# Tips for keoping soft knees to absorb bumps/chop



## timmytimmytimmy (Feb 19, 2013)

*Tips for keeping soft knees to absorb bumps/chop*

Hey guys - might seem like a simple question but I find that anytime I start riding more uneven terrain I become less confident. I'm not falling or crashing but I find that I sometimes tend to stiffen up a bit (perhaps in anticipation). Any tips or drills to work on keeping my knees bent/soft and being able to absorb bumps? Or is it really just a matter of more practice?


----------



## LuckyRVA (Jan 18, 2011)

In my experience it just meant more experience and practice. I find the more experienced I get the more confident I am and it shows in my body posture. Keep an athletic stance (knees bent, arms extended but down to your side), try not to flail your arms and let your legs do the work.


----------



## Ken2234 (Feb 15, 2013)

Just keep ridding that technical terrain and your confidence and skill set will improve. Always keep an athletic stance, stay loose. The only tip I have is really learn how to link turns efficiently and quickly. Speed is also a major factor when it comes to advanced terrain. How many years have you been boarding?


----------



## speedjason (May 2, 2013)

keep your knees bent. shift weight back and forth if you are going over some some small hills.


----------



## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

It comes with practice. If you feel that you stiffen your legs, take a short rest, loosen/shake your knees, make some squats n hop. Helps me in neverending mogul runs.


----------



## Casual (Feb 9, 2011)

Get low, get low get low get low...

Seriously though, bend your knees and stay loose. Practice it on easy terrain until your able to turn really easily and quickly using dynamic motions (pumping your knees and turning with your lower body and keeping a calm upper body). Don't bend at the hips though.

The ability to turn very quickly and easily at anytime will help with your confidence on the more difficult terrain.

Lean foward as well, like at least 60% weight on the front foot.


----------



## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

^get low, isolate some of the following skills and then put them together...practice big kitty, little kitty...lol dropping in the knees, learning to move the board under you...instead of you moving over the board (much faster) and keep your upper body compact but dynamic...meaning kind of like boxing...duck and weave with the shoulders and throwing the elbows (not hands...hands get too far away and actually slow the response).


----------



## timmytimmytimmy (Feb 19, 2013)

Thanks - these tips are very helpful. I'll give it some practice over the next few weeks and provide further feedback.

Been boarding for a short while (this is my fourth season) and trying to develop the confidence to ride more uneven terrain.


----------



## speedjason (May 2, 2013)

wrathfuldeity said:


> ^get low, isolate some of the following skills and then put them together...practice big kitty, little kitty...lol dropping in the knees, learning to move the board under you...instead of you moving over the board (much faster) and keep your upper body compact but dynamic...meaning kind of like boxing...duck and weave with the shoulders and throwing the elbows (not hands...hands get too far away and actually slow the response).


whats big kitty, little kitty?


----------



## knoxious (Feb 16, 2012)

I think the line about moving the board underneath you is very good... like, say you are on a billy goat track and you have a quick steep down-and-then-up little hump... on the up bit you're going to want to suck your legs right up, so that your torso stays pretty much where it's at. So you can apply this idea of sucking up your legs (or conversely, pushing your legs away when you find a little drop) to the rest of the terrain you're riding and this helps you not only get through the terrain but also start to use the terrain to gain you speed. 

Hope some of that makes sense (I'm pre coffee right now )


----------



## timmytimmytimmy (Feb 19, 2013)

knoxious said:


> I think the line about moving the board underneath you is very good... like, say you are on a billy goat track and you have a quick steep down-and-then-up little hump... on the up bit you're going to want to suck your legs right up, so that your torso stays pretty much where it's at. So you can apply this idea of sucking up your legs (or conversely, pushing your legs away when you find a little drop) to the rest of the terrain you're riding and this helps you not only get through the terrain but also start to use the terrain to gain you speed.
> 
> Hope some of that makes sense (I'm pre coffee right now )


It makes sense. I was just thinking about my riding and I'm certainly going to work on it - right now I would say my body and board move as one unit, whereas a lot of the tips above relate to riding dynamically.


