Crouching - Break thru or/and poor style

[noseat]

I been feeling like I been stuck at a very low plateau learning trials for a while. I've struggled going from a short to a longer frame. Tonight I started crouching while on the rear tire. Previously I had had straight legs and straight back. Crouching over (bent legs and bent back) on my rear tire seemed to help ALOT with balance and with the very beginning of pedal kicks. I'm sure it is bad style but it feels better and more stable.

Any one have comments about crouching?

[AgrAde]

always have bent legs and arms, but keep your back straight. bent limbs help a lot with balance, but a bent back is just bad for you.

[tubender]

I started crouching down also. I find that if I am stuck in a spot and need to get the front up, I can get low and get a couple little bounces on the rear and balance better while bring the front up.

[caleb1978]

Any back pain, sounds like you are describing(with you back) exactly what it says not to do in the "Back Pain Mega Thread" There was pics there to show what good posture looks like.
I have no real input here:luke:

[Juhan]

straight back, bent legs and bent arms is the way to go. There's no harm in "crouching" on the back wheel if you need it to correct your balance or position, but surely not good if you're always crouched on the rear wheel.

[hopsalot]

Think about looking over your handel bar and still maintaining an athletic stance when on your back wheel. The bad habit to get into is looking below your handelbar, constricting your movement.

[Bryan]

don't bend your legs much, if at all, if you value having power or balance or a back when you are older
bow your knees slightly outwards though

[justtysen]

don't bend your legs much, if at all, if you value having power or balance or a back when you are older
bow your knees slightly outwards though
:ugh:

That sounds like terrible advice. Bending at the hips and legs is how you produce power and absorb movement. Keeping the back itself straight is the important part. If your legs are straight your back will bend. Also the only time you should ever bow your legs is when you are way off balance and trying to all hell to stay upright.

[Bryan]

:ugh:

That sounds like terrible advice. Bending at the hips and legs is how you produce power and absorb movement. Keeping the back itself straight is the important part. If your legs are straight your back will bend. Also the only time you should ever bow your legs is when you are way off balance and trying to all hell to stay upright.

You go ahead and tell Serge or any American who trained in Croatia all about how bad that advice is.

You aren't absorbing shit when you're backhopping. Watch any decent rider-they bend at the hips, not at the back or knees.

Look at Giacomo, not bending his knees! He sucks so much. What a fag.

[Bryan]

Some more posers that wish they had the skills of justtysen

[justtysen]

Okay I don't want to get into a fight and I admit that I don't know what they teach in Croatia, or any part of Europe for that matter.

I agreed with you that keeping one's back straight and instead bending at the hips is vital. I still think that a bend in the legs is important in most situations though. In that picture Giacomo is setting up for a sidehop so he is keeping his body tall so that he can quickly drop his weight and then spring upward. His legs are still bent a bit there anyway. Maybe we are disagreeing on what 'bent' means?

Sometimes keeping one's legs straight and leaning forward at the hips is useful for keeping one's weight forward if one is starting to fall back a bit. Or if one's just stretching different muscles.

What I meant about absorbing movement is when one lands from a hop they need to absorb even that small impact, if their legs were locked out that wouldn't happen very well.

In this picture you can see the same rider bending quite a bit at the legs. And he is not gapping as it can be seen that he is looking directly down at this rear tire.
http://www.fuge.biz/Biketrial-Hannover/giacomo-coustellier-biketrial.jpg

On the bowed leg thing: Okay I see it's importance for balance in some situations, especially those that involve a bit of pivoting (like Vince's sidehop). I wouldn't call it an important part of the rear wheel form though.

[stpatr3k]

I don't get what you guys are talking about. I'm kinda slow hehe

What I understand so far is that your talking about just being on the rear tire? Am I correct?

If so I think I have a far straighter legs when on the back tire, even to setup for a kick for a gap. When I learned to straightened my knees a bit, I was able to pause on the rear tire for a longer time.

As you begin to do the next move thats when you bend it (knees) right? I just feel its tiring to bend the knees more pronouncedly while on the rear tire to setup for the next move. That caused me to plateau a while back hehe. Bent knees makes your ass nearer to the bike and makes balancing harder.

Those pictures of Bryan by the way shows the difference in position in between a high BB and a low BB bike. I now think I look gay on a low BB bike :rofl:

Bryan from what video of DW is that (Is he the one on the GU?) I want to see the next few frames.

[rush]

Ignore most of this shit. Do what feels most comfortable and try to emulate the top riders.

[Bryan]

Bryan from what video of DW is that (Is he the one on the GU?) I want to see the next few frames.

http://www.trials-forum.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=119444

It's important to think of parting your knees, because in preload and tuck, you need that space for torso clearance. Plus it looks a whole lot less stupid than knock-kneed style and prevents you from slamming body parts against the stem and headtube.

[netto]

just dont try so hard. seriously it works. dont even think about the knees or the back. just stop trying so hard.

[va_tick]

What video is that first Giaco pic from??

[Bryan]

What video is that first Giaco pic from??

Lugdunum session

[AgrAde]

Bryan, i would have said that Damon's and Vincent's legs were bent in both those pictures?

All those pics are setting up from a sidehop from flat ground, where it's a good thing to be high on the bike and there's no special need for a large amount of balance. as soon as you're on off-camber or it's vital to have perfect balance then you'll bend your legs a bit more because it gives a lot more control, which is pretty much what people learning to backhop need.

either way, do what feels right as long as you don't bend your back as much as i do. i have posture fairly similar to that pic of damon:momaru:

[nikkocholo]

Bent knees are good when pre loading a hop..Bent back is just bad for you...it will give you pain...I've learned it hte hard way..

[Bryan]

Meh. I really think netto has the best advice in this thread.
But seriously, bend your knees slightly outwards. I'm not going to go into the reason, but it makes it a lot easier to keep your back straight. This is in addition to offering you clearance for your preloads and tucks and giving you extra balance.

[MIKE1968]

all you people are really over thinking this shit.

[netto]

the trick to getting better at riding and being smooth is seriously not to try so hard. just do the move as lazy as you can. if you dont make the move then fuck that shit do something else.

seriously it works

[stpatr3k]

:werd:

Can't argue with you there because it works

[stocktrials]

the trick to getting better at riding and being smooth is seriously not to try so hard. just do the move as lazy as you can. if you dont make the move then fuck that shit do something else.

seriously it works

yeah I found that recently, I was thinking a lot
usually can land moves first few tries, if not, I start thinking about how it works.. which usually leads to failure

relax your body and stay loose :h5: