<b>Learning to "pump" a skateboard is the foundation of slalom. it is one of the hardest skills you need to master to become a slalom racer. Street skating has the Ollie...Slalom skating has pumping... both require practice and trial and error. I'll be adding information into this thread from the web and top riders as to how to master the technique of pumping. If after reading the information posted here you have a question about said information ask it here.
-ur13</b>
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Chris Stepanek on 2003-05-09 17:29 ]</font>
Pumping 101, the foundation of slalom
Moderator: Karl Floitgraf
-
Guest
<b>Editor's Note: This is one of the best articles on the web about learning to pump a skateboard.</b>
Learning to Propel Yourself with Turns
(a.k.a. Pumping, Power-Turning, or Gyrating)
By: Daniel Gesmer
Propelling yourself with turns ("pumping", "power-turning", or "gyrating") is an extremely subtle technique. It is based on very precise, balanced, and rhythmical weight shifts. When done well, pumping looks almost effortless. For that reason, beginners do not readily appreciate the skill involved. Yet power-turning is one of the most difficult skills you can learn on a skateboard. Further, it is one of the best examples of using a skateboard to "skate" in the purest sense of the term — to glide powerfully. Also, it is one of the best teachers of true style.
Power-turning is also known as gyrating because, when done properly, your body and your skateboard will be gyrating relative to one another. In other words, your body will be rotating in one direction above your skateboard, while below you the skateboard will, relative to your body, be moving rotationally in the opposite direction.
In biomechanical terms, pumping is one of the most complex techniques that can be performed on a skateboard. A very elaborate explanation is called for here. Read carefully, and try to visualize what your read.
The trucks on your skateboard must be loose enough to steer easily (though as you improve you should try to keep your trucks tighter — you’ll have more power that way). To start pumping, you must get yourself going a little bit faster than what your top speed would be if you kick-turned from a dead stop on flat ground — about 4-5 mph. This is approximately the right velocity to begin pumping for most riders on most skateboards. Due to the limitations of current truck designs, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to gyrate at slower speeds.
Slalom racing is basically the art of gyrating as fast as possible while weaving through a series of cones or gates. Slalom racers usually use very specialized equipment, and a very special stance. Called a semi-parallel stance, it is half-way between a standard surf-style position and a parallel ski-style position. If you would like to power-turn on a street, vertical, or freestyle board, and if you would like to integrate gyrating with other moves on varied terrains, I recommend that you use a conventional surf-style stance.
Stand as though you were going to traverse (turn back and forth). Keep your rear foot forward of the tail, right on top of the rear truck, or slightly forward of it, so that you will have the best leverage on the steering mechanism. Your rear foot should be at a 90-degree angle to the longitudinal axis of the board, or angled very slightly forward. Your front foot should be angled forward between 15 and 30 degrees, and placed above or slightly behind the front truck, according to your preference. Ride with your knees bent, back straight, arms relaxed and extended. Your pelvis should be turned slightly forward, so that it is square with your front foot. This slight
forward twist should continue up your spine, so that you can face where you’re going. Your weight should be spread fairly evenly. Your knees should bend straight over the feet so that no undue strain is placed on them. Don’t pronate your ankles, either, as this places them at greater risk of injury and robs your movements of balance and power.
Remember that as you bend your legs to lower your center-of-gravity, it becomes increasingly important, and increasingly difficult, not to slouch. The following images may help you keep your back straight while bending your knees. Think of lifting your upper body out of your hips, by scooping your abdomen in and up from the groin level. Try to feel your body weight pressing straight up from your heels, and imagine a cord pulling your head toward the sky.
Before I go any further, it is necessary for you to understand what is meant by "weighting" and "un-weighting" (also known as "compressing" and "de-compressing"). This is extremely important not just for power-turning, but for virtually all high-performance techniques and situations. By and large, the most powerful and skillful skateboarders in the world are those who have thoroughly mastered weighting and un-weighting. Weighting means just what it implies — putting weight onto your skateboard, more even then your actual body weight. You can do this on flats by letting your weight start to drop, and then catching yourself and quickly pushing back upward. When you pump down a transition, you are weighting your board. Weighting also increases traction, and so helps you to steer quickly in high-speed situations.
