New to wakeboarding questions

I just started wakeboarding yesterday. It was AWESOME! I've never had so much fun. Even better then snowboarding! (pretty close though) Here is my problem, I can do heelside no problem, but I can't go toeside at all. Anyone else ever have this problem? Do you know how to fix it? Another question is I don't know when I need to keep my arms strait, and when I need to bend them. This morning I woke up and my back is killing me! From top to bottom, but mainly my lower back and middle spine. Is this supposed to happen? Or was I maybe holding my position wrong? Any help would be great! :-)
Thanks

It is awesome, I just did it for the first time 3 days ago. As far as your back, mine is still hurting and every day the pain gets worse but it is becoming harder to make the pain so thats good. What is heelside toeside, I rented my board when I went out and the guy asked me which on I wanted, what does that mean?

hmm, well now i'm confused. I thought it meant when you use the healside of your board that meant healside. And when you pointed your toes towards the water, that meant toeside. I could be wrong. That was my interpretation of it all. But I've only been out once, so now I have no idea. I thought to decide which leg to put front would be either regular or goofy. I think goofy is when you like to lead with your right leg, or have your right leg forward, and regular is when you lead with your left leg. I could be wrong on that too.

You said toeside was when your toes pointed towards the water, when you are on a lake arent your toes pointed toward the water no matter what direction you are pointing?

You are right about goofy/regular. Toeside is when you are cutting toward the wake with your toes pointed toward the water. Try to hold the handle as close as possible to your lead hip (the one closest to the boat).

As far as your lower back hurting, it will be a little sore, that is common, but try to stand taller while you are riding. It sounds like you are bending over too much which causes your lower back to take all the stress.

I don't know about when to bend your arms. All I can tell you is try to keep the handle as close to your waist as you can at all times. This will teach you good form.

Good luck!

I have read several different things online today for when it comes to bending your arms. It sounds like you should keep them strait out if you aren't going over the wake, and bend them slightly if you are going over the wake. Is that true? when you say keep your arms close to your hip, wouldn't you have to bend them to do that? Or do you simply mean to lower your arms to hip level?

-toe side is cutting into the wake with your toes pointed twards the wake.
-Heel side is cutting into the wake with your toes pointing away from the wake
-Goffy is rideing with your right leg infront
-Regular is rideing with your left leg infront
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Pam- you are mistkeing heelside/toeside for regular/goffy. Basicly whay your trying to say is that you can go one way, but have trouble rideing the other way. That is called "switch" and you are perfectly fine for rideing the first time yesterday. for the first year or two it will always feel awkward rideing switch. its like trying to write with your left hand if you are right handed.
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Kenneth- the guy probly asked you if you ride regular or goofy. Stand with your feet next to you, and have someone gently push you. wich ever foot naturaly goes forward to catch you is which foot you want in front. Left=regular Right=goofy
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Ok, I think I anwerd the questions...
Oh yea... and welcome to the world of wakeboarding!

crap... while I was typing all that, someone els posted answering your questions... now i feel stupid because it looks like i just posted answers just for the sake of posting... oh well!

no i don't think i'm mistaking healside and toeside for regular goofy. Cause what i said was goofy is when you're riding with your right leg leading, and that is what you just typed. So I think we were already on the same page. I don't want to ride switch . . . which I'm assuming that means where you can do both regular and goofy. I'm not ready for that yet. My question was that I can cut healside but I can't seem to lean in and cut toeside. If that doesn't make sense i mean I can dig my heals into the water, but can't dig my toes into the water. So that makes it so that I can basically only go one direction using my edges, and to go the other direction I have to point the board and hope for the best. I cant cut the water toeside. That is what I was trying to get accross. Sorry if there was confustion.

Pamela,

the sore back and toeside difficulty go along with each other. this signifies that you are bending over at the waist. when you are bending over at the waist you do not have enough leverage to keep pressure on your toes. Also, you are not only supporting the weight of your upper body with your back, you are resisting the pull of the rope with your back. the way to fix this is to stand tall.

to stand tall push your hips forward. keep your knees bent and relaxed. this will get you in a much better position to put pressure on your toes to go toeside. also make sure you rotate at the waist so your shoulders are square with the boat.

(Message edited by timmy on July 28, 2003)

Pam, when riding toeside, make sure you keep the rope close to your hip, and not way out in front of you. Also it might be a little easier to let go of your back hand when going toeside. If you are regular, this would mean letting go of your right hand.

Pamela - Tim is right on. Also, time and experience is important. It takes a while for most people to get used to the feel of a wakeboard. Once you take some time to get the feel of the board then it will be much easier to cut toeside. Am I stating the obvious?

stretch, stretch and stretch: always!

Hey, I've been boarding for a couple of summers now but still need help doin' stuff. Any easy instructions on Ollies, wake to wake jumps and progressing to 180's? I would appreciate any help. I'm not a youngster but still love to ride.