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I would be surprised if many pros making main events aren’t on the balls of their feet. But yea Tomac and some others are literally on their toes on the last row of teeth it’s pretty wild.
I agree it’s not necessarily that it’s more athletic to have dropped heels, their whole reason for doing it is to have another axis of suspension. You can keep your whole body in the same position going through a set of whoops with your ankles dipping up and down, can’t do that with your knees bending.
It's just physics. Riding on balls of your feet makes the lever arm longer (your foot) and more force is applied to the Achilles than if you're on your arches and take the same load. If you're having trouble picturing this, imagine riding on your heels and eliminating the lever altogether and you can see how no force gets applied to the Achilles. The longer the lever arm, the more force applied to the Achilles. Reasonable to think that more force leads to more injuries.
I see where your coming from I just disagree that dropping your heels is not an athletic position. On a field your definitely right when running you are using your toes and balls of your feet primarily, especially when accelerating. But getting caught on your heels has more to do with where your center of gravity is in relation to your feet. On a bike when you are riding on your toes your aren’t engaging the heel of your foot at all. So as long as you are riding on the balls of your feet your really can’t be caught ‘flat footed’.
dropping your heels also allows you get your knees further back and have a flatter back.
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I most definitely ride on the balls of my feet and not arches. I do not ride on my toes though. Some of the top level pros are riding on their toes, not the balls of their feet. In the last 12 months we have had 3 pro level 450 riders with torn Achilles tendons. Tomac, Rodbell, and Friese. The only one we have video of is Tomac. But the fact three elite level pros have had this injury in one season and the riding on their toes with maximum impact on the achilles starts to look like there may be some smoke to the fire. I looked back in various injury reports for the past 10 years and can't find any history of that kind of injury trend specific to the achilles tendon. Just my honest opinion. I'd bet if it becomes more common, technique will change because that's a hard injury to recover from.
Golf pisses me off so much in this regard.. because everybody cant just let you hit the fucking ball in your own style it has to be this way to prevent slice or draw etc..accorrding to the.. I always tell people, to just let me hit the fucking ball and learn from my mistakes. especially on learners courses.
If theres a sport where people need to not worry about technique so much.. it is definitely 100% golf imo. Do it the way it works for you and then perfect it.
To me moto is different in this regard. you should also develop your own style and when that level of speed maxes out. start tinkering.
with the impact levels they're sustaining lap after lap.. i see what you mean, I ride behind the balls of my feet but before the middle of my foot if that makes sense. (However im not hitting supercross level obstacles either) but i find that area to be the most comfortable and controlling on the bike
If you have a forward neck and a forward bent over back you are seriously taxing the shit out of your body in and out of moto, each inch your head is forward adds double the weight from your head, all that forward pressure overtime is putting serious strain on your body leading to lower back issues, tight hamstrings, tight chest and just an all round a compromised taxing body.
The spine has to have a natural arch, shoulders back, neck inline with shoulders that way your spine has even pressure distributed so no joints get worn out quicker than others, that is why when the body is not aligned people have lower back issues and carpal tunnel issues due to a forward neck.
So with Jetts posture alone he's saving a lot of energy + his technique of course.
So Ryno isn't making shit up here it's simple human anatomy, that's not to say bad posture and different techniques don't work they do and many champions have won with such things, it's just less efficient.
having the correct form is not going to you or any pro rider into Eli, Jett or Chase either, that's not the point.
Sorry I had a few beers the other night and decided to post this.
That being said I was wondering if Jett is doing what his buddy AJ Cantanzaro teaches in the moto academy. I don't subscribe to it so I wouldn't know but I was just curious if anyone could make a correlation.
Crazy that it’s come down to Sexton’s technique is off. Since he’s been pro people have been saying he’s the one with absolute perfect technique. I would say it’s more bike set up and his absolute frustration with Jett (which can lead to a multitude of issues).
I don't think Chase's issue for one second is his technique being off. I think its bike set up and comfort that's resulting in minor mistakes. I'm really curious to see how he does on the KTM with Aldon as a trainer. Could be a dangerous combo.
Been riding dirtbikes on and off for 30 years. Got back into riding last year after a 7 year break and decided to get some proper coaching, as I was planning on riding a major off-road race. In the meantime I'd done a lot of mountain bike riding - not DH but lots of enduro style downhill trails etc.
I'd always stood on the arches of my feet on the dirtbike for no reason other than it felt OK and no-one had told me any different. First coaching session the guy is getting me to use this technique being discussed - balls of the feet, knees back further, bum/hips out, straight back etc. It all makes sense in theory but getting used to it took a while. About the second or third ride while trying to adjust it hit me - the way the guy was trying to teach me is exactly how I ride the MTB - you have no choice but to be on the balls of your feet, same body position etc.
What a revelation it was. At fifty years old I'm riding better and faster than I ever have. No more arm pump because I'm not using my arms to control the bike. More stable, less fatigue etc etc. Totally transformed the riding experience.
Exactly. Found the comparison made in the video silly. Chase rides very upright flat back and basically like he's describing.
My 4 year old son and I were driving down to BMX last night listening to music on YouTube through the truck speakers. Great Balls Of Fire came on and my boy says “He looks like Jetson!” I about crashed laughing.
You undersold yourself; You didn't give this old head a stroke, but your explanation isn't much better than Ryno's. Your first sentence refers to "locked hips," then in your second sentence it's "hunched back". By the end of your post it's "loose hips", as if they aren't all completely different things. Good hip mobility is of the utmost importance for any sport. Often people suffer from decreased extension, and internal and external rotation; flexion comes more naturally from sitting, walking and just living life. At first read I thought "locked hips" was an ambiguous term, but after thinking about it, I don't know any other way to take it, other then no movement, or otherwise fused. Given this, if you show me someone with fused hips, I'll show you someone who will never race a motorcycle. Conversely, if you show me someone racing a motorcycle, I'll show you someone who doesn't have fused/"locked hips".
