Hips and alignment in skiing

Hip alignment and stacking is difficult to understand and as a result it is often not taught. I hope this helps. www.skistrong.... shop SkiStrong and support this channel

[@coachklane9500]

Not sure what I love more about this video - the awesome content explaining the role of hip alignment in skiing, or the fact that is was delivered while wearing a total bling belt befitting the presenter. Truly awesome! :)

[@DebArmstrongSkiStrong]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@jeffreywoelfel7876]

I'm a beginner-intermediate skiier and I've been really struggling getting low and turning with speed. Watched this video two days ago after a mediocre mountain sesh, took your tips and went out again yesterday and OH MY GOD! I feel like a whole new skiier!!! Pulling the hip up, and stacking over the femurs is the greatest piece of advice I've heard yet!! I felt so much more stable i was ripping down black diamonds like they were blues! I felt the load shift from all quads to my glutes and hamstrings and it was life changing lol. Ive never had a formal ski lesson, just KZbin and practice and i cannot thank you enough. This was the most helpful video I've watched.

[@DebArmstrongSkiStrong]

Great!!!!!!!

[@wavewaker2]

thank you for the very good explanation, 100% agree with you, a lot of people talking about ankle for the movement but it's actually the hips and knees are the prime mover.

[@thomasmedeiros5722]

Thanks Deb your videos and teaching methods work for me. I always take at least one day a week to go into Study Hall and pick one thing and work on it. I have been skiing for over 40 years and still enjoy working on refining my technical skills.

[@davidbeazer9799]

Deb, I've been working on hips and now with this video i was able to "feel" it. Took it onto the slopes today at Park City! In the middle of a turn while doing the old status quo i would raise the inside hip and the turn would tighten with extra angulation as it seems to drop the outside hip. It felt like i was starting to achieve the hip angulation and level hips I've been working for.

[@kevinhoule6547]

Always the best video. My balance is always my biggest struggle always tipping into the hill or in the backseat in the bumps. I need to just take a day and do your drills and really concentrate on my technique. Thanks for all the tips, keep them coming

[@jiujuntang1762]

One of the best ski channels. Thank you Deb.

[@tadeuszjastrzebski7791]

The best demo ever.Thanks Deb.

[@mariomejia9993]

What a beautiful way to explain this lady!!!! I see it now in detail!!

[@fungussa]

Most of Deb's videos are such a departure, in a good way, from all other skiing videos I've seen.

[@DebArmstrongSkiStrong]

Thank you!!!

[@douglasbroccone3144]

Thanks for your videos. You really are dedicated to the technique. What a great contribution to the sport

[@matteoallegretti1663]

This micro-clinics on technical topic are delicious! ...Thanks DebStrong!

[@DebArmstrongSkiStrong]

You are welcome! Thank you.

[@garyschomberger2291]

Deb, You're the best every hope you're doing well!

[@shaka2012]

Deb, finding your channel is a blessing in my career of ski instructor, thanks indeed.

[@shooter7a]

skaka, ski instructors do not teach this? LOL. For 90% of skiers trying to learn to carve - and struggling with A-framing and skidding - the problem is instructors teaching them by telling them to "start the turn by tipping your feet". But it is impossible. The skis on the snow, the legs, and the pelvic bone all form a linkage, a kinematic parallelogram. It is literally impossible, bio-mechanically to tip the feet alone and maintain edge similarity if you do not also tilt the pelvic bone. Either you will maintain edge similarity, and not be able to tip at all, or you will tip the DH foot, and A-frame. It is literally impossible to tip the skis on edge, and maintain decent lower leg parallelism, WITHOUT ALSO TILTING THE PELVIC BONE as Deb shows. The proper solution is to teach students to tip the hips first, because that is actually an easier way to get the skis to tip on edge. The coach who has the best handle on this was Brandon Dykesterhouse....who just happens to have been Mikaela's USST tech coach 2015-2017. kzbin.info/www/bejne/enjCdZptlLN8qpI Watch Mikaela from 0:15-0:25. See how her skis tilt and her pelvic bone tilts at the same time. You can not isolate on motion from the other. Both instructors and coaches get so caught up telling students the things to NOT do with their hips that they don realize they are failing to tell them the one thing they MUST do. Tilting/tipping YES...twisting out of the turn NO.

