Subject: Lane Dawg’s Cure for the Slumping Line Front Stepovers!
“Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.”
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”
-Albert Einstein
I am going to answer an advanced question that was recently submitted to me. Please feel free to email me your questions for another round of “Barefoot Band-Aids” which I will publish in ten days. Remember to submit a two-sentence question and I will publish two sentence answers. Please include “Barefoot Band-Aids” in the subject line. I will also post the results on my site at https://thefootersedge.com/barefootbandaides.htm
“Lane I am sick and tired of watching your line fronts on the video (footers edge instructional) which I bought several years ago.
Still having probs with the line front.
I can ride in the back line position standing on one foot but don’t know where my hands/knuckles should be? Ron Scarpa says the wrists should be against the thigh, and yet everyone else looks like it’s different. Where and what should I be doing with the line front. Should I be practicing one foot back to front turns for the line front?
Mike Seiple gave me some great advice when I was at your stage that I believe to be my first course of action with my students. He encouraged me to learn my one-foot turns before even messing with my line turns. I took his advice and mastered my line-turns much easier. I find that when I could do one-foot turns to the front feet-to-feet, then the line turns where almost identical.
I do not want this to make you think that they came without paying my dues! I did literally thousands of one-foot turns and line turns on shoe-skis (I DO recommend my Dawg Paws that you can order them from me directly!) before ever attempting them on my feet. I had all the muscle memory developed before ever attempting them on my feet.
I feel that too many people scare themselves so badly, and THEN try to find out how to correct the problem. Take the longer and safer route, which I described above, and I PROMISE you will be emailing me with your success story!
But I digress. To answer your question, I try to always get my knuckles of the hand on the handle pressed into the step-over leg. Specifically, I try to press them where the hamstring muscle ends and the quadricep muscles start! Then keep the free hand with your palm at face level, fingers fully extended, and the elbow in.
When you are ready to step over the rope, remember the most important rule in surface turns.NEVER TURN WITH THE UPPER BODY FIRST. Always let your upper body follow the lower body!
I like to start with a very slight compression in my knees and hips making sure not to bend over. I hold the upper body quite and step over slowly making sure my heel moves directly towards my butt and that the step over leg stays as close to the rope as possible. Try to land in a one-foot one-hand position without grabbing for the handle.
This is critical to practice properly on land and then the Dawg Paws before ever getting onto your feet. Remember to have your muscle memory dialed in from repetition of perfection. Just making a step-over on your shoes does not count. You have to make it perfectly hundreds if not thousands of times if you want to approach it on your feet with total confidence!
“Don’t get off the porch and try to run with the big dawgs unless you have your Puppy Paws!”-Lanemus Maximus circa 1996
I really work hard on these articles to help you to become the best barefoot water skier you can be. Please do me a favor and forward this to some of your footin’ friends and encourage them to sign-up. I have made it easy for you. All you have to do is “cut and paste” the segment below. Email your friends and c.c me at lane@lanedawg.com .
“When the time to perform arrives, the time to prepare has passed.”-Unknown artist Backwards barefooting “True enjoyment comes from activity of the mind and exercise of the body; the two are united.”-Alexander von Humboldt “The key to safe and rapid acceleration of the learning process comes from understanding that your mind doesn't recognize the difference [...]
“If to please the people, we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterward defend our work? Let us raise to a standard to which the wise and honest can repair.” -George Washington “For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we can learn by doing them.” -Aristotle From: …
“People think there are great mysteries connected with this game, but there are not. It is just teaching fundamentals, teaching players how to do the right things the right way.” –Paul Brown NFL Coach, General Manager and Owner “Don’t mistake activity for achievement-practice it the right way.” –John Wooden College Basketball Coach “Being …
Foot Ski
Subject: Lane Dawg’s Cure for the Slumping Line Front Stepovers!
“Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.”
