Best way to add more style?
 

Any advice on how to add more style to riding? Grab more? Spin slower, faster, more? Pokes?

Looking for any tips on how to add some more steez to my game. I feel kinda robotic at this stage. I can do a few basic inverts, but they don't look very stylie.

Any advice?

Grab everything, airs, inverts, spins, EVERYTHING .... just do what feels best for you, don't try and copy others, that always ends up looking awful.

one word
 

:Dcroakies:D

watch videos.

video yourself and see what you think/ would want to try and change. Normally it's stuff you can go out and tweak yourself and figure it out, but it should always feel good and be fun

go bigger.

Spend countless hours studying the art of steez by watching videos of Randall, Ricky G, Lyman and Benny G. Then after you have done that, do it again, and again, and AGAIN!!!!!!!

And then take what you have learned to the water and put your own twist on your teachings to make it yours.

Two words...tall tees.

YES!

and grab around the knees (tuck knee) instead of between the legs (stink bug). its challanging and look so much better. it also shows you arent half assing your ticks

wow...i guess i half ass my tricks.

Hold your grabs for a really long time. Especially on spins. I don't totally dig my style either. It's always a work in progress.

do you ever try to grab around your knees? its just that most people that grab stink bug do it because they cant do it tucked. you wouldnt see a skate or snow picture ran with a stink bug grab. it might be harder, but i think pushing yourself just that little bit extra makes it more satisfying and fun in my opinion

why you continuously compare wake to skate or snow, or seek the approval of skaters and snowboarders is beyond me. but ok. how i grab is fun to me. who the hell are you to say i'm half-assing it?

10 to 1 says Mitch has "stink bug" grabbed a lot in his life.

A "stink bug" grab is far better than nothing, and heck, its the exact same as a normal grab.... kind of a fad in my opinion.

There is no "stinkbug" in wakeboarding, It is called Indy. IMO Indy's are a fun grab you can take really big, hold for a long time and look good both TS & HS, what's not to like?

of course its still an indy grab no matter if its stinkbug or tucked. yeah its still fun to grab it that way and it feels good. but do you grab stink bug because its easier or because you think it looks better?

Nick, i have grabbed stink bug a lot. its pretty hard to grab tucked, but when i grab i always try to go for it. it may not always happen, but i try not to settle.

the original poster was asking how to add more style to his riding so I gave my opinion.

so you think if i don't grab tucked, you don't think i'm trying hard enough? you think i'm settling? that's pretty arrogant of you. what if i were to tell you that i happen to like how i grab, that i'm not a HUGE fan of tucked-knee grab? you'd probably say i'm not a legit rider, right?

I dont really know if you can just add style to your riding. I mean I know a lot of riders that are really really good but I dont think I would call the stylish. To me style just comes with time spent on the board. Style is unique, style is your take on the way you think wakeboarding should look. Simply adding grabs or pokes doesnt mean that your adding style. It might make your wakeboarding look better but its not necessarly adding style. I truly believe that style comes from within, guy like Vandall, D. Cook, Ricky G, they are riding in a way that the feel best potrays what they love about wakeboarding, how they want wakeboarding to look. To a certain extent style is a bit selfish, your riding for yourself, doing what you love to do. I have a good buddy that can drop a 900 or just about every 7 a the drop of a hat, but 90% of the time he is just blasting HUGE grabs and lofty slow spins, big wake slayshs, just having fun, to me that is what style is, just riding the way you want to, not giving a rip about what the mass think is cool.

Try wearing costumes. Elvis is always a big hit with the crowds.

Remember that time Umali go tooo mad :) LOL

Style is all about the poke in my opinion. Watch any Ben Greenwood part (Drive is a great one).... every time he grabs the board whether in a spin or invert that dude gives a nasty little poke. You could take his melan poked toe 7 and freeze frame it during the poke and it looks more stylie than most people's straight air or 180 pokes. Pokage = Style

True that Nintzel!!!!

Lots of air...

http://www.birkoph.com/Wolf_tshirt.htm

works for me.

joe, if you arent a fan of the tucked grab then thats alright. you can do what you want. i was asking the question if you do it because its easier or if you do it because you prefer the way it looks. you prefer the look of the stink bug so there you go.

