# Tabletop mental block??



## cadencesdad (Nov 18, 2008)

Ok....So I think I have a mental block. We have a tabletop at my local resort that I have hit maybe 10 times this year. I land on the table itself every time.

As I get to the jump, I always scrub my speed at the last moment from fear that Im gonna get going way to fast on the steep landing and wind up getting hurt and always land on the tabletop instead.

The ramp itself is about 7-8ft off the ground and the tabletop is probably about the same (guessing here). The steep landing is forever long so I know there is no way I can overshoot it. I am comfortable with the height of the jump, but the distance covered I think is my issue.

I have a tendancy to lean forward or backward if a jump carries to far.
I usually try an Indy grab for stability, but dont always stay on top of the board.

All things equal.....Am I gonna get hurt more/less/same if I eat shit on the landing as opposed to the tabletop? I know I will be going faster if I reach the landing, but will that be compensated by the slope of the hill?

Sorry if this is stupid.....And thanks for any advise.


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## Deviant (Dec 22, 2009)

This isn't stupid at all, probably the majority of riders have had to deal with that feeling. When you clear the tabletop and land safely the first time, you'll feel a huge relief and it will become much easier after that. Even a minor wreck will at least get you the feeling of being in the air longer. It will feel better on the knees too. How much farther do you need to go to reach the landing? The angle of the landing can lessen the impact as well (think of riders doing cliffs, they couldn't do it if they were landing flat, I know it's an exaggeration  ) There's always the risk, but that's what we take coming into a sport like this, things can get unpredictable but shake those thoughts away. 

In all honesty, when I'm freaked out about something I just take a big deep breath as I'm approaching it, you'd be surprised how much it helps. Just gauge your speed from other riders, calm yourself down and take a deep breath at the point you normally speed-check and you'll make it fine. If you're still getting the mental block, just go a little bit faster each time you hit it until you make it to the landing, tabletops around here tend to have less of a "knuckle" on the landing from others hitting it, so this is a little safer than a large-style park jump.


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## SAddiction (Feb 21, 2009)

The most important thing you can do is visualize the entire sequence before dropping in: how it looks, the feeling of speeding into the jump, the way it sounds when you launch off the table, even the smell of the snow. Every little piece counts.

Once you've got this down, drop in from a place where you don't have to speed check, just straight line to the jump (speed checks tend to throw off your concentration and balance).


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## Ronixish (Sep 3, 2010)

Whenever I'm scared while snowboarding I sit down for a moment and visualize my trick. I visualize what it'll look like from my perspective (what I hear, feel, see etc.) then from a third person perspective like i was watching a video of me doing it. After doing that I tell myself I can land this over and over till I feel like I'm able too. It'll hurt a lot more to fall on the flat part of the jump then on the slanted part. Trust me I hit my first really big jump last year and it scared the shit out of me. I cased the first too so hard I stayed inside the rest of the day my knees hurt so bad. Next day I came back and just bombed it and I landed clean and thought to myself that I'm such a pussy this is so easy why was I scared. That happens to me after every trick I do that I was scared to try. It'll most likely happen to you. Just watch some people go so you know where to check your speed.


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## Music Moves (Jan 23, 2009)

It's very likely that it could be less painful if you fall on the sloped area... more times than not I just slide down when I fall on the actual landing, but the flat jars the shit out of you and is terrible for the knees.

Two seasons ago, I hit about a 35 footer (at a park that I didn't usually ride) going too slow and it was an upper rather than an outer.. I was easily 20-25 feet in the air and landed a good 8-10 feet before the knuckle, dead on the flat... very bad experience as my knees were wobbly for the rest of the day.


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## rasmasyean (Jan 26, 2008)

A tabletop landing is not usually that bad because it's not a drop like a ramp/knuckle area. So you usually won't fall that far from your max height. I've done that many times and the only problem is that you may go through a second air off the decent while you haven't landed stably. But then you're not going that fast anyway so... IMO, it's definately more riskier to just bomb it and risk catching an edge at the decent at high speeds because it can ragdoll you and make you tumble all over the place while you're going real fast on the steep incline.

I would find a natural decent and practice jumping before it, and landing on it at higher speeds until you're comfortable with the high speed takeoff and landing. The tabletop will then be just a visually more scary feature, but actually the same situation.


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## Chris2347 (Nov 7, 2009)

If you are afraid of speed on the landing, maybe consider getting comfortable bombing groomers first, and working on edge control etc? also can try jumping off rollers - at speed get a lot of air time while being no more than like a ft above the surface


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## doron (Nov 14, 2010)

I'm probably only a few days ahead of you in progression so I know exactly what you are feeling. I think the problem is that the more you hit the knuckle the scarier it gets, since your mind is learning to expect pain every time you get close to the lip. You're essentially training your body to fear the jump more each time you hit the knuckle.

