When you are centered...
Your skis and boots will work as they are designed to, with maximum power and efficiency
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Your skis are in balance, and will track and carve cleanly
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You have a very stable base of support and you can recover if thrown off balance
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Your body is aligned with a strong, flexible and athletic posture - minimizing strain on your knees, back and leg muscles.
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You pivot your skis quickly and effortlessly, the essential skill for short-radius turns on steep and narrow pitches
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You can pressure your ski tips at will, by ankle flexion and other dynamic movements – essential for racing, and other high-performance skiing
Hugh Monney, British Alpine Ski School
Centered balance is determined by your posture and flexion. This involves your ankles, knees, hips, back and shoulders, and position of your arms and head as you ski. This is a complex system, and small changes can move your center of balance a long way.
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Imagine standing in bare feet. Can you shift your body weight forwards to your toes, then back to your heels, and then return to exactly center? It can be difficult to sense exactly where you are balanced. Of course, if you shift your weight too far, you begin to topple.
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Skis massively extend your base of support. With skis on, it can be quite impossible to lean far enough to topple. Many skiers routinely ski with their center of balance far in front of - or behind - their boots.
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Skis are the wrong equipment to train accurate balance. It’s like ‘playing the piano wearing boxing gloves’. It's only by using a base much smaller than the foot that these skills can be trained and developed.
The SkiA Sweetspot Ski Trainer is a unique tool for training these skills. Consider it a ski balance board, but one that's less than two inches wide.
Using it, expert and professional skiers and racers can enhance and improve their skills and improve their ski performance – and so can you.
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Get off the plateau, and out of the back seat
Use the Trainer to practice and train dynamic balance skills, centered balance and expert movement patterns.
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Training takes just minutes at a time, and it’s astonishing how quickly you can develop and improve. If you have
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the chance to ski straightaway, you can notice the difference immediately.
Training balance skills will increase your control in all conditions. Dynamic balance is having the ability to constantly adjust and correct your balance, every moment of every turn – choosing where to apply your weight on the skis.
The trainer comes with a carefully-structured program of exercises. The manual covers three key areas:
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Centered balance
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Movement in balance
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Control movements (pivoting and edging).
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Skiing with centered balance - skiing 'stacked'- reduces the strength and muscle effort required for skiing at any speed. From this neutral point, expert skiers then choose where to apply their weight dynamically along the ski through the turn, for maximum performance.
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If you experience tired and aching muscles, leg, knee, or other joint pains when you ski, then accurate balance skills will dramatically improve your skiing experience. Whatever your standard, improved balance skills will increase your endurance and agility. Refine and perfect your skills, to take your performance to the next level.
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Practice and develop expert movement in balance. A major challenge for skiers is to be able to flex and extend dynamically while staying balanced. It’s very common for skiers to tip forwards or backwards out of balance as they bend their knees. Developing the skill to stay in balance through these movements is essential to stay centered as you ski.
You can also practice pivoting movements with a separation of leg pivoting from body rotation - an essential skill for short radius turns on steep and narrow runs, and on moguls,
Gentle edging movements from edge to edge are an essential skill for turn initiation.
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Balance on one foot is a great way to build balance skills and develop a strong sense of centered balance.
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Centered posture is traditionally one of the hardest aspects of skiing to train. With the SKiA Trainer, you immediately experience the right solution. To balance on the blocks, you must be centered.
Get centered, almost instantly!
Core strength is essential for developing a powerful, dynamic technique. Using the trainer regularly trains and strengthens your core as an essential part of your system of balance and movement.
Aspects of ski training and fitness also include strength, power, aerobic fitness and flexibility. SkiA training accelerates the benefit of other workouts and will greatly complement the benefits of any other exercise program.