Mental Block

[sputnik]

So I have been practicing sidehops for the last few days. I have never been able to do them any higher than wheel height, and have never really pressed learing them till now.

I can now go a few inches over wheel height, but when I try to go higher I bail out and land with a foot down, or just not try after getting set up. I have looked at myself on videotape and I am clearing my current max (landable) by 8 to 10". Occasionally more than that. . . But I can't seem to make myself try the height that I have seen myself make.

Weird and driving me nuts. Any advice?

[free_rideman]

Compared to you I suck, but I have a simillar problem. I am still trying to get good at sidehops that are about half a wheel, and instead of trying it I bail out too. The weird thing is I can do it on stuff that is a bit smaller.

I found that concentrating on pushing foward with the handlebars helps a bit. Also don't think about getting vertical height as much as thinking about what the bike should be doing underneath you. It is weird to explain.

Sometimes you need to get your muscles to get used to it, so don't burn them out. Our mind isn't that good at making us do fast movements with balance. We have to teach our muscles to remember what to do.

[Acolyte]

Are your object heights significantly different? If you can control the height of what you're jumping to, just raise it slight amounts and you'll eventually learn, until your mind catches up with your body.

I have a problem on big sidehops that I really have to jump perfectly and commit or I can't even stay on the bike, and it's purely mental. I'll just hop off the bike if it doesn't feel right, which annoys me sometimes. I just spend a lot of time practicing my takeoffs and being confident, but it does take time.

[sputnik]

I have been practicing on a wall that gradually gets higher. So I have been eeking my way forward (and hence higher), but once I get to a general zone my tiny brain implodes; even though I can go back (and down by a few inches) and clear it by alot.
I guess I will continue to beat it into my muscle memory and hope for the mental to come around. . .

[stocktrials]

...but when I try to go higher I bail out and land with a foot down, or just not try after getting set up.

I'm having the EXACT same problem!!

Stuck at 104cm (41") and can't get that extra couple of cm's!! I can do 102cm most goes.. but that little bit more and i put the foot out. It makes me angry that I can't get it.

But from past experience I know it IS in the mind and you just gotta keep trying it until it looks small (or do-able) and commit, commit, commit!!! This is the most important thing and I know that's all that is stopping me. But I can't muster that power to just, like, do it!

Probably the same for you?


hope this offered some sort of insight.

[sputnik]

Probably the same for you?


hope this offered some sort of insight.[/quote]




Yes, thanks. I never did have this problem with ups. I could just keep on givin er till I was just coming up short. Sidehops even seem inherently safer...
:run:

[mekanic305]

I find it helps to go higher than you know you can do then just try it without the expectation of really landing. Just trying helps you to overcome the fear of not making it and allows your mind to comprehend landing it..then its just a matter of practice.

Edit: that's kinda hard to understand...I guess I'm having a mental block.

[birdman]

what is going through your head right before or during the sidehop? are you just concentrating on technique and form? are you scared of messing it up or visualizing crashing? what keeps you from attempting it even after you've set up?

[phillip_b9]

Shit like that happens in every sport. Basically you get in the habit of doing the foot-out routine. Just try this, next time you go biking, right from the start just go up to the wall and do it, without thinking. Try to do it right away before you can even think about it. One of two things will happen, you will make it or you will fall. If you make it, there you go, but if you fall, you realize that it isn't even that bad and you won't be scared anymore. But you HAVE to do it on the first try in the morning, for that height anyway or else it probably won't work, you will get back into your habit of thinking about it and touching your foot down.

ps, it doesn't have to be in the morning, just whenever you ride that day lol

[61]

try 'chain breakers', or start a bike length away and just do one hop forward then go up, no set up hops or anything, just a one-two motion. the momentum makes the height disappear quite nicely. i cant sidehop to save my life and just tried this today and managed to go slightly above bar with confidence. its all about the confidence, once you get confident at the height, then play around with it, doing it static etc. also try doing it to your not-normal side. my advice.

[chronic]

I know this is a pretty lame tip for you, but just ride up to your wall and do it. Dont stand there on your rear wheel for ten seconds thinking about it.
Durring the winter at the skate park despite knowing I could side hop this box I couldn't do it until I just rode up and did it with out thinking.

Go, ride around try some other things kind of clear your head, then come back and just do it a few times with out the procrastinating rear wheel stall.

