Author Topic: Foot position on pegs  (Read 3633 times)

Offline aliasdck

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Foot position on pegs
« on: September 30, 2021, 11:10:14 PM »
Please refer to the photo, sorry for how crude this is but I think it'll work for our purposes.


When doing most tricks, where about on your foot do you stand on the peg? Some tricks require special positioning, for example you need to stand on the peg unusually if you want to be able to do certain pivots, I'm not asking about these types of situations. How do you stand on the peg for most average tricks, like say you are just doing a steam roller or something.


I have been riding very hard all year and have managed to injure myself from overtraining. I still need to see my doctor and get a diagnosis and referral to a specialist like a physical therapist, but I believe my problem is that I have developed a significant imbalance between the strength of my quadriceps (front side of legs) and hamstrings (back side of legs). This throws the tilt of the pelvis out of alignment which causes problems in the lower back, hip flexors as well as weakness in the legs.


I have always tended to stand on the peg such that the peg is usually around numbers 2 and 3. I think this is maybe not be ideal and may be partly why I have developed this problem because I may have been putting much more strain on one side and much less on the other (front vs back).


I still need to recouperate but I have been riding everyday still just not as intensely. I have started standing on the peg more around numbers 4-6 (still experimenting) and am finding it much easier to balance as well as things like turbines happen much more fluidly.


I got this idea from watching a few videos of pro riders. Happened to notice that most of time riders were standing further back on the peg then I was.



Offline DaddyCool

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Re: Foot position on pegs
« Reply #1 on: September 30, 2021, 11:27:40 PM »
Hello, intersting topic! I would say I use 4.5. I never thought about changing that. I have the typical lower back problems, fortunately not so strong in the last month (partly because of the hints from Scott Hagnas on Flatmatters, thanks for that!). I addition lately I feel the area of the Achilles tendon to be much stressed in both legs. But I am not sure if this is only related to riding, because unlike you I ride only about 3 h per week (shame on me...). After watching Terry's video "More than motivated" I am also thinking about loosing weight. I assume less weight would also put less stress on the legs. But I guess that is not your issue.

Offline aliasdck

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Re: Foot position on pegs
« Reply #2 on: October 02, 2021, 10:39:36 PM »
Ive been meaning to check out Scott Hagnas tips again.

Sorry for the delayed response daddycool, I was giving it some time in the hopes we would get more replies first.

now that I've had a few days to experiment, I think you are right on the money with 4.5. Seems to be about the ideal balance point. Now I just need to get used to it so that it becomes my new normal.

Loosing some weight would help some I imagine. You are right that my current weight is not so much an issue for me as I'm fairly lean now. I was a bit over weight when I first got back into riding at the end of 2018. Was coming out of about 5 years of a very sedentary lifestyle, so I was horribly out of shape. Took a long time for me to build strength and endurance back up. I will do whatever I can to never fall back into that lifestyle again, took way too much work to undue.

A lot of my body issues stem from a lifetime of bad posture, I need to start focusing on improving it but it's one of those things I keep putting off




Offline FlatBlackMetal4130

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Re: Foot position on pegs
« Reply #3 on: October 07, 2021, 04:19:25 PM »
I definitely use zones 3-5 for every trick. The more you go towards the heel, the less movement you have in your feet and the harder it is too balance. But, some tricks require specific footing (feet in spokes/ awkward positioning, etc)


try standing still on both of your heels and then try standing on the balls of your toes. Feels significantly different right? You also have all those little muscles in your feet and toes to aid in balance. But if your muscles aren't able to recover you should take a break! Stretching, drinking a lot of water and eating right will help you too.

Offline aliasdck

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Re: Foot position on pegs
« Reply #4 on: October 13, 2021, 07:31:19 PM »
Yes, all good points thank you. My biggest problem over the last few years had been not allowing myself enough rest between sessions. I most definitely overtrain, riding my bike has become an addiction unfortunately. I'm out there riding 1-3 hours almost every single day now, often split into a morning and late afternoon session. My poor muscles just don't have sufficient time to recover, I just often feel overwhelmingly compelled to ride every day whether my body agrees or not. I need to work on that obviously.