Un-weighting means taking weight off of your board. This is not a jump, but a matter of slightly lifting your body — so that it is momentarily suspended, with no weight flowing through your legs. You can start un-weighting by pushing up with your legs, but to add length and control to the weight-less phase you must follow through with your abdomen. Try to learn how to stretch your stomach upward very quickly and forcefully after a slight leg thrust. Un-weighting is essential for skating up transitions and for maneuvers such as power slides. You must take your weight off of your wheels before they will let go.
A good place to practice weighting and un-weighting is on a bathroom scale (non-digital variety). This will give you a direct indication of your success. If you are weighting properly, you will see the needle swing far beyond your actual body weight. If you are un-weighting properly, you should see the needle swing toward zero, even though your feet are still on the scale. Of course, you will find that it is impossible to weight without first un-weighting, or to un-weight without first weighting (unless you allow yourself to free-fall). This is the way it should be, because when you are actually skating, weighting and un-weighting work together.
When you are practicing on your bathroom scale, try to gain control of how fast the needle swings. Depending on the situation, you need to be able to weight and un-weight at different speeds. For instance, on a large ramp, you would want to compress and de-compress more slowly than you would on a small ramp.
Now, back to power-turning. It is absolutely essential that you center the pumping action in your pelvis, or hips. It will help if you imagine that your lower abdomen is the strongest part of your body. This idea may seem very confusing at first, but with time it will become comfortable and natural. Try pretending that you have a nuclear reactor at your center-of-gravity, exploding with energy.
It will be easier for you to understand and learn gyrating if I break it into two parts: pumping front-side and pumping back-side. When you are really gyrating, though, the two merge into a single technique.
The names that are used to designate turns on a skateboard depend on where the turns are done: on flat surfaces or on banked/vertical terrains. For example, turning toward the front of your body on a flat surface is usually called a "front-side" turn, because you are turning toward your front. On banked and vertical terrains the terminology is reversed, for reasons relating to the surfing origins of skateboard bank-riding. For example, a kick-turn toward the front of your body would be called "back-side" on a ramp, since in the middle of it your back is toward the wall. In this article I will use the standard terminology for flat-ground turns, since power-turns are almost always done on flat or slightly-sloped downhill surfaces.
To learn to pump front-side (toward the front of your body), begin by carving a back-side turn. (During a back-side turn, your center-of-gravity should be positioned so that more of your weight is over your rear heel, and your pelvis should be turned toward your back.) Next, weight the board. Then, in a smooth, coordinated manner, you should simultaneously do three separate things:
1. With a powerful but subtle snap, twist your pelvis slightly toward your front-side, while allowing the twisting momentum to flow gently through your torso and arms.
2. Drive your center-of-gravity slightly forwards at a diagonal, from a point where more of your weight is over your rear heel to a point where more of your weight is over your front forefoot. At first, it may be easier for you to think of pushing off of your rear heel.
3. Decompress, or un-weight. If you are performing the first two steps properly, un-weighting will become a natural follow-through. Just remember to use your abdominal muscles to accentuate this step.
You must initiate these three movements with the muscles in your hips and abdomen. Try to feel that you are pulling your pelvis — and the skateboard — with your stomach muscles. It may be easier to start these motions with your legs, but your pump will be less powerful and efficient. As always, leg action should follow and accentuate what you start with your hips. If you are
using your hips properly, your legs will naturally add their power to the motion; you won’t even have to think about them. Throughout the pump, think of letting your pelvis ride the skateboard while your torso rides atop your pelvis. Also, concentrate on your posture — feel tall and lifted, even though your knees are bent.
