The Road to Expert Skiing

At Bella Coola try something different and feel the sheer power of heli skiing Canada, most varied alpine terrain! With a mind-blowing 2.64 million acres at your fingertips, you’re in for one hell of a rideImagine yourself cruising down a groomed run carving elegant turns with your new shaped skis. In the distance you see two symbols, a blue square for a left turn and a black diamond for a right turn. Without hesitation you steer to the right. The pitch becomes steeper, the snow is un-groomed, and there are trees, lots of trees. You stop momentarily, pick a line, push off, and tighten your turns as you begin the descent.

Many skiers would have taken the left fork with the gentle groomed slope. Some intermediates reach a plateau in their ability and find it difficult to advance to the next level. This doesn’t have to be. The keys to unlocking your true potential lie in your mind and body. When you are physically fit and mentally prepared the goal of becoming an advanced level skier can be realized.

Skiing at an advanced level means being adept at handling varied terrain in different snow conditions on marked trails. The terrain may include steeps, glades, or moguls. Snow conditions might include hard pack, crud, ice, or powder. At this level you need to be able to make quick adjustments to your speed, turn radius and balance to maintain control at all times.

Ski Fitness Level

Advanced level skiing is more demanding on the knees, thighs, hips, abdomen, and back so preseason preparation is the norm. Try to begin your ski fitness program at least two to three months prior to your first day on the slopes. Your routine should include stretching for mobility, strength exercises for staying power, and cardiovascular conditioning for endurance.

The good news is that you don’t need a lot of money to finance your program. All you’ll need is a mat, free weights, runners, and an hour a day. One approach is to do stretches and strength exercises the first day followed by stretching and cardiovascular conditioning the next day. By alternating your workouts you can reduce the time spent each day and give the different muscle groups a chance to recover.

Stretching

Improved mobility will do more to improve your skiing then you think and it will help protect you from injury. The areas to concentrate on are the back, calves, hamstrings, quads, and shoulders.

A good book on the subject is Stretching by Bob Anderson (Shelter Publications, Inc. 1988). It has specific stretches for downhill skiing, weight training, walking, and running. You may want to include the stretches for weight training in your fall routine and do the downhill stretches during the ski season.

Strength

These exercises will improve your ability to ski short-radius turns through enhanced staying power and impact absorption while minimizing muscle fatigue and soreness. The strength session should include calf raises, partial squats for the quads, and abdominal exercises for the stomach, sides, and back. Include weight training for the arms, chest, and shoulders using dumbbells and barbells.

Rotate through the exercises working one muscle group while the other groups are in the recovery mode. Perform a leg exercise, a weight maneuver, and then an abdominal exercise.

Endurance

This is the ability to perform at a given level for greater periods of time. Endurance is important for those long mogul and glade runs that never seem to end. To improve endurance the focus is on cardiovascular conditioning. Exercise three times a week keeping your heart rate elevated for fifteen to twenty minutes. Good ways to do this are cycling, inline skating, rowing, jogging, or general aerobics. An alternative to running is a brisk, forty-five minute, non-stop walk.

Mind-Set

You won’t need a treatise on the latest breakthrough in the psychological aspects of fear to conquer the steeps, glades, and moguls. The old adage, you have nothing to fear but fear itself, applies to skiing. Mental toughness and focus are essential to master your subconscious mind.

Mental Toughness

Being tough mentally will put you in control of your thoughts. You need to tell yourself over and over that you’re in charge, not the ski hill. This will help develop the right attitude and keep a lid on you anxieties.

Focus

Focus allows you to break up the run into smaller tasks so you can zoom in on the next two or three turns. The pause, approach, divide and conquer technique should help you pick a line, set the tone, and focus on the immediate.

Pause: Take a moment or two to size up the terrain and pick a line appropriate for your skill level. If you wait too long you will give your subconscious mind a chance to take control. To avoid this anxiety trap, stop, survey the terrain, pick a line, and push off with your poles. This sequence should take between five and ten seconds to complete.

Approach: Develop the correct turn radius early. This should occur within the first three or four turns. This sets the rhythm and gets your legs pumping. You want to be moving at a constant speed with good balance over your skis.

Divide and Conquer: This method will break up a difficult run into manageable tasks. After the approach always look two or three turns ahead if you are on the steeps, two or three bumps ahead if you are in a mogul field, or two or three trees ahead if you are on a glade run. Looking ahead will allow you to quickly alter your course for any unusual conditions. This technique takes practice to learn, but once mastered, will prove invaluable.

Summing Up

The mind and body have to work in unison to ski black diamond runs safely and effectively. Condition your body in the preseason for peak performance on the slopes. To ski strong, you have to be strong. In addition, strive to master the mind techniques in stages. You need to be mentally tough and focused to keep your anxieties in check.

Make an effort to ski thirty percent of all runs on more difficult terrain with an even split between steeps, glades, and moguls. You will know when you have reached an expert level because you will be the one in the descent of that forty degree, un-groomed, glade run.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Jim_Safianuk/1196

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How to Become a Storyboard Artist

Nowadays, storyboard artist for hire are focus on film animation. If you want to become a storyboard artist, there are some things you should consider and know about the craft as you work your way into the industry. You will probably want to receive an education in art or specifically storyboarding, in order to ensure that you have the skills needed to be a professional storyboard artist. You should also consider learning about the industry even before taking classes to refine your artistic skills, and understand film on a fundamental level.

