Core, Connecting the Upper and Lower Body, Beginner Through Expert Skier

All right, so the core cannot be overstated, whether you are a beginner or an expert, tying together the upper and lower body. This video goes over that concept for the beginner and for the expert, as told by Alon Veth, who is the Technical Director of the Taos Ski Valley Ski School, and also the owner of Le Ski Mastery, the only place where I'll get my skis tuned. And one other thing, just really quick, there's some very good nuggets of information at the end of this video. Enjoy. The engagement of the upper body at the lower level, I just feel like the upper body is going to rotate ever so slightly on the sagittal plane. And so, we are not parking the hip on the side, you know, to try to have some high edge angle. We are just, you know, we can engage the lower body, the upper body moves with it. And then to anticipate the new turn, again, the eyes, the shoulder, the sternum is going to look into the next turn as the lower body is going to climb up the hill. So that is a separation, upper body, lower body, than we do at the lower level, which also can be carried by the high intense turns. But at the lower level, to be able to understand the rotation, the rotary, the torque of the lower body, it could be the femur, the leg femur against the hip, the hip socket, but that is turning independently of the upper body. And I think that's, I'm going to try to demo a few, because the pitch is really mild, because I'm not going to carry a whole lot of speed. It may be a little tricky to be able to demonstrate, but if you are alert and aware, then I'm going to do a demonstration, try to look for it. Okay, so we're going to do a few wedge turns, maybe a wedge twisting, we'll see. But what I'm going to introduce is that separation upper, lower body. And I don't like to do a wedge here, because it's too steep. That's all I'm asking, is as the skis turn right direction by kind of steering, my upper body is not doing what my lower body is doing. Okay, I can put a pole on my wrist to see exactly what my, and I'm not holding it. That would be a nice little drill where, look at my skis turning, but my upper body is not. My upper body, which is linked to my poles, is more facing down the hill. At one point of the turn, I'm going to be square, I'm square, I'm going straight. Now I start to turn my feet, but not the upper body. And believe it or not, I love every single maneuver in the book, because they're all challenging, and skiing slow is hard. And skiing slow and make it look very natural, it's even harder. I'm going to get on speed. I'm going to have to push you. Let's see if I can do a wedge freestyle. You got it. What's important on a wedge freestyle, I'm here, I finish my turn. I'm going to wedge, and I'm going to match. But there's a little bit of, I'm going to wedge, I'm going to match. My upper body doesn't square off at the end of the turn. That would be wrong. Okay. It's really flat. I need to be very playful with my edges and my pressure, and I match. Is that what you want to do? I just want to test a little bit those Slalom skis to see how they react. I'm sure it won't take you long to get a feel for them alone. No, I don't think so. Let's see how you feel. It's still a little too soft, but it's a nice sensation. It's a good feeling. Thank you. Nice. The upper body is huge. It has a huge impact onto the rest of the stance. We talked enough about the lower body, the three joints, the stance, and the transition. How do we engage our upper body? Basically, you've got some stomach muscle, we have some back muscle, and then we're not going to go in detail into how many muscles there is into the stomach, but we've got about four or five layers into our stomach. Let's be general, let's say the ab, but you've got the oblique and so forth. That is being connected. If we connect the front muscle, it's going to also connect the back muscle. Between the front and the back, we've got what is called the core. The core is a column of muscle that stabilizes or links the lower body with the upper body. When the lower back is more rounded, it helps my stomach to be inward and my hip is more tucked in. That gives stability. I am engaged without being tense. If my core is connected, then I've got free feet and I've got a free upper body. I'm going to just stay there. My hands are relaxed. I'm always ready. Oh, we've got different magnitude happening there. And basically, as the core moves in, the core can move in further in if I decide to pick up like a carve turn. The core is not going to be able to move in as much if my platform is a little flatter with a little bit more steering. But no matter what maneuver we do, either on the steering aspect of it or on the carving aspect of it, the core is what stabilizes the lower body. I'm not going to try to twist my core to destabilize the strength of what I established in the top of the turn. Carving or steering, I want to make sure that