Visual Training for Tow Sports—With Your Smartphone
What if you could get significantly better at your favorite tow sport without even being on the water? Most people believe improvement only happens during a session on the water. But some of the biggest breakthroughs can happen off the water—by studying what the pros do and understanding why they do it. Let’s call it visual training for tow sports.
Whether it is the offseason or in between sessions during the season, you don’t have to wait until you are on the water to improve in your favorite towed watersport. Are you a wakeboard rider, wakesurfer, waterskier, kneeboarder, wake skater, or barefoot waterskier? Doesn’t matter. You have a very powerful and productive way to learn and get better when you are not on the water.
Visual training for tow sports involves studying and analyzing photos and videos.
Not only can you do this, but you should do this, for a couple of reasons. You will accelerate your progression, develop a better understanding of body position and technique, and increase your confidence. All of that leads to mastery.
How I Discovered the Power of Visual Training for Tow Sports
When I was learning to barefoot waterski forward and then backward in the late 1970s, instruction and coaching for barefooting didn’t exist. The lack of information about how to barefoot led me to study the few photos of barefoot waterskiers in magazines and in the few books I could find at the library. I also watched films about waterskiing that featured short segments about barefoot waterskiers, which were shown at the local waterski pro shop.
What I observed in the photos and videos was a clear contrast. Some barefoot waterskiers conveyed strain, with tense expressions and excessive spray, while others projected ease, gliding smoothly over the water with relaxed composure. I decided then to focus on those who made barefooting look effortless.
I didn’t just look at these photos and films once. No, I studied them over and over, analyzing every detail of the skiers’ body position. At the time, I didn’t realize how powerful this was. Looking back, though, I know it was one of the most effective learning tools I had, even though it was limited compared to today. Heck, I didn’t see a photo or video of myself barefooting until the early 1980s.
Today, you can take this same technique—studying photos and videos of yourself and others—to a much higher level because of modern technology. We have specialized digital cameras and smartphones that can shoot excellent video. Plus, we have an explosion of content on YouTube, social media, and elsewhere on the internet. We have a wealth of information available to study and learn new skills in any waterskiing discipline or wakesport.
Not only can you study and analyze others, but you can also study and analyze your own body position and technique and compare yourself to others.
How to Incorporate Photos and Videos Into a Training System
But visual training for tow sports isn’t just about looking at a photo or video and watching someone perform a trick masterfully—or watching yourself try a new skill. It’s about having a strategy for how you study photos and videos.
I lock in on three primary areas of observation when looking at a photo or a video of myself or someone else performing a skill or trick.
1. Master Body Position
When it comes to towed watersports, body position is most critical. If you are using a less-than-optimal body position—whether on a board, ski, or your bare feet—you are limiting your progress and success.
Look at the position of the board or the ski. Is it centered and balanced on the surface of the water? Or—as often happens—is the tail heavy in the water with the tip up? This is very common and means you are leaning away from the boat and have too much weight on the tail of the board or ski.
Look for This Sign
With too much weight on the tail, you will see spray shooting forward in front of you.
Is the board or ski riding tip-down? This means you are bent forward at the waist, putting too much weight on the tip, which is a weak position that often leads to falls.
Look for This Sign
Your hips and seat are trailing behind you, you are bent at the waist, and your eyes are looking down at the water.
Optimal Body Position
Your hips and seat are directly over your feet, your back is upright, and your eyes are looking toward the horizon. Your ankles and knees should have some bend, which distributes body weight evenly over your feet. In this position, you will feel balanced and stable and minimize falls.
2. Unlock Optimal Technique with Visual Training for Tow Sports
All towed watersports share the same theme: They are lower-body-driven sports. That means your lower body should be doing the work to make a maneuver happen. Whether you are crossing the boat’s wake on a board or ski, initiating a turn on a slalom ski, or performing a rotation or inverted trick like a back roll, it’s all about using the power in your lower body to initiate and complete the maneuver.
Look for This Sign
If you are not landing a trick or are inconsistently landing a trick, or a trick feels very difficult, it often means you are relying too much on your upper body to execute the movement.
Optimal Technique
When you are using optimal technique, your upper body should be quiet—free from unnecessary movement. Excessive upper-body movement not only wastes energy but also interferes with execution of proper technique. That’s something you can see using visual training for tow sports.
3. Master Efficiency
The key to optimal body position and technique is removing effort where it is not needed.
For example, examine your entire body for unnecessary muscle tension. Tension hurts performance and wastes energy, which shortens your time on the water.
Look for the following signs as you engage in visual training for tow sports:
- Are you holding your breath?
- Is your chest tight and are your shoulders raised toward your ears?
- Are your cheeks full, or are you panting?
- Are your arms tense?
- Do you have a “death grip” on the handle?
It doesn’t matter if you are a beginner or attempting a more advanced skill or trick; you should use effort only where it is needed.
Pay attention to your breathing. A calm, relaxed breathing pattern helps remove tension in your upper body, arms, and hands. Being aware of where you are tense—especially in your hands—will allow you to release that tension and maintain a relaxed, controlled grip on the handle.
Think and Train Like the Pros
Now that you know what to look for, you need a strategy for visual training for tow sports.
First, study photos and videos of others to see how they execute body position and technique in your watersport. Analyze how the pros perform a trick or maneuver. How do you know when someone is using optimal technique? They make it look easy and they are consistent.
Participants who are consistent and make it look easy should become your role models. Watch them repeatedly—at regular speed, slow motion, and even super slow motion. Analyze the key areas I highlighted previously. Look at what initiates the trick, where their eyes are focused, and how relaxed they appear.
After you study others, study photos and videos of yourself. Again, do it at regular speed and in slow motion. Compare your technique to the pros. What are the differences?
While your primary focus should be on replicating the optimal technique of the pros—that builds confidence and reinforces the “I can do this” mindset—you should also study others who are inconsistent and make the trick look difficult. Identify what they are doing right and what needs improvement. This facet of visual training for tow sports will deepen your understanding of body position, technique, and efficiency.
By studying both high-level performers and inconsistent weekend warriors and comparing their technique to your own, you will develop a much higher level of understanding of the mechanics behind optimal body position and technique.
Incorporate Visual Training for Tow Sports with a Plan
Nike’s “Just Do It” slogan is a powerful motivator, but when you are on the water learning something new, you don’t want to just do it. You want to do it with a plan.
Studying and analyzing photos and videos will give you a deep understanding of how a maneuver is done, correctly and incorrectly. You can take this knowledge of what works and apply it to your on-water sessions and dramatically accelerate your learning process and achieve faster and more consistent success in your favorite tow sport.
The best waterskiers and riders don’t just practice more, they understand more. Mastery begins long before you hit the water. Start learning smarter today with visual training for tow sports.
Zenon Bilas
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