On Wed, 23 Jan 2008 08:09:01 -0800 (PST), "Jeff Potter (of
OutYourBackdoor.com)" wrote:

Yesterday afternoon after school I had our 2 kids out skiing around
without poles. That REALLY seemed to help! The 7-yr-old got into it
and said we were being like Chaz Michael Michaels... : ) ...The 10-
yr-old was too embarrassed by that mental image. But we kept that idea
going anyway and had a lot of fun. They were swinging their arms---
sometimes quite tight in, bent---and thrusting their hips forward as
they swung their legs---like the infamous skaters in The Movie Which
Shall Not Be Named. This was getting them to commit to each gliding
ski. They had previously been much more like "ski waddlers" relying on
wide poles. We also just used the imagery of ice-skating---they knew
that involved kicking and gliding from foot to foot.

Both kids eventually ended up swinging on the swingset while wearing
their skis---they made it work.

Now to see how these new ideas work on my cousin who is very powerful
but not in good aerobic shape. I've been telling them that skiing
right is easier than skiing wrong, but he just can't imitate me nor
does he realize how he is skiing---he has the "bent over hinge at
waist" syndrome and tries to overpower things with his arms which he
holds in front of himself Frankenstein style. He also has a hugely
late kick. We'll have him go no-poles today. He's very interested in
learning. It's interesting how he has no idea how he looks---I tell
him to stand up and bend his arms at his elbows and he says he is---
but he isn't. I think that no-poles will make him do it right. ??

Having them all jog on skis pre-supposes a running level of fitness.
I'll have them give this a try, briefly, to get them familiar with
camber-setting but I want to emphasize the idea that weight transfer
doesn't require much power nor is it harsh.

Any more tips?

I don;t know much about classic skiing, but the adult should practice
standing in a basic athletic position and swinging his arms. Also
walking or skiing w/o poles while holding his butt pushing it
forwward. And perhaps other simple drills such as in the
Jenex/Caldwell video.