Modern Ski Racing

[TommyKirchhoff]

Hello Sports Fans,

 

Here's the situation as I see it:

I am a ski racer who has dedicated

23 years of my life to the this sport.

Gary Dranow was ski racing when

I was still in diapers. So needless

to say, we both have a long-time

love affair with ski racing.

 

I have studied this "art" from a great

many masters; my uncle

was an alternate on the U.S. Ski Team

with Billy Kidd; his son (my cousin)

was one of the top ski racers in Michigan.

My high-school coach was a former ski

racer and PSIA Level III; his son and daughter

were both "rabbits" at nearly every USSA race.

I have talked shop with all kinds of coaches

and ski racers over the last 23 years. Austrian,

French, Italian, Yugoslavian, Swiss, German,

Canadian, Australian, New Zealand,

and U.S. personalities of every description.

When Americas Opening Worldcup races

were held at Park City Mountain, I received

on-course accreditation, and gladly spent

the whole weekend taking photos and notes.

 

Suffice it to say that three years ago, I was

an accomplished racer and still a ski racing

nutcase .

 

Then I started practicing Tai Chi because I had

a theory that "it could help ski racing." The more

I learned and practiced, the more I saw how

the two were similar. Then out of the blue,

US Ski Team trainer Sasha Rearick asked me

if I would teach the Men's Team Tai Chi.

So I got to hang out with those guys and talk

shop for a whole summer. Schlopy, Ligety, Friedman,

all the Park City summer guys.

 

This fueled my already fanatical drive for ski

racing even more. The team gave me a racesuit

as a token of their appreciation, so I said I would

get back into ski racing myself.

 

I ran into Gary Dranow on an early-season day

at Brighton (early November 2004). We had skied

together a little at the Nastar Nationals the spring

before, and sort of got along. So instead of ripping

powder and hucking cliffs at Brighton like I had

intended that day (which is what I do), I skied

race turns with Gary and Liz. He told me some

things about racing and I told him some things

about Tai Chi. At the end of the day, we were

both skiing much better.

 

I went into an intensive mode of experimentation

on skis. I tried to simply make Tai Chi waist-turning

movements on my skis instead of angulating at the

hip. This changed everything from the "old school"

way of doing it-- but it worked! I had seen a picture

of Bode Miller ripping a GS turn with his weight on

the uphill ski; and that made sense to the Tai Chi

integration. The more I played with it, the better

my skis carved in unison. Day after day I skied

by myself at Deer Valley, working out the bugs

to best of MY BODY's LIMITATIONS (that's important,

please keep it in mind).

 

As it developed (this was December 2004 through

January 2005) I began calling it "Waist Steering."

I explained it to Dranow, who absolutely didn't

agree with it; but he would still listen because

I helped him so much with his posture on skis

(stance was what he called it; I think he more

often calls it posture these days). I gave him

new information; he'd dispute it, play with it

for a while, then come back and tell me I was

right. This happened about a hundred times

in three months.

 

You wouldn't even believe the number of e-mails

and cell phone minutes between us last winter.

And sometime in early February, Gary Dranow

said to me, "Waist Steering is the way!"

 

Suddenly, this completely broken, 50-year old

jalopy of a man started kicking everyone's butt

in Nastar and then in Masters racing. He was

brilliant in a 20-second tactical Nastar course,

and amazingly fast and stable in a 120-second

Masters course. The most amazing part of it

was the fact that he stopped falling. Every time

I had skied with Gary Dranow, he crashed like

no one you had ever seen. He just stopped falling.

 

I was skiing better than ever, and so was Gary.

Then, Gary came up with a learning progression

for recreational-racers. He showed it to me and

I thought, "that's silly, it's just too simple."

 

Gary told me the results from a few "test classes"

were astonishing. He had people run the Nastar

course in the morning; then he taught them a

few simple drills and put them back in the course.

Their times were so much better, it was like magic.

 

I decided I needed to see one of these things, so

I came out for Gary's 8th or 10th class. His messages

were pretty refined because he had been a coach

forever, and because he had taught the Waist Steering

drills several times. I'll never forget Donna France.

She skied in front of me on the first run; it was a

pretty flat slope, and she was sliding all over the place,

a little bent over and stiff. After three runs of Gary's

progression drills, we came to Silver Queen, which

is one of Park City's steepest groomers. Donna France

ripped carving turns on two skis, all the way down that

face. It was like she had drank a magic potion. I had

never seen anything like it.

 

We held a clinic just before Nastar Nationals. Unfortunately,

there was about three feet of powder on the mountain,

so teaching the progression as it should be taught was

impossible. We worked on tactics, and some technique,

and we ran a great course (set and coached by Warren

Wilkensen) all day long. How did our students do? There

were an inordinate number of medals in our group.

Snowbasin Clinic

 

So, Gary and I talked a lot and raced a lot. Gary's

accomplishments are well-known from the 04-05

season, both in Masters and Nastar. I won my

first race in March, and still hold the Nastar title of #1

Expert Male, 30-34 in the state of Utah.

 

Gary and I agreed that this technique

should be offered to everyone, so we built a website.