To learn to pump back-side (toward the back of your body), begin by carving a front-side turn.(During a front-side turn, your center-of-gravity should be positioned so that more of your weight is over your leading forefoot, and your pelvis should be turned toward your front.) Next, weight the board. Then, in a smooth, coordinated manner, you should simultaneously do three
separate things:
1. With a powerful snap, twist your pelvis slightly toward your back-side, while allowing the twisting momentum to flow gently through your torso and arms.
2. Drive your center-of-gravity slightly rearwards at a diagonal, from a point where more of your weight is over your front forefoot to a point where more of your weight is over your rear heel. At first, it may be easier for you to think of pushing off of your front forefoot.
3. Decompress, or un-weight.
It may sound strange to drive your weight backwards. Yet if you follow the above steps for pumping back-side, you will actually accelerate forward. Again, you must initiate these three movements with the muscles in your hips and abdomen. Although it may be easier for you to start these motions with your legs, your pump will be less powerful and efficient. As before, think of
letting your pelvis ride the skateboard while your torso rides atop your pelvis; and concentrate on your posture.
It will help you to practice pumping in large circles, so that you can focus on learning to pump in one direction at a time. When you do this, remember that you must reposition yourself for each succeeding power-turn by steering very slightly in the opposite direction.
To really get the pump going, you must connect front-side and back-side power-turns seamlessly, so that they become one motion — a gyration. Your pelvis should be moving in an oval or elliptical path, whose long axis cuts diagonally through your deck, as indicated in the diagram. At the end of one decompression, your weight will settle, or compress, and become the start of
the next decompression. You must precisely coordinate slight snapping twists of the pelvis, foot-to-foot weight shifts, and the cycle of weighting and un-weighting with definite points along this path.
It may seem now like you need to remember to do an impossibly large number of things. With practice, though, you will find that the technique assumes a definite and natural rhythm. And you will begin to feel that you are powering your skateboard almost entirely with your lower abdomen. As you get better, you will be able to gyrate while turning primarily in one direction — then
you will be pumping more powerfully toward one side, but you will still be gyrating.
The energy of the pump comes from weighting and un-weighting, which create what is known, in physics, as centripetal forces. If an object is turning and a force is applied to push or pull the object toward the center of the turn (a centripetal force), the object will accelerate — its forward velocity will increase. When you drive your weight upward as you diagonally shift it during each half of the gyration, you generate a centripetal force. Through your skateboard’s wheel grip, you have pushed against the riding surface. The ground resists the pressure you have applied against it, and so in effect pushes you back. A component of this push is directed toward the center of your turn; therefore, you accelerate. Another way to explain the pump is to say that you have pushed (through the wheel grip) off the ground, while steering the board to follow you in the direction toward which you have pushed.
With tight trucks, you have to weight your board more to get your trucks to turn. When you gyrate with tight trucks you create larger centripetal forces, which in turn accelerate you all the more. Most of the world’s top slalom racers keep their trucks quite tight, and this is an important part of their success. It takes greater strength and endurance to pump a board with tight trucks, but you’ll feel the difference in greater speed and acceleration.
I don’t recommend that you try to gyrate as fast as slalom racers, unless you aspire to be a top competitor in that event. Although slalom racers achieve great velocities, the amount of power they generate with each gyration appears to diminish as they increase the rate of gyrating. Also, they must tense their upper bodies a great deal to maximize their gyrations-per-second. I find that power-turning is more enjoyable at a slower pace. It is still possible to generate tremendous velocities, and the feeling of power you get from a slower, more controlled, more concentrated gyration can’t be equaled, in my opinion.
Gyrating can help you link a wide assortment of moves without having to take a foot off to push. It looks damned smooth, and feels incredibly cool. A note of caution — You may find that pumping becomes addictive. It is a truly magical feeling to propel yourself indefinitely, without ever touching the ground or lifting any of your wheels.
©1989 by Daniel Gesmer
Seismic Skate Systems, Inc.
