Flexing for Centered Balance: An Easy Exercise with Guaranteed Results!

The first important thing is not to accept feeling as though we are cemented into our ski boots. We must become familiar with them and bend them to our will. We have to impose it on ourselves... and on them!

For this reason, it is extremely useful to move around with our boots on and without skis, imagining that we are wearing gym shoes.  Run on the spot, on slight uphill and downhill slopes, with maximum elasticity and fluidity, focusing in particular on activating the muscles in the feet (discovering that we actually have muscles in our feet!) and the calves, to give the ankles elasticity by overcoming the resistance of the boots and making use of their flex.

This allows us to remain well balanced at all times and stay active on our feet, transmitting energy and edge angle to the skis, with greater ability to manage edge grip and the turn trajectory.

Valerio then shows us a traverse with repeated ankle flexes, without forgetting the coordinated involvement of the ankle, knee and hip joints. He emphasizes maintaining balance mainly over the downhill ski during the flexes, with the downhill shoulder “seeking” the corresponding foot and the torso slightly flexed laterally and forward.

A few more diagonal descents from side to side, continuing to flex the ankles while keeping the skis on edge.

Finally, on a gentle slope, we try applying the series of flexes while skiing straight down the fall line and changing edges with each flex. We will notice how the movements performed with centered balance and on edge will initiate the skis’ bending and the turn trajectory easily, effortlessly and without having to think about “making a turn.” We then simply need to decide what type of turn we want and perform deeper or shallower flexes, with longer or shorter timing, to achieve the desired turn size.