By happenstance, we shot a crappy video of the

progression, and put it for sale on the website.

As a well-known ski racing enthusiast said of the video,

"The quality is of course terrible. The content is brilliant.

How you figured that out is beyond me."

 

Why two guys spend their own money philanthropically

to enhance the sport of ski racing is easy to figure

out: We love the sport, and we enjoy teaching people

to go faster. There certainly shouldn't be anything

wrong with trying to break even.

 

Why other people get mad, rude, outraged or even

verbally challenging to two guys who are offering

all kinds of good information for free is a mystery.

It's like TV-- if you don't like it, turn the channel.

 

Waist Steering is new. You don't have to accept

it today. But as more and more skiers and coaches

are exposed to it, we sincerely believe this is

the direction ski racing is going to migrate. Gary

and I are no rookies at ski racing, and we didn't

come up with this over a case of beer and a pizza.

 

If a broken down old man like Gary Dranow can

stop falling and start creaming guys he's never

touched, what do you think a young, high-level

athlete can do with a technique like this?

 

The answer lies in the LIMITATIONS OF THE BODY.

I'm not talking about the strength of The Hulk,

or the flexibility of a yogi. But coordination of

the body, flexibility of the waist and hips,

physical expression of "the intention," and

projection of power from a balanced and stable

base. This, my friends, is practice of Tai Chi,

or the Supreme Ultimate. Practice, practice, practice.

 

When my teacher, Master Fu, says "repeat,"

I do it again many, many times.

[AtomicSkier]

Thanks Tommy, and welcome to PASR. We hope you offer even more insight into your methods. I'll be watching for them

[Papasteeze]

Now thats what I am talking about! Something new to think about! Something new to try! We were at the first clinic at Snow Basin, this is great group of guys!

[garydranow]

Principles of the MSRT

By

Tommy Kirchhoff and Gary Dranow

 

Over the last 50 years, ski racing has changed again and again. But still,

the core principles of ski racing have not changed, and probably won?t.

The principles are:

 

1. Balance

2. Posture or Stance

3. Edging/Carving/Edge Angle

4. Control

5. Sensitivity

6. Power Release

 

Balance is quite difficult to define; in fact, the only way to define

balance is to compare it to imbalance. Science tells us that balance

can be improved a number of different ways.

 

Stance would seem to be an obvious concern. Keeping the limbs

bent to absorb shock and a lower center of gravity are ubiquitous

to athletics. Depending on the specific sport, different body stances

are used to gain a mechanical advantage. In Modern Ski Racing,

athletes learn ?skeletal stacking? to cope with the monstrous forces

they will be influenced by. Modern ski racing also emphasizes

matched angles of the legs and de-emphasizes leaning (banking

can be beneficial, but there is a thin line separating the two) or

over-rotation of the upper body.

 

Control also spans the athletic spectrum. In ski racing, there is

physical control of one?s self; physical control of one's equipment;

and only recently tapped, mental control of one?s self (sports psychology).

 

Sensitivity is emphasized in many sports, but few as acutely as

alpine ski racing. The delicate implementation of skis requires

almost a sixth sense; racers often attempt to boost this capability

by erroneously tightening their ski boots. In fact, in Giant Slalom

the ability to articulate the ankle within the ski boot and ?feather?

on the pressure after the initiation is critical to affecting the optimal

line. This sensitivity and ability to subtly adjust one?s line in a GS

or Nastar course is what wins a race by 100th of second.

 

Power, or strength and its timed release are simply developed in

dryland training, and corrected through repetition on the racecourse.

 

The Modern Ski Racing turn relies on carving both the inside and

outside ski, but using enough weight on the inside uphill ski edge

just prior to the transition to enable the racer to keep his skis in

contact with the snow.

 

In recent years most coaches have concentrated on weighting the

outside ski almost to the exclusion of the inside ski. Moreover, the

inside ski was used as an adjunct to the outside ski simply to help

carve the turn and reduce the forces on the outside ski.

 

The problem with committing to the downhill ski is two fold: the

centrifugal force ?loads? the ski, radically reversing its camber;

this stored energy can be difficult to control; because the racer is

relying on this centrifugal radius for his balance, any fore/aft balance

bobble can result in ?launching? the racer forcefully in an undesirable

direction, which requires recovery. Also, committing to the downhill

ski requires a lot of edge angle; even the tiniest bit too much edge

angle causes the ski to skid or chatter (both are friction, and slow

you down).

 

With the advent of the MSRT it has become apparent that the best

racers in the world have evolved the technique past that awareness

of most club program coaches and possibly even themselves on an

intellectual level. What I mean is that they can?t really break down or

verbalize what they are doing - they are just doing it; they are just

feeling their way over the snow.

 

What they ARE doing is this; they are first getting their ski on edge very

early in the turn. They get their skis on edge by using the crossing muscles

of the abdomen and hip area to create a twist in the mid-section of the

body, the waist. Simply by contracting these crossing muscles and leaving

the opposing muscles relax along with articulation or rolling of the ankles

they can ?rock? their skis sufficiently and quickly on edge to start any turn

with either a carve or pivot (PET).

