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The Pop-and-Step Drill
I often cross step too late, only getting to the center of the board when I’m toward the end of the ride or too far ahead of the pocket, as seen in this video:
Here’s a drill I use to avoid that problem: I vow to cross step as soon as I pop up. Using Ben’s advice, I choose one thing to try during a session, so in the second video, you’ll see that that’s the only thing I try to do.
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4 Replies
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Working on one thing at a time is huge! Helps me so much.
The only problem with saying “I’m gonna cross step immediately” is that sometimes the wave doesn’t call for that. I went through this exact problem with noseriding.. I was obsessed and forced it. Now that I’m more patient, I’m having way more fun and noseriding way better.
You may also want to try the cross step and hold technique. Take one step and stay in the cross stepped position for a good while. Even the whole wave if you want. Just make sure you have your weight on your front cross stepped foot. This gets you to take each step with a purpose, rather then rushing pass that first step to get to your normal surfing position. This drill was a game changer for me
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Right. It helped me even when the wave wasn’t quite right. I got a lot of cross steps in that day.
Here’s a video of me working on cross and hold (from two years ago) probably as result of your suggestion on your YouTube channel.
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And here’s another cross-and-hold day.
https://youtu.be/3ejQE2afYD0?si=dsynsM7dH5lhCAMi
The waves are so damn small that I don’t feel bad about falling (that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it), but I’ve realized that I’m not stepping carefully. That is, by not stepping in the right place, the board wobbles. Note that this is with a 9′ epoxy Retro Noserider. I like it, but it’s less stable than my PU 9’8″ Tipster.
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All of this is so good!! Really like your ability to troubleshoot – I think there’s a few reasons why your pop and step technique has worked well – a lot of the time when we’re trying to learn to cross step we do it really low on the wave and where the board has a negative downward angle on the wave which can be a big problem in steeper parts of the wave. So I think by implementing your step and pop technique you’re completing this high on the wave with more speed, momentum and therefore balance, staying away from the ‘danger zone’ AKA the flats. If you haven’t already – the first 5 videos of the cross stepping series cover some of these concept pretty well also 🙂
https://longboardsessions.com/cross-stepping-series/
longboardsessions.com
Cross stepping series – LongboardSessions
Cross stepping series – LongboardSessions
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