How to Become a More Efficient Skier

[martyg]

Check out Grant Gunderson's work at https://www.grantgunderson.com. Grant provides prints, and they make fly Christmas presents.

In article one I posed the question of What is a Good Skier? The close of the article emphasized that "efficient" is a much better choice of words than "good", and that efficiency is one of the traits to consider.

How do we become a better skier? Or fly caster? Or musician? Or surgeon? I explore those mechanics in installment two.

Enjoy.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/path-improvement-marty-grabijas/


The Path to Improvement

In the last decade or so the work of Anders Ericsson, Angela Duckworth and others has decoded how to excel at our chosen passion, regardless of the endeavor or arena.

For those on the world stage the path seems clear:

1. Point of Inspiration: At a young age they had a point of inspiration that was either extremely positive or traumatic.

2. Perfect Practice: They had coaching that schooled them in efficient movement patterns.

3. The ability to be comfortable being uncomfortable: Perfect practice was conducted at the edge of their ability.

Ship number one has sailed for most of us. However we can still leverage points two and three.

Perfect practice: To establish a baseline for the perfect part, find a mentor that you vibe with. Most importantly, make sure this person has the technical chops and training to provide a return on your investment. Go to your local hill and ask the ski school director for someone who provides on-hill video analysis (many of us ski with tablets loaded with video analysis apps). Having an instructor who is skilled in movement analysis point out what is going on in video is a powerful way to gain body awareness. To be most effective, that feedback should come within seconds or minutes of task completion, which means on-the-hill viewing.

The ability to be comfortable being uncomfortable: This is hard. Nothing about it is easy. However the sense of accomplishment is awesome. “Uncomfortable” doesn’t mean tackling runs that horrify you. My personal favorite for beginner to advanced skiers is doing edge drills at 3 mph on flat terrain that challenges their current movement patterns.

You have to do the work: It is not enough to just do the time. You have to do the work as well. You may have read in popular media that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to be an “expert.” What popular media misses is that those 10,000 hours are performed at the limits of one’s ability – at the point where you are uncomfortable. Again, it is not about scaring yourself, it is about challenging yourself and seeking more efficient movement patterns.

Practice has to be purposeful: The professional instructor will coach you on the hill as well as provide you with a tool kit of drills. Truly insightful instructors will include both on-snow and dry land drills for when you cannot get to the hill. Your goal in executing drills is to perform them in a setting or terrain where you are absolutely comfortable. This purposeful practice also has to be perfect practice. Once you can do the drills correctly, every time, take them to more challenging terrain. Do you feel the wheels coming off? Do you feel old movement patterns creeping in? If so, it is time to go back to easy terrain. Set a goal of 10 to 20 executions as perfectly as you can muster. Stop. Reflect and self-assess. What was good? What was not so good? Repeat. Correct. Repeat, and so on.

Your significant other, children or bro-dude roommate may want to go out and rip it up. And you should join them. However to progress you need to take a few runs by yourself, do some drills, and capture the sensation you are chasing before joining them. Finish the day with a lap of your own, working in a few drills to recapture sensations. Your most important turns of the day will be on that last run – because those are the sensations that you will carry away from that day of skiing.

How much time, how much repetition does this take? According to physical therapist and PSIA Level III instructor Anne Healzer, “Practice and repetition improves neuromuscular memory. Practicing 30 reps of a particular movement in the correct manner in a row, for 30 days in a row, has been shown to stimulate changes to brain plasticity — also known as learning a new motor skill.” Use that metric as your starting point – your minimum goal. Or as one wise man said, “Don’t do it until you do it correctly. Do it until you cannot do it incorrectly.”

© Marty Grabijas 2017

 

[HardDaysNight]

Sometimes people seem not to grasp the implications of numbers that are casually quoted. Let’s take the 10,000 hours of practice. Assume one skis 50 days a season - probably more than most people do - and is actually practicing, making turns, doing drills, etc for 4 hours each day (approximately an 8 hour day with lift rides and breaks). It would take that person 50 years to accumulate 10,000 hours of practice.

 

[Rod9301]

The 10,000 hours is fiction.
If you are talented, it's much less.
If you're not, you will never get proficient

The book's author probably said 10,000 hours, knowing that most people will never put that kind of effort in, so he can say, well, you didn't become proficient because you didn't put in the 10,000 hours.