[@jude-7777]

Skier still shots all show outside ski behind the inside ski but Armstrong reverses the ski arrangement putting the inside ski back. At any rate, it's a great concept video and stretch. Btw, I spoke with an Olympic Ski Team hopeful 2-weeks ago at Squaw who told me not to place much emphasis on leading or lagging position but to keep the tips more even and articulate the hips more.

[@ThriveMindsetCoaching]

Wow Deb, this an amazing "awareness" exercise. ;-) It isolates the involved muscle groups. I have this movement pattern in my skiing, but it was neat to do it conciously. Also very useful in correcting an old habit of lazy hips across into the new turn, rather than starting at my feet / ankles. Love your work and thank you !!

[@ryananderson5498]

I absolutely love your videos and your skiing. Taking a lesson from you is on my bucket list. Thank you for sharing your time and talents with us.

[@blackestjake]

3:04 “We represent the lollipop guild!”😂 great video Deb!

[@portokali000]

Really like your way of explaining things. All best from Athens, Greece

[@olegsysuev6723]

Today I will practice on your video, thanks for your lessons, until we meet again !!!

[@fbgiles]

Excellent Deb! Great videos.

[@trouts4444]

Awesome as always Deb. I love your videos.

[@juliancousins]

Really good. Very clever.

[@stevebarone7886]

This is a brilliant demo.

[@douglast3410]

i love all these videos and am jealous of the lucky kids getting your coaching in person, but as a weekend warrior who lives for the few days of skiing i get every season i would pay money for a dryland ski mobility/strength workout program!

[@karlk9316]

Great idea! You might go to the Z-Health website, consider the mobility courses, and use the website to find a certified Z-Health trainer in your area. To kick the tires you could view the Z-Health videos on youtube.com, featuring Dr. Eric Cobb. After several months of practice you would be so much better prepared for any athletic activity.

[@gimmeagig]

You are such a great teacher!

[@christophercolby2202]

Deb, i love all of the videos. love of skiing thank you!!!!

[@madduckks]

Deb, totally agree with the outcome you describe and great visual demonstration. The external focus is to edge the skis with a functional body, balancing and moving with the skis. The level hips are a descriptor, a result, not the cause, but what happens with a functional body. It's great background knowledge, but the "do" is to edge the skis, functionally. So, would people perhaps not be able to learn by playing with edging, with this background knowledge, instead of perhaps going out and focusing on level hips? Just edge, but be aware? The "do" is edging... not hips. I am all for developing awareness and understanding axioms. However, I also see the importance an external focus of what a person is trying to accomplish, edging. And then playing with the how and experiencing what works best... which is what you described. Learning it by doing it, focusing on the desired outcome of edging. Your thoughts?

[@DebArmstrongSkiStrong]

Love your thoughts! I believe it is worthy putting stuff out there in many forms as folks learn and take in content in so many different ways. Lots of ways to "skin a cat" as they say. I very much appreciate what you are saying for sure.

[@madduckks]

@@DebArmstrongSkiStrong totally agree with the many ways and totally agree with developing as much awareness as possible. It helps so much with affect which is so important for performance! Sure wish more of the industry was open to discussion and looking at things from a variety of frames. Kudos!

[@DebArmstrongSkiStrong]

Great comments!!!!! Life long learning. Yes, any movement must relate ultimately to what the ski is doing. Ski performance is always the goal and the most important........thanks for your comment.

[@robertgrant6837]

@@DebArmstrongSkiStrong As all humans have various ways of learning the standard cookie cutter method employed by most ski instructor alliances and organizations may not work in all cases and instructors such as the great Deb Armstrong are needed to help us that do not fit into the standard mode of learning. As instructors when need a full quiver of learning methods to help the ones that need alternative methods to get the message across. Deb----your method of hip "control" to impart carving is excellent----keep the good work.

[@scottgaribaldi7557]

Deb You are awesome!!