Joe, I think what Mitch is geting at is that if someone wants to ride with style they need to try hard each time to get a good "stylie" grab. Simply slapping the board or grabbing in the easiest location is not stylie, its lazy. This has been proven time and time again by the freeriders of our sport and what they have done to make tricks look so good. IMHO adding a good grab to a trick takes a lot more effort than just doing the trick. A lot of guys can go out and throw down a run. But if they want a run to stick out for style purposes it DOES take a lot more energy and focus to accomplish that.

Andy I disagree to an extent. I think everyone has a "natural style" to them and this helps some individuals stick out very well initially (kind of in the same way musicians are so artistic in many ways). I also think that style comes from repetition and practice. I might be wrong here but I highly doubt a lot of guys learned their tricks first time with a good grab involved (or took it really big for that matter). In my experience it happens in steps...learn the trick...make it stock...add the grab....individualize it.

STRETCH! I was really flexible one season and could put my body in all kinds of positions, reach all the grabs. The next season a few pounds heavier and about half as flexible. Couldnt get my body tourqed up in those positions.

My 2cents..

Really clean up your form, go bigger and spend more time solidifying what you already know.

The most fun to watch riders for me go bigger and appear to be doing everything in slow-motion. I think being able to clearly see the trick as it's being thrown lets you appreciate what the rider is doing, even if there isn't a conscious effort to spice it up....

A long held grab makes any trick look more stylish in my opinion. I dont understand how Mitch is being arrogant when hes simply saying a tweaked grab looks a lot cooler than a normal grab. Its true! In this case you can also make the comparison to skateboarding and snowboarding because when ever they have a long held steezy grab on any trick it makes it look twice as cool.

i will disagree with you on the grab makes it automatically better.....some of my favorite shots of snowboarders are ungrabbed....

besides completely agreeing with Nintzel i will add that being quiet while in the air adds a whole lot more style to anything rather than just by adding a grab. by quiet i mean not having body parts flailing around and looking all sorts of sloppy, hucked and rushed.

For the most part I think good style (that is appealing to most) is something that you either have or don't.

But if you want to improve your own personal style just video yourself, pick your technique and tricks apart and try to improve from there. That's what I do. Personally, all I care about is how I look to myself.

A stem cell impant from Mike Schwenne is probably your only hope. hahaha jk

Agreed, Park's part in 12 Honkeys he has a handful of tricks that aren't grabbed but he almost fakes like he is going to grab and they look awesome... which is by the way maybe the best video part ever.
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If you watch the section you'll see most of his tricks are grabbed and the ones that aren't are like whirly 5's, hs/ts 9's, bs 5s and greater, and double inverts which were all moves that were not grabbed then and very hard to grab now. Everything else (besides the OA FS 3 off the double up) was grabbed and looked soo much more stylish because of it (just my opinion).

Just saying in my opnion a grab will generally make any trick look more stylish along with getting more pop and having a smooth flow to it in the air.

There seem to be some pretty commonplace mainstays in the boardsports communities when it comes to style: Amplitude, Control, Tweak, and Grabs are definitely the mainstays, and I definitely think that being able to improve your riding in any of those arenas goes miles to help out. That said, if you can add or do something in your riding that makes it feel better to you and sets it apart from others that you ride with, your boosting your own personal style.

Actually I think we agree on this one!!!

JR - In my crew we refer to what your talking about as adding "Bang" to your tricks. Pretty sure that its a snowboard term. But adding "bang" is just that make is so smooth, so effortless, so clean, that when your feet hit the ground people in the boat wanna go "BANG." Make even the landing look clean!

Hook
 

Simple, just add the hook.

Andy...dont forget the afterbang too, haha.

Nah, no hook. That's a lame bite off someone else's style....get your own...or at least somewhat unique.

"Stink Bug" grab??... Are you serious?

Benj, i was thinking the exact same thing. The way you will see style in any sport is to make the trick unique. There is no right or wrong way to add style.

Wrong way = skinny jeans

I know a few of you wakeskaters have thought about it.

^^^ Too funny