with hops in general. The seat stops your legs from bending as much as you would without a unicycle. Where does all the power for these massive hops I see come from? You don’t get the added tension of bent legs and I notice that people just seem to flick themselves up without much lower motion
It may sound like a silly question and I’m sure I’ll get better with practice but if I could just understand where I need to work on I could start some external stretches/exercises to help. I believe squats help jumping height but I doubt they will help as much on a unicycle.
I hope this quick little question doesn’t get dumped in with the “baw I can’t jump high” threads. I acknowledge that practice will help me improve…it’s just a little thing that’s been bugging me.
the only exercise i do is calf raises and when i started those i saw a massive improvement.
to be honest 75% of hopping is in your mind though. most likely you have the strength to hop high but your mind is limiting you… practice on heights that aren’t consistent and when they become consistent immediately move onto a new non-consistent height.
Ive never had much luck with this.I just end up tiring myself out and get really frustrated.Might explain why its taking me so long to get higher though lol.I was doing calf raises but i never stuck with it.Ill start up again.Allthough you dont need this stuff if you ride flat
I think its more a matter of coordination than strength. When you begin to learn to hop you hop with just your legs, as you get more coordinated you begin to hop higher until a certain limit. To break through, you bring more of your body into the hop, your hop height increases as your coordination gets refined, then you reach another limit again. To break through you need to bring even more of your body into the hop. Obviously strength is a factor, but I think it’s secondary.
So the guys you see making these huge hops are using their whole bodies with amazing coordination, you won’t see any one part do a whole lot , but it’s their whole body working together.
I couldn’t agree more anton005. My question may have been a bit “basic” I can see the whole range of movements involved in a hop and it really is amazing to see the human body synchronize itself so fluidly when watching some of the pro riders on these forums. I guess what I was really asking for was something to help me start, you know…those hops that are just higher than a gutter. I still can’t get much higher than a foot
anyway, I’ve noticed my hops getting quite better as I’ve learned to put by upper body into it. I can easily gap 4sets now and can probably go a bit further if it wasn’t for fear.
Trever, heres a link for calf raises. I’ve learned quite a bit from this fellow (even if he does come across a bit strange)