[@maryannmanion6307]

Hi Deb. I took one of your Steamboat women’s lessons a number of years ago. Excellent. Question. When I lift hip, then touch back - if you are on snow what am I touching back to if I have flexed my inside leg. Thanks.

[@DebArmstrongSkiStrong]

the "touch back" emphasizes ankle flexion. generating flexion from the inside ankle of the turn

[@grahamflasby9336]

Sorry if missed something along the way but In this "Hips and alignment in skiing" video I see more of a fall line position for the hip In your "Fore Aft skiing, foot to foot" video I see a hip position rotating about the turn.

[@DebArmstrongSkiStrong]

As edge angle increases the inside hip is more forward. A shorter radius steered turn, the hips may align more towards the fall line as the legs turn beneath the upper body. Not sure if this clarifys anything for you or not😊😊

[@MrArunasB]

My inside hip orientation always moves depending on what turn phase I am in, but as I was teaching myself at the beginning I tend to exaggerate as I lift the inside hip I was pulling it back at the very start of the turn and then approaching the apex I let it go slightly forward. But as you start learning it was quite a difficult move for me and I was always exaggerating it, and later when I was concentrating on other things like my feet and ankle, the hip movement just happened naturally where is should be. At some point, I wasn't sure if it was right but after this video it becomes clear. Thanks.

[@grahamflasby9336]

@@MrArunasB Thank you Mr Arunas I hope to try this as soon as I can return to the slopes

[@DADEpc]

brava ..Deb

[@TheSnifmister]

Great video

[@JETBLACKSNOWWHITE]

Hey Deb is this the primer for your recent videos on the hips?

[@DebArmstrongSkiStrong]

No, I made this video a few years ago. But again, I’m always thinking about the hips

[@newchanny]

very educational thanks again

[@getriteb4ugetlft]

Great explanation and demo! I wish I could take a clinic with you!

[@DebArmstrongSkiStrong]

Where do yiu ski?

[@getriteb4ugetlft]

@@DebArmstrongSkiStrong Powder Mountain is where I teach and I also ski/Train at Snowbasin. Clinic all over the Wasatch.

[@williammyers8021]

Thanks

[@hildewuyts2465]

Thank you Deb !

[@giuseppezampella1237]

Thanks a lot Deb for this demo. So, if I properly understood, the point is a twofold (or two components) movement: a lift of the inside hip+its (moderate) backward shift. Am I right? Thank you indeed for conveying concepts so clearly!

[@DebArmstrongSkiStrong]

No, not. Backward shift. Yes, for this drill I M stepping up the stairs and walking backwards, this is for the drill as I am ppl emphasize the hip hiking. Notice how I move forward down the stairs however. The inside hip is forward of the outside hip slightly.

[@gimmeagig]

Very Interesting. I'm going to find some wide stairs and try this. Hopefully nobody will be watching :)

[@ANDREADELGATTO]

brava

[@p3trinho]

Very helpfull video! I got some questions. So, if we suppose that we add two more axis, one to the knees and one to the ankles, they all have to be parallel during turning (from the start to the finish of the turn)? And second question. You've talked in another video about seperation. So while our lower limbs are working , bending and edging, doing this drill, what is happeng with the upper body? If we suppose that there is one more axis at the level of the shoulders, this axis would facing down the hill all the time or following the the lower axis of the hips?

[@DebArmstrongSkiStrong]

Difficult to answer in text.... the orientarionnof the upper body depends on the radius of the turn. A longer radius turn the upper body frames the outside ski tip. For a shorter radius turn, or a turn down a narrow pitch, the upper body is oriented down the hill as the legs are actively turn below the upper body.

[@tomigresz2024]

Hi Deb! Question: are you consciously raising the inner hip? My feeling is that since you do the long leg short/leg posture correctly over the apex of the turn, the hip will automatically follow(will level up). Honestly speaking I am more focused on the lower leg activity at the start of the turn, and on shortening the inside leg over the apex of the turn. I feel that playing with the hip is a bit risky. As you said, it's the least understood element.