1630A 30th St., PMB 257
Boulder, Colorado 80301-1014 USA
phone 303/440-9449, fax 303/440-7106
e-mail SeismicSK8@aol.com, web http://www.seismicskate.com
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Chris Stepanek on 2003-05-09 17:31 ]</font>
Learning to Propel Yourself with Turns
(a.k.a. Pumping, Power-Turning, or Gyrating)
By: Daniel Gesmer
Propelling yourself with turns ("pumping", "power-turning", or "gyrating") is an extremely subtle technique. It is based on very precise, balanced, and rhythmical weight shifts. When done well, pumping looks almost effortless. For that reason, beginners do not readily appreciate the skill involved. Yet power-turning is one of the most difficult skills you can learn on a skateboard. Further, it is one of the best examples of using a skateboard to "skate" in the purest sense of the term — to glide powerfully. Also, it is one of the best teachers of true style.
Power-turning is also known as gyrating because, when done properly, your body and your skateboard will be gyrating relative to one another. In other words, your body will be rotating in one direction above your skateboard, while below you the skateboard will, relative to your body, be moving rotationally in the opposite direction.
In biomechanical terms, pumping is one of the most complex techniques that can be performed on a skateboard. A very elaborate explanation is called for here. Read carefully, and try to visualize what your read.
The trucks on your skateboard must be loose enough to steer easily (though as you improve you should try to keep your trucks tighter — you’ll have more power that way). To start pumping, you must get yourself going a little bit faster than what your top speed would be if you kick-turned from a dead stop on flat ground — about 4-5 mph. This is approximately the right velocity to begin pumping for most riders on most skateboards. Due to the limitations of current truck designs, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to gyrate at slower speeds.
Slalom racing is basically the art of gyrating as fast as possible while weaving through a series of cones or gates. Slalom racers usually use very specialized equipment, and a very special stance. Called a semi-parallel stance, it is half-way between a standard surf-style position and a parallel ski-style position. If you would like to power-turn on a street, vertical, or freestyle board, and if you would like to integrate gyrating with other moves on varied terrains, I recommend that you use a conventional surf-style stance.
Stand as though you were going to traverse (turn back and forth). Keep your rear foot forward of the tail, right on top of the rear truck, or slightly forward of it, so that you will have the best leverage on the steering mechanism. Your rear foot should be at a 90-degree angle to the longitudinal axis of the board, or angled very slightly forward. Your front foot should be angled forward between 15 and 30 degrees, and placed above or slightly behind the front truck, according to your preference. Ride with your knees bent, back straight, arms relaxed and extended. Your pelvis should be turned slightly forward, so that it is square with your front foot. This slight
forward twist should continue up your spine, so that you can face where you’re going. Your weight should be spread fairly evenly. Your knees should bend straight over the feet so that no undue strain is placed on them. Don’t pronate your ankles, either, as this places them at greater risk of injury and robs your movements of balance and power.
Remember that as you bend your legs to lower your center-of-gravity, it becomes increasingly important, and increasingly difficult, not to slouch. The following images may help you keep your back straight while bending your knees. Think of lifting your upper body out of your hips, by scooping your abdomen in and up from the groin level. Try to feel your body weight pressing straight up from your heels, and imagine a cord pulling your head toward the sky.
Before I go any further, it is necessary for you to understand what is meant by "weighting" and "un-weighting" (also known as "compressing" and "de-compressing"). This is extremely important not just for power-turning, but for virtually all high-performance techniques and situations. By and large, the most powerful and skillful skateboarders in the world are those who have thoroughly mastered weighting and un-weighting. Weighting means just what it implies — putting weight onto your skateboard, more even then your actual body weight. You can do this on flats by letting your weight start to drop, and then catching yourself and quickly pushing back upward. When you pump down a transition, you are weighting your board. Weighting also increases traction, and so helps you to steer quickly in high-speed situations.
