Doing appropriate drills or exercises correctly will advance your skiing quicker than anything else. However, add good "mileage" and you'll see dramatic changes.

• The way we do drills is not how we want to always ski!

We do drills to practice certain techniques and movement patterns in sometimes extreme ways to enhance our normal skiing. (Studies have shown that working with extremes in movements works to enhance ability.) In other words, don't think of an exercise or series of exercises as your goal, but rather as a way to get you to your goal.

Repetition
Like the golfer who uses the driving range to practice, the skier needs to practice certain techniques. Accomplishment comes after we have devotedly practiced something for the umpteenth time.

In skiing we also have added complications to contend with, such as terrain changes, low temperatures, other skiers and perhaps the biggest of them all; fear. All these factors inhibit our learning and the most important thing we can do to overcome these factors, is to practice, practice, practice.

• Repetition works in skiing

Approach the drills in Ski Smarts with the understanding that doing it once will usually not be enough. Once you accept the challenge to practice drills repetitively, then the learning curve will become flat and you'll find yourself skiing better rapidly.

Print this out for future reference and remember to have fun!

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