SoundTracking – A Hybrid Visualization Technique

[SkiJay]

In the context of recent discussions regarding dry land training, I’m going to share the most powerful visualization technique I’ve come across in 36 years of superbike and car racing. I discovered this technique by accident while preparing to race a Formula Atlantic car on the treacherous Vancouver IndyCar street circuit. Street circuits can be brutally unforgiving. The circuit doesn’t even exist until the race weekend so the only practice anyone gets is during the event—and you have to get it right, or endure a violent carbon fiber vs. cement crush test.

 

In an effort to learn this fearsome circuit as quickly as possible, I’d run a microphone from my helmet to a digital recorder so I could make audio notes during the first practice session. I ended the session near the back of the field and the notes I’d recorded were completely useless. The street-track environment was so intense that the few words that escaped my lips were limited to the four letter variety. But to my surprise, the engine noise dominating the recording was a wealth of information!

 

Imbedded in the engine’s shrill song was audible evidence of every gearshift, wheel-hop, brake lockup, slide, dip, bump and curb. Everything the car did affected the song from the engine. And though I was now sitting in the transporter listening to a recording, in my mind’s eye, I could see exactly where I was on the track and what was going on throughout the whole session as the recording played back. The visuals were vivid and in real time.

 

As I sat there mentally driving lap after lap, I could not get over how information-rich the visuals were. I’d been visualizing for years, but had never experienced anything like this. I was recalling tiny details of the session as if I were still in the car. While the other drivers were out strutting around the paddock hitting on girls, I sat practicing hundreds of laps in my mind while listening to that glorious wailing soundtrack for two hours straight. That afternoon, I took my five year old full ground-effects formula car out onto the most frightening circuit I’d ever been on, and against superior equipment and teams, put it on pole. It was as if I’d actually had a hundred more laps of practice than anyone else in the field.

 

If it were a Disney movie, I’d have won by a lap. Instead, half way through the race, the rear swaybar in my old battle-worn Swift DB4 snapped, slamming me feet first into a cement wall in a shower of carbon, aluminum and cement dust. It was actually a pretty depressing day after that, but I knew I had discovered a secret weapon—SoundTracking. SoundTracking won me a lot of races.

 

Since then, I’ve helped others successfully apply SoundTracking to their sports in everything from bobsledding to horse jumping, and I believe this hybrid visualization technique can be applied to water skiing.

 

 

Applying SoundTracking to Slalom Skiing

 

We know practice is essential to success, so how well would you ski if you could practice five times more than you do? How about 10 times more? Science has proven that good visualization is as effective as, and in some ways better than, practicing for real. Essentially, your mind doesn’t know the difference between imagined practice and real practice, and it’s easier to achieve perfection in imagined practice.

 

This fact creates an opportunity in any sport where practice time is limited. In skiing, two sets of six passes per day with no falls equates to about four minutes of actual in-course practice. Ski seven sets per week and you have put in 14 minutes of practice. If you add 20 minutes of visualization per day to your training routine, you are practicing ten times more than your competitors! Done properly, this WILL give you an advantage.

 

The problem with visualizing is that it’s boring. The mind races ahead and wanders off task within minutes or even seconds. Visualizing to a soundtrack, on the other hand, keeps your visualization session on track and in real time for as long as you want. It heightens the detail of the imagery in the visualization, and it allows you to zero your focus in on a single aspect of your technique while keeping the overall picture intact.

 

Applied to waterskiing, this means you can focus on how you are holding your head and where you are looking, or work on maintaining a good connection with the handle after the wakes, etc., all without losing the overall big picture of running the pass in real time. This is hard to do while on your ski, and it’s impossible to get this much practice on the water.

 

As usual, there’s a hitch. The moves you practice while SoundTracking will work their way into habit. If you have any wacky ideas about how to ski a slalom pass (like pulling long, looking down, giving in to the boat at the wake, or slamming turns, etc.), you can really ingrain these progress-limiting moves. I know this from experience. I’ve applied SoundTracking to my own skiing a number of times along my development curve. Sometimes it’s really helped, and sometimes it’s really screwed me up when I took my ill-conceived new bad habit out onto the water.

 

The perfect slalom pass is a fairly complex series of dynamic moves blending power and finesse with critical timing. I doubt that most skiers fully understand all the nuances involved. Because of this, I’m going to suggest that this technique is best suited to advanced through elite level slalom competitors who know what works through personal experience. SoundTracking provides these skiers with an effective opportunity to practice a lot more and hone their already excellent technique to perfection.

