Reilly McGlashan Interview

OK, welcome. Today I'm going to be talking with Riley McGlashan, who is one of the members of the APSI Australian demo team, and he's an avid technical skier, great ski instructor, been doing it for many years, and so I'm here today to just ask him a few questions about his experience and get some insight into what he thinks about skiing. So how are you going, Riley?

Good, Tom. Thanks for having me on the show.

Yeah, a bit funny because we know each other for quite a few years, but I thought, you know, we've had many conversations over the years, good ones about skiing, technique, and methods, and so forth. So I thought this would be a good way to perhaps share some of our conversations and ideas with the rest of the skiing community.

Yeah, it sounds good.

Yeah, so firstly, um, can you give us a background, give us some background experience on yourself? So like your certs, when you, how you, just give us a bit of a story about how you got into skiing in the first place.

Okay, yeah, well I started skiing when I was 3. My dad took me to, I think it was Parrishaw. A little photo of me cruising around in a big in a blue one-piece. Didn't do too much skiing. He just kept on, you know, pushing me up and down the hill. So that was about it. And yeah, my Oma, she's from Salzburg, and she came over just after World War II to America, and she opened up a ski chalet in Vermont. And so I mean, my mom was born in America, and that meant that I got to come over to America most summers, and we got free season passes with, with the lodge, the Austria House. And yeah, it was pretty, pretty cool. Just go cruise around with my cousins. And yeah, grew up skiing at a little resort called Okemo in Vermont. Yeah, and so that's when I started instructing, when Basically, I think when my oma sold the lodge, we couldn't get free season passes anymore. So, my mom was like, "You have to now work for your season pass." And I was 15, and I started doing instructor helper, just skiing behind some kids, instructor group, and picking up the kids, basically. And so, I did my Level 1 then. and I basically liked doing it, so I kept on doing my certification and did my Level 1, 2, and 3 PSIA, and I did my Level 4 APSIA and continued on from there. And yeah, I think— when was the selection for the 2 winter ski teams ago?

That was in 2007. 2007. Yep, 2007.

Yeah, all right. So yeah, that means that I was, yeah, 20 when I got selected for the, for the, for the first demo team, demo team thing. Yep. Yeah, so yeah, and I've been on it since then. Cool. And doing examining and, um, and being a trainer in Australian APSI since then, so it's been great.

Yeah, nice. So, um, I guess, how did you find the difference between going from being trained in the PSIA or one certification system and then going across to the APSI? And, and, um, you know, what were your motives behind, you know, switching? Was it to become a trainer in the APSI? Was it to, you know, expose yourself to different techniques? What was it?

Well, I was just very interested in technique, and I really just wanted to listen and know what, you know, people thought about skiing. And that was basically it. I was just interested in it. And so I did my CSCF Race Coach Level 1 as well, just because I was interested in what they had to say. And now with YouTube and And yeah, basically just lots of ski information out there. You can filter through the stuff and, and yeah, just kind of decide what you like and what you don't like. And it's more— it was just basically more out of interest rather than anything. I'm very interested in, in many different things, not just skiing, but like a huge variety of things. And I do a lot of reading and research into a whole— yeah, all the bunch of different eclectic things, really random stuff. Yeah, anyway, I'm just an interested person in general.

Sure. And, and I know, like, um, something that's influenced your, like, um, technical style and the way you kind of go about approach your training and the way you ski was an injury. So can you just give us a bit of info about that injury? You know, how it happened, what what exactly happened and how it influenced, you know, the way you trained after that point.

Yeah, well, when was it? Must have been in 2008, so yeah, a long, fair while ago, many seasons ago now because I've been doing double seasons. But yeah, I had a back injury and it actually didn't really come from anything. I wasn't really skiing that hard the first time I did it. I was doing a basic parallel, I think. And I just felt like a really excruciating pain in my, um, yeah, basically in my upper butt cheek, and it locked up my whole back. But because it was in my butt cheek, I didn't know what it was. And I went to the, you know, the doctor, and they said it wasn't anything. And but I couldn't really walk.

Yep.

And yeah, so anyway, after a certain amount of time, I got an MRI on it. And found out that I had 3, um, yeah, bulging discs, and one of them was, uh, being a culprit of pressing on my right sciatic nerve. And, um, anyway, so I started physio with the Australian ski team physio Simon Roos, who's, uh, you know, was for the World Cup athletes, which was really cool. And he— and he's the one that actually kind of inspired me gave me a little bit of a nudge in the right direction on, on just starting to get more into, yeah, how the body works under load.

Yep.

Because, you know, as we know with skiing, when you crank a GS turn or something and your hip's on the snow, the amount of force that's coming through your outside leg— I think some— I've read some papers on it having upwards of 3 Gs. And if you think about 3 times your body weight being forced down through your spine, down through your leg, down to the base of your foot as you're doing through the centripetal force, it's a, it's a fair bit of load to deal with. And basically just putting your body in the right position so that you can deal with the load the most efficient— in the most efficient manner. and that's kind of what set me off on it, was the back injury and a lot of research with many different doctors and physios and people who are Olympic trainers. When I was in Argentina, one of the Olympic weightlifting and physical trainers, I trained with him and we got talking a lot about this stuff as well. been a journey since then of just learning about— and it's not only just about the back. It was about the back because it happened to me, but it made me interested in like, "Oh, what about the knee?" Because knees are a huge, big cause of injury as well. It kind of went from there. I've basically been in the gym ever since and kind of perfect different movements and ways to be strong enough to deal with the way that I want to be able to ski.

Okay, yeah, perfect. And so I know you've kind of, you've been pretty creative in making up some of your own exercises, seeing, I guess, imbalances or inefficient movements, and you've kind of come up with some of your own ways of training certain, you know, your body to move in certain ways. Can you give us like an example of, you know, maybe one or two of the exercises you've done and how that relates back into your skiing position or your— this idea of getting yourself in a really good strong position to deal with the forces?

Okay, well, the first one that I was— that Simon Roos really got me to do was Yeah, find a neutral spine. So basically, as, as you know, but I'll explain for other people that are going to listen, is maybe they might not know, but the— obviously the spine is the vertebrae stacked up on top of each other with the bones, and then in between each bone there's a disc, and it gives, you know, it's a— got a hard outer surface and it's got like a squishy inner surface, like, um, inside, like kind of like paste or something, or gel, and basically that gives us— like, because we have these kind of balloons in between each spine, it gives us a lot of range of movement. It was designed to give us a range of movement so that our spine can bend and twist and do all these things for movement, because if we didn't have that, then we'd just be a big block and we'd just kind of move as a unit. Really cool for day-to-day activities, but as soon as a severe amount of load gets applied, like you do in a ski turn, or like you say if you're in the gym doing power lifts or anything like that, if there's any kink in it or any type of twisting or kink or movement side to side, it can kind of, if you can imagine like a water balloon, If you can press it from top to bottom evenly, it squidges out the sides evenly. If you press it on one side more, it's going to push out to one side. And if you press it too hard, it's going to pop. So, basically, everyone has different thresholds of how much load they can— if you look at powerlifters, some guys can lift ridiculous loads even with bad form. And still get away with it. But it just all— like, everyone's totally different, and that's what I've learned, is that I have to really be conscious of how much my body can deal with and only stay within that realm and don't go past that, because that's when I was injuring myself. And really focusing on having a stacked spine so that I'm pressing evenly on the discs not from one side or the other, like having a kink in the spine.

Yep.

And, um, so if you can imagine like a deadlift, you have to keep a new spine, but you can still pivot forward from the waist. So like the sitting bones, like, or the— at the hip flexors, but keeping the pelvis neutral and then the spine stacked on top of it. So you can do a deadlift and have a full range of movement forward depending on how flexible you are and still keep a neutral spine. And deal with load in the most efficient way. Obviously there's micro adjustments when you're skiing, like it's not, it's not going to be exactly perfect. You can— I don't— because we're only human. But having that goal, I see myself on video and stuff and I'm always trying to correct it. Having that goal of having a position where the load is distributed evenly through the whole body.

Yeah.

So like the first exercise was, was learning how to bend forward properly, like, and pick things up. And that's what I incorporated into my skiing. So, you know, deadlifts was a simple one to do, learning correct and monitoring myself in the mirror and making sure that my spine was neutral as I pivoted forward from the, the hips, or hinged forward from the hips, however you want to explain it. And, um, and then getting— bringing that into, uh separation. So having the counter or set, whatever word you want to describe it, so the pelvis basically facing the outside of the turn. Um, yeah, so that you can— so that I could create angulation while maintaining a neutral spine.

Yep.

And, um, yeah, so as you know what we do in the gym, like those, you know, inside butt lifts and, and steps, single leg steps, and moving from foot to foot, um, while creating a range of movement laterally with the hip.

Yep.

It's hard, hard to explain without demonstrations over a podcast.

Yeah.

But these are, yeah, just explaining what I've been doing. Yeah.

So, so start like— but the, the best first one you started with was just learning how to hinge from the hips, and, and the deadlift was, I guess, an exercise you put quite a bit of effort into perfecting and really paying attention of how you moved.

Yeah, while doing deadlifts and actually a squat, because a squat's a perfect one in a full range, or like an overhead squat, or, um, you know, when you do snatches even. A snatch is a really good one, I think, to train your body to, um, to absorb properly, like in the moguls.

Yep.

