Cat Booker is a fantastic Biomechanics Coach™, amongst other things, and has been contributing to the improved performance of skiers. Here she shares her experiences.....

<strong>Ski Biomechanics - Race Training:</strong>

<em>I am Cat Booker, and I work as a personal trainer and advanced Biomechanics Coach</em>™<em>, as well as being a fitness presenter and master trainer for some U.K. and International brands.  </em>

<em>Last November I spent one week working with top-level BASI Ski Trainers who work in Espace Killy, France.  How did I get the gig?  I have known one of the Directors, very talented skier and trainer Martin Jeffers, for 14 years having met him when I was working in the Three Valleys, France as a Sports Massage Therapist and Chalet Host. We have been firm friends since and followed each others progression in our careers.  So there is some background.</em>

<em>Skiing and me go back a long way, and I have been very lucky to ski with some fabulous ski coaches and someone from Team GB. Anyway, let's move on from the name dropping, I love skiing.  I have always wanted to get involved in ski training in some way and this bright idea of mine and Martin's just took off.  Now, Martin runs BASS (British Association of Skiers &amp; Boarders).</em>

<strong>What Was The Week About?</strong>

<em>The objective of the week was to work with the trainers who were putting the ski racers through daily training, to identify technique issues that the ski trainers were looking at from an extrinsic point of view.  As intrinsic biomechanics study is my background, coupled with my extrinsic, functional assessment experience, we were looking to identify ways of improving the trainees movement to be better racers, technically, and to get faster!</em>

<em><span style="color: #000000;">"To be honest, with what Cat was noticing in the trainees individually and the functional tests also helped the guys see the difference in their fitness compared to others, and some light-bulbs were going off I can tell you. This type of assisted training from another coach off the hill is unheard of in these training camps at the moment, and we were certainly the talk of the training piste that week.  The funny thing is the lads were expecting to be smashed by a physical trainer; but it was quite the opposite and was amazing".  </span></em>Martin Jeffers - Trainer and Director of BASS MVT.

<strong>Who were the trainees?</strong>

<em>The all male group of trainees varied from the age of 19 years to the mid-thirties, and their goals vary within the industry, but essentially they had exams to pass, and one of which is bespoke to being able to teach in France, the Super G - speed test.</em>

<strong>What happened during the race week I was there?</strong>

<em>I could wax-lyrical about the great days on the piste watching the training, and the racing, including their final day of each training week, which always finishes with a gated slalom race experience. </em>

<em>This means they all have to warm-up, mentally prepare, wear the race suits, have prepped their kit, food, and their study of the course before they set off for three goes and a best time</em>.

<em>Every morning was an early start and all coaches got the first train through the mountain to the glacier. The gates would be skilfully laid out on the allocated pistes, after the queue for the ticket booking which the trainer had to secure the night before came through.</em>

<em>The gates were left overnight on the mountain, secured in bundles in allotted spots. The race trainees would be up the hill about an hour later, ready to do warm-up runs, have skills and drills training, and then the would observe the course by snow-ploughing nearby the gates and chatting with the trainers about their focus for the day, and everyone was filmed.</em>

<em>A picnic lunch (to keep the budget down for them) and then a 2pm departure as it tends to get a bit warm and everyone has trained enough by then.  This is where I came in.</em>

<strong>Where did biomechanics and getting functional fit in?</strong>

<em>A week is not a long time with a group size of 12, but it is enough.  </em>

<em>There were trainee worksheets, pre-planned intrinsic assessments, and extrinsic functional tests to study.  The group assessments included partner work and group analysis where the guys would go through the intrinsic biomechanics protocol, as well as be filmed and observed jumping and on landing, including Mike Grice inspired work after attending the Convention last October</em>.

<em>Thank you Mike!</em>

<em>The agenda for the week started with their assessments, and everyone's case study sheets were updated, discussed with the trainers, and their notes incorporated in terms of what the racers had to achieve, and I was there to suggest how dysfunction could be holding them back. I took them through mobility and anti-spasm exercises, and some of the instant results were incredible.  We focused in small sub-groups on specific areas where the guys had similar needs, like tight posterior function, weaker core, restricted squat depth, yes I hear you cry, and this is a skiing demographic.</em>

<em>The fact is some of the fellas were very fit, and invariably they were better in all the tests. However they had some dysfunction, but their range of movement was generally better. So we had a group who need to improve on becoming better as racers, and they were the same people as the ones who were less fit, mobile, or balanced.</em>

<strong>What stood out more than the sub-groups and fitness levels?</strong>

<em>As a group, their back rotation was really impressive. The skiers need the ability to move from the ground up and separate movement in order to move the legs underneath and achieve the appropriate angulation for the speed, style, and slope.  </em>

<em>It was noticeable that the guys with better hamstring function and strength in relation to the quadriceps were generally better at squats, lunges, and incorporating the core posture technique.  Tests like the Nordic curl, leg dominance, standing overhead squats, step off, hop-test, and knee flexion range helped with this area.</em>

<em>The other factor was neutral spine. For some this wasn't a posture they were used to, and the biomechanics core function tests as well as their position in movement proved this to be so.  Even in one week techniques and mind-sets started to change.</em>

<em>As well as the assessments and exercise programs given for the week, we had workshops on Yoga and Pilates exercises for the skiers. This also encompassed myofascial and triggerpoint sessions which was another point of the week to help the guys learn how to assist their muscles in function and recovery.  Some of the group had the GRID rollers, but it was very new to most. </em>

<em>As well as the assessments, anti-spasm workshop, functional assessments, release and core work, we had a circuit training format, of which different variants were left with them for training weeks to follow. They were coached in core, leg and stamina based circuits which gave them an idea of where they needed to improve fitness, which was really supportive to the BASS trainers as well, who joined in from time to time.  </em>

<em>By the end of the week, each trainer had a one-to-one feedback based on their development on and off the piste in the sports centre in Tignes where we all stayed and trained.</em>

<em>The success of the week was giving the trainees a better understanding of movement (particularly in their sport) and some ideas on where to focus to improve all of this for their end goal which is to pass their Speed Test (which is expensive, infrequent and their passport to having a career and life in the mountains of France).</em>

<em>I love skiing but this is the one time I was on the mountain and spent the least time skiing in my life.  It was fascinating listening to the coaches, and how it synchronised with my expertise to deliver results and a new outlook on training for some potentially inspiring and dedicated British ski coaches.</em>

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Cat Booker

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