Subject: Lane Dawg's Cure for the Slumping Line Front Stepovers!

"Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value."

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."

-Albert Einstein

I am going to answer an advanced question that was recently submitted to me. Please feel free to email me your questions for another round of "Barefoot Band-Aids" which I will publish in ten days. Remember to submit a two-sentence question and I will publish two sentence answers. Please include "Barefoot Band-Aids" in the subject line. I will also post the results on my site at http://www.thefootersedge.com/barefootbandaides.htm

"Lane I am sick and tired of watching your line fronts on the video (footers edge instructional) which I bought several years ago.

Still having probs with the line front.

I can ride in the back line position standing on one foot but don't know where my hands/knuckles should be? Ron Scarpa says the wrists should be against the thigh, and yet everyone else looks like it's different. Where and what should I be doing with the line front. Should I be practicing one foot back to front turns for the line front?

Look forward to hearing from ya

Regards

Bart"

Bart, I am glad you asked this question and I am going to give you the best advice I know how. Also, please review my article at http://www.thefootersedge.com/traumacenter/index.htm entitled "NFTE#26 Line-step One-foots & Hops"

Mike Seiple gave me some great advice when I was at your stage that I believe to be my first course of action with my students. He encouraged me to learn my one-foot turns before even messing with my line turns. I took his advice and mastered my line-turns much easier. I find that when I could do one-foot turns to the front feet-to-feet, then the line turns where almost identical.

I do not want this to make you think that they came without paying my dues! I did literally thousands of one-foot turns and line turns on shoe-skis (I DO recommend my Dawg Paws that you can order them from me directly!) before ever attempting them on my feet. I had all the muscle memory developed before ever attempting them on my feet.

I feel that too many people scare themselves so badly, and THEN try to find out how to correct the problem. Take the longer and safer route, which I described above, and I PROMISE you will be emailing me with your success story!

But I digress. To answer your question, I try to always get my knuckles of the hand on the handle pressed into the step-over leg. Specifically, I try to press them where the hamstring muscle ends and the quadricep muscles start! Then keep the free hand with your palm at face level, fingers fully extended, and the elbow in.

The hand is a guide that your face will follow. Learning to ski "bouncy trouncy" (http://www.thefootersedge.com/traumacenter/info/ne17.htm) in this position is a huge help. The upper body should be in the position I describe for back toeholds on my video (http://www.thefootersedge.com/videos)

When you are ready to step over the rope, remember the most important rule in surface turns.NEVER TURN WITH THE UPPER BODY FIRST. Always let your upper body follow the lower body!

Critical info and additional reading about Lane Dawg Bower's Clock Theory of Turns at http://www.thefootersedge.com/traumacenter/info/ne39.htm

I like to start with a very slight compression in my knees and hips making sure not to bend over. I hold the upper body quite and step over slowly making sure my heel moves directly towards my butt and that the step over leg stays as close to the rope as possible.  Try to land in a one-foot one-hand position without grabbing for the handle.

This is critical to practice properly on land and then the Dawg Paws before ever getting onto your feet. Remember to have your muscle memory dialed in from repetition of perfection. Just making a step-over on your shoes does not count. You have to make it perfectly hundreds if not thousands of times if you want to approach it on your feet with total confidence!

"Don't get off the porch and try to run with the big dawgs unless you have your Puppy Paws!"-Lanemus Maximus circa 1996

Do you want to ski with me on a weekend? I have several spots available on the weekend of August 3 and 4 in West Palm Beach. I have a great spot that I call Nirvana that is incredible. It is $150 per day. Email me immediately if you are interested! You can also call me at the number below in my signature. Pictures of the site are available at http://www.thefootersedge.com/barefootnirvana.htm

I really work hard on these articles to help you to become the best barefoot water skier you can be. Please do me a favor and forward this to some of your footin' friends and encourage them to sign-up. I have made it easy for you. All you have to do is "cut and paste" the segment below. Email your friends and c.c me at lane@lanedawg.com .

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Expect a Miracle!

Lane "Dawg" Bowers

lane@lanedawg.com

www.thefootersedge.com/free_ebook

877-685-6270  <--------Call Me!