 

As the turn develops they increase their weight bias to their inside ski and

in particular the inside ski uphill edge. Right before they transition to the

new turn the weight bias increases rapidly to the uphill ski and once again

they use the cross muscles of the waist to rock the skis on edge BEFORE

applying pressure in the carving phase of the turn.

 

This use of the crossing abdominal muscles is what we refer to as

Waist Steering (coined by Tommy Kirchhoff) or the ?Twist? as used

by Gary Dranow.

 

The use of waist steering coupled with an inside ski weight bias depending

on the turn does not end, however, with the initiation of the turn.

Moving the weight bias to the inside ski at the carve phase and continuing

to use the Twist will keep the outside hip flowing through the turn. This will

allow the skier to use the outside ski with more or less pressure to regulate

the turn while the inside ski tracks along its carving edge. The outside ski

works much like the front wheels of the car while the inside ski creates

the power and traction moving from turn to turn.

 

Observe these pictures (Pics "in focus" coming tomorrow) of Bode and

Tatiana loading the inside ski prior to the release, using waist steering

while controlling the radii with the less weighted outside ski

 

 

In our view the Waist/Torso is the govenor of the body. In other words

as the waist goes so the shoulders, hips and extremeties follow. They

(the shoulders, hips and extremeties) do not lead.

 

To investigate this concept further play with this dry land exercise

presented by Tommy Kirchhoff.

 

To introduce these physical concepts, we?ll begin with Rooting

Exercise (Tai Chi?s Chuan?s version of human balance). Begin with

your feet just slightly wider apart than shoulder width. With your feet

flat on the floor, press outward with your feet as if you mean

to slide them laterally away from one other; twist your legs slightly

outward, mainly at the knee; your feet feel like they want to supinate

(roll to the outside), but keep downward pressure on each big toe.

You should feel like you have increased balance both laterally and

sagittally (fore/aft). Nowhere in Tai Chi does one pronate (roll a foot

to the inside), twist a knee to the inside, or angulate a knee or ankle

to the inside (the ligaments on the inside of the knee are very weak,

while the ligaments on the outside are much stronger).

 

Further explained by Tommy he relates to his training in Tai Chi Chaun;

 

Without getting into too much detail on the learning progression of

Tai Chi Chuan, suffice it to say that the optimal body posture is

specific to a hollow chest (shoulders forward), pelvic tilt (genitals

curled up with the tummy tucked) and the head held very straight

(the chin is held back, and an unforeseen force pulls upward and

lengthens the spine). When viewed from the side, the back appears

to be all flat (because it's stacked vertically).

 

Like the skeletal stacking Modern Ski Racing athletes use to bend

and carve a ski, Tai Chi Chuan emphasizes ?structure? instead of

strength. Thus, a very slight athlete can be just as powerful as a

muscular athlete if he uses his skeleton and muscle coordination

correctly. Modern Ski Racing Technique emphasizes skeletal stacking

over brute strength.

 

Kinesologically, the ?Serape Effect? is the greatest athletic energy the

human body is capable of. In essence, the Serape Effect is the turning

of the waist/trunk in a coordinated fashion that allows a baseball pitcher

to throw a 90mph fastball, or a tennis player to smash a 100 mph serve.

This waist movement is echoed in many athletic forms, but it is typically

only trained in its specific sport capacity. In Tai Chi Chuan, energy for

all movement comes from turning of the waist, and elasticity and resiliency

of the waist are paramount for physical action. Tai Chi?s waist training can

be applied to many other sports.

 

Also emphasized in Tai Chi Chuan is breath control. Most ski racers have

no concept of this at all. Waist turning and the Serape Effect are chiefly

due to the very strong contractions of the Iliopsoas muscles in the waist

(aided by other muscles of the trunk). The Iliopsoas muscle is actually

attached to the diaphragm. You read that correctly?the muscle used to

pull air into the lungs is attached to the muscle which chiefly creates

the awesome power known as the Serape Effect. Tai Chi Chuan is one

of the only ways to coordinate these two muscles.

 

In Tai Chi Chuan, it is very important not to use force directly against

force; instead, it is more important to yield to force and redirect it with

minimal effort. It is said, ?Use four ounces to overcome 1000 pounds.

? Think of an arrow flying quickly through the air; the tiniest tap on the

side of its shaft will send it careening off in a different direction. In relation

to ski racing, we want to carve the cleanest turn without

becoming co-constricted "fighting" forces directly.

 

The Tai Chi Chuan practitioner develops ?Ting Jing,? or ?Listening Energy.?

This takes a lot of repetition of the forms, but one develops such a

heightened physical sensitivity that it could only be compared the lateral

line nerve receptors on a fish.

 

Now observe this photo:

 

Bode demonstrating loading the inside ski with outside ski steering

 

 

Master Liang?s weight is on his left leg, and he is turning his waist to

the left to demonstrate the movement called ?Strike Solar Plexus.?

Most movements in Tai Chi Chuan assimilate this: when the weight is

on the left leg, the waist turns left and the form opens to the left side

(obviously, the opposite would be true if the weight were on the right leg).

