Cross or X Country Skiing- Basics of Diagonal Stride

[szwagiier]

THIS IS REALLY useful. I have some problems with coordination of movements, and this video helps me! Great training. TY Keith :)

[k2nicol]

HI: The idea is to keep your foot on the snow as long as possible to get a good "kick". I sometimes think about keeping my toes on the snow as long as possible but keeping your heel on the snow accomplishes about the same thing.What I like about the toe analogy is that it gives you abit more push as you flex your ankle at the end of the "kick" back.

[isaacwright33]

I have a more advanced question and i was wondering if you could tell me anything about it....my ski coach tells us to push off of my heel and never from my balls or toes... he says never to go on the balls of your feet is this right? Whenever i ski it seems like i push off of my balls of my feet. if anyone could help my please REPLY!!!!

[anyoneiknow]

These are wonderful clips. Clear and easily understood. Thanks for sharing your skill and knowledge.

[sexytimeleif]

Good drills and instruction, I use many of these when teaching lessons. However might I recommend a more avid skier in the demonstrations.  Thanks for putting all the time and effort into making these videos.

Leif

[Endurancedude7]

Keith, Question about the diagonal stride? Would you say the trailing leg clearing the snow is a requirement of good technique or merely a byproduct of it? What is the best way to get a feel for this? Without poles it's not too hard but I find with poles when my stride is a bit shorter I don't naturally clear the snow with the trailing leg...

Thanks!!

[k2nicol]

@Endurancedude7

I would say it is a result of a strong push back. It does require good balance though since you are now on one leg. So skiing without poles is good but a great exercise is the scooter drill with both skis on. Simply push hard with one leg and balance with the other and you should get the idea of it.

Hope this helps.

Keith

[JPN55]

Great videos--amazing how much you cover in 3 minutes.

[k2nicol]

You are welcome...just posted a 1 skate video (Jan 7 2011)and a snowplow video in mid December (2010).

Keith

[briancornerbrook]

Love the video's Keith ... will help me with my Jack-Rabbit coaching ... keep em coming... Thanks :-)

[rrich79]

Thanks for the help

[kruz2727]

Love the jog-freeze drill. I always end up getting strange looks though. Great videos. Keep them comming please. Cheers from Norge.

[JLP4444]

Some helpful ideas here. I struggle with what to do with teaching rank beginners. When do you introduce images / instructions for specific parts of the stride (e.g., push down before kicking back)? I guess I'd argue that it's easier to achieve balance and weight shift, if a skier has these fundamental motions in mind. (And btw, I agree with davd1986 on the hips--I think they could be higher and then we'd see a bit more pendulum like motion in your legs.)

[ATVrider8811]

Good thing you put this video on because i'm just starting to ski and I kind of get the hang of it. Your video is helping me to get better!

[Mer451]

Thank you for posting this videos.

I'm a skiier from Norway and I go alot of races. My dad says that it is like looking on a professional athlete from behind.

But I think this is a video that can help me to become even better, so I watch you're video's often to get some ideas for what I can train.

14 year old skiier

[k2nicol]

HI: Thanks for the note.....I appreciate getting notes from people from Norway since I feel that is where x-c skiing started.

Keith

[Wimvandermeer]

Nice lecture! I went in one session from 27 min. to 21 min. at the 5 k race!

[AIJohnsen]

Thank you for posting this series of videos. You are doing a great service for the sport of nordic skiing!

Andy Johnsen

Worldloppet Master Skier

30 year Birkie skier

[davd1986]

You seem to be kicking from the back. You need to be a bit more upright, with higher hips, and be more on the balls of your feet. This will enable you to get better kick, especially on steeper sections. This terrain is flat, but your body is too far forward, seems stiff to me.

[k2nicol]

Remember that most of what is demonstrated relates to drills for balance. You can balance longer if you lean abit forward. Also the focus is of this video developing good weightshift in beginner-intermediate skiers. Moving hips forward etc is the next step in refining the diagonal stride.

[atomica67]

How totally arrogant of you to think that you can critique a level 4 CANSI instuctor.

Keep your infantile opinion to yourself; you've added nothing to this video but proved that you're too proud to let someone else be better than you.

Complete moron.

[davd1986]

@atomica67 Take it easy dude. No need to call anybody a moron. Especially as I didn't use names. I just stated what I saw. I have no idea who this gentelman is, and what kind of skier or results he has had. I'm not saying that I am right, i was just pointing out what I thought he was doing. You are speaking of adding things to the the video, well....what have you added to it? The man honestly replied to my message and said this was for beginner/interm. skiers, and there is no problem

[k2nicol]

You need to lengthen the grip wax area. Another possibility is that the skis are too stiff for you. If are pushing down and back and your skis are slippery then that might be the reason.

[emil1134]

Why cant I get any grip with my skiis when I push of? Its all slippery and I barely move forward in the upp hills.

[bbbici]

Ha. You make it look so easy. I can barely shuffle forward consistently.

[ArmyRanger10]

Thanks a lot, I got a pair of cross country skiis and ive never had any experience with skis.

[banstee]

Fantastic video. Helped my confidence. Now I'm trying to teach my 5 yo daughter. Thanks for the tips! More!

[k2nicol]

I will keep a lesson in downhill in the tracks in mind. Thanks for the note.

[ChrisF116]

I have been cross country skiing for a long time, but I noticed that the motion here is different from what I do.

I tend to push of with my left foot and left pole at the same time and slide forward onto the right. It seems more natural.

Is this wrong?

[k2nicol]

The motion should opposite arm and leg go forward at the same time. If you move your left leg and left arm at the same time then if is called pass gang and opposite to what should happen.

Cheers,Keith

[Wino110]

This a great video. Do you have any lessons on how to do downhill turns while in the classic ski tracks? I find this incredibly difficult and end up skiing right out of the track and into nearby trees.

[ChrisF116]

Try shifting most of your weight onto the inside foot of your turn. By doing this and leaning backwards sufficiently to lift the front part of the outside ski, you should be able to turn. Thats what I do anyway, aside from the step-turn. But this is the classic problem with cross country skiis I suppose.

[joz74]

I see you like x-ium ...

[OneHotSingleBabe]

kool my dad sent mee this vid cuz he wants 2 start mee on this-snowboarding iz wayyyyy fun- but im totally exited 2 try this

[jthedr]

I'm exited too, but I was exited by security.

[emzdadeaconater]

Superb video . Packed with practical stuff. See their skate one also. We have a load of instructional DVDs from other sources that are great for when you cant sleep

[igorashtherebel]

Excellent! Great drills. Thank you!

[gwialou]

Excellent--as good as any instructional DVD I've seen. Many thanks.

[allnamesiwantrtaken]

thanks. please do post more techniques.

[stitter15]

Thanks, that helped.