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”
-Albert Einstein
I am going to answer an advanced question that was recently submitted to me. Please feel free to email me your questions for another round of “Barefoot Band-Aids” which I will publish in ten days. Remember to submit a two-sentence question and I will publish two sentence answers. Please include “Barefoot Band-Aids” in the subject line. I will also post the results on my site at https://thefootersedge.com/barefootbandaides.htm
“Lane I am sick and tired of watching your line fronts on the video (footers edge instructional) which I bought several years ago.
Still having probs with the line front.
I can ride in the back line position standing on one foot but don’t know where my hands/knuckles should be? Ron Scarpa says the wrists should be against the thigh, and yet everyone else looks like it’s different. Where and what should I be doing with the line front. Should I be practicing one foot back to front turns for the line front?
Look forward to hearing from ya
Regards
Bart”
Bart, I am glad you asked this question and I am going to give you the best advice I know how. Also, please review my article at https://thefootersedge.com/equipment/articles_listed.html entitled “NFTE#26 Line-step One-foots & Hops“
Mike Seiple gave me some great advice when I was at your stage that I believe to be my first course of action with my students. He encouraged me to learn my one-foot turns before even messing with my line turns. I took his advice and mastered my line-turns much easier. I find that when I could do one-foot turns to the front feet-to-feet, then the line turns where almost identical.
I do not want this to make you think that they came without paying my dues! I did literally thousands of one-foot turns and line turns on shoe-skis (I DO recommend my Dawg Paws that you can order them from me directly!) before ever attempting them on my feet. I had all the muscle memory developed before ever attempting them on my feet.
I feel that too many people scare themselves so badly, and THEN try to find out how to correct the problem. Take the longer and safer route, which I described above, and I PROMISE you will be emailing me with your success story!
But I digress. To answer your question, I try to always get my knuckles of the hand on the handle pressed into the step-over leg. Specifically, I try to press them where the hamstring muscle ends and the quadricep muscles start! Then keep the free hand with your palm at face level, fingers fully extended, and the elbow in.
The hand is a guide that your face will follow. Learning to ski “bouncy trouncy” (https://thefootersedge.com/traumacenter/info/ne17.htm) in this position is a huge help. The upper body should be in the position I describe for back toeholds on my video (https://thefootersedge.com/videos)
When you are ready to step over the rope, remember the most important rule in surface turns.NEVER TURN WITH THE UPPER BODY FIRST. Always let your upper body follow the lower body!
Critical info and additional reading about Lane Dawg Bower’s Clock Theory of Turns at https://thefootersedge.com/traumacenter/info/ne39.htm
I like to start with a very slight compression in my knees and hips making sure not to bend over. I hold the upper body quite and step over slowly making sure my heel moves directly towards my butt and that the step over leg stays as close to the rope as possible. Try to land in a one-foot one-hand position without grabbing for the handle.
This is critical to practice properly on land and then the Dawg Paws before ever getting onto your feet. Remember to have your muscle memory dialed in from repetition of perfection. Just making a step-over on your shoes does not count. You have to make it perfectly hundreds if not thousands of times if you want to approach it on your feet with total confidence!
“Don’t get off the porch and try to run with the big dawgs unless you have your Puppy Paws!”-Lanemus Maximus circa 1996
I really work hard on these articles to help you to become the best barefoot water skier you can be. Please do me a favor and forward this to some of your footin’ friends and encourage them to sign-up. I have made it easy for you. All you have to do is “cut and paste” the segment below. Email your friends and c.c me at lane@lanedawg.com .
Related Posts
Resistance Theory of Barefooting- Backwards Barefooting
360 Front-to-Front
“If to please the people, we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterward defend our work? Let us raise to a standard to which the wise and honest can repair.” -George Washington “For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we can learn by doing them.” -Aristotle From: …
Barefoot Band-Aids #2
“People think there are great mysteries connected with this game, but there are not. It is just teaching fundamentals, teaching players how to do the right things the right way.” –Paul Brown NFL Coach, General Manager and Owner “Don’t mistake activity for achievement-practice it the right way.” –John Wooden College Basketball Coach “Being …