This type of posture and movement takes the greatest advantage of the

natural balance you felt in the rooting exercise. No where in Tai Chi Chuan

does a practitioner rotate either leg (especially the knee) to the inside,

nor does he weight the extended leg. The legs are always pressuring

the outside of the knee and the outside of the foot with constant pressure

on the big toe.

 

In this photo, Master Liang?s right leg is extended, and only has about 30

percent of his weight; we call this the ?empty? leg because it can easily

step, kick, or pivot. If Master Liang were on alpine skis, he could be making

a left turn by weighting the uphill ski; his balance is excellent in this posture,

and the right leg can easily match the turn radius of the left leg simply with

a turn of the waist (the left leg is more like an outrigger than a balance

platform). Weighting of the downhill leg and ski in ?Modern Ski Racing?

relies on the edge angle and the centrifugal force; as many racers

know, sometimes the downhill ski edgelocks and does not reverse-camber.

 

Weighting the uphill ski through the apex of the turn is much more controllable;

however it requires specific movement of the pelvis. This movement is

very difficult for racers accustomed to banking, ?bonestacking,? or

angulating against the downhill ski.

 

When the uphill ski is weighted through the turn, the body weight can

drop almost straight down, providing a low center of gravity and

excellent balance. The pelvis must simultaneously rotate the direction

of the turn. This reduces the edge angle, but allows for more edge

pressure and ?steering.? It also enables the downhill ski to mimic the

angulation and turn radius of the uphill ski without centrifugal ?loading.?

(The downhill leg can remain bent, which is better for sensitivity and

shock absorption) The downhill leg becomes more like the drawing leg

of a geometry compass; it merely follows in accordance with the waist

rotation.

 

On steeps, I find that the uphill ski tracks beautifully across the fall line;

then the waist can turn slightly the other direction to roll the ski over. The

uphill ski becomes the ?outside ski? or downhill ski, and can pivot to slide

across the fall line. Slightly holding the waist turn to the outside de-angulates

the ski, and allows the uphill ski to advance, creating something like a

telemark turn (with one foot advanced, the length of ski edge sliding across

the fall line can be roughly 1.25 times the length of one ski). As the outside

ski begins to track straight down the fall line and accelerate, the waist can

rotate (with breath control) into the turn and the athlete can simultaneously

shift weight to the uphill ski to again carve across the fall line and cross

under. Any loading of the downhill ski can be comfortably controlled because

the athlete is not relying on it for his platform.

 

 

Notice the convergance of Poutianan's skis in this slalom turn. This is not

by accident and as you watch FIS WC races you will see this more and

more in both the men and women as they use the inside ski to track and

shin (or knee) the gate then transistion and "regulate" the line with the

outside ski.

 

 

One may laugh at this comparison, but it is realistic to ski racing. The uphill

ski can be effectively weighted to create a clean carving turn with parallel skis

and matched (yet reduced) edge angles. If you imagine a short radius turn

could not be accomplished this way, imagine that Master Liang turns his

waist more to the left, and that the right ski tip is directly downhill from the

left ski tip; this would put both skis downhill from his mass and center of

gravity, making him carve directly across the fall line. Hence, the turn can

be as short radius as you need it.

 

We leave you with this to ponder, play with and experiment to your

heart?s content. Let us know how it goes as all you mad scientists come

back from your labs.

 

Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting

Edited June 29, 2005 by garydranow

[garydranow]

Now that you have calculated the angles, vectors and understand the

Kinesiology principles we are espousing let me take you further into

the murky waters of the MSRT.

 

Tommy, myself, and the rest of the team are truly playing with concepts

that I highly doubt are being verbalized or even thought of from a

parallel logic/theory platform.

 

First I believe that unless one is a student of Fu Style Tai Chi Chuan it

is doubtful to me that anyone would relate to the concept of ?Waist Skills?.

 

Master Fu said of Ted Ligety in one of Tommy?s classes for the

US Ski Team, ?You have no waist skills?. Dr. Liz and I have made

the decision to start studying with Tommy next week. Why? I only

have a rudimentary understanding of ?Waist Skills? as it pertains to the

serious Fu style practitioner. Tommy is at least a few years a head of

me in his development of these skills and I must catch up for us to plot

the evolution of what we both believe may be a shift in coaching paradigm

for racers in future years.

 

That is not to say, however, that these world-class athletes in ski racing or

any world-class athlete do not possess some natural waist skills and can use

them to affect their technique. They do, they just don?t understand how deep

it goes and really don?t put much thought into the waist or torso being the

engine that is driving their ability to do what they do. In other words,

someone once discovered ?if I do this then I can do that and go

faster.? That?s about as deep as it gets today.

 

I don?t believe there are many coaches in the US that have any clue what

we are about to unleash on the recreational racing world. We believe

there may even be a ?trickle up? affect from our work. We certainly

hope so.

 

The Problem with Pictures

 

Analyzing any racer?s ski technique from a single photo is folly. We can

certainly draw some conclusions about what has happened before the

picture and what is likely to happen right after the picture but without the

full turn, making any sense of what we are seeing is very, very difficult to

do with great accuracy.

