When I first watched Jumping With Jussi I came away not-too-impressed. But I was wrong. After watching a second time, and then more viewings to check on specific sections, I began to think that it's an excellent instructional DVD. Here's why:
Often is the case with instruction/tuition that one pointer is all you need to for something to "click", and you see/feel a big improvement. I think Jussi's/MDP's DVD is produced in a way that helps to communicate some of those valuable tips.
For me, Jumping With Jussi really helped with spotting your landing: where to look and when. For each trick covered you see Jussi repeat it over and over. What's good is that the video pauses or slows down to show key points during the jump, one such point being the moment in which Jussi spots the landing. I found this really helpful.
Body position on take off is another aspect that is covered well. Again the video pauses to show Jussi's posture as he reaches the lip of the kicker. It's good presentation because you don't need to faff around pausing it yourself - the production gives good coverage of this type of thing for each trick. Personally I found this more useful for backside rotations as I've done less of them; but in general I'd say it's helpful to see the upper body and head position just before take off. If your spin isn't quite working it's an important factor that you can watch and then try tweaking yourself.
There are a few handy tips throughout the DVD. The main one that stood out to me was to do with the cab 360: view the second half of the spin just like a backside 180, which is a trick you're probably comfortable with if you're taking on cab 3s. The advice works for regular frontside 3s also, if you're used to switch backside 180s...
The DVD also provides a progression route. I'm unsure whether or not this is meant to be interpreted in this way, but Jumping With Jussi kinda suggests an order in which to learn the tricks. For sure there're no hard and fast rules here, but if you're looking for decent route to progress along, you could do a lot worse than following the order that the tricks are covered here. I made decision after watching it a couple of times to go out and try some switch straight airs on the kickers. I see now that my ability to learn some tricks will benefit from being able to do other, simpler tricks, switch.
Jumping With Jussi also includes a short section on tuning tips. It's got nothing to do with waxing. It's all about preparing your edges in a freestyle-friendly manner, dulling them down and blunting them around the nose and tail. You may well be familiar with this type of thing but if not, the demonstration should give you the confidence to work on your edges. In the least, it's pretty funny watching Jussi take the file to his board... Speaking of funny, the out-takes at the end of the main feature are excellent!
To be honest, I didn't pick all this up the first time that I watched it. I think that instructional material can sometimes suffer becuase the demonstration is delivered by someone who can already do it. Easily. You're just being told how to do it. Jumping With Jussi does move through a fairly long list of tricks, and the format is almost the same for each one. This gave it a repetative, just do this feel. Especially with each of the tricks being repeated switch.
But look past this and you'll see there's method in the order and selection of the tricks, and each section helps you to understand how to perform the trick.
Sure if you're stomping your 9s this DVD probably isn't for you. It also might not be as useful for those of you that ride in groups with accomplished riders who can point you in the right direction. But if you're like me and you've still got a lot to learn and try out, it's a great DVD. I'll certainly be taking it with me on future trips so that I can check things out as I learn new tricks. It's great.
Nice one Jussi!
Here's a list of the tricks covered:
- Straight Air
- Switch Straight Air
- Backside 180
- Switch Backside 180
- Frontside 360
- Switch Frontside 360
- Switch Backside 360
- Backside 540
- Switch Backside 540
- Frontside 540
- Switch Frontside 540
- Frontside 720
- Switch Frontside 720
- Switch Backside 720
- Frontside 900
- Switch Backside 900
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