----------



## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

speedjason said:


> whats big kitty, little kitty?


Go on an easy groomed run and just standing as tall as you can and do a run, then ride as low as you can...really squatting and do a run, then popping up and then dropping down, then up and down really fast/quickly. Sort of the idea you want to be a cat,...very agile, quick and light footed. It kinds a sense of confidence in your board...learn to trust the board.


----------



## linvillegorge (Jul 6, 2009)

Another tip I have is to think ahead. Look where you're going and spot your turns before you get there. I fucking hate having to negotiate mogul fields and avoid it when possible, but occasionally it's just unavoidable. When I hit one, I'm always trying to look ahead and spot my line, spot my turns instead of just flailing through them. If you spot your line, you can find that a shitty mogul field can get a lot easier to negotiate.


----------



## knoxious (Feb 16, 2012)

Dynamic riding, yes, this sums it up really... 

I also used to do some gym prep the month or so before a trip... work d2em quads cuz they're gonna burn up


----------



## CassMT (Mar 14, 2013)

i get lower, at the knees a bit, not the waist...and _re_lax

moguls: when i don't feel like it, but have to, i take it like a giant slalom, there is a flat(ish) line there to be found


----------



## timmytimmytimmy (Feb 19, 2013)

the big kitty little kitty drill sounds particularly helpful - will give it a shot on a nice groomed run next time I'm out


----------



## linvillegorge (Jul 6, 2009)

CassMT said:


> moguls: when i don't feel like it, but have to, i take it like a giant slalom, there is a flat(ish) line there to be found


Yep. :thumbsup:


----------



## ShredLife (Feb 6, 2010)

first thing is a big ol wide cowboy stance. even if your bindings aren't set wide you should almost be consciously thinking about bowing your knees out. this will get you "low" but in a good way that gives you stability and lets you spring back quickly.

then try holding your pants on your lead leg with your lead hand. this gets you to keep your lead shoulder "at home" as well as promotes the cowboy stance. you want your lead shoulder at home because you really want to be standing sideways on the board. NOT facing forward with your body turned at the hips. your body should be all in line with the board, with your head turned 90* to your chest - looking over your shoulder. 

you can always break from this stance to flail your lead arm as needed, but you should really be doing the majority of your counter-balancing with your rear arm. let it trail back behind you and counter naturally.

every so often you'll hit a bump that tosses you up and lands you on your toe edge and this stance is great for letting you just sort of turn your head/shoulder back down the mt to land on that toe edge. if you're opened up and facing down the mt with your chest you cant really do this and maintain your speed and power. the heel edge will do it naturally. 

*keep your lead shoulder and arm in line with your board and body and legs; keep your head snapped over your shoulder and looking down the hill at 90*; cowboy legs. *


----------



## ShredLife (Feb 6, 2010)

CassMT said:


> i get lower, at the knees a bit, not the waist...and _re_lax
> 
> *moguls: when i don't feel like it, but have to, i take it like a giant slalom, there is a flat(ish) line there to be found*


this and running speedcheck shifties right over the top of em.


----------



## baldylox (Dec 27, 2007)

I've found that locked legs are largely fitness related. Wall squats, jump squats, back squats help a lot.


----------



## jdang307 (Feb 6, 2011)

I bend at the knees, keep back straight as possible, keep ankles loose. Think of your legs as suspension or shock absorbers.


----------



## Ken2234 (Feb 15, 2013)

ShredLife said:


> this and running speedcheck shifties right over the top of em.




Lol :thumbsup:


----------



## nillo (Dec 18, 2013)

what Baldylox said.

squats, squats, and more squats.


----------



## speedjason (May 2, 2013)

ShredLife said:


> this and running speedcheck shifties right over the top of em.


haha :thumbsup:
must kick it deep and hard.


