The X-Up is one of the first tricks you will learn in the air when dirt jumping. A lot of people need help doing a proper X-Up and getting it fully extended. To do a proper X-Up, try these tips: get lots of air, use proper form, practice doing and except both directions, and losing your grip a little bit so that you can get the full extension. I’m going to break it down a little bit more below.
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Overview
Difficulty Level: Beginner
Time to Learn: 1 – 3 Months
Skatepark Required? Yes. Need some sort of jump
1. Get Air
Obviously, getting enough airtime is the most important thing for doing tricks over dirt jumps. An X-Up is not any different. You need to go fast enough to clear the jump but if you know anything about boosting it’s going to help to pop off the lip to get an extra little bit of height.
2. Use proper form
In the video, for X-up I talk about using proper form. And essentially the proper form is pinching your knees and throwing your hips back so that you have enough room to clear your knees when doing the X up. If you’re not in this position you’re going to have a hard time folding your arms around to actually click it.
3. x-up the Right Direction
I struggled with this because initially, I would X-Up the left but I could not click it. However, once I started doing X-up’s to the right they felt a lot better. There isn’t necessarily a correct way or wrong way but there is a way that feels more comfortable for you. So I stress that everyone spends some time trying these in both directions so that you can actually find the direction that works best for you.
4. Loosen your Grip
The last little Golden nugget of advice I can give you is that if you have a death grip on your grips the X-up will not happen. You need to loosen up your grip enough. And sometimes it’s just so that two fingers holding on… but with the grip loosened you can fold the X-up and get a lot more extension than you would with a death grip.
Conclusion
Following these four little tips will take your attempts from beginner to intermediate. If you are serious about taking your riding to the next level… becoming a Bike School member will help you achieve just that with crazy in-depth how-to videos and actual feedback on your attempts in the private Facebook group.
