Upper-Lower Body Separation

Separation is key for balance and control on the slopes

What is upper lower body separation?

In skiing, upper-lower body separation means that your lower body– feet, legs, hips– move independently of your upper body as you move down the hill.

There are two main types of upper lower body separation in skiing: angular separation and rotational separation. 

Rotational separation refers to your skis rotating as they turn across the mountain, while your upper body (ideally) is always facing directly down the fall line. Your skis should essentially be swiveling beneath your upper body, like the bottom of a swivel chair if you were to hold the chair still and let the swivel part move independently. 

Your feet, legs and hips should be moving across the mountain, guiding your skis, while your upper body should remain relatively still, and always facing down the fall line. 

To think of it another way, your lower body should be leaning into the turn, while your upper body is leaning slightly away from the turn. Your upper body remains perpendicular to the ground, while your legs are at an acute angle with the ground in whatever direction you are turning. 

This is important while skiing for many reasons. Mainly, it allows you to maintain better overall balance while skiing, especially on advanced terrain, like glades or moguls, and when carving. It helps maintain your center of gravity, and allows you to better use your legs to absorb bumps and dips in uneven terrain. Your upper body counterbalances your lower body, and prevents you from tipping over while achieving high edge angles on your skis. 

Good upper lower body separation requires you to engage your core muscles to keep your core upright while your legs lean into the hill. There are many exercises that can help you focus on and improve your upper lower body separation while skiing.

The Teapot or Heisman or Superman Drill

In this exercise, you can leave your ski poles on the rack. While skiing, you will have one hand on your hip, and the other pointed upwards and forwards in the direction you are moving, resembling a tea-pot, or for football fans, a Heisman trophy. 

If you start out with a turn to the left, you should have your right hand on your hip and your left arm extended out towards the left. You should try to push your hip into the hill with your right hand, and feel how your skis go onto their left edges as you round the turn. When you have passed the fall line after your left turn, switch the position of your hands so that your left hand is on your hip and your right hand is extended out towards the right. 

The goal of this exercise is to notice the crease between your upper and lower body that forms when your legs are angled into the turn and your upper body remains perpendicular to the hill. You should feel this crease with the hand that is on your hip. You are essentially pushing your hip into the hill, while your upper body counterbalances that angle. This exercise specifically helps you focus on angular separation.

Here is a YouTube video that demos Heisman turns.

Holding a Tray

For this exercise, hold your ski poles parallel to the ground, almost as if they were a tray of food you were trying not to spill. 

Your hands should be out in front of you, with your arms bent slightly at the elbow, your shoulders extended slightly forwards, and your hands right around the level of the bottom of your rib cage– solidly above your hip bones, but not held out straight like Frankenstein’s monster either. Ideally, this is where you should always hold your arms while skiing. 

While skiing, pay attention to the angle of your poles to the ground. At all points in your turns, your ski poles should remain perpendicular to the ground. You do not want to be tipping into your turn, or leaning away from the turn. Your upper body should remain straight, and if your ski poles were a tray of food, your goal would be to not let the food on the tray slide to either side. 

Practice this with short, medium and long radius turns, and try it out on some varied terrain to challenge yourself.

Picture Frame

For this exercise, you want to hold your ski poles in the middle, so they are not touching the ground. This is similar to the “holding a tray” exercise, as it utilizes your ski poles to help you pay attention to the position of your upper body. 

Hold your hands out in front of you as normal, and your ski poles should form 2 sides of a frame to your view down the mountain. In this drill, your goal is to keep the frame straight up and down, not allowing your “frame” to become crooked. This helps you focus on angular separation.

You also want to keep your frame focused on the view down the hill– as an example, maybe you are skiing towards the base lodge, and there are trees on either side of the trail you are skiing. You would want to keep the base lodge within your frame, and avoid turning your frame towards the trees on either side of the trail. This helps you focus on rotational separation.

Here is a YouTube video that demos the Picture Frame drill.

Javelin Turns

Javelin turns are an advanced skiing drill that requires some one-foot skiing. For this drill, lift your inside ski up right before beginning your turn. Make your turn entirely on your outside ski, and let your inside ski stay pointed down the hill, as your outside ski rotates to complete the turn.

For example, if you are making a left turn, you would pick up your left ski as you begin the turn, and make the turn entirely on your right ski. Your left ski will remain pointing down the fall line, and your right ski will rotate as you make the turn.

This exercise helps you focus on the rotation of your skis while also focusing on having a quiet upper body. It also helps you practice to improve your balance and control while turning.

Here is a YouTube video that further explains and demos Javelin Turns.

Pivot Slips

This exercise is a good practice for many parts of good skiing technique, but to focus on upper lower body separation, pay attention to where your shoulders and belly button are facing while you are sliding. 

To do a pivot slip, simply start skiing down the fall line and then essentially do a hockey stop without stopping, rotating your skis to face one side of the hill (left or right) and allowing yourself to continue moving down the hill with your skis facing across it. Your skis should be flat to the ground, not engaging an edge. If you wish to stop while sliding, simply engage the upper edge of your ski into the hill. 

Your shoulders and belly button should remain facing down the fall line, while your legs and hips are facing across the fall line. Your legs should be bent at the knee and somewhat relaxed. 

You will feel a rotation right above your hip bones, and you should engage your abdominal muscles to twist your body to face down the fall line while your legs are facing across it.

Imaginary Lines

This is more of a thought experiment than an exercise, as you are essentially skiing normally while paying extra attention to the position of your belly button relative to the hill. 

While skiing, ideally on a wide intermediate trail, make pretend there is a string connecting your belly button to some tree in the distance in front of you, or if you are skiing a lift line, to the first lift line pole. Your goal is to not pull on that string, so to not allow your belly button to pivot in either direction towards the side of the hill. 

Focus on keeping your belly button (and by extension, your upper body) facing directly down the hill while you ski. Experiment with short, medium and long radius turns, all while making sure to keep your belly button facing directly down the fall line.

---

Use these exercises to help you practice paying attention to upper lower body separation, and have fun hitting the slopes!