Hello and welcome to the blog
This is where I respond to the most common questions that clients, family and friends ask me about skiing.
If you have any questions about SkiCoachingOnline, or the ski world. Please do not hesitate to send me an email.
Thank you, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Steve
How do you train by yourself?
How do you improve your skiing by yourself?
Do you train by yourself?
Is it possible to teach yourself?
Can I coach myself?
These are questions I get asked by clients, friends and family.
When it comes to improving my skiing, I am very fortunate that due to my job and where I live, there are great instructors and coaches all around me.
One of my favourite things is skiing with my wife, who is also a ski instructor, and working on our skiing.
However, due to work and scheduling, it is rare that this happens. Finding the time during the season to go out with each other and train is difficult. It happens, but not as regularly as we would like.
Therefore, the answer is yes, I do train by myself, and yes it is possible to improve just skiing by yourself. I used to train like this a lot, whilst training for my exams.
However, there is a caveat to that, there needs to be some things in place to help keep you on the path to success. I will talk about them below.
Clear Goal
A clear goal is essential when looking to implement change in technique or performance.
If I want to score a goal, it saves me a lot of time and effort to know where the goal posts are first.
When it comes to setting a goal, I have found it works best if I have a clear way to measure whether I have completed the goal.
Let me explain. Using external and internal cues to know whether the goal has been achieved, helps me understand what to do next.
Lets take the example of skiing parallel. With the goal of smoother linked round turns down the mountain.
External
An external cue would be that the track left behind by the skis is round in shape. Like an S.
Therefore seeing an S shape in the snow behind me, would mean success.
Internal
An internal cue would be that the feeling in my legs whilst skiing is consistent and smooth. Not spiking when moving from turn to turn.
Therefore a consistent feeling in the muscles in my legs would mean success.
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Ski
Once you have a goal, it is time to get skiing.
Whether that is a drill, or simply a few turns, having a clear goal will enable me to get some feedback.
Feedback
Did I do it?
Did I achieve the goal, yes or no?
For me again I use my internal and external cues to find out.
Using the goal of making round smooth turns again.
Internally it felt jerky and rushed. To see whether this internal feedback matches the external cue I check the tracks behind me.
Yes, the turn shape was jagged and not round at all.
Solid feedback that I did not achieve the task. This means there is room to progress.
progress
This is the area that takes more time when skiing by yourself. As it requires a bit of trial and error.
This is where I’ll pick a drill or skill that I think will help, and try it out. I’ll try counting,
I will count from 1 to 5, and try to match the movements in my legs to the counting.
Trying a few turns again, the internal feeling felt smoother in my legs, and to support that I check the external cue of the tracks on the snow.
Yes, they have created a rounder shape compared to not counting. The shape is more like an S
This means I was more successful at the task whilst counting, compared to no counting.
This is an improvement for me, and I will continue to practise. Whilst checking with my internal and external cues to see whether I am still achieving the goal.
This is how skiing by yourself can work. Trial and error.
This is why it is important that I know what the goal is, so that I can measure how successful I am when making changes to my technique.
Moving On
If you achieved success in the drill move onto another one, get a new goal and get shooting. This cycle repeats and repeats.
If you were unsuccessful, alter and try again. An analogy I like for this is a golf driving range. If you go to a driving range with the goal of hitting the ball straight.
Every time to hit the ball, you’ll get immediate feedback, and can alter slightly and try again, eventually getting the correct feeling for you of what it is like when the ball flies straight off the club.
However, imagine playing at night. Hitting ball after ball into the dark, not knowing whether you were successful, and whether any change in technique helped at all. Taking a lot longer to achieve the goal, if ever getting there.
This is why I keep a clear goal, and use simple external and internal cues to measure whether I was successful or not. This way through trial and error, making slight adjustments to technique I can successfully achieve my goal.
This is a very simple look at what goes into training by yourself. This is definitely not the only way, and it does not work for everyone the same.
However, I hope this information can help you to improve your own skiing. Feel free to share this with anyone you think may be interested in reading it using the links below.
Thank you for reading.
Steve
If you need any more information on anything written here or have any suggestions for more blogs that you would like to read. Please don’t hesitate to let me know below. Thank you.