Jan
19

Cross or X Country Skiing- Basics of Diagonal Stride

Posted in News



Learn to cross country ski with a focus on diagonal stride with this 3 minute video by Keith Nicol, Level 4 CANSI instructor. Brought to you by Rossignol and Infinity Poles and Grenfell Campus of Memorial University. For more ski tips have a look at SkiTrax Magazine.

Posted by Wanda Styles

Comments (25)

25 Responses to “Cross or X Country Skiing- Basics of Diagonal Stride”

  1. k2nicol, on January 21st, 2012 at 10:03 pm Said:

    HI: The idea is to keep your foot on the snow as long as possible to get a good “kick”. I sometimes think about keeping my toes on the snow as long as possible but keeping your heel on the snow accomplishes about the same thing.What I like about the toe analogy is that it gives you abit more push as you flex your ankle at the end of the “kick” back.

  2. isaacwright33, on January 23rd, 2012 at 10:16 pm Said:

    I have a more advanced question and i was wondering if you could tell me anything about it….my ski coach tells us to push off of my heel and never from my balls or toes… he says never to go on the balls of your feet is this right? Whenever i ski it seems like i push off of my balls of my feet. if anyone could help my please REPLY!!!!

  3. anyoneiknow, on January 24th, 2012 at 7:19 am Said:

    These are wonderful clips. Clear and easily understood. Thanks for sharing your skill and knowledge.

  4. sexytimeleif, on January 24th, 2012 at 7:36 am Said:

    Good drills and instruction, I use many of these when teaching lessons. However might I recommend a more avid skier in the demonstrations. Thanks for putting all the time and effort into making these videos.
    Leif

  5. k2nicol, on January 27th, 2012 at 12:43 am Said:

    @Endurancedude7
    I would say it is a result of a strong push back. It does require good balance though since you are now on one leg. So skiing without poles is good but a great exercise is the scooter drill with both skis on. Simply push hard with one leg and balance with the other and you should get the idea of it.
    Hope this helps.
    Keith

  6. Endurancedude7, on January 29th, 2012 at 4:55 am Said:

    Keith,
    Question about the diagonal stride? Would you say the trailing leg clearing the snow is a requirement of good technique or merely a byproduct of it? What is the best way to get a feel for this? Without poles it’s not too hard but I find with poles when my stride is a bit shorter I don’t naturally clear the snow with the trailing leg…
    Thanks!!

  7. JPN55, on January 30th, 2012 at 2:00 pm Said:

    Great videos–amazing how much you cover in 3 minutes.

  8. k2nicol, on February 1st, 2012 at 4:55 pm Said:

    You are welcome…just posted a 1 skate video (Jan 7 2011)and a snowplow video in mid December (2010).
    Keith

  9. briancornerbrook, on February 3rd, 2012 at 7:35 am Said:

    Love the video’s Keith … will help me with my Jack-Rabbit coaching … keep em coming… Thanks :-)

  10. rrich79, on February 6th, 2012 at 5:22 am Said:

    Thanks for the help

  11. kruz2727, on February 6th, 2012 at 1:18 pm Said:

    Love the jog-freeze drill. I always end up getting strange looks though. Great videos. Keep them comming please. Cheers from Norge.

  12. JLP4444, on February 9th, 2012 at 2:41 am Said:

    Some helpful ideas here. I struggle with what to do with teaching rank beginners. When do you introduce images / instructions for specific parts of the stride (e.g., push down before kicking back)? I guess I’d argue that it’s easier to achieve balance and weight shift, if a skier has these fundamental motions in mind. (And btw, I agree with davd1986 on the hips–I think they could be higher and then we’d see a bit more pendulum like motion in your legs.)

  13. ATVrider8811, on February 9th, 2012 at 2:53 pm Said:

    Good thing you put this video on because i’m just starting to ski and I kind of get the hang of it. Your video is helping me to get better!

  14. k2nicol, on February 11th, 2012 at 8:16 am Said:

    HI: Thanks for the note…..I appreciate getting notes from people from Norway since I feel that is where x-c skiing started.
    Keith

  15. Mer451, on February 14th, 2012 at 4:04 pm Said:

    Thank you for posting this videos.
    I’m a skiier from Norway and I go alot of races. My dad says that it is like looking on a professional athlete from behind.
    But I think this is a video that can help me to become even better, so I watch you’re video’s often to get some ideas for what I can train.
    14 year old skiier

  16. Wimvandermeer, on February 17th, 2012 at 2:58 am Said:

    Nice lecture! I went in one session from 27 min. to 21 min. at the 5 k race!

  17. davd1986, on February 17th, 2012 at 4:47 am Said:

    @atomica67 Take it easy dude. No need to call anybody a moron. Especially as I didn’t use names. I just stated what I saw. I have no idea who this gentelman is, and what kind of skier or results he has had. I’m not saying that I am right, i was just pointing out what I thought he was doing. You are speaking of adding things to the the video, well….what have you added to it? The man honestly replied to my message and said this was for beginner/interm. skiers, and there is no problem

  18. atomica67, on February 19th, 2012 at 2:49 pm Said:

    How totally arrogant of you to think that you can critique a level 4 CANSI instuctor.
    Keep your infantile opinion to yourself; you’ve added nothing to this video but proved that you’re too proud to let someone else be better than you.
    Complete moron.

  19. AIJohnsen, on February 20th, 2012 at 10:00 am Said:

    Thank you for posting this series of videos. You are doing a great service for the sport of nordic skiing!
    Andy Johnsen
    Worldloppet Master Skier
    30 year Birkie skier

  20. tietajajoshua, on February 23rd, 2012 at 3:35 am Said:

    WORK OUT THE STATS:- electronic athlete system, free javascript statistics calculator, link on my channel page

  21. k2nicol, on February 25th, 2012 at 9:02 am Said:

    Remember that most of what is demonstrated relates to drills for balance. You can balance longer if you lean abit forward. Also the focus is of this video developing good weightshift in beginner-intermediate skiers. Moving hips forward etc is the next step in refining the diagonal stride.

  22. davd1986, on February 28th, 2012 at 10:52 am Said:

    You seem to be kicking from the back. You need to be a bit more upright, with higher hips, and be more on the balls of your feet. This will enable you to get better kick, especially on steeper sections. This terrain is flat, but your body is too far forward, seems stiff to me.

  23. k2nicol, on March 2nd, 2012 at 2:06 pm Said:

    You need to lengthen the grip wax area. Another possibility is that the skis are too stiff for you. If are pushing down and back and your skis are slippery then that might be the reason.

  24. emil1134, on March 3rd, 2012 at 11:15 pm Said:

    Why cant I get any grip with my skiis when I push of? Its all slippery and I barely move forward in the upp hills.

  25. k2nicol, on March 7th, 2012 at 7:27 am Said:

    The motion should opposite arm and leg go forward at the same time. If you move your left leg and left arm at the same time then if is called pass gang and opposite to what should happen.
    Cheers,Keith

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