Because you're basically absorbing and getting underneath the bar so that you can do an overhead squat. It's a good way to really correctly, if done correctly, to correctly absorb without curving the spine.

Yes.

And yeah, basically, so that your back can stay in a safer position. Because when you're skiing at a really high pace through moguls, there's a lot of force as well, and if you get off a little bit, then it can, you know, you can cause injuries. So yeah, the first one was bending forward at the hip correctly.

Yeah, cool. And did you notice, like, directly after sort of working on these positions and movements in the gym, you could feel it? Effect, positively affect your skiing when you got back on the slopes?

Definitely. Learning how to bend forward correctly without curving the spine or rounding the spine out, or even creating, you know, hyperlordosis, having more lordosis. You don't want to— obviously there's both ways. You don't want to be rounding the spine out, you don't want to be sticking your butt out the back either. Yeah, it's finding that, that Middle position, middle position, yeah, the middle position of your spine. So once I've— once I correctly have found that in the gym and applied it to my skiing, um, it definitely frees your hips up more to, uh, yeah, get a greater range of movement with your legs for like edge exercises. Um, you know, if you want to get your hip all the way to the snow, or if you want to, um, you know, do very fast short turns and have you know, that separation that you need to, to bounce over the downhill on the outside ski so that you can get the, um, you know, the deflection and the power out of the ski. Yeah, it's definitely a huge effect in, in that realm.

Yeah, yeah. And so I know one of the, um, so areas of skiing you like to focus on is short turns, and sort of, um, can you explain like what what your goal is in a short turn, what you think a really good short turn is, and what you're working on in your short turns currently.

Okay, well, I mean, basically I love, uh, skiing moguls. Yeah, so a short turn basically is a— for me is an extension of a mogul turn. Yeah, in skiing in the moguls. So, um, I work in Aspen here and there's a lot of moguls and probably, you know, because it doesn't snow a whole lot in Aspen, you end up skiing a lot of moguls. And, um, and it's something that I grew up skiing a lot as well in Vermont. I just, I just like, you know, playing in the moguls. Very playful. And it's, yeah, yeah, something that I really enjoy. So a short turn for me is basically geared towards a, you know, a hybrid mogul turn. Yep. And that's what has always kind of been for me, but trying to get the performance, you know, more of a slalom performance to get that, um, you know, that phantom mogul feeling. So like a slalom turn has definitely has that, that type of, um, sensation as well. Yeah, so I like, I like skiing moguls fast, and I like the, um, you know, the sensation of being foot to foot very fast as well, like quick feet.

Yep.

So, so, uh, yeah, basically a short turn is an extension of skiing moguls in your mind. Yeah, in my mind. And that's what I kind of have in mind when I go to a short turn, is foot-to-foot movement, fast, exciting, and having absorption like I do in the moguls. Because that's it. Yeah.

So why do you think that is? Um, necessary to have that kind of absorption like you would see a mogul skier when they hit a big bump, that kind of low position in the middle of a short turn?

Well, for one, on groomed, it definitely creates, you know, you can get on edge much earlier. You can have the skis higher on edge because you're closer to the snow, and as your legs move away from you, then the edge is already there. You don't need to come up and then edge again.

Yeah.

And so that means that you can choose where you need to pressure the ski. And, you know, it all— I guess for me it's all tactical at that stage, deciding where— how round I need the turn to be or how straight I need the turn to be. So if I'm in low position and the ski travels away, I'm on that edge. All I need to do is stand on the ski and the ski is going to like come back or gradually increase the pressure and round out the turn and make it a, you know, a bit more of a rounded turn. Whatever the goal is at the time, I find that that's always staying lower in the transition enables me to do that. Yeah, cool.

And I know you're sort of playing around, like pushing your limits in terms of kind of faster short turns. What are some tactics or tools you're using to play with that kind of tempo of a short turn? Well, I know you were using a metronome.

Yeah, yeah. So, coming from a music background, like I was studying that in university for a bit, music, and growing up playing guitar and doing lots of technical work in guitar, you do a lot of metronome work. So, you know, grouping up 3s or 4s and per beat. So, practicing for speed really when you're playing technical stuff. So, yeah, for the last, I don't know how long, a fair few years now, I decided to apply that for my video training. So, I do video training and I'll do a, you know, put a metronome behind it.

Yeah.

And just— and it's a way for me to monitor foot speed. Yeah, essentially. So, um, you know, every time I get video training, I would see— I would just mark it with a metronome and see. Um, obviously I've got a lot of videos, a video that I haven't put up that's very fast, but it's kind of, you know, it's pretty crazy skiing. Yeah. But, you know, I think pushing the envelope for foot speed for me is has definitely increased performance in the moguls. That's kind of where it's come from, is foot-to-foot movement and doing a lot of sprinting when I was a kid. Foot-to-foot movement for me was always fun. It's exciting and it's fun. That's why I do it.