 

In this article I am going to try and give you all some skills in recognizing

what is happening a single picture so you can draw your own conclusion

about what the skier has done and is about to do. The ability to visualize

the entire turn from a picture representing 1/1000th of a second will develop

one of your most important skills for learning - visualization.

 

In the MSRT, Recreational Racing to Win we hope to use a combination

of illustrations, stills and photo montages to get each skill, exercise and

technique across.

 

Breaking it down then putting it all together

Thanks a lot for the effort. Tommy. I am gonna buy

the book for sure.

 

In the meantime I stay confused. In the diagram the skier turns right and

the waist turns right. On the steeps, I assume the skier is setting up for a

right turn as well. His waist turns to the left and after a pause keep turning

left ?

 

If this is getting too much for you, just ignore the post.

 

Hopefully there will be lots of pictures in the book. A CD would be

great. Too bad I have to wait an other year before winning the

worlds.

 

Here's our response

 

Wolf,

 

Now that you have calculated the angles, vectors and understand the

Kinesiology principles we are espousing let me take you further into the

murky waters of the MSRT.

 

Tommy, myself, and the rest of the team are truly playing with concepts that

I highly doubt are being verbalized or even thought of from a parallel

logic/theory platform.

 

First I believe that unless one is a student of Fu Style Tai Chi Chuan it is

doubtful to me that anyone would relate to the concept of ?Waist Skills?.

 

Master Fu said of Ted Ligety in one of Tommy?s classes for the US Ski Team,

?You have no waist skills?. Dr. Liz and I have made the decision to start

studying with Tommy next week. Why? I only have a rudimentary

understanding of ?Waist Skills? as it pertains to the serious Fu style

practitioner. Tommy is at least a few years a head of me in his development

of these skills and I must catch up for us to plot the evolution of what we

both believe may be a shift in coaching paradigm for racers in future years.

 

That is not to say, however, that these world-class athletes in ski racing or

any world-class athlete do not possess some natural waist skills and can use

them to affect their technique. They do, they just don?t understand how deep

it goes and really don?t put much thought into the waist or torso being the

engine that is driving their ability to do what they do. In other words,

someone once discovered ?if I do this then I can do that and go faster.?

That?s about as deep as it gets today.

 

I don?t believe there are many coaches in the US that have any clue what

we are about to unleash on the recreational racing world. We believe there

may even be a ?trickle up? affect from our work. We certainly hope so.

 

The Problem with Pictures

 

Analyzing any racer?s ski technique from a single photo is folly. We can

certainly draw some conclusions about what has happened before the picture

and what is likely to happen right after the picture but without the full turn,

making any sense of what we are seeing is very, very difficult to do with great accuracy.

 

In this article I am going to try and give you all some skills in recognizing

what is happening a single picture so you can draw your own conclusion

about what the skier has done and is about to do. The ability to visualize

the entire turn from a picture representing 1/1000th of a second will develop

one of your most important skills for learning - visualization.

 

In the MSRT, Recreational Racing to Win we hope to use a combination

of illustrations, stills and photo montages to get each skill, exercise and

technique across.

 

Breaking it down then putting it all together

 

As Tommy has done with this illustration, he has allowed you to think and

visualize how the vectors of the skier affect the turn and how the vectors

of the turn may affect the skier.

 

 

Tommy has given a brilliant analysis of the illustration in this post.

 

Tommy's Analysis

 

We believe that there are four elemental skills to becoming an advanced

?learner? or student. Those are;

 

1) Visualization Skills (The mind?s eye)

2) Cognitive Learning (From concepts and verbal cues)

3) Tactile Learning (recognizing feelings and sensations)

4) Total body awareness (the most advanced skill).

 

We also believe in keeping it simple. USSA Masters break the turn down into

just 2 phases:

 

1) The Stance Phase

2) The Carving or turning Phase

 

While this makes teaching a race turn easier to understand, the truth is that

there are many phases/component motor skills of each turn and we pass

through those phases quite quickly to affect the best turn. The combination

and sequence of how the component motor skills are applied is what makes

one skier faster than the other.

 

So let?s look at some pictures.

 

We will start with one of Wolf?s favorites (and mine), Thomas Grandi. He is

an OLD dude from Canada and skis on the best GS skis in the world,

Rossignol (there is no question about that from those ?in the know?).

 

 

This is a picture for the 2002 Olympics during the Slalom at Deer Valley.

As the principles of waist steering are basically the same in GS and Slalom

I?ll use both disciplines in my examples. At this time Thomas wasn?t even

on the radar screen but here he is in the Olympics running both Slalom

and GS for ?Oh Cannnadaaaa?.

 

In the picture above you can see the vestiges of the Old School WC

technique (remember, this is only 2 years ago). In this Slalom turn you

can see that Thomas has his feet relatively close together and has probably

taken the gate with both shins close to the top of his boot line (running very

straight with major forces at the END of the turn). Let?s concentrate on

his outside shoulder and the apparent direction of his torso or waist.

In this picture he is actually reaching across his body with his outside

hand to get ready for the upcoming pole plant, which has pulled his

outside, shoulder forward. From the bottom right of his right rib cage,

however, you can clearly see a bias towards the new turn (already).

