Klundell

Warm up? Isn't that what your opener is for. I find time constraints make warm ups very difficult in waterskiing. We are usually in a hurry to get our sets in and get back to work so that means going straight from driver/coach/observer to skier.

For the record I'm not in favor of PED's nor have I ever used any.

I get really frustrated with terminology in skiing. I find that most people use the waterskiing buzz words like "handle control" or "light on the line" or "back are pressure" and they have no idea what they are talking about. Maybe @MarcusBrown can do a shop talk on workable definitions for those terms he mentioned in this comment above. I think that would help all of us get on the same page.

@ToddF if you are one of those guys that can legitimately put on 15lbs of solid muscle in one off season when you "quit running and start lifting hard" then you don't need steroids. I spent this last off season purposely trying to put on 15lbs. I'm a hard gainer and drank a gallon of raw whole milk a day for a month and lifted like crazy to make it happen. I was careful to make sure my strength to weight ratio was going up as well. The result on the water... 2012 and 2013 seasons combined I ran 21% of my tournament 38's. My last 12 months I've ran 52% of my 38's and set a new tournament pb at 1@41. The point is that my anecdote is completely different then yours. Which leads me to believe that steroids could help almost any skier run more buoys even if you weren't using them to put on size but just to help with recovery.

@ToddF give me some sort of explanation to this list. I agree with the premise that steroids will help more is some sports then in others but why would you put Baseball at #4 and waterskiing with Golf? Seems like a disservice to the physicality to our sport.

Definitely a bad idea to include the 55's in the timing. Doing so would eliminate all short 8-ball courses from being able to host tournaments. As a skier I would never want the driver to disengage the ZO early even in practice. It is my job as the skier to measure risk and decide what to and what not to hang onto. If the driver starts fiddling with the throttle it will lessen my ability to weigh those risks with accuracy.

There is definitely a difference between using androgel to get your T levels up towards a normal healthy level and juicing to help performance. If there is one thing we have learned about sports and PED's it's that none of them are clean. I think it would be naive to believe that it isn't happening in our sport to some level. I also don't buy this idea that somehow our sport is so special or technical that they wouldn't help you that much. If PED's can help you hit a baseball better (not just farther) then they can definitely help you round a few more buoys.

It's good to see that even in a sport this difficult the majority of us are still hitting PB's.

@jayski I do CrossFit. :) Although I try to be smart about it. Lots of weightlifting and short metcons rarely exceeding 15 minutes. @tc you do know that Jenny does crossfit (one of the fittest women in the world) and the Ballers are loving her work. But I'm sure she is smarter then your average box version of CrossFit.

Core Strength = The ability to maintain neutral spine/pelvis relationship under load and through dynamic ranges of motion (see @marcusbrown "stripperbutt"). You have to lift heavy things to build true core strength. Deadlift/Back Squat/Clean/Snatch then mix in some high intensity metabolic conditioning and you have a recipe for PB's the next season. BTW skip all the long slow distance crap like running/biking hundreds of miles that will only make you weaker. We are in a short very intense sport your training should mimic that.

@OB best comment ever!

Just finished our little family adoption video and thought I would share with the Ballers. There are a few waterski shots in there.

If I run a pass I almost always shorten the rope and I rarely go backwards. I'm not sure I would recommend this for everyone but I really feel like the only way I am going to get better at 39 is to give 39 as many rips as I can.

Thanks everyone for your support. @xrated yes we are trying to adopt a new born. Foster is a noble cause and we hope to help in that arena when our family is a little older. Thanks again.

My wife and I adopted our little girl 18 months ago and we are now trying to grow our family through adoption a second time. The majority of adoptions happen through word-of-mouth or through a friend/family connection (however far removed). For this reason we are asking that you keep us in the back of your mind and if you happen to hear of a friend (or friend of a friend) who is thinking about placing their baby for adoption, that you refer them to our adoption blog at http://kevinandjessiejo.blogspot.com/ Thank you for your help. #parentsthatswerve

@brewski I'm not sure why G10 is being used. My guess is that it doesn't matter so much and it's not terribly expensive? Have you talked with Dave Goode about it? The guy loves Carbon Fiber. :)

How much would you have to retail just the boot for to turn a profit? You could easily connect that to a G10 plate and velcro it to the ski. I'm a fan of the interlock set up. I think it releases as good as any.

Those are unbelievably awesome! I would love to attach some of those to a powershell set up and give them a rip. I'm sure they are crazy expensive though.

I love snow skiing but the competitiveness just isn't there for me. Olympic weight lifting on the other hand helps fill my void in the winter. It is highly technical, requires power, agility, balance, coordination, and flexibility. And like waterskiing it is highly measurable, you always know if you are having a good day or a bad day or if you are improving. But for the sheer thrill motocross comes the closest.

@webbdawg99 I love this quote. I do think there are variations in body type that allow some skiers to do things differently then others. However you must be careful how you interpret what he is saying. In Olympic lifting there is an ideal path that the bar should follow on the way to getting overhead. There is an ideal relationship between the lifter and the bar that allows the lifter to apply the largest amount of force. Therefore you need to shoot for the ideals but work with what you have to get as close to it as possible. Just like there is a theoretical ideal path the ski should follow through the course and a theoretical ideal relationship between you and the handle that allows you to apply the most leverage. Shoot for those and work with what you have to get there.

I was told there were only about 9 or 10 brackets that got it all correct. Mine was one of them but I didn't get drawn. :(

Freddy was unbelievable! Not to mention he is just the nicest guy you have ever met. Dave has his 5@41 on video I'm sure he will release it. There was a strong 1/4ing wind coming out of the dog leg at the 5 ball that was unprotected otherwise I'm sure he would have run it.

Just found out my grandpa caught a few pics of my PB run through 39. My face out the exit gates is classic... "did that really just happen?"

Unreal!

@webdawg99 I was talking to nick Parsons about what he does with the zero ball at 32 and he said it is right in the way. I'm definitely inside and a little before it @32. But I do have a little narrower start. Almost everyone I've watched goes inside it at 32 and around it at 28 except me I go inside on both.