rollerblading to improve BC Skiing?
I've considered getting a pair of rollerblades to improve my right-foot
response. I had a brain injury in 2002, and my right foot is partly paralyzed. I've done some telemark turns since then, but the situation here is rather odd, in terms of getting practice. I live in Las Vegas; even though deep snow is only 50 minutes away, I can get out to the woods rather infrequently, and the choice of ski areas has been limited by the avalanche danger this season. The terrain here is mainly rather extreme -- very few places nearby where one can practice. I CAN get out often and run around my house, however -- I work at home, and the mild ambient temperatures allow me to go for a 10-mile run twice a week, which fits into my work schedule nicely. I've never used rollerblades before, but I guess I could use my running days to blade instead. So, does rollerblading do anything to improve skiing skills? |
H.W. Stockman wrote:
So, does rollerblading do anything to improve skiing skills? It certainly won't hurt your skating technique, though you don't want to try stepover lead changes on skis! ;-) As well as being good for skate technique (which can be very handy over frozen lakes or plateaus covered in corn) it's good to build up your thighs which means having your quads catching fire doing teles will be put off for a while longer. Having said the above, roller skis will give you a better ski-specific workout than blades, but they cost a /lot/ more, are harder to get hold of and don't let you do various other things possible on blades (like stepover lead changes) that are fun while zooming about on good tarmac. Pete. -- Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/ |
Peter Clinch wrote:
H.W. Stockman wrote: So, does rollerblading do anything to improve skiing skills? It certainly won't hurt your skating technique, though you don't want to try stepover lead changes on skis! ;-) As well as being good for skate technique (which can be very handy over frozen lakes or plateaus covered in corn) it's good to build up your thighs which means having your quads catching fire doing teles will be put off for a while longer. Having said the above, roller skis will give you a better ski-specific workout than blades, but they cost a /lot/ more, are harder to get hold of and don't let you do various other things possible on blades (like stepover lead changes) that are fun while zooming about on good tarmac. Pete. Since you mention it, I've see several pair of roller skis for sale on ebay from time to time. I'm not in the market, but was curious. You'll find them in the cross-country skiing specific area. Might be a way to try Pete's suggestion at not too much money. VtSkier |
"H.W. Stockman" wrote So, does rollerblading do anything to improve skiing skills? Yes they do. While technically correct, racing style rollerblading is not a very downhill skier specific motion, it does improve quad and calf strength and overall cardiovascular fitness. Moreover, you can easily design for yourself blade based exercises that improve one-footed dynamic balance, kinetic timing and reaction and the effectiveness of proprioceptive signalling. All of those will translate rather directly into better downhill skiing, whether telemark or alpine. For example, try rolling on a single foot, weaving from side to side by angulating at the hip. Loosely tied skates will work your ankle strength and responses more. Loosen the top laces and practice knee bends while rolling. Do the same thing one-legged. A free style skate, rather than a racer or one built for long miles, will require more fine motor adjustments. Be creative and be aware that most pavement is harder than most snow. Tommy T. |
On Thu, 17 Feb 2005 04:22:13 GMT, "H.W. Stockman"
wrote: I've considered getting a pair of rollerblades to improve my right-foot response. I had a brain injury in 2002, and my right foot is partly paralyzed. I've done some telemark turns since then, but the situation here is rather odd, in terms of getting practice. I live in Las Vegas; even though deep snow is only 50 minutes away, I can get out to the woods rather infrequently, and the choice of ski areas has been limited by the avalanche danger this season. The terrain here is mainly rather extreme -- very few places nearby where one can practice. I CAN get out often and run around my house, however -- I work at home, and the mild ambient temperatures allow me to go for a 10-mile run twice a week, which fits into my work schedule nicely. I've never used rollerblades before, but I guess I could use my running days to blade instead. So, does rollerblading do anything to improve skiing skills? Another angle: My college outing club had something at our cabin called a Bongo Board, a skateboard size platform balanced on a roller about 5 inches in diameter. It was advertised as something to help develop DH skiing skills You would stand facing perpendicular to the length of the board, and balance. This would develop your balance, and ability to quickly shift weight side-to-side as required for parallel skiing. Some people learned to do various tricks on it like 360s. More recently, I have seen something like this with a modified roller which allows edging like with a snowboard, in a snowboard shop. A tool like this may be helpful in your recovery, and relearning the needed reflexes. You should also speak with a PT or OT connected with a sports medicine practice, to get focused exercises. Happy trails, Gary (net.yogi.bear) ------------------------------------------------ at the 51st percentile of ursine intelligence Gary D. Schwartz, Needham, MA, USA Please reply to: garyDOTschwartzATpoboxDOTcom |