Or you could take a shot or something before a ride? Thats a good way to expand your imagination too heh.

[mezofein]

Sputnik, can you upload the videoclip of your sidehop? I`ve analysed sidehop technique for my kinesiology lessons and used DartFish software for comparing the techniques with different riders. Maybe I could help you to find the mistakes.

You can also watch my sidehop slowmotion clips and see how they differ to your technique. These clips are taken from the first ride after big break, so do not expect perfection, but the height is above 1m:

http://martintrials.com/karlmartintechslow.avi

http://www.martintrials.com/heincruudus.avi

Pay attention to the angles between bodyparts and the movement of the bike etc.

Martin

[Kibble Fat]

Heh, I've got less than 24 hours on my first trials bike and I also have this problem. I found that just messing around in the 4' x 8' floor space of my dorm room helped out a lot when I went to actually try side hops. I practiced getting on the back wheel, finding the balance, then dropping my butt to the tire and exploding upward. Ceiling faceplants are bad (but that hasn't happened yet)

I can get up walls a few inches above my knee, but I always wimp out half way through and land on the wall with the bike between my planted feet. "Yeah I would've made that..." :hsugh::wtc:

[Cryo-Cube]

I can now go a few inches over wheel height, but when I try to go higher I bail out and land with a foot down, or just not try after getting set up. . . . But I can't seem to make myself try the height that I have seen myself make.

Weird and driving me nuts. Any advice?

I have the same problem too. Whats weird is that it comes and goes.
One day i can make it over knee height no problem, no mental block. A day later i cant even try it, i just go to backwheel but i dont jump
Hate my mind for that shit.

Same thing with taps or touch hops straight to backwheel.
I can tap 37" 90% of the time. Out of 10 trys i can stick 60% straight to backwheel. Bit if it is just a narrow wall (going down on the other side) i cant tap or touch hop it (or even less than 37") because my mind is scurred of not making it to backwheel and crashing on the other side so i unconsciously tap it totally wrong.

Hate that shit. #1 reason im progressing slower than everybody i know

[epock7]

^ amen to that.
I had one day that I was in one of those self destructive moods, and that day I could hit a sidehop a couple inches over bar height consistantly. Now I go and look at it and can't even imagine trying it.

Mental blocks suck. Go out and ride one day that you are in a '%&#$ the world' mood and you'll go bigger than ever.

The only thing that I have found useful is do not wait on the rear wheel. Trackstand, collect your thoughts, go to rear wheel, make one maybe two correction hops, then just go for it. If I have to stay up for more than a couple seconds, I loose my concentration completely.

[Bryan]

do the height you can already do until you can't miss
then keep doing it until you can do it smoothly
then do it for reps (try to do ten in a minute)
then bump it up by 2-3"

[KeepRollin]

10 in a minute :eek3:

[firewrx612]

I do 1 in ten minutes. 5 minutes of bouncing on the rear wheel and 5 mintues of crying when I miss.

[Bryan]

10 in a minute :eek3:sidehop, side drop, side hop, side drop, ad nauseum

[sputnik]

do the height you can already do until you can't miss
then keep doing it until you can do it smoothly
then do it for reps (try to do ten in a minute)
then bump it up by 2-3"

Thanks. Best advice yet.

And I know its hard to tell on here, so, I am being serious.


:wiggle:

[RT Wolf]

It may sound weird cause it might sound unrelated, but try meditating. Meditating is where you try not to think. If a thought comes, just let it float away. That'll help you get into the state of "not thinking".

The other thing someone already said, COMMIT. I saw JamesB ride. I heard him say, "I dunno if I can make it." and I then I saw him make total, absolute committment and nailed it.

Another idea that I've been playing around with, seperate the results (getting on the ledge) from your effort. Focus on the effort.

I think the mental aspect of trials can really be explored a lot more, and I've been learning about the mental aspect of just life a lot more and I think a lot of it is applicable to trials. I'll keep this in mind and may write more about it.

[mezofein]

It may sound weird cause it might sound unrelated, but try meditating. Meditating is where you try not to think. If a thought comes, just let it float away. That'll help you get into the state of "not thinking".

The other thing someone already said, COMMIT. I saw JamesB ride. I heard him say, "I dunno if I can make it." and I then I saw him make total, absolute committment and nailed it.

