I can"t pump!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Falcor]

sorry to post another thread on this, but ive searched thru everything and still no success (practiced ALOT too). I really wanna learn, i've been trying to get it down for like five or six days, but those things about weighting and unwieghting and shifting weight and whatnot confuse me...
i've been riding for a while, so its not like im a total noob, but this is the most frustrated i've been in all my longboarding experience, pumping just seems so awesome and kicking sucks!
btw im riding a sector nine cosmic series 34 inch with gullwing trucks and orange khiros.
any tips on something i can think about when i'm practicing so i dont feel like im doing random stuff?
thanks alot, really need help

[loug]

sorry to post another thread on this, but ive searched thru everything and still no success (practiced ALOT too). I really wanna learn, i've been trying to get it down for like five or six days, but those things about weighting and unwieghting and shifting weight and whatnot confuse me...
i've been riding for a while, so its not like im a total noob, but this is the most frustrated i've been in all my longboarding experience, pumping just seems so awesome and kicking sucks!
btw im riding a sector nine cosmic series 34 inch with gullwing trucks and orange khiros.
any tips on something i can think about when i'm practicing so i dont feel like im doing random stuff?
thanks alot, really need help

soft wheels front, harder wheels rear. loose truck front, tight truck rear. weight front foot, shift weight to rear foot while swinging hips like you're doing the holahoop, weight front foot while keeping the holahoop going etc. worked for me.

[MJKam11]

The whole body motion #### is what screwed me up trying to learn, best tip I ever got, try to kick out your back leg with each pump, just make sure you don't do a slide. So basically its like you're trying to slide out everytime you turn, only you keep a lot of weight on your back foot so that you do not lose traction (or a lot of it). Once you understand kicking your back leg out, then you can start with the body movements and then you can focus on almost trying to move the entire board to get it to move, you'll get it once you start to understand what pumping is. Also watch a lot of videos. You'd be surprised that you're doing it once you do, b/c its like hard carving.

[Cann0n]

The whole body motion #### is what screwed me up trying to learn, best tip I ever got, try to kick out your back leg with each pump, just make sure you don't do a slide. So basically its like you're trying to slide out everytime you turn, only you keep a lot of weight on your back foot so that you do not lose traction (or a lot of it). Once you understand kicking your back leg out, then you can start with the body movements and then you can focus on almost trying to move the entire board to get it to move, you'll get it once you start to understand what pumping is. Also watch a lot of videos. You'd be surprised that you're doing it once you do, b/c its like hard carving.

Yeah, I use my back leg a lot if not more than my front. It's all about rhythm. I pump on a S9 Trylam with 3/4 inch risers and chargers. Makes a great pumping setup. Try imitating wild speed wobbles.

[ProStoke]

I taught myself, but if you really can't get it find someone who can to show you what you're doing wrong.

[surfinsmiley]

Your probably most of the way there!

My advice is to find a rally smooth road that is only just steep enough that it would keep you rolling just going straight.

First run kick the board up to speed and see how fast your going when you get to the bottom. OR, where the board just rolls to a stop.

NOW, kick the board up to as fast as you can make it go.
Then carve off the speed so that your slowing the board down. Can Do?
How fast are you going at the bottom OR, did the board stop rolling sooner than the last run when you just went straight?

OK! Next...
Same speed start and try to pump the board down the hill so that your board maintains or if your lucky gains speed.
Did you manage to get the board to go faster than it was going on the first run? OR, did the board roll further down the road before it stopped?

If that all makes sense and even if you get see a tiny bit of difference between the three ways of getting down the hill, well, YOUR ON YOUR WAY!!! Be STOKED.... and keep up the practise.

[afi1014]

I taught myself, but if you really can't get it find someone who can to show you what you're doing wrong.

yup each people has their own style ...

[Freakshow]

im curious as to the soft wheels in the front, hard in the back comment... ive heard that thrown about a bit and wouldnt it be smarter to have softer wheels in the back so as to keep more traction if you do pump too hard?

O.o anways

dude, to learn to pump, i started just doing really small back and forth turns on my board till i eventually gained strength and rythm, you cant learn to pump in days...it takes a while to build up the muscle memory...im trying(and failing atm) to teach myself how to pump switch and im finding it equally or even more hard than you probably are... just keep it up and youll eventually get it

tips...keep your weight distributed evenly on the board-this will prevent you from sliding out
also your back foot surprisingly does alot of work...so push out with your back foot harder than your front.

keep at it!

