Advice on edging.
 

Merry Christmas all!

I'm a cable rider and would like to know the correct form for edging towards an obstacle, particular a kicker. I was coached to edge with arms locked out straight. Whilst another advanced rider has told me arms bent and near hip. What in your experience is the best/correct technique? Any help would be awesome. Thanks.

Arms locked sounds like terrible advice. Drop that coach. Arms bent near hip is good general advice. But I'd say that it's a combination of techniques depending on what trick you are throwing. I know that the arms bent near hip helped me with landing 540s off the kickers. But I'm more lax about holding my elbows to my hips on other tricks. The one thing I probably never do it lock them straight.

Hello John, would you kindly explain why arms locked out is bad? I see a quite a few ppl do it approaching obstacles. They seem to be fine. Would love to hear your thoughts.

it all depends really

on tricks that are toeside backside I have my arms pretty straight, then last second I pull myself forward to allow an easy early handlepass

if I am edging heelside, I may keep my elbows a little closer to my hips.

even sometimes on tricks like toeside backroll or pete I will edge with one hand if I am going to do a rear handed grab

I think putting the handle near the hip is good in a ton of situations, especially after you are in the air, but there are tons of different handle placements that can help you initiate a trick more efficiently depending on what trick you are doing.

I attached a few different tricks to show that things wont always be the same depending on what you re doing

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8GkihDhZRTo" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2ww3EGim0xY" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wncBObntyvg" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Thanks JB Ive seen you ride at my local IWP in Phuket. You're pretty awesome man. Cheers for your help.

JB explained it pretty good. Even "pretty straight" isn't the same as locked. Even when my arms are extended out they aren't locked. When you see people approaching obstacles with their arms out I'm not sure they have their arms locked. If your arms are locked you lose some control. On some tricks your arms are extended and others kept in. But claiming that your arms should always be locked approaching a kicker is advice I wouldn't take.