Following on from Ankle Flex Range but moving forwards we are still, for now, going to focus on what is going on within the ski boot. If we have flexibility in the ankle joint but no ability to control it then we are still a mere passenger on our skis. If you have ever skied with us at the Academy there is a high chance you have been made to ski with your boots completely undone, and I mean COMPLETELY. Doing this is a really quick way to get you firing up and switching on the muscles that control your foot and ankle, you will find that you really have to use groups of muscles that you may not be so used to trying to use whilst skiing. It is in realising how active we have to be within the ski boot and not use it as a support to lean on but a tool to help us drive our skis that is often a major breakthrough in people’s skiing. Yes, when the boot is done back up we lose the obvious need to support ourselves and have the boot to hold us in position. However, Elite and advanced skiers are relying on those same muscles all the time in their skiing to manage their position, flexing and extending through the ankle. Just because the boot can hold you doesn’t mean it should.
So, Flexion and Extension being one of the other pillars the Technique Lab is built around, starts at the feet and works its way up, or down. We use a simple Peterson step up on a soft yoga block or cushion or anything with a degree of instability as a test of you ability to control through the range of flexion and extension in you legs, from you feet to your hips. All the topics in the Technique Lab are interlaced liked a web, one will always have a link to another. Poor Flexion and Extension will greatly hinder an ability to ski with Symmetry, poor performance in this area, either physiologically or technically is usually the creator of an A frame in your skiing, which no one likes to see. More on that in the future.
When skiing we are usually in simultaneous opposition of Flexion and Extension in each leg, just look at the photo of big Victor above, there is a massive difference in leg length. This will then be mirrored on the other-side in the next turn, from here until there the legs will be shortening and lengthening in opposite directions, think of the pedalling analogy. Sometimes, as with mogul skiing both legs are doing the same thing. Either way we need to have strength, range and stability from our feet up to be able to create such dynamic positions and deal with the forces that skiing at a high level require.