Un-weighting means taking weight off of your board. This is not a jump, but a matter of slightly lifting your body — so that it is momentarily suspended, with no weight flowing through your legs. You can start un-weighting by pushing up with your legs, but to add length and control to the weight-less phase you must follow through with your abdomen. Try to learn how to stretch your stomach upward very quickly and forcefully after a slight leg thrust. Un-weighting is essential for skating up transitions and for maneuvers such as power slides. You must take your weight off of your wheels before they will let go.
A good place to practice weighting and un-weighting is on a bathroom scale (non-digital variety). This will give you a direct indication of your success. If you are weighting properly, you will see the needle swing far beyond your actual body weight. If you are un-weighting properly, you should see the needle swing toward zero, even though your feet are still on the scale. Of course, you will find that it is impossible to weight without first un-weighting, or to un-weight without first weighting (unless you allow yourself to free-fall). This is the way it should be, because when you are actually skating, weighting and un-weighting work together.
When you are practicing on your bathroom scale, try to gain control of how fast the needle swings. Depending on the situation, you need to be able to weight and un-weight at different speeds. For instance, on a large ramp, you would want to compress and de-compress more slowly than you would on a small ramp.
Now, back to power-turning. It is absolutely essential that you center the pumping action in your pelvis, or hips. It will help if you imagine that your lower abdomen is the strongest part of your body. This idea may seem very confusing at first, but with time it will become comfortable and natural. Try pretending that you have a nuclear reactor at your center-of-gravity, exploding with energy.
It will be easier for you to understand and learn gyrating if I break it into two parts: pumping front-side and pumping back-side. When you are really gyrating, though, the two merge into a single technique.
The names that are used to designate turns on a skateboard depend on where the turns are done: on flat surfaces or on banked/vertical terrains. For example, turning toward the front of your body on a flat surface is usually called a "front-side" turn, because you are turning toward your front. On banked and vertical terrains the terminology is reversed, for reasons relating to the surfing origins of skateboard bank-riding. For example, a kick-turn toward the front of your body would be called "back-side" on a ramp, since in the middle of it your back is toward the wall. In this article I will use the standard terminology for flat-ground turns, since power-turns are almost always done on flat or slightly-sloped downhill surfaces.
To learn to pump front-side (toward the front of your body), begin by carving a back-side turn. (During a back-side turn, your center-of-gravity should be positioned so that more of your weight is over your rear heel, and your pelvis should be turned toward your back.) Next, weight the board. Then, in a smooth, coordinated manner, you should simultaneously do three separate things:
1. With a powerful but subtle snap, twist your pelvis slightly toward your front-side, while allowing the twisting momentum to flow gently through your torso and arms.
2. Drive your center-of-gravity slightly forwards at a diagonal, from a point where more of your weight is over your rear heel to a point where more of your weight is over your front forefoot. At first, it may be easier for you to think of pushing off of your rear heel.
3. Decompress, or un-weight. If you are performing the first two steps properly, un-weighting will become a natural follow-through. Just remember to use your abdominal muscles to accentuate this step.
You must initiate these three movements with the muscles in your hips and abdomen. Try to feel that you are pulling your pelvis — and the skateboard — with your stomach muscles. It may be easier to start these motions with your legs, but your pump will be less powerful and efficient. As always, leg action should follow and accentuate what you start with your hips. If you are
using your hips properly, your legs will naturally add their power to the motion; you won’t even have to think about them. Throughout the pump, think of letting your pelvis ride the skateboard while your torso rides atop your pelvis. Also, concentrate on your posture — feel tall and lifted, even though your knees are bent.
To learn to pump back-side (toward the back of your body), begin by carving a front-side turn.(During a front-side turn, your center-of-gravity should be positioned so that more of your weight is over your leading forefoot, and your pelvis should be turned toward your front.) Next, weight the board. Then, in a smooth, coordinated manner, you should simultaneously do three
separate things:
1. With a powerful snap, twist your pelvis slightly toward your back-side, while allowing the twisting momentum to flow gently through your torso and arms.
