How Hard Do you Push yourself?

When your riding how hard do you push your self? Do your ride within your limits or do try to push yourself to the next level?

I go balls to the wall. ohh wait there arent any walls at the lake.

I usually go balls to the water, and it hurts like shizzle.

I usually push myself according to my confidence level. If I'm sticking every trick I know, and I'm feeling good, I push. If I'm just not feeling it that day, I'll sometimes stay within my limits.

When concussions damper your riding I stay within the limits, but still do a bit of pushing!

(Message edited by jetgofish on December 16, 2003)

ever catch your balls between your shorts and the water on a crash landing. that suckz and hurts feels like great balls o fire

Steven...at least once a month during the season. I'm really getting sick of that actually. Landing of axis in the seated position HURTS!

Teri...I know what you mean. It took me a few months to get back on the horse after my concussion.

I've had to many to count from auto accidents and wakin, I wear a helmet now and it helps but let me tell you the feel of your brain sloshin around isn't fun!

j-rod, get a pair of barefooter pants. they do wonders to ease the sit-down crash pains!

im not sure what riding within your limits means...if what you mean by that is not trying anything you don't absolutely know you can land, then that's not me as im always trying new stuff. but i always try new stuff within what i believe are my "limits." meaning that i don't try tricks i don't think im ready for because i haven't prepped for or haven't worked up to them.

i'm always interested in "pushing" to get to the next level, but not at the expense of my body (or brain teri!), or by skipping building block steps. i see so many people try stuff they're obviously not ready for. doesn't mean they won't land the trick, but their chance of injury is much higher.

i think this can be a dangerous sport, no matter what you're trying to do (iow, not just for the high-flying folks). no need to make it worse by attempting tricks you're not ready for.

of course, i also wear a helment, a cca vest and barefoot padded ski pants everytime i ride (and soon to probably add ear plugs)...because im a wimp? probably, but it also gives me the confidence to "push it"!

Christopher, I'm a bit confused. I feel as though you are implying that all of my concussions have been from wakeboarding. They have not, in fact I have only experienced two from wakeboarding and one from snowboarding, the others I have received from auto accidents. The first being very bad and resulted in amnesia (sp). Because of this first one I am very prone to getting concussions easily. This is why I wear the helmet and also do not push myself out side of my limits! If you are meaning something else please explain, sometimes email and posts can be non expressive and before I attack you I would like to express my confusion and give you the chance to clearly explain. Or maybe you have and I have had to many concussions!!!

If Barefooter pants will protect my boys, I'll try them. Thanks.

no offense intended teri, i was just referencing your comment about feeling your brain sloshin around in your head. you're right, that's definitely not fun, not good for you and not worth taking a unnecessary risk for!

Thanks...where did you take all those pics in your profile?

actually i didn't take any of them since im in them ya know... ;)

the ones with shaun and darin were taken at the spot, darin's home and wakeboard camp. the pic with ricky and gideon was taken at castaic. the pic with my girlfriend kimberly was taken at the river, and the pic with my friends jeff and skylar was taken at a canyon lake comp.

Nowadays I ride for fun, and don't really push myself that much. I do push a little but only in the summer when it's warm.

I am a sissy cause I don't want to get hurt. I only try tricks I know I am ready for. You will not get far in this sport without learning the basics.

it will be interesting to see how much i push myself in wakeboarding now that I am about to get back on the water from breaking the heck out of my leg in august, from pushin it.

I can see myself pushing in other directions, more wakeskating, more barefooting. less pushing in big air wakeboarding feats.

im kinda like stack. i have a goal each time i go out. ill usually watch a video before heading out and pick out something small like a grab or a variation on a trick to learn or work on. i believe in progressing through stages and wont usually just huck something for the heck of it unless im really amped during a run and need to be humbled.

I push when everything is firing. You know where you think, "hmm I haven't tried this in awhile, wow that was easy...", that is when I have landed the harder things that I can do so i move to the harder things that I can't really do and then to the things that I've never tried before. When you get in that zone it is the best feeling. Tearing all your tricks and then not falling until you've tried something you've never tried before.

I know the basics and really don't push myself that hard anymore. For the past 2 years I have really just been having fun doing the basic stuff and not being injured. I got injured 2 years ago and NEVER want that to happen again. I know I am missing out on a lot of the fun that new cool tricks have to offer, but am not interested in being out for the season due to an injury while trying to learn fancy stuff. When I quit enjoying or get bored with the tricks I have now, I will move on to some others. My season is way to short to be sidelined for most of it with a broken body.

I definitely push my self every day I go out. I always have a goal for one day. Its either to learn a new trick or to perfect one that I have learned. My friends arnt that good at wakeboarding, but they are always pumping me up to do new stuff. The two things that make me push harder are..... Listening to loud music while riding, and my little cousin. My little cousin is 5 years old and number 1 in the state for his age at motocross. He can clears triples and 45 foot table tops! Thats some crazy ****! After thinking about that, the puny wake seams like nothing.

Krutz, I'm in the same boat (not literally but coming off a broken leg as well).

I push really hard on the wakeskate, cause its jus so much more fun for me for some reason, but I feel like I push myself really hard on the wakeboard and I'm not getting anywhere, like its really bad, I can't even go w2w . Realistically I prolly only get to ride a couple dozen times a summer, an a lot of the time I don't even bother with the wakeboard cause.. I dunno, for some wierd reason, even tho I suck at wakeskating too, its jus so much more fun. Maybe I'm jus crazy, lol . Oh well, all that'll change when I get to FL, then I can ride everyday, maybe then I'll make more progression, haha, we can only hope!

The boat/rope combo does a pretty good job of pulling me, so I don't really have to push myself at all when I'm wakeboarding.

lol tyler. that's awesome. hehe, im still chuckling at that one.