 

[martyg]

The 10,000 hours is fiction.
If you are talented, it's much less.
If you're not, you will never get proficient

The book's author probably said 10,000 hours, knowing that most people will never put that kind of effort in, so he can say, well, you didn't become proficient because you didn't put in the 10,000 hours.

Help us understand.... Define "talent". Define "proficient".

 

[martyg]

Sometimes people seem not to grasp the implications of numbers that are casually quoted. Let’s take the 10,000 hours of practice. Assume one skis 50 days a season - probably more than most people do - and is actually practicing, making turns, doing drills, etc for 4 hours each day (approximately an 8 hour day with lift rides and breaks). It would take that person 50 years to accumulate 10,000 hours of practice.

If you look at what happens with national teams and at the OTC much of the training is off snow. We can train neuromuscular pathways sitting in a plane on a runway.

 

[Rod9301]

Help us understand.... Define "talent". Define "proficient".

Talented, a good athlete, picks up sports effortlessly.

Proficient, in skiing: expert, skis all terrain, all conditions with speed.

 

[Kneale Brownson]

I always thought the 10000 figure was applied to movement repetitions, not hours.

 

[martyg]

Talented, a good athlete, picks up sports effortlessly.

Proficient, in skiing: expert, skis all terrain, all conditions with speed.

I think if you dig back in any athlete's history you will find repetitive movement patterns that were established at an early game - or it may have been a strong, fundamental movement / balance base. Such was the case of early Dominican Republic baseball players. They swung sledgehammers as kids. In as study of world leaders (the criteria was those who appeared in the Encyclopedia Britannica) most had lost their fathers in very formative years - exemplifying that the world sucks, it is.a hard place, and one had better get their shit together.

When you dig, you find that a person's "talent" is as I outlined in the article is. a result of certain factors. If you look at the scientific literature the notion of "talent" - a person's innate ability to perform a given task, doesn't exist. Some, such as Michael Phelps have certain anthropomorphic features that allow them to excel at a given task. And more and more those traits are being identified at younger ages and with more accuracy.

With regard to "talent", it boils down to hard work and work ethic. I like what Mark Twight has to say about "talent" and our belief that those better than us are so because of "talent'. I think that that doc is entitled Motivation for Hard Work and Suffering. Google it with the author's name and it will probably come up.

Research the peer reviewed scientific journals and you will see that your statement of, "The book's author probably said 10,000 hours, knowing that most people will never put that kind of effort in, so he can say, well, you didn't become proficient because you didn't put in the 10,000 hours." is just your hunch, without doing that hard work or research.

 

[HardDaysNight]

My only point was that numbers such as “10,000 hours of dedicated practice at an intensity that makes you uncomfortable” tend to be repeated by rote without any real thought as to what that would entail. No one, least of all I, doubts that achieving expertise requires concerted and persistent effort. It is important, however, not to perpetuate crap, even if a book has been written about it!

 

[CalG]

My own observation is that those who are not athletically inclined, seldom, if ever, get "good" at an athletic endeavor.
Call it nature, call it nurture, We are not all podium caliber.

 

[RuleMiHa]

My only point was that numbers such as “10,000 hours of dedicated practice at an intensity that makes you uncomfortable” tend to be repeated by rote without any real thought as to what that would entail. No one, least of all I, doubts that achieving expertise requires concerted and persistent effort. It is important, however, not to perpetuate crap, even if a book has been written about it!

Or people who haven't read the material they are judging can refrain from making unsupported statements.

 

[ADKmel]

I think if you dig back in any athlete's history you will find repetitive movement patterns that were established at an early game - or it may have been a strong, fundamental movement / balance base.

totally agree with this.. yes, those that started skiing early, raced in high school and or college IMHO have a great foundation to carry them thru their older years. Skiing is a lot of muscle memory and if you have skied for a long time, it is just like riding a bike.

With the technology of new skis it is easier again IMHO for late starters to catch up. Sadly I think the older one starts skiing, the harder it can be to become accomplished. I think it's more of the mental factor of fear (can't get hurt have to go to work) that holds many back from excelling, that and usually the older we get the more muscle we lose and limberness.

 

[CalG]

If I may..

There is one aspect of skiing that I find paramount to commanding technique in just about any condition and situation.
And that is , Stay light on your feet.

"Angels fly because they take themselves lightly! "

Try it, Try to hop, try to skip, try to jump. (A water bar may compel you to do so!)
The feeling is it's own reward!

