Michael A. Voigt

Cleaning for the first batch in the new addition. / on Instagram...

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:31:09 -0600

Cleaning for the first batch in the new addition. / on Instagram http://instagr.am/p/HXWs0UxSQG/

Adele Is First To Go Double Platinum on iTunes

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 06:38:19 -0600

[shared via Google Reader from Mashable!]

Like many artists before her, global pop star Adele experienced a post-Grammys album sales boost, selling 730,000 copies of 21 in the past week. Unlike every other artist in history, however, Adele is the first person to sell 2 million copies of one album on iTunes in the U.S.

The album, which has been out stateside since Feb. 22 of last year, reached double platinum status on the heels of Adele’s Grammy appearance: She won six awards and performed for the first time since being sidelined by vocal cord hemorrhaging and subsequent microsurgery.

SEE ALSO: Adele Finds Her Voice on Twitter | Are Artists Luring Grammy Votes Via Social Media?

The new figures, posted on the Columbia Records Tumblr blog Wednesday, mark the biggest sales week for 21. The album has hit number one on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart 21 times and has sold 7 million copies in the U.S. and 18 million copies globally.

BONUS: Adele Inspires Crop of YouTube Musicians

A long list of musicians have covered Adele’s smash hit “Rolling in the Deep,” which she performed at this year’s Grammys. In the following gallery, you’ll find acoustic, beatbox, choir, duet, garage rock, guitar, live, mashup, military and piano versions.

Acoustic: Boyce Avenue

Click here to view this gallery.

More About: Adele, celebrities, Columbia Records, Entertainment, grammys, itunes, Music

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IPA made with rye. Yum / on Instagram...

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:45:41 -0600

IPA made with rye. Yum / on Instagram http://instagr.am/p/HU5MINRSaM/

My favorite place in Madison. This place is SO GOOD / on...

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:01:21 -0600

My favorite place in Madison. This place is SO GOOD / on Instagram http://instagr.am/p/HSCMhdRSeD/

This place is teeming with children. My children. Table for...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 18:01:14 -0600

This place is teeming with children. My children. Table for eight! / on Instagram http://instagr.am/p/HIDcClRSSr/

Somebody is having a bad day / on Instagram...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 09:46:07 -0600

Somebody is having a bad day / on Instagram http://instagr.am/p/HHKbpDxSan/

Video: Why conservatives suck

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:23:16 -0600

[shared via Google Reader from Hot Air » Top Picks]

You know it’s true.

In case you missed this video, which came out a few days ago, I’m reposting it here. You might remember how enthusiastic I was about Bill Whittle’s “Vote Pump” vid; this is just as refreshing. My favorite quote comes at the end: “Conservatives never claim that our own behavior is the standard, only that a […]

View the video »

Campfire cupcake FTW! / on Instagram...

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 09:30:59 -0600

Campfire cupcake FTW! / on Instagram http://instagr.am/p/HB_lcgRSeS/

How To Do The Clean Pull

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 21:38:41 -0600

[shared via Google Reader from SttB Articles]

Aligned.

The clean pull is a variation of the Olympic lift. It starts out identically, but doesn’t have the same finish. With the clean pull, you don’t take it overhead like you do with the clean and jerk or snatch exercises. Instead, the lift finishes around your mid section or chest area. It looks like a deadlift playing in fast forward.

Why Include the Clean Pull In Your Program?

Aside from being a fun lift, there are a few other reasons you will want to include this lift in your workout.

If you are looking to develop maximal power, I don’t think you can find a weighted exercise to beat the clean pull. It is fast, fun, explosive, and works all the major muscles that help you jump higher and be more explosive. Training your explosive strength also trains your muscles to more readily activate the higher-threshold motor units. If you want to lift heavy, you are going to need them.

This one exercise can dramatically improve your power output giving you a greater ability to exert force at higher speeds. It teaches you to be explosive, working on the powerful triple extension of the hips, knees, and ankles.

This increased power is invaluable to every athlete, providing the explosiveness necessary to gain that important half step on the competition.

Athletes and non athletes alike will also benefit from:

increased balance

speed development

increased coordination

improved flexibility

improved concentration and coordination

There is also the benefit of added muscle mass. The clean pull works every muscle in your posterior chain adding a great deal of upper body thickness, especially through the upper back and shoulders. This is perfect for both bodybuilders and athletes.

And of course there is the issue of safety. This is an extremely safe lift. There isn’t an eccentric component, but because of the incredibly fast bar speed, you can’t handle the same load as a deadlift or squat. Never will you have to strain to finish the lift like you would with the squat, bench, or deadlift. All in all, the clean pull has an extremely low injury rate.

How to Do It

Just like with every other exercise, there are going to be some differences and variations with technique. But what I have outlined here is a great starting place. Follow the instructions below and you’ll have a solid foundation to build upon, plus you’ll have a safe and effective workout.

Set Up

This may be the most important part of the lift because without a good starting position it’s extremely difficult to adjust during the lift to get a good rep. Without the proper setup, you are doomed before the bar leaves the floor.

The setup for the clean pull is a lot like a deadlift, but with a few subtle variations. Let’s get started. Since there’s no better starting point than the ground, we’ll start with the feet and work our way up.

Feet

Your feet will be flat on the floor about shoulder width apart, in the same position they would be if you were about to do a vertical jump. Your weight is evenly distributed throughout the entire foot.

With the bar resting against your shins, firmly grasp the bar with an overhand grip just outside your shins. When standing and still holding the bar, your hands will be on the outside of your thighs, just missing them.

Grip

There are two grips that you can use…

regular clean grip

wide or snatch grip

The 2 grips are very similar. The only real difference is how far apart your hands are.

