Instant cure for toilet seat position?

My brother is fit and loves to ski but he has the dread toilet seat
position when skating.

(Probably in classic, too--no? It's just easier to see in skating.)

Does anyone have a quick cure tip for fixing this?

Seeing his style makes me want to have him watch ski tech videos for
hours but he's short on time.

My bro is a solid bike racer type and also really good on quad-roller
skates---he's gotten good finishes in skate races up against the
inliners. I'm wondering if the rollerskate position is somehow at
fault, but I think not.

I'm hoping there's a quick fix. Some drill.

The crazy thing is that when I see him ski I just can't think of a
thing. It's hideous, he's wasting energy and I feel helpless...

So I look to the Answer Dudes for a rescue!

--JP

PS: I don't even know if I want to show him the Unlimited DVD or Norgie
tapes or whatever else I have if I can't cut straight to some segment
that offers a great cure for Toilet Seat. I mean, I need to be able to
show him video of what he looks like, too---then to show him a cure
tip. Mission #1. I have about 6 tech tapes. I don't want to spend hours
fast forwarding trying to find what he needs most. But right now I'm
lost. --JP

Have you tried showing him a video of himself? Go skiing and take turns
shooting each other along one or two sections of trail. The first step to
recovery is *seeing* you have a problem.

Bob

wrote in message
ups.com...
PS: I don't even know if I want to show him the Unlimited DVD or Norgie
tapes or whatever else I have if I can't cut straight to some segment
that offers a great cure for Toilet Seat. I mean, I need to be able to
show him video of what he looks like, too---then to show him a cure
tip. Mission #1. I have about 6 tech tapes. I don't want to spend hours
fast forwarding trying to find what he needs most. But right now I'm
lost. --JP

Yeah, that would be a great idea. I need to bring the cam next time.
But I was hoping for a quicker fix than that. Since this is probably
the most common problem in skating I'd think there'd be a quicky drill
to fix it. Hoping anyway. --JP

PPS: Another mitigating factor might be his equipment. I have a hunch
that it's hard to skate right using clubs for poles. I remember back in
the day of using red Exel poles---entry level skate poles that lots of
us bought before longer fancy models were available or before we really
knew that skating would stick or that we'd like it. I recall those
clubs making it really quite hard to ski right---you end up working
pretty hard just to manage the pole swing and keep em close to body,
etc. I recall getting such a great nice boost in tech skills just from
getting light carbon poles. Now, today poles have gone nuts at the $200
level. I have light carbon poles from 15 years ago. Seem light'n'stiff
to me. How cheap can you get a basic light/stiff pole today? My bro
won't need no aero pole or micro freakout uber feather pole. What was a
light pole in 1990 will work just fine. I'm thinking that maybe a $50
pole is like that today. Hoping!

Of course what you're trying to do is get the hips forward over the
ski. Try harranging him to flex his ANKLES - not just bending the
knees. I see a lot of people bending those knees into the sitting
position (toilet seat) and the ankles are nearly 90 degrees. Flex
those ankles, it will bring the knees and hips forward over the skis.
A starting point anyway that might help.

thanks sounds good!

One quick trick I've used in classes this year and that seems to work
with most is to identify one's center of gravity, pretend like
there's a 3' arrow coming out of it (from inside), and then take it down
the trail pointing it ski to ski, while making sure one's feet start
underneath each time (no stepping). Center of gravity? Everyone has a
roll of fat and the COG is directly underneath it. Just thinking about
that gets the weight forward, gives a reference point to return to, and
can be built upon. The other thing that often needs adding is how to
double pole, since that's virtually impossible to do from the bucket and
thus is not properly learned or even conceived of. Do each separately
and then put the two together. Just keep the skiing easy, slow.

Gene

wrote:

My brother is fit and loves to ski but he has the dread toilet seat
position when skating.

(Probably in classic, too--no? It's just easier to see in skating.)

Does anyone have a quick cure tip for fixing this?

Seeing his style makes me want to have him watch ski tech videos for
hours but he's short on time.

My bro is a solid bike racer type and also really good on quad-roller
skates---he's gotten good finishes in skate races up against the
inliners. I'm wondering if the rollerskate position is somehow at
fault, but I think not.

I'm hoping there's a quick fix. Some drill.

The crazy thing is that when I see him ski I just can't think of a
thing. It's hideous, he's wasting energy and I feel helpless...

So I look to the Answer Dudes for a rescue!

--JP

I once had a woman coach who gave the best advice I ever heard on this,
although it embarrassed some athletes. She said, "Ski dirty!!"

Meaning get the hips forward, but the image of pushing with the front of
your pants works.

Scott

wrote in message
oups.com...
My brother is fit and loves to ski but he has the dread toilet seat
position when skating.

(Probably in classic, too--no? It's just easier to see in skating.)

Does anyone have a quick cure tip for fixing this?

Seeing his style makes me want to have him watch ski tech videos for
hours but he's short on time.

My bro is a solid bike racer type and also really good on quad-roller
skates---he's gotten good finishes in skate races up against the
inliners. I'm wondering if the rollerskate position is somehow at
fault, but I think not.

I'm hoping there's a quick fix. Some drill.

The crazy thing is that when I see him ski I just can't think of a
thing. It's hideous, he's wasting energy and I feel helpless...

So I look to the Answer Dudes for a rescue!

--JP

You might also try doing bounding drills - if you have not done so
already. This lets you travel the length of the room and deconstruct
the whole motion. If you have access to a gym you can utilize the
mirrors (lo-tech real time video). You can look at where the body
should be set at all the critical points.
It also helps because unlike being on snow, the pupil doesn't get away
from you as fast.
This worked really well with my daughter. Got her to uncompress the
legs and think down track.

/john

Scott Elliot wrote:
I once had a woman coach who gave the best advice I ever heard on this,
although it embarrassed some athletes. She said, "Ski dirty!!"

Meaning get the hips forward, but the image of pushing with the front of
your pants works.

Scott


Another similar visualization - imagine something grabbing your front
pants pockets and pulling them forward. That doesn't really work for
me, but the pelvic thrust thing seems to work (but I tend to blush
also).

Someone also mentioned practicing good double pole technique - I think
this is an excellent idea - good solid double poling, getting the
weight committed far forward when inititating the pole push - far
enough so if you mss you will likely stumble forward.

The exercize that helped my striding and my V2 skating the most is good
double pole kick technique taught on the snow by a pro. coach. It
really improves hip position, weight committment forward, weight
committment and balance on one ski and abdomen inititated poling.