[@DebArmstrongSkiStrong]

Your point is a good one for sure. I do not think of it often however I always rotate my focus around to different body parts. Yes at times I think of raising the inside hip. Play with it for emphasis and you decide. Your point is a good one.

[@tomigresz2024]

Thanks Deb!

[@Esperluet]

4:13 Confusion "Hips are stacked FOR TIPPING" and "Hips parallele to slope with NO TIPPING".

[@milomirkrunic5971]

Super!

[@edwardgtxy]

Great video! But to double check you are saying ppl should actively raise the inside hip during every turn to create angulation? wouldn't it tire out the back and core muscles very quickly?

[@thewhiteheatemilydickinson8419]

I have the same question. Anyone know? (Thanks Deb Armstrong you are an amazing teacher.)

[@trouts4444]

@@thewhiteheatemilydickinson8419 This is general. You will be “stacked” well so muscles work less. My take is the hips don’t get raised as in you raise them independently. The raising is a result action and not a lot of force involved. You need a bit of speed for the following to happen easily an feel what is happening. You start a turn your whole body leans to the inside of the turn. That’s inclination. You keep your upper body vertical. That makes a dog leg of your body. The legs are inclined at an angle and the upper body vertical. While that is going on you must flex your inside leg to let this all happen. Your outside leg is away to the outside with a leg straighter than the inside (that is flexed i.e. bent at the knees. These actions raise the inside hip making it level. There is no direct raising of the inside hip by itself. It’s a result. Look at Deb when she is leaning to the side with her hand on the stair rail. That part is to duplicate the inclination part. Look at her inside leg, it’s bent more (flexed) than the outside leg. Her hip is level. The inside leg does not support much of her weight. The outside leg is supporting her. When all this is happening centrifugal force comes into play. You came across the mount into this turn with some force. That force gets transferred into the outside leg and ski. The mountain snow is pushing back on the bottom of the ski with centripetal force. You are balancing these forces with these actions. Most of the force will now go to the outside leg. You will be on your leg bones with help from your muscles. The more you are away from the form she has the more you will have to use your muscles to correct for that imbalance. That’s why you get tired and drained. If you get this right it’s called stacking. The forces go through a line from her boot through her belly button. Her center of mass where most of the weight is is called the center of mass (COM). Her COM is now balanced in that line from her boot through her belly button. She is in not moving so you have to vision that she came across the hill from her left side and made a turn on her her right leg and ski. You want to get as much force to go through the line from her boot to COM. You’ll be on your bones and helped by muscles versus forcing this with muscles. When you do all this right all day when you ski you walk to the car versus crawl with aching muscles. You do the same things to a lesser degree skiing slow and more of it all to ski very fast. Look at the stop action picture in her video and draw a line from the skiers boot to belly button. It will be about the same as through Deb. When you ski like this you are balanced and used less muscle power. You always want to get as much pressure on the outside ski as you can on every turn. Deb is doing that and showing how to stay balanced.

[@mmckimson]

I like this and plan on stealing it. I assume you don't really talk about the femur when working with students ;)

[@DebArmstrongSkiStrong]

Ha! That all depends. Glad you like the drill

[@stevebag3720]

Level? Hips are very tipped in gs turns, almost perpendicular to downhill leg angle.

[@shooter7a]

They are NOT tipped nearly as much as the force axis square to the top sheets. The difference is hip hiking. It is just harder to see on high performance turns. Hip hike is hard to see on elite skiers because their angles and overall inclination is so high. There is a reason Mikaela practices this motion specifically. Watch "Mikaela Hip Hike GS", a video posted by her technical coach (Brandon Dyksterhouse) during her most dominant period. Hiking of the hip makes everything work better biomechanically. It makes it much much easier to initiate with tipping. It makes edge angle similarity possible. It also makes it much easier to achieve vertical separation. The key is learning to hip hike WITHOUT twisting in and without excess early angulation.

[@kashdevingle]

I just started skiing, I can do plough-parallel and turn on blues and then be ambitious, go uncontrolled speed and fall. Trying to learn parallel skiing and control. What are some of the best videos to watch in this channel or anywhere else?