Another idea that I've been playing around with, seperate the results (getting on the ledge) from your effort. Focus on the effort.

I think the mental aspect of trials can really be explored a lot more, and I've been learning about the mental aspect of just life a lot more and I think a lot of it is applicable to trials. I'll keep this in mind and may write more about it.

agreed! I think meditation works well when you visualize how pro riders are doing something (without rationally looking for the reasons) and you will automatically do the similar movement. It has helped me a lot and I´m happy that such a topic has been made to discuss it. You definetely have to have the belief that you will succeed. Without belief and selfconfidence there is no way you will succeed. But with meditation you will grow your belief subcounsciously if you visualize how you or your idol will succeed with some technique, but if you are afraid and think about failing, you will fail! I know Estonian best wrestler and when he is afraid of his opponent, he meditates and thinks about a very powerful bear to get strength - it may sound silly, but it`s logical to me.

[Chris]

I know Estonian best wrestler and when he is afraid of his opponent, he meditates and thinks about a very powerful bear to get strength - it may sound silly, but it`s logical to me.

:rofl::rofl::rofl: As if wrestling was some sort of "real fighting"... :riaa:

[RT Wolf]

Just to clarify, meditation is a term that applies to many kinds of meditation. The one I talked about is an "open-mind" meditation. Its called a shitload of stuff, basically its just not thinking and focusing on something in the present moment, like your breath or a point on the wall or the beating of your heart (when you get that good) or other stuff like that. Basically, focus on the very present moment, no thoughts of the future or past. Its hard at first, but you get better with practice. Try it for as little as five minutes a day.

The other nice thing about this kind of meditation is that its not necessary for you to sit in a lotus position for hours on end. It just means being totally present and not thinking, so you can do this while tkaing care of mindless chores. Beating an egg? focus totally on the beating of the egg, no thoughts.

What mezofein is talking about a visualization meditation, where you visualize your goal perfectly. Feel the emotions you would if you did that. You can either imagine the pros doing hte move, or yourself doing the move. If you have trouble with that, then you prolly have limiting beliefs that you will never be as good as the pros. You could short-circuit them a few ways. One is to imagine just ridiculous stuff, like imagine yourself sidehoping onto a 10 foot ledge and feel teh emotions as if that was real, as if yuo ahd just done that. There's a coupla other ways to, too, if anyone's interested.

Visualization has been used as part of the training regimines of olympic atheletes. One of the keys is experimentation. Experiment to find what works best for you.

[Bryan]

Word to the absolute in the moment concentration, though I think that's automatic for most when it comes to riding trials.

These aren't my words, so don't take it from me, but: Effort? Not so much. If you train with effort, you'll ride with effort. If you want your riding to be effortless, don't put effort in.

[literocola]

One word.

Commit.

Just do the damn thing. Like others have said, dont think just do. If you think, and trials riders do let alone over think.

If you see a fall in your minds eye, then dont do it. If you see it in your minds eye; hit it. And you will make it.

Any doubt in your mind and chances are you wont make it.

Think like this:

I have the skills to make this
I have the ability to do this
I can do this
Commit.

To Wolf- "Center." I use this all the time. My Center.

[mezofein]

found this from biketrials.com: http://biketrials.com/articles/visualization.shtml

[Cryo-Cube]

One word.

Commit.

Just do the damn thing. Like others have said, dont think just do. If you think, and trials riders do let alone over think.
If you see a fall in your minds eye, then dont do it. If you see it in your minds eye; hit it. And you will make it.
Any doubt in your mind and chances are you wont make it.

Dude THAT IS the problem. If i could "just do it" i would, hence mental block.

[Chris]

f i could "just do it" i would, hence mental block.

No! You sure can do it, because you have the SKILL to do it. You THINK you can't do it! But that is wrong, so just do it without thinking you won't make it.

You shouldn't become a father, as that will make you even more anxious and careful :momaru:

[Cryo-Cube]

there is always Madonna to sell my child to if im fed up with it :gaybar:

[RT Wolf]

Pay attention to your feelings. I bet that those days when you can hit everything, you're feeling more confident and self-assured.

On the days you're not doing so hot, you could pump yourself up before a move or before a ride. I know it sounds kinda woo-woo, but try it out and see. You can pick your particular flavour of pumping up. From, "I own that fucking rock." to "I can do this. I'm damn hell good enough." and so on. It might take some experimentation to figure out what works best for you.