 

For the rest of us, it’s an opportunity to progress up the line more quickly—IF— we can somehow get a clear picture and “feel” in our minds of how we should be skiing rather than how we are currently skiing. This takes good information and in some cases a good imagination. Read and understand what the pros have to say and take notes after being coached. Then take one aspect of your technique at a time. Make sure you understand how it “should” be performed and then SoundTrack it daily until it shows up automatically on the water.

 

The following link is to an audio recording of Andy Mapple's whistling fin running 32 off at 34 mph. It is looped many times to provide four minutes of uninterrupted SoundTracking. Making your own for the exact pass you are working on might be marginally better, but the attached recording will work for any 34 mph pass as they all take 16.95 seconds. You can download this .mp3 by right clicking on the link (PC) and selecting "save target as..." Turn it on, close your eyes, and practice perfection in real time. And if you listen to it as the last thing you hear before going to sleep, your subconscious mind can play with it all night long.

 

dl.dropbox.com/u/1530989/Waterskiing/BOS/Andy%2032.mp3

[KcSwerver]

That sounds quite interesting, I find myself sitting at home on the couch with my legs and feet as if attached to a ski and my arms as if holding onto the handle, making fin whistle sounds and the bumps at the wake. With my eyes closed, I can sit there for an hour imagining myself skiing. Welcome to my winter...

-KcSwerver

[BraceMaker]

@skijay - do you think instead of just ski whistle, an overlay with the "rhytmn" of the run, just a soft beep at the gate and each ball - of course speed specific - would be helpful?

[SkiJay]

Good question @BraceMaker. A beep timed with each ball would be better than nothing for keeping your visualization of a run between the start and exit gates on time, but not so good for all the detail between each ball. When you listen to Andy's whistling fin, you can hear the hookup, the rate of acceleration, the wakes, a speed drop as the ski lands on its other edge after the edge change, the rate of deceleration during the pre-turn, and how hard the turn at the ball is. That's a lot more information than a beep every ~2.6 seconds. This info-rich soundtrack triggers a vivid recall of your own personal experience on a ski. It is instrumental in keeping the big picture in real time while you focus your attention on a single aspect of your skiing technique.

 

Before I'd stumbled across SoundTracking, I used to visualize racing laps using a stopwatch. I found that if my times were not fairly close to my actual lap times, it was because I had not collected enough mental reference points around the track. Straightaways were particularly hard to recall in real time. The more reference points I could add to my mental video of the lap, the closer I could get to my actual lap times, often within tenths of a second. More information = more accurate visualizations.

[jipster43]

Thanks @SkiJay ! I can't wait to give this a go.

[h2odawg79]

Good stuff @Skijay and I apreciate your attentive detail.

 

As you know, I fully accept the process of Visualization. Your info. will hopefully help some skiers find a path to better and stronger visualization. As, many people simply have very low visual input capabilities and either get easily distracted or simply fail in their attempt to see what is not there. i.e. cannot see colors that aren't there, cannot see rooms re-decorated or have generally low Artistic abilities...

 

Therfore, to some degree I feel these traits either halt or hinder ones ability to fully involve the Brain, Senses and Motor receptors. Contributing to being distracted and/or a low sensory involvement at best.

 

I fully believe these traits are in large part, the basis that separates the Good players from the Stand out players, the Journeyman from the Superstar. -even the Scotty Pippens from the Jordans. All Superstars are Visionary Monsters!

 

I think you are on to something that could very well intensify the Brain activity level while visualizing for many. Whatever it takes to increase the feedback in an Pro-active mental state would be awesome.

 

"Seeing IS Believing"!

[SkiJay]

@KcSwerver With headphones plugged into your phone, you can be listening to this whistling fin while standing in line at the bank, while sitting in the waiting room at the dentist, or while riding the train. You can practice skiing anytime anywhere.

 

The only problem with SoundTracking in public is that the brain, nervous system and muscles are all one closed loop system. You can't move a muscle without involving the brain and you can't imagine a movement without involving the muscles. I find it nearly impossible to stand, sit or lie still while SoundTracking, and have embarrassed myself more than a few times in public. Visualizing keeping your eyes level around the ball can make you look particularly "special."

[SkiJay]

"the brain, nervous system and muscles are all one closed loop system"

 

Back in the late 70's, researchers wired up Chris Evert-Lloyd, the most dominant tennis player of the era, and took measurements while she played tennis. They then sat her in a chair and got her to visualize playing tennis.

 

What they found was that while she was visualizing, the same neurological pathways and muscles were being stimulated and that the muscles, while moving almost imperceptibly to the naked eye, were moving at the same rates and proportionately to how they moved while she was actually playing.

 

Their concussion was that visualization goes beyond mental practice; it is also physical practice.

[Horton]

@SkiJay As politely as possible I want to say this stuff is on the fringe.

