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Old December 18th 03, 03:52 PM
Ken Roberts
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Default key flaws of the New Skate

Jeff Potter wrote:
I've seen plenty of WEAK skiers do the 'marching marching'
technique with twisting/torquing action, going nowhere.


My theory about the problem with twisting and torquing for weak skiers
skating up a hill is:

-- they're just desperately trying to find _something_ that helps. But the
physics and biomechanics of skating with poles is so complicated that the
probability is low that they'll get the upper body moves somewhere near
effective.

-- if you get the timing wrong with upper body motion, it absorbs power
rather than augmenting it.

-- they don't have a _foundation_ of true two-legged skating: either in
neural balance+coordination or in muscle-specific training. So they cannot
effectively use the full strength of both legs to get them up the hill. And
given the complexity of skating with poles, there's not much chance they're
going to _learn_ the foundation that way.

So my current theory of learning progression is that the New Skate is right:
First _learn_ Quiet Upper Body -- which simplifies the physics and
biomechanics enough to learn true two-legged skate-pushing. (Thanks to Rob
Bradlee for an insightful off-line comment to me on learning progression,
though he keeps his own wisdom about the true role of QUB).

Once you have that foundation, you have a live _option_ to play with finding
effective shoulder-swing for uphill V1. I think it's best to play with it
first on flat pavement with low-resistance rollerskis or inline skates.
Once you can _feel_ the engagement and neural coordination rhythm of new
upper body muscles there, you can transfer it to more strenuous uphill
skating.

Then you have a _choice_ about whether to use QUB or shoulder-swing style
for effectively for uphill V1 -- or likely some blend of the two.

Ken


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