As others have said, your best bet is to learn to bomb groomers and get your body used to high speeds, and hit smaller side hits as well. It will feel absolutely amazing the first time you land on the sweet spot since it's such a smooth feeling (provided your board is relatively flat on takeoff and your body is aligned properly). After that you almost begin to realize that the more speed you carry the easier the jump will seem.

As someone else alluded to, it's easier to progress if you spend more than one day on the same jump...sometimes what your mind needs is sleep to really get used to all the movements, it will all seem easier on the second day. I was riding last week and spent most of my day on one park run that had three jumps, two 10 footers and a 15. I must have done the run at least 12 times so we're talking over 30 jumps in one day, but even till the last hit I felt an insane rush of adrenaline every time I landed (80% of those were clean mind you) and I definitely feel that I would get rid of the fear if I could have been up there for another day. 

You've already conquered the most mentally difficult part by brining yourself to hit the lip in the first place, so you're almost there!


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## freshy (Nov 18, 2009)

I remember that same feeling when I first started hitting the big park jumps. I also kept pussing out at the last second and would land flat.
Then one day I was like this is the day, I hiked the jumps after the resort was closed. It was snowing and I guess that little bit of powder instead of the usual cement was all I needed for confidence. I just went as fast as I could and hoped for the best. Once you stomp it you will have no problems doing it again...Until you want to spin off it.


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## cadencesdad (Nov 18, 2008)

Hey thanks for all the tips guys!

I am just waiting for this weekend to give it another shot. I have been preparing myself for it all week.

I have visualized it a thousand times and can almost feel the landing when I think about it. 

I will take a couple warmup runs to get my legs and then let er fly.



Thanks again.


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## rasmasyean (Jan 26, 2008)

cadencesdad said:


> Hey thanks for all the tips guys!
> 
> I am just waiting for this weekend to give it another shot. I have been preparing myself for it all week.
> 
> ...


Cool. That should help. One pointer is that I wouldn't get overconfident just because the landing is "long", though. These are two of my last decent sized jumps I think, which got me to realize that you still can get hurt if you go way too fast! If you noticed I "cleared" it pretty darn good. They were from back in 2003, pretty much my last high speed jumping because I didn't want to fall like that again. 

This is my action pose in my second to last jump.









This is my off balance pose where I saw snow-sky-snow-sky-snow like 3 times (I think) and my friend had to hold off ppl for like 5 minutes and I crawled to the side and rested for another 15.


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## BliND KiNK (Feb 22, 2010)

just to add build up for you, I hit my first tabletop box today.. and uhm.. yeah I dunno... land flatbased and it's really easy... I almost slid off the first time... and was like shit... but my board stayed on... and I just ollied off... 

and then I did another one... still not comfortable enough for presses or spins.. but I know I can do them relatively easily... BUT I do feel you, I sat and stared at it for about 15 minutes, but then some betty pops up and is like.. "you going?" ... me, " Uh.. fuck that I'm skurd" ... and then she proceeded to ride it... so I sucked my nuts back out of my ass and went for it...

because getting shown up by a girl is for man nurse's and strippers, I don't play that shit.


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## cadencesdad (Nov 18, 2008)

BliND KiNK said:


> just to add build up for you, I hit my first tabletop box today.. and uhm.. yeah I dunno... land flatbased and it's really easy... I almost slid off the first time... and was like shit... but my board stayed on... and I just ollied off...
> 
> and then I did another one... still not comfortable enough for presses or spins.. but I know I can do them relatively easily... BUT I do feel you, I sat and stared at it for about 15 minutes, but then some betty pops up and is like.. "you going?" ... me, " Uh.. fuck that I'm skurd" ... and then she proceeded to ride it... so I sucked my nuts back out of my ass and went for it...
> 
> because getting shown up by a girl is for man nurse's and strippers, I don't play that shit.


Haha, this made me laugh. I think we all been there. girls and ten year old daredevils make me try things I normally wouldn't.


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## BliND KiNK (Feb 22, 2010)

oh yeah.. but I busted my ass on it today.. so uhm be careful and wear a helmet.. and buttpads if you have them... because my tailbone is sore as shit.. I'm lucky it isn't broken or fractured... that'll show me to be overconfident.


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## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

BliND KiNK said:


> oh yeah.. but I busted my ass on it today.. so uhm be careful and wear a helmet.. and buttpads if you have them... because my tailbone is sore as shit.. I'm lucky it isn't broken or fractured... that'll show me to be overconfident.


So you're saying that tabletop kicked your ass...


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