Barefoot Skiing Outside the Wake, Part II of II

Posted on March 7, 2012 | Leave a comment

Create the Perfect Butt-Glide Position

for Barefoot Skiing

Barefoot Skiing Butt Glide

At The Footer’s Edge Barefoot Skiing Center, when getting into the perfect barefoot skiing butt-glide position, it’s important to follow the steps that I’ve outlined below:

Learn to Change Directions – Learn how to change directions while in the butt glide position (so you can plant your feet in your three-point position in the calm water outside the wake!)
Keep your Knees Straight and Together – When in the butt glide position, have your knees completely straight with either one or both feet on the rope. Keep your knees together in order to keep water out of your face.
Watch Your Handle Position – The handle needs to remain into your hips until your feet touch the water in your three-point position and only then can your handle come out in front of your knees.

NOTE: Small kids and women may need to keep the handle AT their knees in the three-points. Also for BIG DUDES – 220-380 lbs.; keep your handle further out from your hips to counterbalance your weight.

Keep Knees Below the Rope – It is absolutely critical that your legs remain completely straight so that your knees are never above the rope while in the butt glide position. A bent knee is the beginning of many troubles … trust me on this.
Keep Feet and Head in Proportion – Another huge tip for added control is to make sure your feet and head are the same distance from the water. This creates stability, keeping your weight balanced.
Stay Balanced – Avoid the rollover. Rolling-over in the butt glide position happens if you’re not balanced.
Keep Your Heel Under the Rope – Be sure to NEVER put your heel over the rope; only place your foot arch on the rope. This will keep your knees together and below the rope. If you rollover AND have your heels or ankles crossed on the rope, when the handle comes out of your hands, it will smash your feet because it can’t get away.

If you rollover like this, it can make you feel as if you have broken bones in your feet from the impact … but usually, it’s just a nasty contusion. The only exception to having your heel over the rope is when you are wearing shoe skis. In this case, put only one heel over the rope and keep the other off and straight.

Checking Outside the Wake – The Perfect Butt-Glide

Now that you’ve found your new and improved position, think of the wake as a big bowl were you want to gain enough momentum to get up and out.

As soon as you can sit-up into your butt-glide position, begin leaning to the left to build momentum to the left. (I usually tell kids to fart to the left to go left, fart to the right to go right.)

Do not try to get out on your first attempt. Simply start the momentum and then as soon as it dies, fart in the other direction. With two or three goes at building-up your edging speed you will be able to checkout to the trick curl.

Getting Outside the Wake without Going Over

If you start way off to one side instead of directly behind the boat, you can get one swing in and get right outside – or even better – get outside of the wake without having to go over it!

I hope this helps. If you need more help, I suggest that you also try a layer of SlickFeet50.

Barefoot Skiing Outside the Wake, Part I of II; Equipment, Speed and Positioning

Posted on March 2, 2012 | Leave a comment

Barefoot Skiing Equipment,

Speed and Positioning

Barefoot Skiing Speed, Posture and Equipment

The addictive challenge to barefoot skiing is to ski that perfect pass where everything flows without the awareness of power and precision.

To achieve this elusive pass requires facing dangers others are not willing to face . . . and prevail where others are not willing to sacrifice. Having the right barefoot skiing equipment, speed and positing in place will play a crucial part in your success.

The passion to ride the adrenaline rush of victory over fear on our way to the next greater challenge parallels life in that the successful confrontation of fear defines our existence. – Lanemus Maximus, circa 2001

Today I’m going to share an email that my friend Parker sent a while back about the position of the handle and when to move it forward to keep from falling:

Hey Lane,

I’ve got a question and maybe you can help. Whenever I hit the stern rollers, I end up falling to either one side or the other. Actually, the other day I really hurt my foot when I lost my balance and my foot got nailed by the handle. Anyways, I believe that it has something to do with the position of the handle because I have been holding it against my hips for the start, but then I am supposed to move it forward, right? I just don’t know when to do this and where to hold it, exactly. Hope to hear from you soon, thanks a lot. – Parker Burke

Below is a summary of my response to Parker:

A. Check Your Equipment

1. Rope: Be sure to use a barefoot no-stretch rope so there is no bouncing when using a poly-propylene rope (a wally rope that both skiers and tubers can use).