[@DebArmstrongSkiStrong]

I will make a learn to ski video.

[@kashdevingle]

@@DebArmstrongSkiStrong great!!! Thanks for the response, means a tonne. I was going through most of your videos and I will say you are very clear and precise, best instructor and videos in youtube to understand. Planning to try many things I learned so far on my next ski trip (probably in two weeks). Again thanks a lot!!!!!!!

[@Avecpodsentier]

Hi Deb, super great coaching! I that video i see your hip raise using the back stair but don't understand how you do that on the slope ?

[@DebArmstrongSkiStrong]

The stair is only to emulate the pitch of the hill. As you create edge with the ski and turn the inside leg becomes shorter. The drill is not perfect but is an attempt to replicate the pitch of the hill. Not sure it this helps....?

[@seanoneil277]

@@DebArmstrongSkiStrong Deb, you are an amazing coach. I can't speak for Claude above, but I knew immediately why you used the stairs in that way. Such a clever idea to do that demo on the stairs. People can find a stair-set to get this feeling you're talking about in the video. So clever. Thanks very much.

[@amundekroll7490]

You will understand more about your hip if you could align your right boot.The way it is now you never get a good feedback from your skis.

[@rolandmallett7694]

Deb, I just came across your videos and find them very good - I have been following Harold Harb for a number of years. and find many similarities and differences between the both of you. I was wondering if you are familiar with Harold and his ideas of skiing?? And what you THINK.

[@DebArmstrongSkiStrong]

Yes I'm familiar with Harold. I do not follow closely enough to know similarities and differences......

[@rolandmallett7694]

WoW!! Your a celeB to me--Thanks so much for the contact--means a lot!!

[@Esperluet]

"Inside hip lead exists and the degree of lead depends on the degree of edge"

[@elainenilsson5472]

The biggest misunderstanding that I have seen is that women consider the separation between upper and lower body at the waist, NOT the hips. They have been told all their life that they are shaped like an hour glass and the center is at the waist.

[@DebArmstrongSkiStrong]

the pelvis is part of the upper body when considering upper/lower body separation in skiing

[@elainenilsson5472]

@@DebArmstrongSkiStrong I know that. What I was trying to convey is that when I was in class years ago, myself and the other women were not getting that key point.

[@DebArmstrongSkiStrong]

@@elainenilsson5472 I hope the video helps folks out there.

[@chasgrif]

Like!!!

[@TheSnifmister]

I've been doing it wrong.🥺

[@hayleypbop6997]

I have no sound for this video, anyone else have this problem?

[@DebArmstrongSkiStrong]

Hum. Weird. Inhave not heard of others having a problem. Have you tried it on different devices?

[@DebArmstrongSkiStrong]

Hum. Weird. Inhave not heard of others having a problem. Have you tried it on different devices?

[@hayleypbop6997]

Deb Armstrong thanks for the reply. Turns out it works on my phone but not my iPad so I’ve watched it on the phone a few times. Really helpful.

[@Esperluet]

3:32 God... 1:47

[@JanosKoranyi]

Very interesting idea. But have you really tried to lift up the inside hip of the following turn during the transition? This is not possible to do!!!! Can you tell me which muscles you use to lift up a hip?? You can lift up a leg, yes, but not a hip. What you can do is more a question of pressure control, by unloading the high pressure on this ski during the transition. You unload the pressure by bending, flexing the legs. And than there are some very important parts of the transition you don´t mansion at all. But next time maybe....

[@DebArmstrongSkiStrong]

please look at my seperation video.

[@albertmaziarz6739]

shiffrin way right turn right hip back inclained legs up hill never -never- never flex ankles -uphill hip up -down hill down -stable angulated upper body down hill- squre hips all the taime durning lateral to insaide of the turn flexing pelvis -never-never-never-ankles - left turn left hip back same as above never-never-never- never start new turn from insaide uphill ski always from down hill women most-most most flex retractet back pelvis flexing ankles pelvis are retractet to back seat-blocking hips ankles

[@DebArmstrongSkiStrong]

Can’t follow, sorry

[@sandratessem9980]

Great video