Try different stuff out and see what sticks. Another thing that helped me was waking up at the same time every day including weekends (gives me more consistant energy) and eating properly with less simple carbs and sugar in me. After a sugar-crash, I always feel worse about my abilities than without.

[jackflash]

what i do, with taps mind you cuz i suck so much at sidehops i dont even try, is when i get a good day ill try some stuff a few inches above my regular max, and then when im not having as good a day ill go back to that same wall, and just tell myself that ive made it before, so why can't i make it now?

my biggest problem these days is jumping enough, i get zero spring out of my legs. i used to not commit to things, but after getting a bmx and pushing to keep up with guys on that, trials isnt scary at all really

[sputnik]

Just got in from a ride. Used the advice of several on here and I am riding better almost instantly. Best thing I have been doing is visualizing myself making it before I do it, and spending my time landing sidehops sucessfully, rather than moving up in height too fast. I find that being more gradual in my height increase is helping the height 'look' more make-able.

[yoyoer13]

Anthony Gatto, a professional juggler, has a one of THE best practice ethics I have ever seen in my life. He quickly made himself known in the juggling world and has now become almost uncontended the best juggler in the world. And I always share this with people when I get the chance. Here's the link to a small essay type write up of his practice regement:

http://www.juggling.org/help/essays/gatto.html

I would really suggest reading that and appling it to your riding and anything else that you practice or do on a normal basis.

FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT DON'T WANT TO READ THAT THE TWO MAIN POINT ARE:

1. Don't practice something for a long time expecting to get better. Instead try something a couple of times and then come back to that ledge or gap later on and give it a go a few more times. This will help anyone get over most anger or flustration, and most importantly help to get over any mental blocks. So you missed that gap or tap, but now your going to go somewhere else and try something else and you'll come back to it later and try it again.
I CANNOT STRESS HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS IN ANY KIND OF PRACTICING.
So if your someone who sits in the spot, and tries the samething over and over, I would suggest this method and watch and study your results.

2. Don't practice bad habits more than once. If you wanna get good at dabbing your foot, practice dabbing your foot, or falling, you get my drift. This one is a little more obvious than the first, but is very important as well. If you ride alone on most occations like I do, its important to look at yourself from anothers point of view. I often find myself dabbing on the same move in different places and not knowing about it, because I'm not thinking about it.
And visa-versa. (Even more obvious, but still needs to be said) If you want to get good at something, and get more consitant, then practice something untill you have it down solid, or at least somewhere nere.

[RT Wolf]

Just got in from a ride. Used the advice of several on here and I am riding better almost instantly. Best thing I have been doing is visualizing myself making it before I do it, and spending my time landing sidehops sucessfully, rather than moving up in height too fast. I find that being more gradual in my height increase is helping the height 'look' more make-able.

I'm glad to hear that. Good luck in the future, too! :)

[AgrAde]

when i'm questioning something i just think "you're completely fucking stationary, there's no way you can hurt yourself", and the instant i stop thinking that sentence i do the move. there's not enough time between finishing thinking about that sentence and the complete blankness that comes when i do a well-memorised move such as sidehopping, so there's no time at all to question what i'm doing.

works pretty much every time.

hadn't ridden my bike in about about two weeks, had been pissing about on shitty little 2' sidehops at that point and had been fucking them up for some reason. did a demo type thing and went for a ~36" sidehop, fucked it up first time. just thought about the sentence and did it, landed it fine. then again, then again.

then i broke my v-brake adapters :wtc:

[Cryo-Cube]

Im glad to hear that other rides are not fearless all the time. Because some times i think im the only one who is scared of things. You guys should see me. Everything scares me, its ridiculous. Even gaps over bar height make me nervous

[AgrAde]

:rofl: yeah i'm like that, usually quite antsy if i'm more than 5 feet off the ground. usually don't try things which is really gay.

[RT Wolf]

I know what you guys mean. I think that's what seperates the regular riders from the world class ones. No fucking fear. Its like they're missing a gene or something.

Still, I wanna learn how to be more courageous. Not just in trials, but also in real life. I'm doin pretty good so far, and I wanna get better.

[KeepRollin]

You just need to keep scaring the shit out of yourself over and over and over and over again.