4th Week of Ski Class (Double poling)

Happy days
We were able to 'ski' this week on rock skis.
Only a couple of students did not bring their rocks skis or whatever they had. The snow was only a couple of inches deep and right around 0C.
Double poling was the main course for today. You started off with a review of falling forward into your partners hands from the ankles with the hips forward.
Homework was discussed and several students are now doing over 5 hours of ski specific training. Preparing yourself mentally and and physically to go long is important. The Birkie is less then 90 days away and so one of your workout sessions needs to be at least 3 hours and keep increasing every 10 days or so for the next several weeks.
We skied in a couple of tracks for double poling in but that did not last for long as the grass showed through.
Some of the key points that were added during the class were the following.
The old mantra of gravity, body weight, before muscle was hammered on again.
Bringing the hips forward can be a challenge. Memory clues such as stretching your stomach muscles, squeezing your cheeks (loony), were practiced.
Elbow height, (chicken wing) was discussed and how high it you should be. Remember once a again about the warning of having high elbows until you worked up to it. The older we are the more careful we all need to be as it can be very painful.
Chicken pecking was another exercise that was practiced, with the hands staying at your shoulders and you only moved by doing the stomach core crunch. There should be no more then 6 inches of movement.
The hands were then extended about a foot from the shoulders and you once again only moved forward by doing the stomach  core crunch.
Normal double poling was then tried with the elbows bent at around 90' both forward and back.
Loading the poles  by using body weight was introduced but not covered much. Until the hips come forward the quick drop at the knee will wait for another week.