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Improving Your Cross-Country Skiing
If you have already been classic cross country skiing for a few years with enthusiasm as your main instructor but you'd like to spruce up your technique, here are some suggestions to help you.
Relax. This is the most important technique. If you feel tense and worried about falling over, this will influence your skiing technique and hamper your ability to ski smoothly.
Get into a rhythm. Classic cross country skiing is not about racing; it is about enjoying the great outdoors at a pace that allows you to enjoy the scenery around you and to appreciate the feel of skiing. Follow the technique of kick, stride, glide:
1. Kick: ensure that the centre of the ski connects well with the snow; keep your hip and weight forward over the ski;
Stride: take the stride with the ski opposite the one making the kick and shift the opposite hip;
Glide: launch into the glide as you take the stride.
2 Allow yourself to slide after each glide. Allow at least one second of sliding at the end of each glide forward before kicking into your next ski stroke.
3 Keep your poles near you. Do not try to reach right out in front of you every time you glide or you will tire quickly and waste energy needlessly.
4 Improve your balance. Getting a good sense for balancing and using different parts of your body strength to achieve this balance will improve your skiing. To practice this, try:
1 Skiing without your ski poles. This will improve your strength as well as your balance. Choose a flat and well-groomed part of the trail to practice this. And be careful not to lose your resting poles in the snow - ensure they are well secured.
Try going down a very small hill on only one ski. It might sound silly but it will give you a very good sense of trying to balance yourself well.
2 Keep your knees slightly flexed. This helps to diminish the risk of injuries. As a bonus, this also allows you to react more quickly to obstacles when they come across your path.
3 Crouch a little for descent. Try not to lean forwards too much. The slightly crouched position helps you to balance better for descending and will help to minimize damage if you do fall.
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