----------



## stillz (Jan 5, 2010)

Keep practicing, do squats, and start simple. I usually introduce bumps by just having people traverse across bump fields. The only task is to absorb them smoothly by being loose in the legs. Maintaining board to snow contact is key. Get confident with that before trying to zip through the entire bump field.


----------



## timmytimmytimmy (Feb 19, 2013)

Been working on it...definitely getting better, especially at bending my knees. 

Any tips on how to bend knees more on the heel side? My knees (if I try) can get pretty bent on my toe side but I know they just dont bend as much on the heel side even though it feels like I'm trying just as much.


----------



## ThisIsSnow (Dec 7, 2013)

i don't have anything particularly new to add, but I just wanted to add my two cents worth because I had the same problem and just figured out how to solve it.

Like Jed mentioned to me in another thread, every beginner goes through the phase where they think they are bending their knees, but it's never low enough. I had problems going too fast down black/hard blue runs because at high speeds any bumps would cause my board to skip and jump about, causing me to skid uncontrollably or catch an edge. 

I actually solved this problem completely by accident while trying to carve deeper on steep terrain. I was feeling pain in my arches from toeside carves, and I knew that I needed better insoles (which are coming in the mail in 2 days), but I would be in such amazing pain that I thought something else must be wrong. 

Basically I realized that I was digging in my edge by pushing my toes down as if I was tiptoeing, which was causing all sorts of problems like heel lift and arch pain. I recall reading somewhere that you should push the shin of your foot forwards instead of trying to push your toes down, and so I tried that. And boy did it feel good! The arch pain went away, and as a bonus I found that by doing so I got lower to the ground than just "bending my knees" and was suddenly able to absorb all the random bumps.

TLDR: bend your knees more. If it helps don't think of it as squatting, but think of it as pushing the shin of your foot forwards. Try this on your toeside first, and then apply the same technique to your heelside. This will help with edging as well as get you lower to the ground. Once you've tried it out and experienced how much smoother you ride is, you'll remember that body position for future reference.

(i'm speaking from personal experience as a beginner, so if this info is wrong someone more qualified should feel free to chip in.)


----------



## baldylox (Dec 27, 2007)

You are spot on, ThisIsSnow.


----------



## Varza (Jan 6, 2013)

@ThisIsSnow - yep, I learned the same thing in a lesson this year and now it feels SOOOOO much better :yahoo:

As for fitness, I've found that in my case, the problem was "forgetting" to bend my knees. I do plenty of weighted squats, but that didn't seem to help me; it was actually my brain that was failing...


----------



## Jed (May 11, 2011)

To add to what's already been said, also work on anticipation and watching what bumps are coming up ahead of you.

Besides bending your knees, the key to absorbing those bumps/chop properly is getting used to watching the ground ahead of you and knowing when you need to extend/compress your legs so you don't get jolted off balance by having stiff legs at the wrong time. So you should be looking just slightly ahead of you and thinking: "Here's a bump coming up I have to get ready to legs my legs extend/compress and absorb the bump".

A lot of riding bumps/chop is just getting used to going from extending your legs to compressing them again as your legs go between stiff and loose, as you go over different bumps to use your legs like shock absorbers that extend and contract again.

Then as you get better you're able to make your body react quicker and quicker so that you don't get surprised or jolted off balance by a series of bumps/chop because you'll always be watching one step ahead knowing when the bump is coming and how your body needs to react.

As for your question on heelside bending, think of it like sitting on a chair and pressuring into your highbacks with your calves. If you want to force yourself to keep your knees more bent, put on a lot of forward lean on your bindings. This will force you to keep your legs bend and also allow you to get on your heelside edge easier (you can always lower the forward lean later once you're more used to keeping your knees bent).


----------



## 808filth (Nov 7, 2013)

As the others said, "stay loose and stay low" centering your gravity will help you stay put and if you stay loose your legs kinda go with the flow. I can't give you much advice because I am a beginner, but I have ride on choppy slopes and from what I know stay loose but focused is your best bet.


----------