I have at least started alternating legs, so one day I do all tricks while standing on my left leg then the next day only tricks where I stand on my right leg. I have been working hard towards being able to balance and do tricks on either leg in either position (switch foot vs regular in both regular and opposite). I have made considerable progress on the back wheel doing this now over the last 1-1.5 years, almost every backwheel trick I am working on all four variations (left regular, left switch foot, right regular, right switch foot). Was a very slow and frustrating process at first but once I finally started getting comfortable on my opposite leg (which is my right leg) things just started suddenly falling into place. I'm even now finding I can balance certain tricks better/easier on my opposite side then I can on regular. Only applies on the back wheel so far as I have a lot of work ahead of me when I bring this process to the front wheel.

So this has helped tremendously because each leg now gets a day of lighter duty. Problem is flatland requires more than just leg muscles, back/abs/shoulders/arms etc all get used and also need proper rest as well...

And I need to eat more and eat better. I'm already drinking tons of water everyday, can't seem to keep up always but I do my best.

Edit: damnit why does this forum randomly change text size like that when I try to edit a post? So annoying
Edit 2: never mind it corrected itself somehow on the last edit
« Last Edit: October 13, 2021, 07:35:31 PM by aliasdck »

Offline Mambocowboy

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Re: Foot position on pegs
« Reply #5 on: October 13, 2021, 11:48:52 PM »
Yes, all good points thank you. My biggest problem over the last few years had been not allowing myself enough rest between sessions. I most definitely overtrain, riding my bike has become an addiction unfortunately. I'm out there riding 1-3 hours almost every single day now, often split into a morning and late afternoon session. My poor muscles just don't have sufficient time to recover, I just often feel overwhelmingly compelled to ride every day whether my body agrees or not. I need to work on that obviously.

I have at least started alternating legs, so one day I do all tricks while standing on my left leg then the next day only tricks where I stand on my right leg. I have been working hard towards being able to balance and do tricks on either leg in either position (switch foot vs regular in both regular and opposite). I have made considerable progress on the back wheel doing this now over the last 1-1.5 years, almost every backwheel trick I am working on all four variations (left regular, left switch foot, right regular, right switch foot). Was a very slow and frustrating process at first but once I finally started getting comfortable on my opposite leg (which is my right leg) things just started suddenly falling into place. I'm even now finding I can balance certain tricks better/easier on my opposite side then I can on regular. Only applies on the back wheel so far as I have a lot of work ahead of me when I bring this process to the front wheel.

So this has helped tremendously because each leg now gets a day of lighter duty. Problem is flatland requires more than just leg muscles, back/abs/shoulders/arms etc all get used and also need proper rest as well...

And I need to eat more and eat better. I'm already drinking tons of water everyday, can't seem to keep up always but I do my best.

Edit: damnit why does this forum randomly change text size like that when I try to edit a post? So annoying
Edit 2: never mind it corrected itself somehow on the last edit
I ride both sides and legs too and am convinced it prevents overuse injury. I'm curious about what you think was key to progress on the back wheel? I'm trying to learn to turbine and have been for awhile but no dice....

Offline aliasdck

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Re: Foot position on pegs
« Reply #6 on: October 14, 2021, 10:16:52 PM »
For me it was simply a combination of time, concentration, motivation and persistence. Mostly these are  just cliche words but they fit as there really has been nothing more to it than that for me.

 If you're out there on your bike regularly and you aren't just 'going through the motions" but instead are actually concentrating on your riding, then very slowly but surely the pieces come together. It doesn't usually just snap into place suddenly: often you'll go weeks/months and only make the tiniest amount of progress... but add a bunch of these tiny steps in progress together over enough time/practice and eventually you've got yourself some decent skills.

Offline Mambocowboy

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Re: Foot position on pegs
« Reply #7 on: October 14, 2021, 10:51:47 PM »
For me it was simply a combination of time, concentration, motivation and persistence. Mostly these are  just cliche words but they fit as there really has been nothing more to it than that for me.

 If you're out there on your bike regularly and you aren't just 'going through the motions" but instead are actually concentrating on your riding, then very slowly but surely the pieces come together. It doesn't usually just snap into place suddenly: often you'll go weeks/months and only make the tiniest amount of progress... but add a bunch of these tiny steps in progress together over enough time/practice and eventually you've got yourself some decent skills.
Yeah I haven't completely prioritized back wheel. I did prioritize 2 wheel tricks and currently hang 5. It does seem that prioritization and lots and lots of reps is the key...