So what sort of beats per minute tempo are you kind of working on at the moment, or what are your different sort of tempos you've got, I guess, for different performances?

Yeah, well, so at about 80 BPM is a nice round, slow, short turn. So it's good for a demonstration clean, it's not a pure carved, or it's not really exciting. And, you know, 85 is starting to get a bit more exciting. But at the moment, I've felt comfortable cruising at around 92 to 95 BPM for like a demonstration short-term even. And some of the stuff I have on video is at about 105 BPM, really the fastest stuff I have.

Yeah. And so people know, it would be like— What if you were to go boom boom boom, like left foot, right foot, left foot, what would 105 be in your head? Like how, what would it, how would it sound like?

Yeah, probably like dum dum dum dum dum.

Left, right, left. Yeah, so that's pretty quick if you can imagine someone skiing down, sort of hitting that sort of, uh, that tempo.

Yeah, cool. And that's, I do that with my mogul skiing a lot as well, so Some of the, like, some video that I have is up to 150 BPM in the moguls.

Yeah, wow, that's awesome. If you haven't seen Riley ski in the bumps or ski short turns, just look up Riley McGlashan on YouTube. You'll get an idea of how all his training and his ideas come together and create a pretty awesome picture on the snow. So, um, yeah, 150 at some points, that's very fast.

Yeah, well, I was timing, I was timing some of the World Cup skiers like Dale Begg-Smith and those guys on their videos, and I noticed some of them getting up to 190.

Wow.

So 180, I can't remember exactly, but it was a lot. It was like, you know, I was like, whoa, that it's, it's really fast, really fast.

Like, do you think it's, um, like a really good training technique to have something like that tempo and sort of push it, be like you go out there and you're like, "Right, I'm going to try and, even though I'm only really comfortable at, say, 85, I'm going to see if I can hit some—" If this is someone you're teaching, "We're going to see if we can hit some 100 BPM type short turns." Do you think that's a really good training effect?

I think it can be to a certain extent. Obviously, like, because what I would do with guitar would be— this is— I've just applied the stuff that I did with guitar, really, skiing. And what I'll do with guitar would be, you know, practicing really, really, really slow. Super, super slow is obviously the best way to dial in, like, perfect technique. So if you're doing, say, with a guitar, you're doing, you know, grouping 3 notes per beat. And doing like 40 beats per minute. It's very slow. And, but I would always then do the opposite. I would go up and even if it was sloppy, which is not great for your technique, but you get your mind used to moving your fingers that quickly. It doesn't sound good, but then dial it back again and just kind of switch back and forth. Usually, as I went, I could feel my threshold of playing cleanly go up all the time with playing slow and playing fast. And then somewhere in the middle, it would probably be really, really clean and nice. And every time I would play it at speed, it would gradually go up, increase in speed with clean playing. And that's kind of what I've been doing with my skiing. Sometimes a little bit crazy at the very high end, but every time I do it, my high end gets higher and my clean end gets higher as well. Yeah, cool. So, if that makes any sense.

Yeah, no, that makes sense. That makes sense. So, I mean, I guess if, you know, someone watches like a video of yours and sees the level of skiing, short turns and long turns and bumps and they're like, wow, I'm never going to get there. Like, can you, can you look back and, you know, remember a time when you were not that great and, you know, what you like, sort of how much effort you put into, you know, improve your skiing? Like, do you remember not always being good at short turns and bumps?

Yeah, like, um Of course. And I think I feel like that right now. Every day I go out and I look at video or whatever, and I'm like, ah, I see a lot of stuff that I'm always trying to work on. And I think that's kind of like the cool thing about skiing, is that it's, um, that for me it's like a— what keeps it interesting for me doing, you know, 230 or 240 days a year of skiing is that it, um, no matter what I can always look at myself and say, alright, got to go work on that, or, you know, got to go work on this. And it's always been the same though. Back then I was like, I really want to get to that level, and then you start doing that stuff at that level and you're like, you know, like, I really want to be level 4, and then you pass level 4 and you're like, oh, and then you realize that, you know, it was just— it's still like a journey and you keep going. So, I think as an avid technical skier, that someone who's very interested in learning and progressing their technique is more not worrying about getting to a certain level, it's more enjoying the process of getting there. Because no matter what, even when you get there, you haven't got there. Yeah, yeah.

So you use— obviously we talked about sort of indoor training, gym training, that sort of stuff. And then you mentioned a bit about video, like how important do you think video analysis is going out, you know, having a specific goal in mind and then videoing and analyzing yourself?

