Big air

[Andy Chase]

I am wondering how to air better. I average about 4-5 feet with high airs at like 6 feet. I've been at this level for a few years. I noticed some of the japanese skaters go across the flat with thier heads pretty far foward. Has anyone looked at pump tequniqes to find a better way to air?

[Anonymous]

I always watch clips of takeshi getting airs, then i compared how he pumped to how i did to figure out how to fix my technique, and that helped me alot.

[David Schexnayder]

^ that was me posting, i forgot to log in.

[administrator]

Pumping is a art form.
It's so hard.
Most of your height comes from when you are riding down the ramp. Use the up pump mostly so you get a good landing coming down. Land right under the coping. When you hit the vert riding up keep your knees fixed or pull them to your chest a little, so suck in to the ramp just a bit. That way you will land in a tighter ball. Think about it, if at the coping you pop out 1" by the time you get to 6 feet by that angle you have popped way out and will land low. That's why it's so hard. If you pop in it's dangerous to land on the deck. Just figure out a way to land in a tight ball right under the vert. Also it's easier to lunch when you are relaxed. This is what Shane told me.

[Andy Chase]

That is the style I have been trying at for a while. It just seems I've hit a peak. I think there has to be something on the up pump or something. I have been doing this for a while (I've been riding vert for 12 years). I seem to notice some guys lean forward through the flat a lot.

[Trueskater]

I noticed that Takeshi kind of pushes in the flatbottom of the ramp also to keep his speed

[10]

the easier way to get air in vert is to not even skate vert.

go to a playground, and practice going as high as you can go on a swing set. pumping in vert uses the same set of physics (resonance). vert is all about timing. you just need to figure out when the exact moment to pump is.

*i dont think you should worry about pumping upwards, because it's like pushing a swing...sorta.


***extremely complicated***
a swing works, because you push at the same natural frequency of the swing--you push up when the swing goes up. if you push 1(every time) at 1/3 or 1/2 or any rational number less than one (1/2=every other time; 1/3=every 3rd time and so on...)you still get the same effect. If you push at more than the natural frequency...ex twice as much, you get a cancelling effect. (pushing a swing at 2x the natural frequency would be like pushing it to go up, and then push it as it's going down. the two pushes cancel out, and the swing just sits motionless.)
***end extremely complicated***

with that said, if you pump going down, and then pump on your way up, you rob yourself of the momentum needed to get big airs, and you also tire twice as fast if you were to just air--not bother with turning or tricks or grabs. if you added grabs and tricks etc, you get tired 4x as much.

[administrator]

You have a point but you do need to pump going more as a guild than to increase your speed. The up pump is important because it will be the factor if you will land good on the vert coming down which is where a great deal of your speed is from. so the up pump sets you up for the down pump which is where the speed is gained.

[robparker]

i find i can get alot of speed from the up-pump, i can really accelerate, also when u leave the ramp you must make sure that your back foot front wheel rides over the coping, that will go along way to getting a perfect landing every time,, which is one of the other main keys to height.
Simon Tabaron use to ride the same vert as me, and we were talking about this once (being stuck at a certain height) and soemthing he said helped alot..
start with doing 3 airs and meausuring the 3rd as your max,, so for example start int he corner and do 1 air on the panel, then carve the next then do the last one straight up.. once you get consistant on those landings and say your 3rd air is 7ft... put an extra air in at the start... get those 4 consistant then your last air should be 8ft.. etc.... i did this and it worked well... do it over a period of time, not just landing them good 3 times in a row...

[sam]

ive just started vert and i have some tricks like the 540 but i cant get any amplitude with them even though i pump my hardest. did anyone else have this problem. my max air is about a foot.

[angryskater]

andy
i told u once and ill tell u again you have to use the WHOLE ramp to your advantage. its not hard. the problem is that everyone has there own style or technique. i pump down and up and its done good for me. i started to get at least four more feet. i sucked last year!!!!! plus you have to pump through the whole tranny. u cant just pump half of it and exoect to get monster air. ever watch pat when he skates ryes ramp? ridiculous air!!!!!

[Rich Parker]

hahahaha, who are they advertising to?? we are vert rollerbladers...NOT skateboarders......we have no money to be buying houses and playing poker! haha

[KYSkater]

hahahaha, who are they advertising to?? we are vert rollerbladers...NOT skateboarders......we have no money to be buying houses and playing poker! haha

:lol: :lol: good one Rich.

[TAZDVL]

Its truly anoying, you can get it, lose it, forget it, skate for years and still feel like a novice. A simple concept, yet one of the hardest things to master out of all the things you can learn on vert. Mainly its all about rhythm, pushing at the right time on the right part of the ramp. Heres a little check list for helping to go higher. On a ramp with vert ofcourse ...

1 ) Ride the whole ramp. Keep your skates on the ramp untill your wheels pretty much roll of the coping. No jumping

2 ) The down pump (when you are going down the tranny) is where about 75% of your speed comes from. From the push into the ramp, on the way back in. Pretend your feet are glued to a sheet of plywood, and you want to break through that ply wood. You can practice that one on the ground.

3 Try and stay smooth and relaxed. The more you fight it, the more chance you will have for losing your rhythm, and pumping at the wrong time. Its all about feeling, when and where to push.

4 ) The up pump is to help you launch and set you up to be in the right position. Ideally the down pump is a force that makes you heavy, so you can transfer the force and weight into speed. therefore the up should be the oposite. Make your self really light on your feet on the way up, this means there is less weight bogging you down on the way up and you can carry your speed at a greater rate.

5 ) Keep your stance going across the flat bottom of the ramp. I have seen many kids try and kick off the flat for extra speed. Although this might help to get to the coping, if you want to air huge, this will only slow you down. Keep as solid and smooth as you can when traveling the flat, this way you have time to feel where the pump is.

6 ) Calve the ramp. Use the combination of both gravity, your pump, and the speed of traveling across the ramp, to generate speed, especialy if there is a roll in. If not, do a straight up and down wall, followed by the biggest calve of your life, and then go straight up, see what happens.

7 ) have fun with it, dont be afraid to experiment. Everyone is different, and there are many styles out there, figure out what works best for your style.

8 ) Dont push to hard. Like a baby brother on a swing, you shove to hard, and the kid goes flying onto his face. Instead use smaller incrments of force. If you push too hard on the ramp, you will become unstable and un balanced, when this happens you miss your timing and your pump, back to square one.

9) Keep it simple. I said this before, but its the most important. Smooth and rhythm. When the yasso's are flying its looks like they arnt even trying huh? Thats the secret, applied effort at the right time, its all about feeling and timing. Dont try to go big, just land smooth, take of the top, and push a little bit harder each time. Its all about finesse, and always easier said than done.

[Andy Chase]

Ok I still don't really get calveing , like push with your calves?

[TAZDVL]

Not entirly sure on the spelling, but any time you travel across the ramp in the air, thats called calving. There is three types of air. First theres the straight up straight down air. Second is when you travel some distance across the face of the ramp, or in the air, as oposed to going straight up and down. The third is called an allyoop, which is where you travel in the oposite dirrection to the way you are turning, its like traveling backwards through the air, but still turning to come down forwards.

Let us know if you are still confused.

[Andy Chase]

Nope just call it carving.