Rodion 4 – bad day at the office for Rodion

Not a lot to write about on New Year’s day! Liliana was up early and was the only one to turn up for coaching – so we worked one to one for most of the morning. I ran through the chi-hips exercises that Victor and Rodion had done the previous day but prior to that we did a new exercise for feeling the femur rotating beneath the pelvis. This exercise was a modified static version of pushing the foot forwards – ski off – pivoting around the heel of one supporting leg. First of all the whole body spins around with the outside leg scribing an arc in the air – then on the snow. Then we block the body facing downhill and move the free leg uphill behind the body with the toes pointing outwards – swinging it around so that it ends up in front of the body with the toes pointing inwards. The pelvis and shoulders do not move – but the bottom can be lowered somewhat uphill and down to simulate the end of a turn when the foot is in front. After Liliana worked on the basic feelings for angulation with the full rotation of the leg we then added the movements for chi-hips so that the core muscles and glutes could be accessed. The main advantage of only countering the pelvis (not the shoulders) is that the tightening of the abdomen spontaneously creates a hydraulic sac which protects the spine. The compressed organs in the mid section then distribute all the vertical loading of through the body instead of leaving it all to the spine. Yesterday when teaching Rodion I realised that there is a clear protocol to achieving chi-hips – pull up the pelvis to make the body thinner, sit down a little to release the hip joints, straighten the knees so that now the upperbody tilts forwards but the hips remain flexed – then pull the hip back without moving the feet or shoulders. Rodion skiing sideways testing his bindings…  

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