How important do you think that is? I think it's probably the most important thing for me personally, for me training, because like as you have brought up in some— back a fair few years ago in trainers coordination and all that, bringing in more external cues, because internal cues are misleading, as everyone knows. And in every sport, as you brought into the presentation, external cues basically can give you a representation of where you need to move or how you need to move. But even still, an external cue I think needs to be doubled up with video training so that you can really perfect that. And that's what— yeah, I think video for me is like a crucial part of improving. Even when I do— I feel myself doing a whole bunch of crazy stuff just to see what it looks like. Yeah, none of this on YouTube or will ever get onto YouTube, like stuff I film myself in the gym doing weird stuff. And I have people looking at me in the gym going, what the— what's he doing? Yeah, um, like weird stretches and weird movements just for— that I've kind of developed for my ski technique. Yeah, trying to move certain ways.

Yeah, I guess, because going back to that internal and external type cue, what you may think you'd be doing— so an internal cue being trying to feel something in your body, like you're trying to internally rotate your outside leg, for instance, would be an internal cue because you're basing it on a feeling inside your body. You don't have a reference outside in the environment to gauge whether that has been achieved. Whereas if you were to think about, you know, pointing your thigh, your outside thigh towards the trees on the left-hand side of the run, and then the other thigh to the trees to the outside of the, of the other side of the run, that would be more of an external cue. So you can gauge whether you've achieved that, that result. So I guess you playing around with these weird things is you going, feeling maybe an internal type sensation, like, oh, I'm feeling, you know, my hip move this way at the apex of the turn. I'm going to try that in some weird stretches and video it and see if that's actually what's going on. Is that kind of what you're doing?

Yeah, exactly. Like, for me, I can— I'm very good at feeling stuff. Like, I can feel exactly what my body's doing. Yeah. But for me, it's been a— it's still a work in progress of filming with the feeling in mind so I can connect the feeling with what actually is happening. Yeah, because I can feel it, but I've tried to like cut out every image in mind of what I think I'm doing and just film a feeling. And then, and then I look at the video and I'm like, that's what that feeling is. And I try and connect that with the, with the feelings. And that's what's been a a good way to train my feelings. Yeah, because you can train like external cues are easy. You go like, okay, I need to, um, drag my pole, my outside pole, about 3 feet away from my boot, um, to keep my angulation or whatever. Yep. But then you, then you film it and you see your hips all out of whack and you're doing weird stuff and you've got spinal angulation, and that's not good. Yeah. So, uh, yeah, filming feelings so that I can connect the feelings with the actual— actually the visual going on, what's happening. Yeah. And that's been the biggest thing for me, filming, because like the external cues are all right, got that, cool, I can, I can aim my knee or whatever. Yeah, drag your pole. Yeah, do all those things. But then, um, the next step I've felt for me has been connecting feelings with results through video training.

So can you give an example of like what someone could try and do, say perhaps, you know, like maybe an exaggerated example of a movement they could try in their skiing to film, like a silly one to see whether they're, you know, and then video and see whether it's actually, you know, actually representing what they're feeling? Like, is there one you've been doing?

I'm not sure I've been playing it. I do so many different weird things that like, a lot of very weird things. One that I've been doing lately for actually warming up, and it's just to get relaxed and to increase range of movement, kind of like a dynamic stretch. Is kind of fully counter-rotating across, and so basically my hips are turning around my femurs and trying to go from side to side, so my body's facing pretty much directly outside the turn, and then as I start the new turn, twist the total opposite way. This is not how I want to ski, but it's a warm-up to try and increase range of movement in my hips, and twist all the way to the other side. And then back and forth and gradually increase edge as I'm doing it. So at the start, it's just tiny little edge rolls. Yeah. And then as I go down, staying super relaxed, um, because obviously, you know, when you're relaxed, you can increase range of movement much easier. So very relaxed, and all the hips are doing is twisting back and forth. Yep. I'm not trying to twist the spine, so wherever my hips finish, that's where I finished the the rotation, obviously. Yeah. Um, and moving— and that's a very exaggerated move. So you're basically creating that separation or counter or whatever you want to call it, um, by twisting your hip over your femur. Yeah. Doing it with a very, very flat ski. So you're not actually— you kind of start off going down the hill just straight. Yeah. And you gradually increase. And then, um, as you start gradually increasing, you start moving into a ski position and then obviously stop doing that movement so much. And, um, and I've found that it increases the range of movement that my hips can move or my legs can move under my hips. Yep.

Yeah, cool. So that could be something someone could play around with. I guess just the message is, you know, get a feeling that you think is going to achieve a result, video it, and and check, see if what you're feeling actually comes out as doing what you're hoping it should be doing.

What's that?

So yeah, videoing a strange movement or a feeling that you're trying to actually see if it's working or not, rather than just continually doing something and not actually having a reference as to whether it's working or not. You know, you could be going down the wrong road.

