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Hips-In-A-Box: Off-Snow Drill
Steps to Success; (1) Read this page, (2) do the
hallway hip-slide drill, (3) go to the snow and practice
our Disco Nights
Move.
When ski
instructors talk about moving your body mass they are
referring to the movement of the center or core of your
body. This center is composed of your hips, buttocks,
and abdomen. The movement of your body mass from side to
side is often referred to as the crossover maneuver.
This area of your body is very efficient at
supplying the movements needed to create quality turns.
To visualize your body core in action,
imagine your hips trapped in a long box that is only
about as thick as you are front to back at your hips,
but extends out from each of your sides by three feet.
In other words your hips are now trapped in a big
rectangular box. Next imagine your hips can only move
from side to side in the box, or to put it another way
the hips can only slide laterally back and forth inside
this box. Figure 10.2 will help you visualize this
sliding action.
Figure 10.2 Hip Slides in a Box.
Sliding the hips from
side to side shifts your body mass across your skis
from the inside of one turn to the inside of the
next turn. This is also referred to as the crossover
move. There is some up and down movement of the hips
because the legs are elongating at the end of a turn
and bending or compressing into and through the
turn. Your shoulders should never dip into the
inside of the turn. Keep your shoulders level or
parallel to the snow and avoid dropping one or the
other down.
HIP SLIDE AWARENESS OFF-SNOW DRILL
1. To begin stand in
your hallway equal distance from each side wall.
2. Reach out and put
your hands flat on each wall for support.
3. Place feet about 5
or 6 inches apart and flex your ankles forward in
order
to bend your
knees slightly, keeping your hips centered over your
feet..
4. Gently slide your
hips side to side.
5. As you finish each
slide your feet will want to come up on their edges.
6. Go ahead and allow
your feet to tilt on edge.
7. At the completion
of a slide, stop and hold your position.
8. Look down and you
will see that the edge of your hip closest to the
wall
is roughly 4 to 8
inches past the outside edge of your foot.
9. Do 5 sets of 15
slides over a 2-3 day period.
AT THE END OF EACH SLIDE YOUR CORE BODY MASS IS
NOT OVER YOUR FEET. IT IS EITHER 4-8 INCHES LEFT OR
RIGHT OF YOUR FEET.
The
hip slide awareness you have created by doing the hall
way drill can now by used to practice the same lateral
hip slide move on the snow. It is really just dancing.
It’s the “hip-slide” dance. If you experience any
discomfort from doing these drills stop immediately.
To really get the feel for this
hip slide movement, you can practice our on-snow drill
called the
Disco Nights Move.
The on-snow hip slide drill is
available in our Expert Skiing
Book on page 77.
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