Pumping
- Skill:
- generate speed on transition without pushing
- Prerequisites:
- Carving, Dropping In
Pumping is how you generate speed in a mini ramp or halfpipe without pushing. Done right it feels like perpetual motion, and it's the backbone of all transition skating: more control, a better feel for the ramp, and a base for every trick that comes after.
Before you try it
- Rolling comfortably up and down a mini ramp transition without stalling or bailing.
How to do it
Ignore the advice about bobbing your upper body up and down. The speed comes from your legs, not your torso.
- On the way up, take the weight off the board. Let your knees bend and your legs come up, so the board feels weightless through the transition.
- On the way down, push. Straighten your legs and press the board down through the curve. This is where the real speed boost comes from.
- Steer with the legs. As the ramp curves, the board wants to turn out. Press more through the back leg on the way in to straighten it, then front leg on the way out. Back leg, front leg, back leg, front leg.
Your torso stays roughly level. It's the board and your legs doing the work up and down the transition.
Watch more here:
Video by Man Vs Board
Common mistakes
- Bobbing the upper body. It looks like pumping but gives no speed. If your shoulders are going up and down more than your knees, you're doing it wrong.
- Pushing with both legs equally. You'll lose the line through the curve. Weight the back leg into the transition, the front leg out.
- Staying heavy on the way up. That kills your speed. Unweight going up, push going down.