I ride partially strapped in(No heel straps so I can always bail) on a trampa. Whenever I ride aggressively in any ground conditions, my back foot and calf get a crazy workout, whereas my front foot seems to do much less work. The next day my back side foot/calf will be sore.
This week I had attended a yoga class and found that balance in my back foot is significantly better than my front foot when standing on one leg for a variety of positions. This is even more noticeable when moving my head while holding the position.(Balancing while moving your head side to side or up and down is more difficult and will often topple some of the attendees when the instructor suggests it)
This got me thinking if there are any ways that we can improve muscles and balancing muscles for riding.
^Try this on each leg. If you can balance fine like this, try moving your head side to side. Im thinking this will force at least some of the balancing muscles associated with riding to activate. This is the pose that really got me thinking about this as it seems to feel the most similar to balancing and turning muscles when riding.
How do you guys fair in the balance when comparing back leg to front leg? Do you ever ride in your off stance and if so does your balance seem more equal?
Here are some things I am considering, along with additional information.
id like to point out that the back leg is probably only more balanced since we ride electrics, on a push board, i kick with my back foot, so i balance on my front.
I’m gonna try a few of these later, I’ve been thinking a bit about this recently too (more about core strength and stability in other stuff like extended standing at work but also some esk8 specific stuff) so this is really interesting. Will update if I find anything noticeable
doesnt everyone balance on the front foot? i can get my back foot sore on purpose if i keep it on the edge of the board and steer with it (helps with gravel traction) otherwise its barely touching the board
i shift my weight around a LOT based on whats going on. honestly its instinctual, and i cant begin to tell you what i do and when. but, the main difference since going electric is that my back foot takes more force than my front because of the motors. on a kick push board, i had basically 2 stances at all times, rotate front foot-kick push with back-rotate back into steering position. but electric i dont need to do all that, and steering with my front foot means that my back foot is usually still, vibrating a bit, but still. by that logic, my back foot is technically closer to balancing on one foot. i think.
