# how to maintain aerial balance when attempting huge air



## zenboarder (Mar 5, 2009)

It's really hard to tell what you did wrong from a helmet cam :\ Get someone else to video tape you. Anyways from the little I can see from the video it looks like you started flailing your arms most likely due to you not poping from the lip and not sucking up your knees to your chest. I would really guess another problem you are having is you are likely trying to go off the jump on a flat base. Either way it's not too huge a jump so even if you case it's not a big deal.

That's my educated guess from the little you can tell on the helmet cam. Would be really helpful to see your body and not what you are looking at


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## Technine Icon (Jan 15, 2009)

As said previously, its hard to tell with that camera angle. My guess is that you were leaning slightly back and the pop of the lip caused you to go back even further(also known as being in the backseat) When people are to far back in the air, they will flap(also known as rolling down the windows) their arms to try to regain balance. The best advice is to take a few setup turns, them point the board straight, square up your shoulders to the board, keeped your weight centered, as you come off the lip, suck your legs up which will make you more stable, keep your eye on the landing, and finally extend your legs and then bend your knees when landing.


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## Birk (Jan 28, 2009)

use your front hand to point in the direction of your trajectory. It looks dumb as hell, but keeps your shoulders squared. Good luck!


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## rasmasyean (Jan 26, 2008)

jegnorge said:


> sometimes i make it and sometimes i don't. usually i lose balance when i approach the ramp at a speed that's a little outside of my comfort zone. but i need that speed to clear the whole jump.


No need for a video that doesn't show anything like others said.

This is your problem. Get used to faster speeds (and landing at them). Or hit smaller jumps you can clear stably.

If you know you hit or miss "randomly" like that and still do it. You are asking for a ski patrol strecher. Just because it's not a 60 footer doesn't mean it's completely safe to screw arround with.


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## jegnorge (Feb 15, 2010)

rasmasyean said:


> No need for a video that doesn't show anything like others said.
> 
> This is your problem. Get used to faster speeds (and landing at them). Or hit smaller jumps you can clear stably.
> 
> If you know you hit or miss "randomly" like that and still do it. You are asking for a ski patrol strecher. Just because it's not a 60 footer doesn't mean it's completely safe to screw arround with.


yeah all the other smaller jumps i can do no problem. cuz the transitions are very short and the angle isn't as high so i can handle it. i can just about over shot all the smaller ones and land fine. i think the ones i have issues with are the 20-30ft jumps with about 10-15ft drop.


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## SchultzLS2 (Jan 10, 2010)

I noticed it seems like you are actually going too fast for that jump. Your almost clearing the landing ramp completely. You should be landing on the top third of it. But what I THINK is that it looks like you left from the lip going a little to the right on an angle and tried to land going straight, which is impossible. Take off crooked, land crooked. You can't change your trajectory mid-air because the only force you have acting on you is gravity.

So pay attention one more time. Looks like you took off going slightly right, saw the landing ramp, wanted to land straight so you tried to turn your board and change your flight pattern, realized you were going right no matter what, and ate shit since you just didnt keep your board cocked a little that way.


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## rasmasyean (Jan 26, 2008)

jegnorge said:


> yeah all the other smaller jumps i can do no problem. cuz the transitions are very short and the angle isn't as high so i can handle it. i can just about over shot all the smaller ones and land fine. i think the ones i have issues with are the 20-30ft jumps with about 10-15ft drop.


Then go faster on a trail and pop / ollie and land. Idealy find one that has a lot of drops and jump over them at ever faster speeds.


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## Guest (Feb 22, 2010)

indy grab and see if that helps u keep from flailing. just don't be scared really. fear is the biggest cause of wrecks that i'm involved in. just have to commit


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## Guest (Mar 3, 2010)

Like what the previous post sayz, you came up at an angle. Try instead of making a straight cut for the jump make a long, but quick carve right away to kinda give u a little extra speed into it. Also grab. Grab, grab, grab!!!! I'm trying to teach my friend that grabbing gives you air stability. Doing a 90 degree turn in the air isn't bad, you can always pull back. In fact 9 times outa 10 I turn 90, and pull a tweaked out stale, or melon, or even Truck Driver. I can't spin, I can do a front side 180 off a kicker, or a switch BS 180 on the ground. Thats my limit of spins, just so you can get my exp. I don't spin, so me doin a 90 and bringin it back is pretty sick. Like I said, GRAB!!!!! Even when your flappin (rollin down the windows) you can still get a grab and even back out. I've done it a number of times. Also, if you miss the grab, try again somewhere else quickly. Sometime's I'll miss method, and pull out indy. BIG Difference, but you kinda get what I'm talking about.
Sorry, I am a ramblin man. Also it looked like you were on your heal edge before you took off, u can tell u were leaned forward a little which is good, but the 2nd u were deffinatly leanin back, on your heal edge. So you started to spin before you even left the launch. If you spin on purpose it's easier to get back, If some thing makes you spin, u have no way to fight.

My 2 cents


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## Dextersmom (Mar 25, 2009)

this thread helped me a ton...every year i have the same problem when getting back into it...I always forget to grab cuz i get spooked on the the takeoff and grabbing really does help with stability..plus it gives you something else to focus on instead of being fixed on being spooked about the air.


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