skip navigation

Stance Part 3 - Sore Calf Muscles

Stance – Calf Muscles

This discussion on proper stance came from hearing someone complain about being sore from skiing. Specifically, after a day of skiing are your calf muscles sore? If your answer is “no”, simply skip this tip! However, if your calf muscles feel tight or sore during skiing or afterward, you need a little work on your stance.

Sore calf muscles indicate that you are pushing the front of your feet down or trying to stand on your toes to pressure the front of your skis rather than using your shins to push on the front of your boots. To review, the basic athletic stance for skiing is standing with your skis shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent so the shins press firmly against the boot tongue, hands forward and angling outward, and head looking toward where you want to go (downhill). The body is essentially erect except for the knees. In fact, if done correctly, the boots serve as a support for your lower legs, actually reducing fatigue!

One way to make sure that your shins are correctly contacting the front of your boots is to flex your ankle to pull the front of your foot upward toward the top of the boot. This sounds counter intuitive if the goal is to place pressure on the front of your skis. However, angling your ankle in this way helps to push your knees forward into the front of the boots. This is the opposite of trying to stand on your toes to pressure the front of the skis, and it specifically does not require any action from the calf muscles.

So, if your calf muscles start to get sore, simply push your knees more forward and flex your feet upward. This will eliminate sore calf muscles and also improve your stance for better skiing.