[h2odawg79]

@Skijay, "What they found was that while visualizing, the same neurological pathways and muscles were were being stimulated and that the muscles, while moving almost imperceptibly to the naked eye, were moving at the same rates and proportionately to how they moved while she was actually playing"....

 

 

YES, YES, YES!!!

 

This IS the basis for the Visualization that I was referring to in your other thread on "Revelation." Absolutely works far beyond the Conscience and even the Sub-Conscience levels, but also inconjuction with.... Sending the same Neural signaling to the muscle receptors. The clearer the mental picture the more powerful the signaling.

 

Very Cool stuff!

 

[SkiJay]

@Horton No offense taken. Can you elaborate on which fringe you think it's on the edge of?

[h2odawg79]

P.S. this is also used Very successfully in Rehabilitation of injured Athletes. Especially when the subject is immobilized with a Cast or imobilization device. i.e. Like a Snow Skier with a Leg Cast for wks....

[Horton]

@SkiJay this stuff as been proposed before and I know there is some science behind it. I do not think most skiers would find value from this idea. Terry Winter even did a video about the idea. Good luck finding a copy.

 

As you said "The perfect slalom pass is a fairly complex series of dynamic moves blending power and finesse with critical timing"

 

In other words, I would not encourage anyone that I coach to pursue this idea. There is clearly a lot of value in mental prep for your ski ride but honestly the #1 best way to improve is to ski with someone has a good eye and can give you live feedback and or video. A lot of visualization off the water is as likely to teach you bad habits as it is to teach you good ones.

 

As far a listening to Andy's fin as a way to learn to ski better... I am not trying to be an ass but that is ridiculous. I guess if it works for you I should shut up. I do not get it at all.

[Horton]

@SkiJay

One more thing. @Mapple is LFF so that MP3 is backwards and makes me nauseous

[Steven_Haines]

Horton, I have to disagree with you on this one. For the past 3 seasons I've only been able to take 3 two week vacations where I was able to get any skiing due to my work load (it's a good thing right now, but getting burnt out!) The last time I skied I hadn't been on a ski for over 4 months (maybe more) The only training I've had lately is mental, reading and video all from YOU! Thank you very much!!! At the end of my last 2 week break I found myself backing up 35 again which is not a normal occurrence that early in the season even when I'd been skiing a lot, 35 has never been a gimme! That's all I can attribute it to other than dropping weight in the mid 220's to mid 180's. I think I could have done better around 190 on my 67.5 S2.

[SkiJay]

Thanks for clairifying, John. It looks to me like we are somewhat agreed on who should be using this technique. I thought I'd been clear in the first post, regarding this being a tool better suited to advanced through elite competitors honing their craft than it is for amateurs. I totally agree that this is a risky way to "learn how to ski." As I said, I've screwed myself up a couple of times applying this to my own skiing. To be clear, I didn't learn how to drive a race car with SoundTracking, I just got a lot more practice time than my competitors rehearsing something I was already very good at.

 

That being said, I also believe that amateurs do stand to benefit if they listen to Andy's fin while mentally practicing good information they've received from a professional coach. We all picture what we are going to do in our heads anyway. Adding a soundtrack justs improves this natural process.

 

[Steven_Haines]

after thinking about it for a moment maybe the success I've had is due to my lack of skiing and only putting good information into my head

[Horton]

if it works for you guys I guess I can't argue

[h2odawg79]

There is certainly a point in the Computer age for the applicable phrase; "Junk in, Junk out".

 

But, I for one am not going to waste a Second purely "Speculating" on who could benefit or by how much. That is even more questionable then questioning it's reality in the 1st place.

 

There is so much useful "Written" info on here and other sources that gets totally mis-interpreted and/or possibly mis-spoken b/c it may not have been conveyed well enough in the 1st place and then some of us run out and try to put it to use and some of us just critique & discount it. Either way, eventually we all find what works for us and what does not.

 

How about topics like "WestCoast style" or "Light on the Line" for a couple examples??? -I could go on...

 

 

[MattP]

How can you call that the fin whistling? The fin is in the water. Was the mic in the water? No, it was the mic on the camera picking up the air as it accelerated by the camera that was attached to the ski.

[SkiJay]

That whistling in Andy's pass isn't air rushing by the GoPro (which would sound more like rumbling), it's the fin/wing combination vibrating at high frequency as it's dragged through the water. This vibration is sent through the whole ski and is picked up by the GoPro's case which is hard mounted to the ski.

 

If GoPro cases whistled like that, don't you think you'd hear whistling on YouTube videos of mountain bikers, sky divers and snowboarders? I've mounted the wind/waterproof case forwards, backwards, on the ski tip and tail, with and without the floaty back and the sound stayed the same. Wouldn't you expect the whistle to change or stop with some of these changes? The sound does change when I change to a Schnitz speed slot fin and again if I mount ventrals on the fin. Even Chris Rossi talked about the whistle from his perfectly setup fin as being "muy bueno" on Edged in Water. I'm pretty sure this whistling sound is vibration from the fin, @MattP, not airflow.