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In article , VtSkier wrote: Peter Clinch wrote: H.W. Stockman wrote: So, does rollerblading do anything to improve skiing skills? It certainly won't hurt your skating technique, though you don't want to try stepover lead changes on skis! ;-) As well as being good for skate technique (which can be very handy over frozen lakes or plateaus covered in corn) it's good to build up your thighs which means having your quads catching fire doing teles will be put off for a while longer. Having said the above, roller skis will give you a better ski-specific workout than blades, but they cost a /lot/ more, are harder to get hold of and don't let you do various other things possible on blades (like stepover lead changes) that are fun while zooming about on good tarmac. Since you mention it, I've see several pair of roller skis for sale on ebay from time to time. I'm not in the market, but was curious. You'll find them in the cross-country skiing specific area. _ It depends what you define as "ski specific", roller skis are notorious for messing up your classic striding technique and as far as turning goes they are no better than roller blades and many of the older designs are just terrible. Also, there have been many misteps in design over the years. I would not buy roller skis unless you are serious about XC racing, and get some experienced advice about exactly what to use. For just a general workout they are overkill IMHO. _ If you put slow wheels and bearings[1] on your roller blades you can get in a very decent XC skating workout with poles. You can also get good parallel turning practice by slaloming down hills, however there are subtle differences in how to initiate the turn that can lead you astray[2], but the fore/aft balance you gain on roller blades is very useful. _ You can even practice something that looks like a telemark turn, although I'm not sure that it's all that useful other than as a quad burning exercise. _ Running is good aerobic training, but on flat ground it doesn't provide the quad and body core exercise that skiing requires. Roller blading does a good job with both of these, I try and skate at least once a week during ski season. _ Booker C. Bense [1]- Or just find a long gradual uphill. [2]- Basically, roller blades don't bend, so they don't respond in the same way to weighting/unweighting that is central to any skiing. They are very good at simulating angulation though and are good practice for the new skis that respond well to "rolling the knees". -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBQhS1IGTWTAjn5N/lAQGPQgP7BJ+SM4MiZ92/hxEJ4Mly0xn5Cn4admLK 4BYBIAyCFfGT2kkN1TORliwzpgFy49tv5UiLurmP5tNrft8ytK GyAzlpXbxEQRAm SttdzHynOtvCi98z07iN5RwvA75X6uNUfl4FhLv5WKOdAcY0m6 fmTt2HouGAGy69 qywVa9eG8OU= =xohw -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- |
"Gary S." Idontwantspam@net wrote in message ... On Thu, 17 Feb 2005 04:22:13 GMT, "H.W. Stockman" wrote: [...] My college outing club had something at our cabin called a Bongo Board, a skateboard size platform balanced on a roller about 5 inches in diameter. It was advertised as something to help develop DH skiing skills [...] A tool like this may be helpful in your recovery, and relearning the needed reflexes. You should also speak with a PT or OT connected with a sports medicine practice, to get focused exercises. I built a bongo-board some time ago, and quickly got so I was able to balance on it much better than most people. I also have a wobble board. I found that the available OTs and PTs in my area pretty much were clueless about anything beyond teaching me to walk, or too concerned with a possible insurance limit (actually there was none) to pay attention much beyond 10 weeks. I had one very good PT, but she was limited by time she was allowed to spend with me. My affliction is mainly cerebellar, so I lack fine controls -- mainly brought on by inhibitory signals -- in my entire right side. All my right side "fine motions" compete for the remaining strip of cerebellum. I mainly deal with the problem by training my cerebrum to take over some of the inhibitory judgement that is normally handled by the cerebellum. For this method to work, I have to find training motions that are very similar to those of actual interest. From what I read in this thread, rollerblading is probably not the way to go; rather, I should just mimic, in my living room, the motions I expect to encounter while skiing. |
