Curtis Ciszek stomps. RUSSELL DALBY PHOTO.
In the Solitude Issue Dr Carla Cupido wrote a piece on what exercises will help a person stomp their landings this winter. Dr Carla also prepared some videos which you can check out on her blog at Baseline Health
to give you a taste here is the first video on how to improve your Proprioception, aka “Air Sense”
Check out the rest of Carla’s vids on the Baseline Health Blog
and here is her Article from the Solitude Issue.
Wellness
Stomp Your Landings
Go Big or Go Home… or go to the gym.
By Dr. Carla Cupido, Hon.B.Kin., D.C.
To drop the cliff or not to drop the cliff – that is the question. But before you answer, “Hell yeah!” take a moment to consider how prepared you really are. Sure, having big cojones helps – and experience, technique and commitment are critical – but a bit of training to dial in your body awareness and hone the stability/mobility balance can be the difference between big-air glory and end-of-story.
Body Awareness
Body awareness, aka “air sense,” is accomplished by three complementary systems:
1. Proprioception – knowing where our body is in space. There are sensory organs in our muscles and tendons that inform us what angles our joints are at.
2. Vestibular System – located in our inner ears, this tells us if we are inverted and at what angle to the ground our head is positioned.
3. Vision – helps mark your landings.
Proprioception is the only body awareness system over which we have control and can therefore train. Dynamic surface training with trampolines, BOSU Balls, Dyna Discs, foam stability pads and exercise balls help improve proprioception and will significantly benefit your landings. Performing exercises like jump squats* onto and off of a BOSU Ball will also force your nervous and muscular system to become better acquainted and prepare your body to react more appropriately to the occasional time you do screw up in the air.
Stability vs. Mobility – Ankle and Knee Dynamics
The most common injuries in both skiing and snowboarding take place at the knee. Our tall, stiff boots or bindings limit ankle mobility, forcing the body to compensate at the next joint up the chain – the knee. A strong knee requires stability from the structures around it (muscles, tendons, ligaments) but the knee can and will morph into a more mobile joint to make up for the restricted ankle. This can lead to ligamentous and meniscal tears, never mind unnecessary wear and tear shaving years off of your knee’s mountain life.
Strength-training the muscles that cross the knee is important to improve stability. Try some TRX hamstring curls and hop squats* for the major knee movers.
Mobility work for the ankles is also important – this involves stretching the lower leg muscles and mobilizing the ankle joints by gastrocnemius, soleus and plantar fascia stretches, along with gentle heel-drop mobilizations.*
When a balance is found between ankle mobility and knee stability, the knee will better withstand landing forces and torques, decreasing the risk of knee injury and improving your stomping skills. (Although it won’t help that clunky swagger when walking in ski boots.)
Stability vs. Mobility – Hip and Core Control
When you start to slip, the body naturally stiffens in order to prevent an awkward fall. Let’s say you stick your landing, but it’s ugly. If the muscles aren’t strong enough, those floppy legs and arms have to tighten to compensate, keeping you from going ass over tea kettle. You may think that this redistribution of duties is sweet, but think again: this scenario gives us muscles that are both weak and tight. And more prone to injury.
Hips require mobility to function at their best but if the muscles around the hip are weak they’ll tighten up, making the hips immobile. Strengthening the muscles of your backside (and I’m not talking about trick rotation) will significantly help maintain healthy bodylines when landing. Busting off a bunch of squats with a Thera Band around your knees* will help prevent your knees dropping midline upon landing.
Immobility in the hips also forces the core to become hypermobile and weaker (just like the relationship between the ankle and the knee) and core strength is essential for stomping big drops. Consider how much you use your upper body to position yourself in the air – the core translates this upper body movement through to your lower body, ideally positioning your plank(s) for a smooth touchdown. Then, once you hit the snow, the core transmits the forces from your lower body to your upper body to improve landing control and help you ride away with style. A stable core also prevents lower back injury and improves trunk control.
Few things are as satisfying as flying off big cliffs but if you’ve done the training and have confidence in your strength and body awareness, the question won’t be whether to drop or not to drop, it will be what to drop next.
Aside from being a doctor with an alphabet soup of credentials after her name, Carla also owns Baseline Health in West Vancouver and has tons of other useful information at baselineheath.ca