"You need to be a certain degree of mobile and athletic to unlock your hips"
....That sentence was a little cobby with some square edges, but I think I get the gist of it....to which I reply, how do you explain my non-athletic, barely mobile 89 year old mother who DOSE NOT have "locked hips?"
You're going out on a limb suggesting that technique makes you a better athlete...in any sport; albeit a super big tree truck limb with lots of real-life documented support.
If it wasn't obvious, your condescension was appreciated.
"You're going out on a limb suggesting that technique makes you a better athlete...in any sport"
Jesus....Christ
The only correct technique
I'd say most people who can ride a bicycle or a motorbike would have the basic level of natural ability to unlock their hips. It's not a genetic mutation.
What Ryno is saying is that there's a lot of riders, at all levels of ability, who could benefit from improved technique.
Pit Row
I think some are missing the point, the whole reason to ride on the balls of your feet is for suspension, and to not have to compromise body position. Watch Christian Craig at 3:15 in this video his heels dip about 4 inches on every whoop, this has to be soaked up somehow. If he uses his knees they will blow forward and he will weight the front too much, if he's on his arches and doesn't bend his knees he's going to get bucked up off the pegs on every whoop.
You can actually lock your legs into the bike much easier with the balls of your feet on the pegs.
For a long time I wondered how the top riders “gripped with their legs” then once I was riding on the balls of my feet I realised how easy it is.
I like that Hughes preaches this technique and it’s caught on, but it’s such an oversimplification to call it “unlocking the hips.” The technique requires the widest part of the foot on the pegs (the balls of the feet) which necessitates strong calves. Above that it requires the hamstrings to do the most work while the quads provide support rather than force. At the hips, strong glutes provide for the hinge to “unlock the hips” and create power. At the lumbar spine, the core (front and rear) provide for bracing and stability to maintain posture. The thoracic spine is, likewise, supported by the upper back muscles that help stabilize the bike and pull the bars to keep the upper body forward on the bike. These muscles also hold the shoulder blades back and narrow, allowing for a broader chest.
The point is that the technique is not simply based on hip mobility, but rather strength and stability throughout the entire posterior chain. From your heels to the base of your skull, every muscle needs to be strong to maintain this body position.
Given how dependent this technique is on posterior chain strength, you can teach yourself to naturally seek this position by training the muscles the technique relies on. I used to ride with pretty shit technique—knees forward, posterior pelvic roll, flat lumbar, kyphosis, wide scapulae and a sunken chest. The classic shrimp spine posture. I tried to fix the technique on the bike but could only do so one component at a time (hips, upper back, core). However, I started weight training to build up the muscles that support the posture and my technique snapped into place without having to thing about it.
Good thread.
It's important to realize that this style became much more prevalent since we hit the EFI 4-stroke era.
Many of us learned on old two strokes with peaky, low HP powerbands which almost required you to spend a lot of time on the seat, fanning the clutch and fighting for traction with the rear wheel.
With EFI 4Ts that pull in any gear from any speed, all things become possible - it frees the rider up and allows him to get into a more athletic attack position because he has to spend much less manipulating the engine, clutch and gearbox.
For a modern bike and track, the "unlocked hips" style is undeniably effective. You just have to try it for yourself.
Unlocking the hips is just a dumb way to describe it. It's much easier to think about in terms of how much weight are your arms supporting? The technique he's preaching would have little to no weight going through your arms into the bars.
That’s the line you cherry picked out of my post? Pssst….you quoted that line out of context, AND your sarcasm meter appears broken.
“Jesus…Christ”….AND the holy father!
I think sports progress through time. Jet could be bringing in a new style that is better or faster on todays bikes. If you watch just about any sport over time the style changes and progresses. For everyone? Maybe not? Is Ryno full of crap on this? Probably not
This makes more sense than most everything else I’ve read on the subject. Proper posture uses the least amount of muscular energy to maintain a standing erect state and it prepares you the most for unexpected forced repositioning, as happens when you unexpectedly get out of shape on your bike. Proper posture on the bike, starts with proper muscle balance and posture off the bike. Referencing only one body part, your hips, to address poor posture or riding technique, is like practicing only “scrubs” to make you a better racer. Proper posture addresses the body from your ankles to your atlanto-ooccipital joint…not just your hips, pelvis or lumbar spine.
Boom.
You know, its funny. If someone would have ran a poll on this website 5 years ago asking posters if they would rather have their own current riding style and technique or magically they could have Kevin Windham's style and technique on a dirtbike, I think 99.9% of posters would have taken Windham's style over their own i na heartbeat without thinking. Windham didn't really ride using these newer techniques, but was always considered buttery smooth and so technically sound. Never used much energy. Now days, if you aren't riding like the people preaching this technique, you're considered an unsafe squid.
Back to the Ryno video, he's mad to think that the difference between Jett and the rest boils down to unlocking the hips. There's dozens of things that Jett is amazing at. Just one example, I've seen people talking about how Jett will explain to his mechanic what his bike is doing in great detail. The guy doesn't say vague shit like "the bike isn't working on the whoops" or "the shock feels too stiff". When Jett talks about his bike he's describing the mid stroke of his forks on the exit of particular corners. He's using technical language to describe his equipment so his mechanics know exactly what he's talking about. This makes getting the perfect bike setup so much easier. This is just one thing he's great at, there's so many others. There's no magic bullet that's going to help his competition.
Why is it every pic of Ryno racing, he has his back hunched? 🤔🤔 🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️
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