2. Handle: A barefoot handle – like a slalom handle – is 15 inches long instead of 12. This gives you better balance, unless you are a small child. For children it’s better to use a 12-inch jump handle.

3. Wetsuit: Here is no place to skimp on money. It is critical that you use a great barefoot suit and full wrap shorts.

4. A Fly High: This entire maneuver is tremendously easier with a high pull

B. Be Sure to Check Your Boat Speed

This is one of the most common mistakes people make. Be sure the driver keeps the boat speed at 25mph or less until you’re proficient at checking outside the wake.

C. Watch Your Positions

Now that you are on a level playing field with the best chance for success because you took the time to choose the right barefoot skiing equipment, and you understand that you need to pay attention to boat speed and your body’s positioning, in Part II we’re going to cover how to further position yourself for achieving the perfect butt-glide.

Look for it in Barefoot Skiing Outside the Wake, Part II; Finding the Perfect Butt-Glide, coming up next!

Until then, don’t forget in everything you do to . . . Expect a Miracle!!

Part I

Learn How to Do World-Class Tumble Turns in 20 Minutes!

Posted on February 29, 2012 | Leave a comment

Are You Ready to Learn How to

Barefoot Water Ski?

I’ve made a video for you, showing you how do a great butt glide while keeping the handle all the way into your waist (in combination with other things you’ll learn in this video). After you’ve mastered that technique, you’ll be ready for No-Feet Tumbles (or Windshield Wipers, as I call them for newbies)!

Master this easy step-by-step technique and you’ll be doing world-class tumble turns, learning to barefoot water ski before you know it!

Never forget to . . . Expect a Miracle!!

Barefoot Skiing Turns; The Clock Theory of Turns; Part III

Posted on February 23, 2012 | Leave a comment

Barefoot Skiing Turns

The Perfect Barefoot Skiing Turns – Now It’s Your Turn!

Positioning is one of the most important things you can do if you want to execute successful barefoot skiing turns, and it’s something we ask our students to work on often here atThe Footer’s Edge Training Center and Barefoot Skiing School in Winter Haven, FL.

Tips for the Perfect Barefoot Front-to-Back

Make sure that your shoulders stay back during the turn.
Bring the handle closer to your body by rolling your shoulders back and then pushing your chest forward until your biceps are squeezed into your ribs. This gives you the feel of the pull coming through your hips. If you were to allow your elbows to move away from your ribs, you’d have problems turning your upper-body ahead of your hips!
Do your best to execute a turn that’s slow and powerful. Both can be accomplished by using your hips!
What makes the turn technically easier is that it is not necessary to go up and down nearly as much as when you perform the Two-Foot, Front-to-Back; instead, you only need to lower your butt no more than 6-inches to set your rhythm. (see News From THE EDGE, issue 15).
Never allow your body to rise above the perfect position.

Always turn with a squeeze in your hips while pushing your butt out in the back position. NOTE: When you turn too quickly, that will make it next to impossible to accomplish.

And just remember, the Back-to-Front barefoot skiing turn will always be more difficult than the Front-to-Back because the temptation to bend over as you come to the front will be greater.

(By the way, have I told you about your ‘Clock-Type’ turn?)

How to Perform the Lane “Dawg” Bowers’ Clock Turn

This is very cool and I have to share it with you. If you can master this technique, it can put you head and shoulders above everyone else on your lake this summer!

Pretend that while in the backwards barefoot position you are standing on the face of a clock with feet at the center and your chin directly over 12 o’clock. (It’s a common mistake a lot of barefooters make while performing the Back-to-Front; they allow their heads to circle on around, as if following a clock from 12 o’clock to 1 o’clock and then to 2, 3 and 4. This can even work going in the opposite direction in the same manner.
Instead, to execute this exercise correctly, be sure to turn so that your head never leaves the 12 o’clock position throughout the entire turn. This way, when you get to the front, the back of your head will be over the 12 o’clock position instead.