 

[Bob Peters]

Sometimes people seem not to grasp the implications of numbers that are casually quoted. Let’s take the 10,000 hours of practice. Assume one skis 50 days a season - probably more than most people do - and is actually practicing, making turns, doing drills, etc for 4 hours each day (approximately an 8 hour day with lift rides and breaks). It would take that person 50 years to accumulate 10,000 hours of practice.

The 10,000 hours is fiction.
If you are talented, it's much less.
If you're not, you will never get proficient

The book's author probably said 10,000 hours, knowing that most people will never put that kind of effort in, so he can say, well, you didn't become proficient because you didn't put in the 10,000 hours.

Well, I ski at a place - Jackson Hole - that has a great many world-class skiers. That's not necessarily just my judgement of their skills, it's their objective results in various disciplines of snow sports in national and international competitions.

There's not a single one of them who hasn't put in AT LEAST the 10,000 hours of practice, if not much more. Sure, innate talent is a requirement, but zillions of repetitions of making the movements the correct way (and making the mistakes along the way) is what makes the best of the best. That's what the book is talking about - the absolute best people in the world at their various disciplines - not just the hottest guy (or girl) at the local hill.

I think actually reading the book might make people more inclined to agree with the premise.

 

[Rod9301]

I think if you dig back in any athlete's history you will find repetitive movement patterns that were established at an early game - or it may have been a strong, fundamental movement / balance base. Such was the case of early Dominican Republic baseball players. They swung sledgehammers as kids. In as study of world leaders (the criteria was those who appeared in the Encyclopedia Britannica) most had lost their fathers in very formative years - exemplifying that the world sucks, it is.a hard place, and one had better get their shit together.

When you dig, you find that a person's "talent" is as I outlined in the article is. a result of certain factors. If you look at the scientific literature the notion of "talent" - a person's innate ability to perform a given task, doesn't exist. Some, such as Michael Phelps have certain anthropomorphic features that allow them to excel at a given task. And more and more those traits are being identified at younger ages and with more accuracy.

With regard to "talent", it boils down to hard work and work ethic. I like what Mark Twight has to say about "talent" and our belief that those better than us are so because of "talent'. I think that that doc is entitled Motivation for Hard Work and Suffering. Google it with the author's name and it will probably come up.

Research the peer reviewed scientific journals and you will see that your statement of, "The book's author probably said 10,000 hours, knowing that most people will never put that kind of effort in, so he can say, well, you didn't become proficient because you didn't put in the 10,000 hours." is just your hunch, without doing that hard work or research.

To say that talent is the result of hard work is misleading.
It's of course popular to say everyone is born equal, and all you need to do is work hard.

But I guarantee you that you can train as much as you want and you will never run a 10 second 100 meters.

I can see it in kids, with the same amount of skiing, some are really good while most are average.

Anyway, not trying to change your mind.

 

[Rod9301]

BTW, I am not questioning the need to put in a lot of work, in just saying that without talent, you will never be great.

 

[Bob Peters]

Riffing on the 10,000 hours thing...

I do know of a couple of people here in Jackson who I'm pretty sure have - or did - put in 10,000 hours (on our hill and others) and still couldn't ski their way out of a soggy Kleenex.

Natural athletic talent does remain a prerequisite to being one of the best, but focused long-term practice and coaching is what makes it happen.

 

[HardDaysNight]

Unfortunately arithmetic is a hard task master. Michaela Shiffrin is 22 years old. Even if one assumes she’s skied 100 days a year since she was 6 (which she certainly has not) and spent 4 hours a day actually turning on snow (as opposed to riding lifts or taking a break - say 8 hours a day out on the mountain), she still isn’t close to 10,000 hours of practice. But perhaps she’s not yet a world- class skier. NB: I have actually read the book.

 

[Bob Peters]

Mikaela probably does more than 250 days a year of on-snow training and her remaining days are spent doing dryland stuff that is aimed entirely at making her a better athlete and skier. Balance, strength, endurance - it's all part of the package.

 

[CalG]

Mikaela probably does more than 250 days a year of on-snow training and her remaining days are spent doing dryland stuff that is aimed entirely at making her a better athlete and skier. Balance, strength, endurance - it's all part of the package.

250 days per year ? Since when There are only 8700 hours in a year. 24-7 as they say .....

The top performers have paid their dues, but let us not elevate them to godlike status.