[pavedwave]

im curious as to the soft wheels in the front, hard in the back comment... ive heard that thrown about a bit and wouldnt it be smarter to have softer wheels in the back so as to keep more traction if you do pump too hard?

I'm guessing that's either an unintentional flip-flop on the words, or else loug is doing some major standing over and powering off the nose! I've always found the softer wheels in back, harder in front best for pumping (powering off the rear truck and just steering the front) but most of the time now I just run the same duro all around, which is better if you pitch into a short slide anyway.

[GrassDiver]

I found my pump in trailing gravity runs where I wanted to maintain my speed, I pump my midsection while alternating force on lead and trail feet to get into a snake like feeling. You can pump from behind a kicktail, or between the trucks, or even front foot on front truck with rear foot inbetween trucks - just goof around with different ways, and stay relaxed. On smaller boards the tempo is faster with feet and hips moving with a bigger offset, on longer boards I like a slower carve pump. Finally, I find smaller stiffer decks with narrow trucks a lot easier to pump. I fall back on tic-tacing when wanting non-push momentum on flats or up hills.

[Crowman]

surfinsmiley gave great advice. I learned on a long slow downhill slope. This lets you keep trying various motions and feel what works (and more ofter what doesn't). Eventually you will be able to string the right movements together, and it will become second nature.

Another suggestion: weighting and unweighting is pretty tough to get right. Long term it is essential, but I found that focusing on twisting my upper body opposite to my lower body more productive early on. Some people call the motion the "washing machine" technique. Swing your arms back and forth and let your feet follow your arms. Once you get some success with this, it is easier to focus on weighting and unweighting.

Also, make sure you have some decent speed when you start to pump. Pumping from low speeds is possible but is tricky.

[afi1014]

This lets you keep trying various motions and feel what works (and more ofter what doesn't). Eventually you will be able to string the right movements together, and it will become second nature.

Another suggestion: weighting and unweighting is pretty tough to get right. Long term it is essential, but I found that focusing on twisting my upper body opposite to my lower body more productive early on. Some people call the motion the "washing machine" technique. Swing your arms back and forth and let your feet follow your arms. Once you get some success with this, it is easier to focus on weighting and unweighting.

Also, make sure you have some decent speed when you start to pump. Pumping from low speeds is possible but is tricky.

this is really good advice.... twisting upper body opposite to lower body is one of the easy way to pump and to learn but tiring to maintain

[loug]

im curious as to the soft wheels in the front, hard in the back comment... ive heard that thrown about a bit and wouldnt it be smarter to have softer wheels in the back so as to keep more traction if you do pump too hard?

O.o anways

dude, to learn to pump, i started just doing really small back and forth turns on my board till i eventually gained strength and rythm, you cant learn to pump in days...it takes a while to build up the muscle memory...im trying(and failing atm) to teach myself how to pump switch and im finding it equally or even more hard than you probably are... just keep it up and youll eventually get it

tips...keep your weight distributed evenly on the board-this will prevent you from sliding out
also your back foot surprisingly does alot of work...so push out with your back foot harder than your front.

keep at it!

tried a lot of different foot positions but the one used was posted ? can't remember, senior moments are arriving by the ups truck loads lately. front foot over front truck, rear foot at about the mid board area. soft wheels front for grip, hard wheels in rear for less grip and maybe a little slide to help with the pump. didn't come up with any of this just reading silverfish and pavedwave.org.

was going to buy a long distance pumping board but have decided to use my scimitar 46" with avila 73a front and maybe 80a+/- on the rear. softest bushings on the front and hardest on the rear. what do you think?

[Bomb303]

tried a lot of different foot positions but the one used was posted ? can't remember, senior moments are arriving by the ups truck loads lately. front foot over front truck, rear foot at about the mid board area. soft wheels front for grip, hard wheels in rear for less grip and maybe a little slide to help with the pump. didn't come up with any of this just reading silverfish and pavedwave.org.

was going to buy a long distance pumping board but have decided to use my scimitar 46" with avila 73a front and maybe 80a+/- on the rear. softest bushings on the front and hardest on the rear. what do you think?

soft in back, hard in front if you run split... You dont want slide in the back for pumping, thats just going to slow you down.