If you can accomplish this, you will have turned with your hips and kept your upper-body quiet! Let me know if that doesn’t make sense.

Soon you’ll begin to realize that the better you master your Front-to-Backs and Backs-to-Fronts, the more you will begin to see how very similar the two positions are.

The 5 Keys to the Back-to-Front

By concentrating on your form from top to bottom, you will realize how critical it is to maintain your ‘shoulder roll’ (a position of the shoulder blades held back and pinched) and the ‘meat-hook’ (standing with your ribs lifted up and expanded) throughout the entire turn. Yes, barefoot skiing turns can look difficult, but when you break them down the right way, they can be easy!

Never reach around for the handle; it will create a situation where your upper-body has to move first.
Moving SLOWLY, SLOWLY, SLOWLY will keep the TURN in the HIPS.
Fight to keep your posture perfect!
Fight to keep your elbow into your ribs!
Make it down here to ‘Paradise’ to ensure your success!

Barefoot Skiing Turns – Soon You’ll Master the Skill!

It might seem difficult to do all these things at the same time, but as you practice it will become easier to do and consequently, you’ll begin to notice that you can self-analyze your turns as you become more aware of the percentage of times you’ve maintained perfect form while releasing the handle during your turns.

Please be sure and e-mail me with your progress. I am Expecting a Miracle for You . . .and you should be expecting one, too!

Part III

Barefoot Skiing Turns – The Clock Theory of Turns; Part II

Posted on February 21, 2012 | Leave a comment

Successful Barefoot Skiing Turns

Begin with Good Positioning!

No matter how many times I help people perform One-Foot barefoot skiing turns, I can almost bank on the fact that the skier thinks their starting position is great, but I’ll be spending the majority of the lesson correcting that position; same goes for their Back One-Foot position.

Without going into the quintessential basics of Posture, Glide and The Power Band, I will go over what I believe to be the Keys to Success.

Which is an Easier Barefooting Skiing Turn –

the Two-Foot or the One-Foot?

Contrary to Two-Foot turns, the One-Foot Front-to-Back is easier to perform than the One-Foot Back-to-Front, so that’s the approach we’re going to take.

The good news is, One-Foot turns are technically easier to maneuver than Two-Foot turns, as there is less motion in the set-ups; the bad news – or challenge?! – is that the boat speed must be faster, as the total surface area on the water will be less.

The Keys to a Successful Barefoot Skiing Turn

Once proper positioning has been established – and I cannot stress enough how this will most likely the area that needs the most correction – the keys to executing a successful clock turn will be:

The Position of the Handle
Maintaining a Quiet Upper-Body (see News From THE EDGE, issue 15)
The Squeeze (see News From THE EDGE, issue 6)

It’s ALL in the Barefoot Skiing Turn

When performing a Front-to-Back barefoot skiing turn, you must make a slow turn from your hips. The biggest temptation will be to turn with your head and hands. If you want a great One-Foot turn, then you need to keep your head and upper-body quiet while allowing the turn to come from the hips! To do this, make sure your shoulders and head stay further back than your hips at all times while in the front position.

Tips for Making the Perfect Barefoot Skiing Turn

One of the best ways to get the feeling of turning with your hips is to hold a medium-size Gatorade bottle between your legs, as high up as possible, then learn how to turn without dropping the bottle. (This is much easier if you practice it on Puppy Paws or Foot Skis first.)

When you are comfortable with the turn, try perfecting it by making sure the one foot you have in the air remains stationary, and that you can rotate it without swinging from side to side.

Next in the Barefoot Skiing Turns – the Clock Theory of Turns, Parts I through III, we’re going to cover Part III; How to Perform the Lane Dawg Bowers Clock Turn and The 5 Keys to the Back-to-Front . . . stay tuned!

Part II

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