Bend zee nees!

Bend zee nees!

How well is that phase entrenched into the mythology of skiing and ski-instruction?

I’d like to explore that phrase and I hope other keen minded skiers will join me. However, my main purpose for starting this thread is to provide beginners & intermediates with some (hopefully) interesting reading about the basics of skiing.

So, let’s think about that phrase, “Bend The Knees”, why would experienced, professional ski instructors throughout the Alps find this phrase tripping so lightly off the tongue? (As an aside it would be very interesting to know if there is any similar phrase used in North America, Australasia, South America, Japan, the Ex-USSR, etc).

Why indeed?

Let’s imagine a robot standing in ski boots, clicked into bindings on a pair of long skis on flat, dry ground. If the skier, sorry, robot is standing in a balanced posture (rare enough in itself I know!) and it is given the instruction to bend its knees (and ONLY its knees), what would happen?

The picture I see in my mind is that the whole of the robot’s body, from the bottom of the thigh upwards, would lean backwards until the whole upper body was horizontal with the ground. Further bending would result in the back of the robots head striking the ground.

Ok, Ok, so this is not what Franz, Georg or Michelle had hoped for, but what had they hoped for?

I suspect they had secretly hoped that the robot would gently lower its posture, while remaining upright. So perhaps a more helpful instruction would be to say “Bend you knees and also compensate by closing your hip angle” … Hmmm, not quite so jazzy.

But would this do the trick?

Now we have a robot with a flexed knee and the upper body brought forward by the hip being brought into action. Grommit, I think we’ve cracked it!

Well not quite. The problem is that now we have a robot with vertical shins! All the weight is acting behind the centre of the foot! (Try this yourself – I can already picture Ellistine doing this in the kitchen. Stand upright and then flex JUST the knees and hip) The effect is rather like lowering yourself onto the loo (John). Now imagine there is no seat to sit on. Suddenly you have to contract all the major muscle systems in your legs and lower back to stop yourself falling over.

So what went wrong? Why did the improved instruction from Jozef not place us in the perfect skiing position?

One very simple and yet nearly forgotten cousin of the knee and hip. The Talus Joint!

Let me say that again for those new to the human skeleton, “The Ankle!”

Now, when Frau Heidi roars up the beginners piste she will doubtless be intoning, “Bend your knees! but compensate this inclination by a corresponding flexion of the waist AND ankle!”

Why so much fuss about such a minor joint? Because if I could help to get just one skier this coming season to discover their ankles then I would be a happy chappy!

Try this one for yourself. Next time you are being whisked up the hill, watch those who are coming down. Now try and pick a person who looks like they are doing well and ask yourself, “What are their ankles doing?” Now spot a struggler and ask the same question. Chances are that if you have a properly calibrated eyeball you will have noticed that the difference lies in the amount of flexion and extension they created in their ankles.

*** Warning – Danger ahead ***

Now, if you really fancy finding out about your ankles (and your health insurance is up-to-date) try finding a quiet, smooth, relatively flat piste. Stand across the fall-line and undo all your boot clips, power straps and other retaining elements. Now very carefully start to edge your skis gently towards the fall-line. Once you start moving IMMEDIATELY start to control your speed, either by ploughing or by a gentle skidded turn. Once you have your speed under some kind of vague control attempt some turns that you would normally consider to be your most confident.

What happened?

To some extent this will depend on your boot design. Rear entry types will give at least some support to those who are positioned too far forward, whilst probably dumping those whose “weight” is too far back on the floor. On the other hand, front entry boots may support the “weight too far back” brigade whilst giving a nasty turn (no pun intended) to the weight forward gang.

I have used this drill with many, many “apparently” able skiers (and not a few racers) only to find them begging to do their clips up.

With sensitivity and practice it is perfectly possible to ski with all clips undone but take one word of warning, don’t, whatever you do “Bend zee nees” unless you are prepared to flex at the waist AND ankles too!!

One final thought. When buying boots, consider the merits of buying boots, the marketing dept. of which have liberally splashed the words “Racing” or “High Performance” about them. If they are truly “Racing” boots, do you have the strength, determination and ability to flex those beasts? Do you really want to? Chances are that a boot with a lower flex index will give you the opportunity to get to know your ankles without doing permanent damage to the musculature of your lower leg!

Happy Talus Flexing!

Jan

:D hi, when ski instructors have used this term to try and get new skiers to flex they actually mean bend at the ankles more but have not known the english for ankles.Flexing/bending forward with the ankles to keep the soles of the feet flat on the bottom of the ski boot and the buttocks over the heals of the feet is what they were trying to achieve.

Huh ? Your supposed to be able to flex the boots?

Some people have very limited dorsiflexion (the ability to flex there ankle joint forward). My girlfriend's is very poor. She simply can not flex the ankle forward very far before her heels start to lift.

There's a good way of testing your dorsiflexion here;

http://www.warrensmith-skiacademy.com/ski_biomechanics-physiology_about-ski-biomechanics.htm - See part 2.

I can manage about 30cm of drop where as my girlfriend can only manage about 8cm. You can do exercises to help improve the amount of flex but getting her to do them is another matter!

I agree with the comments so far. You cannot bend the knees without flexing the ankle and still be standing.

I suppose it's possible but you will be weighting the back of the ski the way Killy used to do in the '60s with the Jet turn. Oops showing my age with that one.

Here's more stuff to ponder. Back weighting, weighting the back of the ski, will cause the shovel to slide out and front weighting will cause the tails to wash out. The bending of the knees will cause you to lower the center of gravity (CG) and increase stability. Flexing the ankle will allow the ski to be evenly weighted and cause neither the tails or shovels to wash out while lowering the CG.

Lowering your arms while skiing has a similar stability effect. I always try to tell my students to ski tall so they can then retract to a lower more stable position when the terrain requires it.

mmmmm....sking a dynamic sport? flex move arms, lower, raise, lower again seems like I'm really into the dynamics of telemarking.... well the cat's out of the bag...

Let's really talk flexing the ankle and the knees and the toes and the heel raised to see the true dynamics and grace.....

WOW sliding on snow, skiing classic, skiing new age, snow boarding, heck riding a tobbogan - what a great sport for mind and spirit.

Post Script. Jan I Stenmark...great thread idea.

jan how is the snow in niederau havent seen you online so imagine your on the slopes.

Good site, very informative. I took a look at the "after an injury" section and found that was the only area lacking. I guess it comes down to a personal thing, ya know cojones.