[Crowman]

tried a lot of different foot positions but the one used was posted ? can't remember, senior moments are arriving by the ups truck loads lately. front foot over front truck, rear foot at about the mid board area. soft wheels front for grip, hard wheels in rear for less grip and maybe a little slide to help with the pump. didn't come up with any of this just reading silverfish and pavedwave.org.

was going to buy a long distance pumping board but have decided to use my scimitar 46" with avila 73a front and maybe 80a+/- on the rear. softest bushings on the front and hardest on the rear. what do you think?

Pumping on a drop through will be a little tougher than using a conventional or LDP board. You get better leverage when you are able to put your front foot over the front truck. Also, the lower deck make getting the motion correct a bit more difficult. Nothing you can't overcome, but it will be a bit tougher than on other boards. Once you have the hang of it, it can be fun to pump drop throughs.

[loug]

Pumping on a drop through will be a little tougher than using a conventional or LDP board. You get better leverage when you are able to put your front foot over the front truck. Also, the lower deck make getting the motion correct a bit more difficult. Nothing you can't overcome, but it will be a bit tougher than on other boards. Once you have the hang of it, it can be fun to pump drop throughs.

think the scimitar will stay as a cruiser just emptied the bank account

LYEVOC Landyachtz EVO - 41" - Complete 1 $241.80 $241.80
Coupon: silverfish: ($12.09)

[pavedwave]

.... soft wheels front for grip, hard wheels in rear for less grip and maybe a little slide to help with the pump. didn't come up with any of this just reading silverfish and pavedwave.org.

not on pavedwave.org!

i think perhaps you just got the wheel durometer and bushing durometer thing mixed up here, you said you were prone to senior moments after all

bushings, soft in front, hard in back (as you note in your Scimitar setup)

wheels I would recommend soft in back, hard in front -- BUT -- as I just posted above, I personally have been tending to go with the same durometer wheels all around most of the time, for more predictable sliding.. and I find that in cruising and LDP, the "race setup" is not nearly so critical with regard to different durometer wheels, and choose a slightly softer, more comfortable wheel for the really long rides.

[loug]

not on pavedwave.org!

i think perhaps you just got the wheel durometer and bushing durometer thing mixed up here, you said you were prone to senior moments after all

bushings, soft in front, hard in back (as you note in your Scimitar setup)

wheels I would recommend soft in back, hard in front -- BUT -- as I just posted above, I personally have been tending to go with the same durometer wheels all around most of the time, for more predictable sliding.. and I find that in cruising and LDP, the "race setup" is not nearly so critical with regard to different durometer wheels, and choose a slightly softer, more comfortable wheel for the really long rides.

remember the post also said to watch out for the rear of the board sliding out because of the harder wheels. not an authority on this stuff, hope everyone realizes this. as for me, will try different duros on front and rear and choose what works for mua. wonder if a different duro on each wheel would help?

[pavedwave]

remember the post also said to watch out for the rear of the board sliding out because of the harder wheels.

you kinda lost me there... if you saw hard wheels in back, soft in front, on pavedwave.org somewhere, i'd be really surprised and would need to update the site!

I'm just saying a setup like that would have some limited application, like for someone who really spends a lot of time on the nose of the board, using the front truck to wiggle over and power forward, sliding the back around. but most of the time, its soft wheels back, hard up front. there was only a brief time I remember Brad Jackman testing out hard wheels in back, soft in front when we did cyber slalom experimenting, but he gave it up soon after...

in the end, do what works for ya!

[loug]

you kinda lost me there... if you saw hard wheels in back, soft in front, on pavedwave.org somewhere, i'd be really surprised and would need to update the site!

I'm just saying a setup like that would have some limited application, like for someone who really spends a lot of time on the nose of the board, using the front truck to wiggle over and power forward, sliding the back around. but most of the time, its soft wheels back, hard up front. there was only a brief time I remember Brad Jackman testing out hard wheels in back, soft in front when we did cyber slalom experimenting, but he gave it up soon after...

in the end, do what works for ya!

never said i saw this on pavedwave.org. just said it was read somewhere and mentioned silverfish and pavedwave. might have even been another forum but these are the two i read the most. sorry for any cornfusion.