Though his hips are still ?square? the old turn you can see that from this

position he cannot get sufficient (IMHO) weight onto his uphill ski to

transition off this ski. In other words, due to the lack of waist steering

deep enough into the turn he will have to rely on a twist of his upper

body to get his hips up and through (rather than waist steering) and

does not have the leverage of a well edged and weighted uphill ski to

make an earlier and more dynamic transition thereby relieving the

forces later in the next turn.

 

Thomas again at the 2002 Olympics, this time on CB?s in GS.

 

 

This picture is probably taken just coming on to the entrance of Gotcha

Face, one of the photographers favorite spots to shoot. Once again, look

at the outside shoulder actually turned ahead of his right hip. This is the

lack of waist skills in at work. His waist is fairly bent and his tailbone is not

tucked up and forward, as we will see later with Bode and later pictures of

Thomas himself. What is most evident is that his uphill ski is well weighted

and ready for an uphill ski release but his downhill ski is not finishing the

turn aggressively enough which will undoubtedly cause him to be 1000ths

to 100ths of a second off his mark for the optimal release point to the next

turn, especially with a much steeper pitch just about to hit him. He does not

have the ability to ?steer? his outside ski independently of his tracking inside

ski to stack over his engaged inside ski. Not bad, just not current. I know,

we should be all this lucky right now, especially at these speeds.

 

Okay, let?s fast forward with Thomas to the 2005 World Championships. He

has since won two back-to-back GS races this year and finished well in

Slalom and yes, on Rossignol Skis!

 

 

This is very hard to see and probably needs a computerized analysis

program to really bring out the subtle angles, line and muscle involvement

(we are working on this). In this picture Thomas is just entering the

?carve phase of the turn right above the Apex?. Here is the fist evidence

of what we all the ?Twist? which short for all the goes into the waist steering

theory (which is way more involved than we can get into on this forum,

please keep this in mind). Simply notice that his torso is mostly square to

the new turn and appears to be leading both his outside hip AND shoulder.

What you can?t see clearly in this picture is that his inside hip IS stacked

over the uphill ski and that the ski is carving right under his foot, this is

very, very important to notice. As he continues through this turn he will

be able to independently steer his outside ski while decreasing his radius

of his inside ski as he skeletally stacks his weight to the uphill inside edge

right before his release to the new turn. The shape of the turn, as indicated

by Tommy?s diagram, has been changed by the addition of waist skills that

we simply did not see two years ago (thanks to Bode).

 

Here is Bode at the World Championships. The first picture is in GS and

the second below is SuperG. Let?s see what we can see.

 

 

I believe that most people would look at this picture and cry ?FOUL? saying

he IS using hip angulation on this turn. Not so. We will look at a true ?hip turn?

a little late with Hermann. If one could rip off his shirt, peel off his layers of

skin and see the muscles in his abdomen it would be clear that his waist is

leading his outside hip and shoulder into this turn. Note once again that Bode

has more weight stacked over the uphill ski and it is carving right under foot.

How does he do this? Let?s go back to Tommy?s illustration of the vectors and

line of center of mass by the Old School turn and the Twist

(the waist skill turn). His center of mass is actually rotating towards his

uphill ski radius allowing him to align skeletally over the outside edge of his

inside ski but maintain subtle control of his outside ski for minute adjustments

for terrain, conditions and line. He can only do this because his waist is

CONTROLLING where his momentum is headed and that is along the

radius of the inside ski, not downhill towards the next turn ? TOO EARLY.

We all know that a ski turn is incredibly dynamic and that we are

constantly adjusting millisecond by millisecond to the forces, terrain and

the line we want to affect. It should be clear that the ?Twist? does not

continue forever in the same direction and that once it ceases to be

necessary there may be other muscles at play that are equally as important.

This is particularly true in those milliseconds from the finish of the last turn to

the initiation of the next turn. It is in those critical milliseconds that

photographers shoot many of their pictures that get people confused as

to what they are actually seeing. In video, which is imminently more valuable

to study, we can slow down the speed or even advance frame by frame to

see all that is going on. I recommend everyone pull out their DVD?s of the

2002 Olympics and whatever you have from this season. The changes

will be stark, I promise you. What exactly is happening just before

the release is beyond the scope of this article and of course will be

fully addressed in our next posts and eventually, our book.

 

So be patient for now.

 

So here is Bode making a SuperG turn.

 

This is one of the clearest examples of waist skill and using the uphill ski

I?ve seen to date. Look at how much ?twist? he has towards the current turn.

His waist is absolutely leading his outside shoulder and hip. His inside ski is

absolutely skiing a shallower radius than his outside ski and he IS going

to transition off that uphill ski to the next turn. IMHO. Fabulous shot and

from my perspective says it all.

 

 

I believe this is Karbon in GS. Women are built differently than men as they

have wider hips relative to their feet placement. This creates certain

optical illusions especially past the Apex of the turn. Look at her number

on her bib. You can see her trying to utilize her waist but she doesn?t

have enough skill yet to have the waist control her decent. Not to say

she is not using her waist, she IS, just not to the degree that Bode,

Benni or Thomas are. You can still see that the waist is barely leading

her outside hip and that her hips are square to the turn. There IS NO

COUNTER here. The tell-tale sign is the inside ski tracking while the outside

ski makes a longer but more radical radius turn which is setting her up to

stack over the inside ski and release off it. I could be wrong, but I?m

not.

