Balance Before Technique

If you've ever had a ski lesson, there's a good chance you've heard the instructor say something like:

"Get forward."

It's probably the most common piece of coaching advice in skiing.

Unfortunately, it's also one of the most misunderstood.

Many skiers respond by bending at the waist, leaning over their skis and trying to force their weight onto the front of the boots. While it feels like they're doing the right thing, they're often making things worse.

The goal in skiing isn't to be forward.

The goal is to be balanced.

Those two things are very different.

Think about standing on one foot in your kitchen. You wouldn't deliberately lean forwards or backwards. Your body naturally finds the point where you're balanced over your foot.

Skiing works exactly the same way.

As you move through a turn the forces acting on your body are constantly changing. Good skiers don't hold one fixed position. They continually adjust to stay centred over their skis.

That's why copying photographs of World Cup racers rarely works.

A photograph captures one split second.

It doesn't show the movement that got them there.

Great skiing is movement. Not posture.

One of the easiest ways to recognise poor balance is by looking at what the skis are doing.

If the ski tips constantly chatter, you're probably too far back.

If you struggle to release the edges between turns, you're probably too far forwards.

If every turn feels like hard work, balance is usually the first place to look.

A balanced skier doesn't have to fight the skis. They allow the skis to work underneath them.

This is where modern ski equipment has changed the game. Today's skis are incredibly capable. They are designed to bend, grip and turn with surprisingly little effort.

When you're balanced correctly, they almost feel as though they're turning themselves. When you're out of balance, they feel heavy and unpredictable.

As coaches we often see skiers searching for complicated technical solutions when the real issue is much simpler.

Improve your balance and many other technical problems begin to disappear naturally.

A Simple Exercise

The next time you're skiing an easy blue run, forget about technique altogether. Instead, ask yourself one question.

"Could I lift either ski for a moment without falling over?"

If the answer is yes, you're probably balanced. If the answer is no, you've already identified something worth improving.

Another useful exercise is to notice where you feel pressure inside your boots.

Pressure under the middle of your feet usually indicates good balance. Pressure under your heels often means you've dropped backwards. Pressure only on your toes usually means you've leaned too far forwards.

Learning to recognise these sensations is one of the fastest ways to improve because you no longer rely on someone else telling you what you're doing. You begin to coach yourself.

That awareness is incredibly powerful.

The best skiers in the world don't look effortless because they're stronger than everyone else.

They look effortless because they're constantly balancing against the forces created by the mountain.

That's something every skier can improve, regardless of age or ability.

The next time someone tells you to "get forward", remember what they're really trying to achieve.

Not a position. A feeling. The feeling of standing balanced over your skis.

Master that feeling and everything else becomes much easier.