Cross Country Skiing (rollerskiing) up hill requires the skier to master lots of timing and movements. At first glance, it seems complicated. But it isn't at all. In twelve minutes I fix Dagmar's skate 1 (up-hill) technique with simple, easy to follow drills. Below is a session overview which you can take with you to practice.
In this video you will see Dagmar solving her skate one in real time and understanding the body movements she must achieve to do it properly. This will help you reflect on your own technique as you attempt these drills.
The video is broken into sectinos allowing you to navigate to the drill of your chosing, and repeat sections where necessary.
Commenth wit any questions and I will answer to the best of my ability or make a video clarifying your question.
Here is the session breakdown:
Phase 1 – Identify Strengths & Weaknesses
Dagmar performs all the skates to the best of her ability for me to assess. As well as giving Dagmar positive feedback on her strengths, my goal is to identify what aspectsof her technique require attention. Minor details are important, but I'm most interested in fundamental technical errors.
Phase 2 – Overview Problem & Solution
This is where I describe and demonstrate Dagmar’s weaknesses, and how I intend to solve them. It’s always helpful to give a picture of our objective before breaking it down into individual drills.
Phase 3 – Drills
This phase is the ‘solving phase’
A. Diagonal & Fall Drill
This helps fix timing and movement by forcing the skier to go down with their body position onto the poles meaning it’s easier to step off onto the other ski.
1. Diagonal & Fall drill for body position and timing (rollerskis off) to get the feel of the drill
2. Diagonal & Fall drill for body position and timing (rollerskis on) to put the movement into action on the skis
B. The Floor is Lava Drill
This drill helps you understand how quickly you need to shift your body from one ski to the other in skating. Imagine you stand on hot coals! Ouch! Get off that foot quickly before it burns with lead leg. No time to hang about. Many people pole and hold their weight on their lead ski when going uphill an that’s inefficient.
1. The Floor is Lava for rapid weight transfer (rollerskis off) to understand the speed
2. The floor is Lava for rapid weight transfer (rollerskis on) to put the movement into action on the skis
C. Poles Back & Non-lead Leg Down
This drill is designed to get the skier to pull the arms back on the lead leg, and reset them on the non lead leg, ready to go again immediately.
1. Simulate timing standing still
2. Perform with rollerskis on
In the up hill technique (skate one, offset, V1) there is a very clear guide to getting the technique right. Stamp and poll = Stoll. As the lead leg comes down, the poll must come down at the exact same moment. This is the single strongest indicator someone is doing the uphill this technique correctly.
D. Combine & Conclude
Having addressed each drill one by one we are ready to combine them.
1. First, we stand still and go over the timing and movement. You can do this without rollerskis and poles on.
2. Then we bring the movement into it.
At this point we would review any errors pertaining to the drills above and address them one by one. If the drills have carried out by the skier properly then it’s time for the athlete to repeat over and over until it’s firmly in their head.
Remembering these drills can be tricky, especially all at once after a few days or weeks off the rollerskis. Here’s a trick to remembering:
Always just think of one drill at a time and practice that until done correctly.
Do it in this order:
1. Stamp and Poll = Stoll
2. Stand up diagonal & Fall
3. The Floor is Lava
4. Poles back as non lead leg comes down
Congrats for getting this far!
Ask me anything in the comments!
Please like this video and subscribe to my channel!
Ski great, be great!
Scott
