions from this video by PSIA Alpine Team member Jonathan Ballou.


68 | 32 DEGREES • SPRING 2017


Our initial impetus for focusing more of our pre-season activities on single leg (SL) exercises is based on our observations that single-leg balance was not as strong as one might expect, even in talented skiers and in high-level, albeit recovering athletes. In looking at balance times over the course of the nine-week program, or repetitions before


failure (touching a lifted foot 1


Single Leg Balance


In this static exercise, the knee of the stance leg should be aligned over the middle toe of the foot, with the pelvis/hips remaining level. You should feel the gluteus muscles of the stance leg working to maintain the level pelvis and the small muscles around the ankle working to stabilize the stance leg.


to the fl oor, for example), the exercises presents here did indeed generate signifi cant improvement in broadly defi ned single- leg balance and coordination. At least as important, however, are our observations


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