Yeah, so that, that filming that movement and doing it extreme to actually see if it's how extreme it really is. Yeah. Yeah, you never know how much you're actually doing something until you film it because you feel like you're doing heaps of it and then you look at the video and you're like, I can't even tell the difference between what I did last run and that run, and it feels like a huge difference. Yep. So yeah, awesome.

Um, I was going to ask you, uh about Interski in St. Anton in 2011, so the first Interski you went to. What did you find you got from this event? And I guess for people who maybe are not too sure, Interski is a congress that happens every 4 years, and each country that has a skiing association basically sends a team to this congress to share ideas about teaching methodology, skiing technique, anything, lots of things to do basically with the sport of skiing. And not only can people, so the top skiers from each association go, but anyone from the public can go to these events if they would like to. But yeah, Riley, what did you gain from going to Interski in St. Anton? Like, what did you— did you find anything inspiring?

Did you come away working on something? Yeah, I got to ski with a fair few of the teams, and obviously with the night shows, we got to watch all of the other teams. And I went out with the Korean team. Paulie and I actually went out with the Korean team, and we had a really— yeah, it was a really fun clinic because it actually was more just based on skiing. There was like some other clinics we went to, they do teaching things, which was also very interesting, but they went through their— because the top guys that went to Interski for Korea were not actually instructors, they were demonstrators. So, they were guys that got selected as demonstrators from doing their technical skiing competitions. So, they actually didn't really teach people how to ski. The top demonstrators don't do that over there apparently, according to them, according to this clinic that I went on. So, these guys were just pure demonstrators and they just do technical competitions. And for the people who don't know what that is, in Japan and Korea, they have these competitions where they just are judged on their technique. Going, doing short turns and long turns and rhythm change and moguls. And, um, yeah, basically the— we, Paulie and I went out with the two top guys that were number one and number two in that year's, or the year before's, um, skiing competition. Yep. So they went over basically exactly what they do to train for it. For the, you know, those 4 different things that they have to— that they're judged on. So, it's just basically a skiing thing and because actually they didn't really speak any English, we had a translator there who was just— who also, you know, he could speak English well but it was still at a basic level.

So, what sort of things did you find interesting about them sort of showing you their their skiing training, or, you know, what they're working on, these techniques?

Well, it was— their short turn was even more exaggerated flexion, and it actually looked like they were doing— like they were skiing moguls when they came down. So it was pretty inspiring to see that, because my short turn that I've been working on for a long time has been geared towards moguls. So, and they showed us a few extra really cool drills that they do for to get that short turn. And yeah, I've been incorporating those into my skiing ever since. Um, yeah, slightly different, just very, very different because their hip position's a little bit different. They, uh, their hip inclines a little bit and twists around, and they, they're not too disciplined with that. Yep. So trying to have the same exercises but with a bit more of a disciplined hip. Yeah, the most inspiring thing was that the speed that they did everything at, like how fast they went into their long turns and how fast they went, like the speed that they went into their short turns with. And so you mean like speed down the hill? Yeah, down the hill. Um, it was very— it was much faster than I was, than I was expecting. So I got to follow a few times going down the hill. Also, just the strength and consistency that they had, that these two guys had, especially when we followed them down steep icy pitches in Saint-Antoine. It was really, yeah, it was really cool and inspiring to watch. Just, yeah, very consistent and just very strong. Yeah, it was awesome.

Yeah. So I guess then, um, so there's some skiers that inspired you. What do you see the best skiers sort of on the World Cup at the moment? What do you see in their skiing that, you know, sets them apart from the rest of the pack?

Well, I mean, at the moment it's— besides his few inconsistencies, Hirscher is pretty much Yeah, skiing the best technically, I think.

Like, what do you say? What do you see in his technique that you really like?

I really like, um, basically how he— his, um, counter that— what we know, the basic position, what we call in Australia, as you know, um, the basic position that he skis into, especially this year. Last few years, I think this year he's skiing into the basic position better. The last few years he's been bluffing it a little bit with a little bit of spinal rotation and spinal angulation. And this year, I've been freeze-framing him in a lot of sections, and I've got a lot of photos of him actually with totally neutral spine. No spinal angulation, no twisting of the spine whatsoever. Yeah. And, um, in slalom mostly, because in GS, if you get too close to the gate, you need to clear the gate. Obviously there's that rotation. Yep. That happens as a result of trying to clear the gate, not because it's what— not because it's the right to do for your spine, but it's a necessity of trying to win the race. Yep. Um, It's not an actual thing. Like, if there was no gate there, they wouldn't be doing that. Yeah, yeah. Also, that there would be like way less back injuries on the World Cup.

Yeah, yeah, that's an interesting point.