the strength that has been established is a given because my core is engaged and it connects to the leg. So my core and my shoulder anticipation is going to be starting with a vision and down to my shoulder and to my sternum. So it's not going to be a, where am I going? It's like, where am I going with a search of the eyes, which is connected with a sternum. And so if I have a great motion of magnitude, you know, I will be in some trance either on the bump situation or on the really carving situation, the transition is going to be short. Okay. And so at that point, when I'm short, talking about the core, I am really, the continuity of the flexion of my leg is going to be the sacrum and the L5 all the way to one is going to be open. I do not want people to receive the energy from the ski with a stiff back. And so if I'm thinking of kind of introverted that hip, then the continuity of the absorption is going to be a rounded low back with a really, really tight core. Tight core doesn't mean that I'm tense on my upper body shoulder. I can have relaxed shoulder, calm demeanor within my face and my anticipation of the core, but my core is really tight to allow freedom of my skis and the freedom of choices of what type of turn I want to do in relation to my speed and my turn shape and radius. So I want to ask you a question. Ski instructors over bake things. They take things too far, right? And they get confused about the relationship of the upper body to the lower body. They get twisty, their hips may get twisty. So can you just give us kind of a message on that and how that works to the people that get too twisty? I mean, you went over it just now, but explain it again. Okay. So it is really important to engage the core, which is connected to the hip. What I'd rather see is if I do move my hip inward, it's going to be inward, but kind of square within the feet, knee and hip. I'm not going to throw a twist because what is important to me, we need to keep our strength and we need to use our strength to our benefit, to our advantage. And so if we set up the inside outside leg in a symmetry way, when I've got both right here, moving the same direction, I don't want to sabotage that alignment with a twist. And this is not the way the ski is designed. The ski is designed to be placed on it and then resisting on it. Okay. And so, yes, of course we can use some steering at the lower level, but the ski has a shape. If that ski is being placed on edge and loaded in a center, the tip and the tail is going to kind of grab earlier than the center of the ski. And that is the design of a turn already. So I think all of our education should be also based on the equipment that we have. Sometimes the technique is ahead of the equipment, and sometimes the equipment is ahead of the technique. And it's a constant adjustment to the ski performance and the ski design. Wow. That was kind of brilliant. It's a good thing that you, it's a good thing that you video because I'm sure in a few minutes, I'm going to forget. Do you think you could say that a second time? I don't think so. Not as naturally. The sagittal plan is like, there's not, you know, the twist and torque, it's against the lower body and against the hip. And that's my understanding. And so if that understanding is correct, I am still favor, I favor the strength of the lower body, the leg independent. I want to be similar shaft angle, but a total independent of leg action. That against every poise upper body and the upper body move in a sagittal way. That would be my understanding. Something that I may add, and I don't know how you're going to just place it into some of what I said already. When we have a strong torso, so many people are, so many people are so concerned about the hands position. And to be like, okay, you got to keep your hands forward. Okay. You got to keep your hands within your field of vision. Great. Please do. But if we suddenly talk about the hand, you know, to me, to me, the hand is just it helps your balance to be able to kind of keep your balance. But, you know, the core allow the freedom of your upper body and your hand practically. When I see, you know, Michaela, who has been so wonderful and is such a role model for all of us, when she finished a GS turn, sometimes she just want to lengthen a glide within the outside ski, within her skis. And sometimes she finished right here. And he's like, you know, I don't want to finish my turn as such. If I am skiing the Stepping Tiles. But my interpretation is like, if the core is presented the right way, I can have like, maybe not below my knees, but my hands can be free to do what I want to accommodate some type of balance. I'm going to be so low. Of course, my hands going to be in front of me because I need to accommodate my balance, you know? So, you know, the core is the base of any movement in any sport, in any activity. But for me, the core in skiing really gives me so many options of either my leg or my torso and upper body.