2. Drive your center-of-gravity slightly rearwards at a diagonal, from a point where more of your weight is over your front forefoot to a point where more of your weight is over your rear heel. At first, it may be easier for you to think of pushing off of your front forefoot.
3. Decompress, or un-weight.
It may sound strange to drive your weight backwards. Yet if you follow the above steps for pumping back-side, you will actually accelerate forward. Again, you must initiate these three movements with the muscles in your hips and abdomen. Although it may be easier for you to start these motions with your legs, your pump will be less powerful and efficient. As before, think of
letting your pelvis ride the skateboard while your torso rides atop your pelvis; and concentrate on your posture.
It will help you to practice pumping in large circles, so that you can focus on learning to pump in one direction at a time. When you do this, remember that you must reposition yourself for each succeeding power-turn by steering very slightly in the opposite direction.
To really get the pump going, you must connect front-side and back-side power-turns seamlessly, so that they become one motion — a gyration. Your pelvis should be moving in an oval or elliptical path, whose long axis cuts diagonally through your deck, as indicated in the diagram. At the end of one decompression, your weight will settle, or compress, and become the start of
the next decompression. You must precisely coordinate slight snapping twists of the pelvis, foot-to-foot weight shifts, and the cycle of weighting and un-weighting with definite points along this path.
It may seem now like you need to remember to do an impossibly large number of things. With practice, though, you will find that the technique assumes a definite and natural rhythm. And you will begin to feel that you are powering your skateboard almost entirely with your lower abdomen. As you get better, you will be able to gyrate while turning primarily in one direction — then
you will be pumping more powerfully toward one side, but you will still be gyrating.
The energy of the pump comes from weighting and un-weighting, which create what is known, in physics, as centripetal forces. If an object is turning and a force is applied to push or pull the object toward the center of the turn (a centripetal force), the object will accelerate — its forward velocity will increase. When you drive your weight upward as you diagonally shift it during each half of the gyration, you generate a centripetal force. Through your skateboard’s wheel grip, you have pushed against the riding surface. The ground resists the pressure you have applied against it, and so in effect pushes you back. A component of this push is directed toward the center of your turn; therefore, you accelerate. Another way to explain the pump is to say that you have pushed (through the wheel grip) off the ground, while steering the board to follow you in the direction toward which you have pushed.
With tight trucks, you have to weight your board more to get your trucks to turn. When you gyrate with tight trucks you create larger centripetal forces, which in turn accelerate you all the more. Most of the world’s top slalom racers keep their trucks quite tight, and this is an important part of their success. It takes greater strength and endurance to pump a board with tight trucks, but you’ll feel the difference in greater speed and acceleration.
I don’t recommend that you try to gyrate as fast as slalom racers, unless you aspire to be a top competitor in that event. Although slalom racers achieve great velocities, the amount of power they generate with each gyration appears to diminish as they increase the rate of gyrating. Also, they must tense their upper bodies a great deal to maximize their gyrations-per-second. I find that power-turning is more enjoyable at a slower pace. It is still possible to generate tremendous velocities, and the feeling of power you get from a slower, more controlled, more concentrated gyration can’t be equaled, in my opinion.
Gyrating can help you link a wide assortment of moves without having to take a foot off to push. It looks damned smooth, and feels incredibly cool. A note of caution — You may find that pumping becomes addictive. It is a truly magical feeling to propel yourself indefinitely, without ever touching the ground or lifting any of your wheels.
©1989 by Daniel Gesmer
Seismic Skate Systems, Inc.
1630A 30th St., PMB 257
Boulder, Colorado 80301-1014 USA
phone 303/440-9449, fax 303/440-7106
e-mail SeismicSK8@aol.com, web http://www.seismicskate.com
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Chris Stepanek on 2003-05-09 17:31 ]</font>