Slalom / golf swing analogy....shoulders follow hips?

[Lieutenant Dan]

For perspective before I post my question (or maybe theory), I am 53 years old, mostly a 15/22 off 34mph skier who has a goal to make it through 28 off this summer....

 

I was reading a post on fifteenoff.com that mentioned a tip from Seth Stisher about "the first movement towards the gates is with the right hip alone". This got me to thinking. Is the key to efficiency in all of the turns to lead with the hips with the shoulders following? If this is the case, then aren't the shoulders (eventually) following the hips to complete any of the movements? If so, this is just like a golf swing.

 

For instance, it seems to me that to initiate the turn in to the gate with the right hip, Seth Stisher would say to twist your hips to the left i.e. move to the inside with a counterotation. Then, what immediately follows this hip move is the counter rotation of the shoulders. I never thought of the shoulder counter rotation this way before, i.e. the counter rotation of the shoulders is a result of the move with the hips and not a move on its own. This is just like the best backswing in golf, i.e. you start by turning your hips first and this drags your shoulders (and along with it your arms, hands and club).

 

As the ski comes around, to complete the turn you bring your hips (and knees) to facing the direction you want to travel across the course but the shoulders stay countered / open to the boat for the acceleration. This is just like the power zone in a golf swing. The hips are already twisted beyond square (i.e. are mostly facing the direction of the target) while the shoulders are trailing the turn of the hips.

 

Then in the preturn, the shoulders again follow the hips to square up to the direction you are traveling for the end of the "swing", just like the finish of a golf swing. Seth calls for doing this dynamically with a "whip".

 

At the apex, you start this whole thing again but "swinging" in the opposite direction initiated by the turn of the hips the other way.

 

Do you agree with this?

 

Will thinking about slalom this way help me to efficiently turn with speed?

 

Will it help to efficiently preserve the speed built up from the acceleration (trying to not say pull)?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Than_Bogan]

Absolutely. The way to finish your turn is to ski into your leverage/stacked/balanced position. And that is anchored at the hip so the hip should initiate. Shoulders almost shouldn't even follow, as you don't want to close off to the boat too much.

[ForrestGump]

Countering starts at the hips and goes both down and up finishing at the ankles AND shoulders. When done correctly, the result is a snap of the ski as it finishes the turn and you come back to the handle. It also sets you up to begin accelerating from the apex as opposed to when you get back on the handle. This is how you you get the ski to move back under you efficiently coming off the turn.