VIDEO: Keeping the Correct Posture

Video Transcript

Hello I'm Nicky Parsons, from the specialist ski holiday company Nordic Challenge. I'm here o behalf of OnSnow.co.uk to show you a few simple things that the novas skiers can do to prepare themselves for their cross-country ski holiday. In this video I'm going to be talking about posture.

Posture is very important for your stability, it is also important for your performance to develop a really powerful cross-country technique, but in your first week you're not going to be quite so bothered about that.

Let’s talk a bit more about stability, we normally stand in a nice and elegant up right position but that actually is pretty unstable, knocked sideways and you will fall straight away.

Think of a goalkeeper, how does a goalkeeper stand when he is receiving a penalty shot? He is waiting for this projective missile to hit him in the stomach or he is ready to leap in any direction. It's this position he stands in.

So lets go into it in a bit more detail, his ankles are flexed, his knees flexed, his hips are flexed, his abdomen is good and tight, this is your core muscles, very important to have a strong core. His back is rounded and his arms are just loose at his side, his head is upright and his eyes are horizontal. He is now ready for anything and this is your most stable position when you are skiing. Try and get it to become instinctive so that it feels natural and comfortable.

Remember when you are on your ski's you are going to be sliding along the tracks, if you feel out of control at anytime, if you feel you are going to fast, your first instinct will be to stand up. I don't know why all beginners do it, but they do they stand up the weight comes back, ski's shot out in front of them and they are on their backside again.

One way to practise this position would be to do it in front of a mirror, so that you can check that the slop of your back is equal to the slope of your lower leg. That's one way to check that your weight is distributed evenly over both feet.

Another way to check you position, another simple little exercise is to rise from a chair. The object of the exercise is to rise up from a chair without bringing your forehead forward. Normally of course when we get up from a chair we will start getting up and our head will come forward and we will rise up like that. If you start in the correct position, correct position of your back you can rise up keeping your forehead nice and stable.

Keeping your weight on your feet then push and just rise straight up. That position that you are in as you are rising up and down, keeping your pelvis forward and your abdomen tight is your goalkeeper position.

Just doing this position a few time a day, will really help strengthen your core, help strengthen your upper thighs, and your bum muscles and you will keep a nice strong stable position.