 

And last but not least, everyone?s favorite, the Hermaanator. This is the

old classic HIP Angulated turn. Only Hermaan can win using this today and

that is only if Blowupde blows up. I?ll just let you all look at this picture for

a while and compare it to Tommy?s illustration, my comments and the

pictures above. You tell me what you see as the differences.

 

 

 

We are working on more posts, you will find them on

 

Modern Ski Racing

 

By Gary Dranow for the MSR Team

Edited June 29, 2005 by garydranow

[garydranow]

Now thats what I am talking about! Something new to think about! Something new to try!  We were at the first clinic at Snow Basin, this is great group of guys!

28278[/snapback]

 

You asked for it, you got it

[garydranow]

Get discounts on Uvex and Holmenkol products at www.modernskiracing.com

 

Just an FYI! Nothing in it for us, BTW, just a great deal for our friends

 

MSR Pro Deals

[ThinkSnow]

Get discounts on Uvex and Holmenkol products at www.modernskiracing.com

 

Just an FYI!  Nothing in it for us, BTW, just a great deal for our friends

 

MSR Pro Deals

28301[/snapback]

 

Just a little tidbit. This is ok here, but please keep it isolated to this topic. I am trying to avoid letting this site be the place everyone comes to sell stuff for free. I don't think that's what you're doing but I don't want to set a precedent, either. If people want to go to your site, it's in your sig and that'll be enough.

 

(this is in no way a flame or an angry post)

 

Thanks!

[garydranow]

Just a little tidbit. This is ok here, but please keep it isolated to this topic. I am trying to avoid letting this site be the place everyone comes to sell stuff for free. I don't think that's what you're doing but I don't want to set a precedent, either. If people want to go to your site, it's in your sig and that'll be enough.

 

(this is in no way a flame or an angry post)

 

Thanks!

28302[/snapback]

 

Roger that. Let me explain what this is. Holmenkol and Uvex are

two of our sponsors. Our deal with them is that they simply pass

on discounts to folks that come through our site. They are passing

on the savings for the "cost of selling savings" to our visitors/friends

and racers. We do not take any profit from this arrangement at all. It

follows our philosophy of providing cutting edge concepts, current

informationas well as products we can to the community.

 

If this does not fit with your policies, let us know. We completely

understand. -gjd

Edited June 29, 2005 by garydranow

[Papasteeze]

Click on the link that Gary provided, looks like a sweet set up to me. I am going to try it out.. thanks.

[garydranow]

NEWS RELEASE

 

 

Contact: Tommy Kirchhoff, 435.901.2546

 

For Immediate Release

 

*Is running this saturday in the Park City Record and then

a national media relealse

 

Local Racers Develop New Ski Technique

 

"When you do it right, your body looks like an upside down

tuning fork,? says Park City local Tommy Kirchhoff. ?The

key is in the rotation of the waist. It?s feels something like

doing the Chubby Checker Twist.? Kirchhoff invented the

technique he calls ?Waist Steering? last winter based on the

Chinese art of Tai Chi.

 

Kirchhoff continues,?Rotation of the torso and other body

parts is innate and natural ?but many ski racing purists shy

away from rotation because it?s very misunderstood. All of

the balance and power in Tai Chi comes from turning the waist.?

 

When Kirchhoff felt his Waist Steering technique was starting

to solidify in January of 2005, he began sharing the concepts

with Park City local Gary Dranow, a certified USSA coach.

Dranow was able to understand and apply Kirchhoff?s radical

fundamental changes, and began skiing much better. In turn,

Dranow began formalizing a learning progression for the new

technique.

 

How effective is ?Waist Steering?? For starters, the

ModernSkiRacing.com website, which represents the

partnership of Kirchhoff and Dranow, publishes many glowing

testimonials. Also, Gary Dranow is ranked as the number one

Nastar expert age 50-54; he?s nationally ranked 9th overall,

with Daron Rahlves, Casey Puckett and A.J. Kitt all ahead of

him in the top seven. Dranow is also ranked second in the

Intermountain Masters Division, Class 6.

 

 

Kirchhoff is the number one ranked Nastar expert in the state of Utah

for ages 30-34, although he does not race formally very often.

 

 

If none of those accolades turn your head, maybe this will: The

Modern Ski Racing Team has just received a generous sponsorship

from Rossignol. When asked why the giant ski manufacturer would

want to partner with two unknown ski racers seemingly bent on

challenging 60 years of ski racing fundamentals development,

Rossignol responded this way:

 

Rossignol views the Modern Ski Racing Team as a unique instructional channel for recreational ski racers. They (the MSR Team) will help Rossignol gain market share by increasing product awareness within the recreational racing world and by teaching their cutting-edge Waist Steering technique. Thus, recreational racers throughout the country will gain interactive exposure to innovative products.