So, but in his slalom, because he's— you can cross block and you don't need to have that, um, that— his— even though he's a bit inconsistent, I think his slalom technique and his hip position especially has changed dramatically since last year. Now it's more natural. Yeah, it's actually— yeah, something I think he's getting the best at the moment for sure. And the run, as a demonstration run, the run from Nouraider in Åre in Sweden this year was ridiculous. The two runs that he had, especially the second run, the discipline that he had in his upper body, and yeah, it was, it was really cool to watch. Yeah, but that's what they're like— those guys are doing is you can see the— their legs working underneath them and their upper body is totally stable in silence, especially. Yep.

Yeah, it looks like he's really increased his like mobility and ability to kind of work around his hips. Like his hips seem to have just, um change this year. I think he's been doing— he did a lot of CrossFit, didn't he? A lot of, yeah, like kind of cross-training, really putting his body through lots of different kind of like movements, I guess, challenging that hip joint to work at lots of different angles.

Yeah, exactly. And also you see him, um, I follow him on, on Facebook and Instagram and, and YouTube, so I get to see a lot of and obviously other ski racing websites that upload stuff. And you see him doing— he does a pretty intense warm-up routine before he does, you know, races or training and stuff as well. So just activating different muscles and moving in different ways. Yep. Which, you know, probably contributed to increasing range of movement while skiing also. Yep. Yep. That's really cool to watch some of the Yeah, just—

I don't know if you saw the, um, the, the run Mikaela Shiffrin had, I think, in Zagreb in Croatia. Is that the one?

Yeah, that, that was awesome run as well.

Yeah, like that, that to me brings up the same kind of image of just like really floating down the hill with this really smooth, stable upper body and and just really precise with kind of the feet and, and that transition position, just really kind of compact and, and relaxed though.

Yeah, and, and the hip position especially.

Yeah, yep, getting there like at that, at that point of kind of maximum edge, like getting that hip position in a really strong, stable way.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. No, she's— when she's on it, yeah, it's ridiculous.

Yeah. So, um, I was going to ask you about equipment. How important is equipment for you, like the type of ski, the boot flex, that sort of stuff?

Um, it's pretty important depending on what I'm doing, really. Um, yeah, I, I, you know, I've been skiing in the actual just a 3-buckle Dalbello, um, the Krypton. Yeah, for a fair few seasons now, and I really like it because it's, uh, for me, I'm 170 centimeters, so I'm pretty short. Yeah, um, I have, you know, I go to the gym a lot and I have a lot of muscle on my leg and especially my calf, and it sits in my boot, so it acts as an extra spoiler. So, you know, I need a straighter boot, otherwise I'm way overflexed and I can't find the center of the ski properly. I can, but it's just more work. More work, yep. So, this boot actually has been really good because I can straighten it up. I think the straightest it goes to is 8 degrees. And I have it on the straightest point that I possibly can, and that seems to be an area where I can ski the best from. Because I've had, like, they've got lots of video from with boots that are very flexed, and yeah, and it's, it's, I can still ski in the center, but it's just harder, harder to find it. And like, yeah, find myself off balance a little bit. A little bit more easily than this boot now. But I— and it's also for teaching, it's very easy to get on and off. But if I could choose a boot that I could really do all the work to and straighten the cuff and do all the stuff that I need to, I like skiing in a stiff boot. Yep. For groomed snow. Yep. But now that I've been skiing this one, it's 130, but it's probably at the moment how much I've skied in it, it's probably like maybe a 120. But I really like this boot. Boot actually in the moguls and off-piste. So I don't know, I think if I was just going to do, you know, just groomers, I would ski in a 150. Yeah. And then if I had the luxury of changing, I would ski in this boot in the off-piste, which I'm— which I have right now. It's because it's just very comfortable to hit bumps hard. Yeah. And it— yeah, it's really nice actually.

Yep. Because, um, something that's, um, perhaps maybe different to some skiers in terms of their perception of balance is a lot of the time you are just trying to be in the center of your foot, aren't you?

Like, in a lot of points in the turn, right over the arch. Because I, I mean, in the— actually trying to get further back of the arch even, because from what all the gym training that I do, if you do a squat and you drive through your toes that's bad for your knees and it's not as stable. You're meant to drive through your heels, but that decreases range of movement on the heel as well because it's more stable. So I found that the back of the arch is a place where I can have the most stability but still have the range of movement that I need in my hip and in my leg to make turns, but it gives me the stability that I need to deal with a lot of force.

Yep, yeah, well, so like, what if you're on snow and you happen to find, like, what happens, what do you feel if you get off that point of the arch? Like, say you lever too much on the front of the foot.