Some great advice from Tommy T. That exercise on a single skate, but
changing back and forth between inside and outside edges, is tremendous for balance. I'm lucky to live in a great region for inline-skating out on the roads: http://roberts-1.com/sk8hv and for me a road-skating tour is the closest off-snow equivalent to a backcountry ski tour -- requires a combination of endurance, technique, navigation, and risk management. Recently I've started to make tightly linked christie/parallel-turn moves on my inline skates. I've found that if I stem and push on the outside skate, I can actually generate forward propulsion on flat ground. This amazes the girls at my local indoor roller rink (a fun place to work on techniques and tricks). I've also made some 250-turn downhill runs on smooth pavement down a very long moderate hill, grinding the wheels a little for speed-reduction on each parallel-christie turn that I link. To get a good leg-muscle workout on inline skates, you need to go rather fast, to get enough resistance force from pushing your body thru the air. To go that fast somewhat safely you need to be able to _stop_ quickly. It takes good technique to stop quickly on inline skates. This is learnable for lots of skaters, but most American skaters don't put in the practice needed to get it. But stopping techniques are for a different discussion group like news:rec.sport.skating.inline Ken |
Peter Clinch wrote
roller skis will give you a better ski-specific workout than blades Why? How? What is it about the physics or biomechanics of rollerskis that makes them more "specific" for backcountry skiing than inline skates? After spending lots of hours over a couple of years skating on both, I don't see the advantage of rollerskis. I've pretty much abandoned rollerskis except for occasionaly poling workouts for my upper body, but not for my legs or balance. How many rollerskiers can make linked christie/parallel turns down a hill like a good inline skater? How many rollerskiers can make a long glide on a single ski and change between the inside and outside edges 8 times like I can on inline skates (or on a single backcountry snow ski going down a firm-snow slope). Ken |
On Thu, 17 Feb 2005 15:36:15 GMT, "H.W. Stockman"
wrote: "Gary S." Idontwantspam@net wrote in message .. . On Thu, 17 Feb 2005 04:22:13 GMT, "H.W. Stockman" wrote: [...] My college outing club had something at our cabin called a Bongo Board, a skateboard size platform balanced on a roller about 5 inches in diameter. It was advertised as something to help develop DH skiing skills [...] A tool like this may be helpful in your recovery, and relearning the needed reflexes. You should also speak with a PT or OT connected with a sports medicine practice, to get focused exercises. I built a bongo-board some time ago, and quickly got so I was able to balance on it much better than most people. I also have a wobble board. I found that the available OTs and PTs in my area pretty much were clueless about anything beyond teaching me to walk, or too concerned with a possible insurance limit (actually there was none) to pay attention much beyond 10 weeks. I had one very good PT, but she was limited by time she was allowed to spend with me. That makes sense, and is the reason why I specified the sports medicine angle. Insurance limits have really cut back on people making a full recovery by restricting the number of PT and OT visits to about half of what professionals in those fields consider adequate. One reason why pro athletes seem to recover so much faster is that they receive intensive specialized PT. I think nearly everyone would recover as well as these athletes if they received the same care. My affliction is mainly cerebellar, so I lack fine controls -- mainly brought on by inhibitory signals -- in my entire right side. All my right side "fine motions" compete for the remaining strip of cerebellum. I mainly deal with the problem by training my cerebrum to take over some of the inhibitory judgement that is normally handled by the cerebellum. For this method to work, I have to find training motions that are very similar to those of actual interest. I am familiar with this sort of thing, as a family member had gone through something a bit similar. From what I read in this thread, rollerblading is probably not the way to go; rather, I should just mimic, in my living room, the motions I expect to encounter while skiing. You might work with a PT to develop a specific set of exercises for your condition and your requirements. If you are good and diligent, you can do them yourself. There are books on the theory of skiing and body mechanics which may help. A ski coach might also be helpful. Happy trails, Gary (net.yogi.bear) ------------------------------------------------ at the 51st percentile of ursine intelligence Gary D. Schwartz, Needham, MA, USA Please reply to: garyDOTschwartzATpoboxDOTcom |
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