 

While the technique may not yet be turning the heads of Bode Miller or

the Austrian national team, Kirchhoff and Dranow taught a ?Waist Steering?

clinic with almost 30 nationally-ranked Nastar racers in March, and have a

tour of clinics across the country slated for this winter. Their first will be

a Thanksgiving race clinic at Snowbasin Resort November, 25, 25 and 27.

 

Many racers have studied the Waist Steering technique informally on

www.modernskiracing.com, and have drawn very diverse

conclusions. Some bulletin boards even have people arguing and

getting emotional about it. While Kirchhoff and Dranow offer all of

the technique?s details for free on their website, they don?t understand

why people get upset about a theoretical new ski technique which has

shown to help racers ski faster and more safely.

 

Tommy Kirchhoff teaches Tai Chi at the Park City Racquet Club.

[garydranow]

MSR Team/Rossignol Race Camp Slated

 

The MSR Team in conjuction with Rossignol Ski

Corporation will offering a 3-day Race Camp this Thanksgiving,

November 25, 26 and 27th.

 

Check our website for more details in the coming weeks!

 

Modern Ski Racing

 

Nastar Rules Changes

 

Nastar comes out with new class break down! To read about it go to

the Nastar MB and check the Rules Section. Some really great

changes for all of us!

[Papasteeze]

Where is it going to be?? Nothing obvious on your website... How about that link back to us?

[garydranow]

Where is it going to be??

Edited August 16, 2005 by garydranow

[Ski]

Or you can attend a real camp with instructors trying to improve your skiing as opposed to just making a buck with a failed gimmick and ENDLESS lies. I guess it's good to have choices.

[tretiak]

please no fighting. even tho its very entertaining and all this isnt what i believe the board was used for correct admins?

[ThinkSnow]

Ski999, thanks for your opinion.

 

However, There are some people who may actually want to check out Gary's ideas for themselves rather than taking your word for it, so they can form their own opinion of it. I understand where your issues are coming from, but I think everyone knows your opinion on this subject quite well enough at this point.

 

Anything that gets people excited about the snow is a good thing. I don't think I've seen Gary say "this is the way to win FIS races!" (correct me if I'm wrong). I think this is just another way of getting people excited about racing, and isn't that always a good thing?

 

I know when I was in little league, I had several different coaches teach me several different ways to swing a bat, and in the end I found the way that worked best for me and that's what I used.

 

Let's not limit other people's chance at enjoying the snow by immediately throwing insults Gary's way. I can't tell you that he isn't taking people's money for nothing... but I'm not going to assume he is because I don't like what he teaches, especially before actually enrolling in a lesson myself.

[Ski]

Waiststeering is okay on the flats. It cannot be maintained on a steep course. Gary himself blew out of turns at Nationals when trying to push the limits of the technique. When Gary used his technique at Masters races, he either fell or finished 10 seconds behind. USSA coaches have looked at the technique and commented that if you remove the elements that MSRT added to currently taught ski racing, then you have a stable method with a good platform and better angulation. In other words, MSRT is the problem that needs to be removed from their video samples.

 

These are facts, not personal attacks.

 

Btw, Think, calling someone a wife and child beater doesn't get you banned?

[ThinkSnow]

I got rid of the last post from each Gary and Ski999. They had no use other than to fight with each other. Civil discussion is fine, I don't give a crap if you like each other, or agree with anything any other one does. But please, when you are here treat the readers with enough respect to not make them read garbage. This message is directed at both of you, please stop bringing personal and/or private arguments here. I understand there are some issues between the two of you, but it doesn't need to be aired here.

 

Thanks for understanding

[garydranow]

Okay folks, for more information just check out the EpicSki.com discussion. It should keep things on track.

 

http://forums.epicski.com/showthread.php?t=28471

 

Thanks for your understanding

 

Peace!

 

Dranow

[skimom]

Ski999, thanks for your opinion.

 

Hey, someone's gotta keep the Dranow in line.

[garydranow]

Hey, someone's gotta keep the Dranow in line.

30854[/snapback]

 

Well ya do have a point there Mumster

[AtomicSkier]

Gary, do you have any students at the USSA/FIS level that have signifcantly lowered their points (that had low points to begin with) due to waist steering? When we're talking about people that race NASTAR, it's not exactly the cream of the crop, hence the ease in which it is to improve. Example: You start out golfing, and you shoot 120. When you're shooting 120, it's alot easier to drop 20 shots to shoot 100, then it is if you're shooting 90, and want to get down to shooting 70. It's a little easier to keep your head down to drop 20 shots, then it is to have the perfect swing. Ski999 has explained this to me many times in person, and what he's saying makes sense, even if he doesnt express it well enough online. Shouldn't you focus on having good technique, rather then introducing a totally new concept?

 

Gary, you're welcome here, just DO NOT disrespect a long time member, and a very good friend of mine.

[Papasteeze]

Can anyone list all of the different techniques taught over the last 20 years.. I still can ski with my knees together and actually enjoy it. The sport and equipment continues to evolve.

[garydranow]

Gary, do you have any students at the USSA/FIS level that have signifcantly lowered their points (that had low points to begin with) due to waist steering?

Edited August 16, 2005 by garydranow