A storyboard artist creates storyboards for professional films and television programs. This means that you will need to be able to create a visualization of one or more scenes in still images on a piece of paper, or in a computer. You will work with directors to help understand and achieve their vision so that when they are on the set and preparing for a shot, they have a guide to help them ensure they get exactly what they want without costly reshoots.

To better facilitate this process, and become a storyboard artist, you should understand film and the filmmaking process. You should know about different camera angles and filmmaking techniques so that you can receive input from a director and understand exactly what he or she wants from you. Many schools offer programs or classes in making storyboards, and you may find that other types of educational programs also offer opportunities for you to learn how storyboards are made and get some practice.

While you may not need to be able to perfectly render every imaginable scene at a moment’s notice, you should at least have some decent artistic abilities. Refine your style and your art so that you can create scenes in a vivid and dynamic way that matches the types of visual storytelling found in major films. Look at the storyboard work that other artists have done, and use that as inspiration for your own work, especially as you are practicing and becoming a stronger artist.

Many storyboard artists also do crossover work in the comic book industry as well, and you may consider this as a potential career. The multi-panel pages of a comic book tell a visual story in many of the same ways as storyboard panels act to plot out a scene in images. While a storyboard often has arrows and notes drawn in to indicate camera movements and other aspects of film, the process of visual storytelling is still similar. If you have an interest in comic book art, then you may find that working in that industry gives you opportunities to become a storyboard artist.

True Business Success Begins With These Social Media Marketing Steps

To win in google rankings, you need a freelance SEO consultant Sydney who understands the intricacies of Search Engine Optimisation. Social media sites are some of the times.You have success without implementing social media marketing gives you to see how it is helping you. The following tips will help you if you know nothing about social media marketing.

Be very careful before you employ the services of marketing via social media. A lot of these companies run bad businesses to scam amateurs who do not know any better.

This will allow your blog’s readers to share this with others. This will increase the number of readers who visit your blog, which should in turn increase sales.

Put a Facebook “like” button on the homepage of your website.This lets people “like” you on Facebook. Having this directly on your blog will let people like your visitors “like” you without having to leave your page. This will give you greater exposure on Facebook which can lead to a greater amount of visitors to your business.

Having a widget on your site is a simple way to spread the word about your site.

It takes some time and patience to build a successful network in social media marketing. You might not get thousands of visitors at first.It has happened, but it is highly unlikely that your social media profiles will go viral the moment that you set them up. You must simply build your profile and practice patience; it will happen for you!

Interact with the customers as often as you can! If you get to know certain customers well, comment on their blogs or Facebook statuses.

Use email marketing along with social media marketing. Another thing you can do is encourage visitor newsletter registration is to post a link on your main page.

Facebook games are a great way to attract attention. You could easily create a game that is related to what you sell or industry. Some well-known companies have bee quite successful in using this strategy to produce games of viral proportions. If you can swing the expense, get a professional to design a Facebook game.

Answer questions and comments on social media marketing websites. Check these sites more than once a day to see if there are any concerns you need to address. You can also set up your program to notify you have a message is posted. Remember your response in a comment can be viewed by anyone.

When you post a video to Youtube, add a link to your website in the description, and ensure Twitter and Facebook buttons are near your videos, and on your channel. When you have YouTube users following you on Twitter or Facebook, you also have more of a chance that they’ll share any videos you have through these social media sites.

If you really want social media to work for you, keep in mind that people want to know that you are listening to what they say. If one consumer suggests something there is an excellent chance a lot of your customers has advice you need to ask others if they think that as well. Let them know that you are as well.

Using social media can bring in visitors to your business is a highly effective way to reach more potential buyers.Business owners can benefit when people share their friends and contacts. You can entice your customers by offering special deals, so try your best to do this.

Use social media to post coupons and deals that are time sensitive to really ramp up discussion about your profiles. People will want to make a purchase right away and share this information with their friends. They are also be more inclined to share the info with their friends.

Get some healthy competition going with your Facebook. People love to participate in a good contest and competitions.You don’t have to have a large number of people.

It is important to be able to come up a catchy headline when you post. The first impression of the article is drawn from your headline and you want to make a good impression. You must grab their attention quickly and make them into your article. So be sure to put some thought is necessary when thinking up with a good one.

This is a great way to get exposure.

You need to make any items that you publish easy as possible for others to redistribute.You should be sure that you place a Facebook share button on the top or bottom of your posts. This is an extra step and it will take some more time, but the payoff can be significant.

By offering this added convenience for your readers, your readers will be able to easily promote your business to their friends and family.

Keep it simple from the start, and get a feel for your business before disclosing any personal information.

Combining both new and old techniques is what helps social media marketing results.

They are important if you want to market your business using Youtube as a marketing tool.They have to be very interesting and entice users to click the play button. Include one or two keywords in your titles to attract a niche audience.

To enter, try telling them to follow your page on Twitter, follow you on Twitter, or just subscribe to updates on your other sites. No matter what the prizes are, you will certainly see new visitors and a lot of people will keep coming back.

It is easy to use social media for marketing. Marketing through social media means that you can interact with your customers in a more direct manner. Through proper implementation using the advice provided, you can be more successful with the use of social media.