How Trampolines Improved my Motocross Jumps and Tumbles

My hobby and downfall

My mother wasn’t really supportive of my hobby. She has seen these insane videos where people break their necks and lose their lives by doing insane stunts. I told her that I wasn’t even doing any of those, but she still insists that it will happen to me one day. That didn’t stop her from watching me race every now and then. I’ve always dreamt of doing those X-Games motorbike stunts, but I suck at gymnastic routines like tucks, tumbles and jumps. If I can’t do those on the ground, how am I supposed to pull that off with a motorcycle?

Trampoline dry runs

A friend of mine who’s a gymnastics coach told me of an innovative tool that could improve my jumps and tumbles: trampoline. I actually thought that he was pulling my leg but I gave it a shot in their gym and I couldn’t believe it. The airtime that you get from trampolines is similar to what you get from the airtime you get from Motocross humps and jumps; you only had a few seconds to pull off a trick before you land on your feet. Within those short seconds, you need to complete to motion, otherwise you’d be bouncing face first on the trampoline or worst, the ground.

 

The drills

I wasn’t exactly comfortable doing the drills without proper guidance so I bummed at my friend’s gymnasium and made use of their big trampolines, surrounded by rubber pads. My coach taught me like he would teach his students, so he was making me run flexibility exercises and drills before I could do the routine on the trampoline.

A couple of weeks later, I started out with the basic trampoline workout program that involved tucks, knee-bends, and sprints. All of which can bolster one’s balance and agility in between airtimes. The routines were difficult and the timings were even more difficult. It took me close to a month before I could get used to the flow.

After the program, I was already confident with my trampoline and bouncing skills. I even got enough airtime that almost reached as high as a motocross jump. Before I started to do the tumbles and jumps, my friend told me about the basic concepts of the tumbles, from the front-flips to the back-flips. The concepts included the starting position and your landing position. He had his students demonstrate for me and it looked difficult. When I did it, my face kept meeting the ground a lot.

He detected my hesitation every time I did a flip, which was the reason why my flips failed. He told me that you’ve gone past the starting position, there’s no turning back and you have to commit. I took his words to heart and day by day, my jumps and tumbles improved.

I did a test run on my motorcycle a month after I got the hang of the entire motion. I did front flips like they were nothing and the motorcycle felt like a part of me every time I jumped. I’ve gotten over one roadblock in my motocross passion.

Source: http://www.emotocrossblog.com/how-trampolines-improved-my-motocross-jumps-and-tumbles/

Ashley Fiolek Ernesto Fonseca Lauris Freibergs Paul Friedrichs Steven Frossard