DVD Review: Cross-Country Technique Progressions (CXC Association)
Date first posted on eCommunity - 5
November 2010
The clocks have gone back, it has started snowing
in Norway and Switzerland, and
it's time to get ready for the coming season.
Accordingly, I've taken advantage of the extra hour's daylight in the
mornings
(think positive!) to get in some extra rollerskiing. Every day this
week, and
some of last, I've clipped into my bindings just after seven and
completed two
or three 5km laps of Dorney Lake before coming home to help look after
XCuk's
phones.
As well as the usual desire to tone up physically I've been trying to
remedy the
late kick that I'm guilty of when skiing on classic rollers. No doubt I
also
kick late on snow, for the majority of my skiing is with touring or
recreational
groups and I'm seldom without a heavy rucksack. But the problem is much
worse on
rollers, ever since a clattering fall a few years ago left considerably
more
buttock on the tarmac than I cared to part with - and left me tentative
on
wheels as a consequence. I tend to sit back, to be reluctant to commit
my
weight. And I kick late. The Boy With The Dragging Back-shoe.
To help overcome the problem I've been working through a DVD recommended
by Iain
Ballentine of the Rollerski Company. It is called Cross-Country
Technique Progressions and is produced in USA by the Central Cross
Country Ski Association. Iain sells it for ₤29.95, and in the interest of full
disclosure
I'm happy to confirm I paid him the full price. Which is to say: if I
didn't
like it I would say so.
The disk has a running time of eighty minutes and it is divided into
five
sections:
- Dryland progressions
- Skate progressions on rollerskis
- Classic progressions on rollerskis
- Skate progressions on snow
- Classic progressions on snow
Each section contains drills which range from basic exercises for
beginners to
advanced routines intended for elite racers. For example the section
dealing
with classic rollerskiing, the one that currently interests me most, is
structured like this:
- Getting started
- Body position and arm adjustment
- Classic double pole technique
- Striding and late kick
- Kick double pole
I have found the sections on getting started and on late kick really
helpful.
The discussions are concise and the demonstrations are - in the main - clear
(though some of the camera work is rough, and sometimes the skier doing
the
demonstration is obscured by the students he is teaching). There is a
lot of
emphasis on correct body position, and so out at Dorney I've been trying
to keep
my weight on the balls of my feet and trying to keep my hips high
throughout the
diagonal stride. (I came up through the school that says you can't kick
with a
straight leg and I suspect I've been lunging with legs too bent as a
result.)
So far I've only worked through the classic rollerski drills. I should
have time
for the skate rollerski drills before Christmas. Then, in Norway, I'll
start on
the on-snow classic and skate progressions. There is enough material to
keep me
interested for a long time!
Would I recommend the DVD? The answer is yes, highly, but with some
reservations. The reservations are to do with the fact that it is
designed for
racers. And most British XC skiers are not racers - they are tourers or
recreational skiers. And what is right in one context can be
inappropriate in
another. Non-racers need to be wary of copying the new style of
double-poling,
for example, which calls on you to treat the movement as if it were a
form of
abdominal crunch in which you come up on your toes and then crunch
forward on to
your poles with as much force as possible. Many recreational skiers will
simply
not have strong enough abs for this - and if they attempt it with a
rucksack on,
things are especially likely to end in tears.
But aside from that general reservation, I'd say that as long as you are
not a
complete beginner, and as long as you are analytic about your skiing,
you'll get
a lot out of this DVD. You will get even more if you can get a friend or
an
instructor to ski with you and tell you how you are doing (or, even
better,
video you).
And my late kick? Well, after almost 100km of rollerskiing I've proudly
upgraded
it to "tardy".
Progress - but there is still work to do. I'll be out at Dorney again
next week.
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