Uh, yeah, I have that problem a lot. I always like to get really far forward and, um, and yeah, I get too far forward and all of a sudden all my weight's on the ball of the foot or the toe or something because I've moved, you know, made an incorrect movement. And if I'm doing like more of a not a pure carve turn, but if I'm trying to guide the ski or, you know, do a carve turn, what we call in the APSI, where we're leaving a very narrow track but not a pure carve track that's even the whole way around. You know, the tail will wash out just because I pivot too far on the tip of the ski. Yep. So I find that happens if I get a little bit too, you know, gung-ho about it, like, whoa, let's go. Yep, yep.

So yeah, middle of the foot and that boot you've got, you said, is something that's helped you kind of achieve that because it doesn't push you so far forward.

Yeah, well, if when I was in a more flex boot, I just had to bend at the knee way more. —my hips were really far back and it was just much more fatiguing on my quads, which I could definitely do, and it was more of a workout. The more flex I have, the lower I can go at the transition and stay over the ski. So, it's a bit of a compromise. The same in the moguls, the more forward lean I have, the more range of movement and absorption I'm going to have whilst keeping the tip down over the backside. So, it's just a compromise of what I want to do, but I found that this boot at the moment is a good medium where I'm not going to be doing a full-on World Cup mogul turn down the moguls, but I can still do a good short turn and a good carve turn and in a strong position. Yep.

So, I guess finally, do you have any— parting advice for skiers out there, you know, budding technical skiers, but ski instructors going for perhaps their next level? Any advice that would help them, you know, perhaps break through to the next level, like your mental approach, drills, skill focus, you know, anything like that?

Yeah, well, I guess it depends on what certification you're doing, so just listen to what the trainers say you need to do to pass. And because every— I mean, yeah, it's hard to comment for every single certification. From going into ski, you see all the difference in technique and what they believe and all that stuff, and it's very, very different from person to person, from country to country. So obviously, if you want to pass your exams, follow what you need to do for your exams. But, um, I mean, for me, growing, watching skiers that inspired me has been the, uh, the number one thing that's, um, motivated me. And, and I see people like skiers that I want to ski like. That's kind of where my training has come from, is you know, when you get to a full cert, you can do a lot of drills or whatever, and there's a lot of drills in every manual and in our manual, but I've been inventing drills and inventing that are definitely not in any manuals and ways to do things that only come from, yeah, basically just seeing something and working it out in your own skiing and then inventing a drill. To replicate, or an external cue to replicate what you're not doing compared to the other person that you need to do, and the person that inspires you. So, just being a creative thinker I think is the biggest thing. That's what's helped me, is like trying to problem solve, just what can I do for this and what can I do for that. And if I don't get enough time training, skiing, like some people doing holidays don't, then incorporating day-to-day movements and daily movements in and keep a skiing focus in mind. So when you do certain movements, obviously visualizing yourself skiing or creating movements that you would when you're skiing in day-to-day life. So jumping down the street, jumping from foot to foot, And then it's hard to show without demonstrating, but I have a bunch of these things that I do at home, like a walk. I've invented a type of little walk thing that is a dynamic stretch for the hip as well, but it's ingraining finer motor control and retraining how the pelvis moves. Yeah, so you have to be very conscious of what you're doing. Yeah. Things. So not just do them to do them, but do them with a purpose.

Yeah, good advice. Awesome. Well, that sounds good. Sounds like that's— people should, you know, it's definitely beneficial if you take control of your own training and start to become a little bit of your own coach rather than relying always on other people, and whether you're doing something, looking at other people to, um, you know, give the approval as to whether you're on the right track. So become your own coach. Uh, cool. So I guess, um, if people want to find out more about you and your skiing, they can go to your YouTube channel. That'd be right. Yeah. Yep.

I've been working a lot this winter, so I haven't been able to do any filming really, but, um Yeah, I mean, the YouTube channel's there. It actually was just set up originally to share with the other Demo Team guys when I first made the Demo Team in 2007 as a training tool. So, I'd send them the link and they would watch it and then, yeah, I've had a fair few emails or private messages on YouTube to upload more stuff, so it kind of gave me a little bit of a few years ago gave me more of a nudge to make some video edits and stuff. And hopefully if people like it, I'll keep on doing it. And yeah, hopefully people like it, get inspired somehow. That's what it's for.

I think you should put the hip mobility walk on there, Riley. I'd be interested to see that.

I haven't perfected it yet. When I perfect it, I'll put it on there. I'll have to do it because I'm still struggling to get it. I've got it, I know what I'm meant to be doing, but I'm—

Still working at it.

Still working on making it look smooth. So, you've got to get that movement down so it's, you know, very smooth and not goofy looking.

Excellent. Well, Riley, thanks so much for taking the time to chat with me today and yeah, we'll hopefully chat again in the future.

Yeah, thanks for having me, Tom. It was good, really good. Cheers. Bye, mate.