[Brady]

@SkiJay If you listen closely to my gopro whistling, you will hear the faint sound of "OH SH*&" as I am late for the ball and going OTF.

[MattP]

I like proof before I go believing any of y'all's crack pot ideas. Still not convinced. Just saying.

[SkiJay]

Haha! Tough room!

[MattP]

@SkiJay someone has to play the other side.

[Horton]

Ok you kids play nice. I am going to just look away.

[h2odawg79]

"I like proof before I go believing any of y'all's crack pot ideas. Still not convinced".

 

YES! EXACTLY! That is EXACTLY what I have been thinking lately about many of the Nay sayers and their Critique. Those who put others on the spot, with only a Complete OPINION Themselves...

 

Just saying

[Brady]

@h2odawg79 You are completely wrong in your assessment. Trust me!!! :)

 

@SkiJay The best visualization method I have ever seen is when I hum a tune during my set. Usually, I prefer The theme music to Charlie Brown. I can see every turn I make with that music in the background. It also helps when I am wearing my red hat!

 

@Horton Way to be Geneva in this thread.

 

@MattP I can't explain to you why the Sun burns the way it does and why it was formed, but whether you believe me or not when I tell you that it does makes no difference because it is true. I have recorded many sets with my gopro and it only makes that humming sound when it is attached to the ski.

 

On the ski:

 

On the body:

 

Very different distinct sound! Hmmmmmm, in my book, them thar is proof young padowan!

 

[Steven_Haines]

@Brady, I thought you bought a RadaR? Anyhow, looking great on the Goode! Lol!

[Brady]

@Steven Haines. Oh how I wish that was me!!! And yes, I am on my green radar!

[h2odawg79]

@Brady, HA, ha! -umm, what/which assessment am I Completely wrong on this time? =-D

 

I "trust ya" but, I'll have to ask for the actual Truth and the proof please!

[h2odawg79]

***Test***

 

Just noticed that this thread is not updating and moving to the top of the New posts Topic list. Hmmmmmmmmm

[ktm300]

@skijay Post away Amigo. I am glad to read and consider anything a superbike racer has to say about visualization. 180mph on two wheels in the straights headed downhill into a turn is one of the most impressive sporting events I have ever witnessed. Darn well better have the mental aspect of that game down.

[SkiJay]

Issues With Your Visuals?

 

Advanced Skiers :

If you find it difficult to sync your visuals with the soundtrack at first, don't sweat it. Leave the audio playing and try not to force anything or focus in too tightly on any single aspect of your technique. Just listen to the ski's song and take a soft broad focus on the skiing in general. It shouldn't take long until you are swerving down the lake in sync with the sound. If you just go along for the ride for a while, or even for a few sessions, you'll soon find the skiing kind of takes care of itself, leaving you some spare mental processing power to focus in more tightly on the aspect of your technique you would like to hone or change. Visualizing is a skill, and like your skiing skills, it gets better with practice.

 

Intermediate Skiers :

If you just can't seem to coordinate your visuals with the soundtrack or find yourself getting "lost" in the pass at certain points, it's an indication that you do not yet have a clear or complete picture of what you should be doing during that part of a slalom pass. Blank spots in your visual movie often coincide with the weakest links in your skillset.

 

An example of this would be something like this: You have a clear detailed picture of the handle release and extension into a nice flowing pre-turn. As the ball approaches, you are aware of your rear leg driving your hips forward over your ski and your head moving to keep your eyes level, then you turn and cut, but the turn at the ball itself is a blank, vague or even just lacking detail. Where were you looking? Where were your hips and how were they rotating? How much of your weight is on the front foot? Where you reaching for the handle with your free hand or skiing it back to the handle? Cound you feel tension on the line the whole time with your other hand or was there some slack? etc.?

 

Obviously, we don't think about all these things as we round the ball or as we ski in general, but if your visual movie is vague at this point, it's because you haven't yet done your homework on all these things over the years. Maybe they need a little attention with your coach this year.

 

My new BOS Visualization Qualifier :

Visualization is a method of practicing and forming "good" habits. If you ski at line lengths longer than 38 off, your technique may have issues you don't want to practice. Seek to only practice proven effective skiing concepts. I'm not a water professional water ski coach so take my technique examples with a grain of salt. Nothing will help your skiing as much as getting professional coaching and lots of videoed water time.

[ampacdan]

I like it. It adds perspective to my visualization. Thanks for taking the time.