The Professional Ski Association of America identifies balance, edging, pressure and rotary movements as the primary skills required for safe, efficient skiing, but the latter three are not possible without balance. Ski-specific balance is dynamic, meaning that it requires you to maintain stability while transitioning from one movement to the next.
Improve Your Posture
Skiing helps identify the postural issues that trigger a loss of balance. An imbalance between the front of your thighs, or the quadriceps, and the back of your legs, the hamstrings, may cause you to hyperextend, or lock, your knees. Locked knees cause you to shift your pelvis backward, so that your center of gravity, located about 2 inches below your navel, no longer aligns with your base of support, your feet. In skiing, this postural misalignment shifts your weight to the ski tails, where you have less control and balance. The forward head position is another misalignment that causes a shift in postural balance. Your head is the heaviest part of your body. If you keep it perpetually forward, your lower body compensates by shifting your hips backward. A certified fitness instructor can analyze your postural disorders and suggest specific improvement exercises.
Identify Equipment Problems
A group of skiers went missing in the mountains of Summit County, Colorado. When they did not return, the police contacted the county's top ski instructor examiners -- instructors who train other instructors to teach. Timing was critical. If the instructor was not at home, he had to get to the area and use whatever ski equipment the police had available. After the incident, one trainer told his students that he now understood why his novice skiers had so much trouble maintaining balance: They are using the wrong equipment. If a group of experts have difficulty using inappropriate equipment, novices and intermediates find it even harder.
Adjust Your Equipment
Your boot and ski size, length and stiffness level must suit your height, weight and skill level. A certified boot-fitter can adjust your boots so they suit these criteria. If your skis and boots are too stiff for your skill level, you will have to exert excess muscular force for turn initiation, which may throw you off balance. In contrast, overly loose boot fit and extremely flexible boots and skis will not support your balance on the expert slopes. Stiffer equipment is required. Female-specific ski equipment accommodates women's calf size and center of gravity. Manufacturers use a forward binding mount on women's skis to suit the alignment of their center of gravity. The forward mount allows them to keep them center of gravity over their base of support and thus exert more control and balance.
Practice Off-Season Sports
The shortness of the typical ski season increases the learning curve for advancing to the next level of the sport. Serious skiers have an off-season activity, preferably a balance sport that uses at least some movements similar to skiing. Roller skiing, for example, uses skates, poles and ski boots. Mountain biking simulates the weighting and unweighting required for moving down the hill on skis. Some instructors even use the bike-riding analogy to teach this concept.
Proprioception Exercise
Cross-country hiking or running enhances your proprioception, or awareness of your position in space. Balance and proprioception are intricately related. Conditions constantly change on the mountain. If you are skiing in good form, you will not be able to see them. Looking down at the snow makes you dizzy and keeps you from seeing the obstacles ahead. The best skiers train their bodies to sense the changes in terrain. If you have kids, playing games such as Pin the Tail on the Donkey improves proprioception.
Balance Training
Most fitness centers have an extensive selection of balance-training equipment, including stability balls, balance boards, medicine balls and balance discs. Integrate strength training with balance exercise by performing free weight or cable exercise while standing, sitting or lying on balance devices. Free weights and cable equipment pose a greater challenge to your core muscles than strength-training machines. Your core or deeper abdominal muscles play a key role in spinal stability. The balance training equipment adds an additional challenge.
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