The snatch grip is the wider of the two. Because it is so much wider, it requires more flexibility and will reduce the amount of weight you can lift. For simplicity, let’s stick with the regular clean grip. It’s the more common of the two. After you master the clean grip, the snatch grip will be an easy transition.

Straps are something to avoid at all costs, so adopting a hook grip will become essential if you want to move big weight. You might as well get started now while the load is light. It’s going to be uncomfortable at first, so get use to it with light loads. Taping your thumb will help somewhat, and is totally acceptable.

To do a hook grip, you are going to take an overhand grip. First, you’re going to wrap your thumb tightly around the bar. Then you will grip the bar and your thumb with the rest of your hand. Depending on the size of your hand and your comfort level, you may only get one finger around your thumb, but shoot for getting your first 2 fingers around your thumb, your trigger, and middle fingers.

Now that you have a firm grip on the bar, rotate your elbows outwards so they are in line with the bar. Picture your elbows pointing out towards the weights at the end of the bar.

Torso Position

The set up for the clean pull is a lot like the deadlift. The major difference is in your shoulder position. In the deadlift, your shoulders are either directly over the bar or slightly behind it. In the clean pull, your shoulders are in front of the bar. There are different schools of thought on this approach, the Chinese go with the frog stance so their shoulders aren’t as far over the bar. I don’t recommend this for anyone but the competitive Olympic lifter. Instead, you will want your shoulders to be well in front of the bar. Make sure to keep a flat back and your chest up.

Before you pull, take a deep breath. Make sure your shoulder blades are pulled back and your chest is nice and high. You are set, ready to begin the first phase of the pull.

First Pull

This phase of the lift starts from the floor and ends just above the knees. It’s slow and controlled.

Begin the pull by shifting your weight to your heels and driving them into the ground as though you were trying to shove the ground away.

Slowly extend your knees as your hips and shoulders rise together. The bar is going to stay close to your body and slide up your shins.

In this phase, it’s important that you keep your trunk at a fixed angle, exactly the way you had positioned yourself in the set up.

Second Pull

This is the explosive and powerful part of the movement. Starting where the 1st pull left off, just above the knees.

The speed of the bar is going to enter an acceleration phase. The object here is to move the bar as fast as possible.

Forcefully and quickly extend hips and knees and plantar-flex ankles, so you end up standing on your toes.

Just like in the first pull, the bar will stay nice and tight to your body.

You should look like this…

Back flat, elbows pointing out to the sides and head neutral. Make sure to keep your shoulders over the bar and arms straight for as long as possible.

Finish

The last part of the exercise is a violent shrug. When lower body joints reach full extension, rapidly shrug the shoulders up and towards your ear lobes and back.

It’s important that you don’t try and pull with your arms. Keep them straight for as long as possible, only allowing them to bend from the momentum generated from the bar.

If you have bumper plates, let the bar fall to the ground, guiding it as it falls. Get set and repeat.

Sets and Reps

Power exercises don’t have the same sets and reps or total volume as you would see in a typical bodybuilding style workout. Because of the high demands and the fatiguing nature of the lift, you get the most out of the movement if you keep your reps to 5 or less in any given set.

Excluding warm-up sets, you wouldn’t do any more than 8 sets. The sets and reps will vary depending on what phase you are in your program. But regardless of the phase, your total volume will fall between 6 and 25. You will never exceed 25 reps, and never go below 6 reps.

You can break the volume up anyway you like as long as you stay in the recommended range of sets and reps. A few examples…

5 sets of 5
8 sets of 3
4 sets of 4
5 sets of 2
2 sets of 5, then 2 sets of 3, then 2 sets of 1

As you can see, the combinations are nearly endless. This allows you to individualize your workout and to build in a progressive overload.

Everyone is going to have good days and bad days. The flexibility here allows you change the volume and load as needed. If you are having a good day, why not ride the wave and throw in another set or rep? Just make sure you don’t do more than 8 sets or 25 reps.

It works in reverse too. If you didn’t get any sleep, or are not fully recovered and not feeling it one day, it’s fine to lower your reps and sets to make sure the bar speed remains lightning fast.

Rest

This exercise is all about bar speed. You have to be explosive and quick. To ensure that you maintain the fastest possible bar speed, make sure you get plenty of rest between sets. Feel free to take anywhere from 2 to 6 minutes between each set.

You know you’re not resting long enough for the weight you’re lifting if there’s a noticeable decrease in bar speed. If the bar starts to move slow, either reduce the weight or increase your rest between sets.

To make efficient use of your time, use your rest to work on some of the smaller overlooked muscles like your shoulder external rotators or stretch out a tight muscle.

Load

Speed is important, and that’s ultimately what will dictate how much weight you use. Unlike the bench, squat or deadlift, there isn’t any grinding or fighting to finish the exercise. Every rep of every set has to be done as quickly as possible.

There is no clear relation between a clean pull and the squat or deadlift. Start light and add weight over time. Going too light is better than going to heavy. If you need a number, start with 30% of your deadlift and work up from there.

If it’s too light, work to perfect your technique and move that bar faster than you thought possible.

Demonstration

Here’s what it looks like in action :

When to Do Clean Pulls

Regardless of how you have your program structured, the clean pull must be one of the 1st exercises you do. Because this exercise is performed explosively, you want to be fresh; making sure you can generate lots of power.

With the elements of technique involved, you will need to be fresh as technique will deteriorate the more fatigued you become.

The clean pull is a great exercise to improve your power and add some muscle mass. Remember to keep your chest up, move the bar quickly, and not to exceed 25 reps and you will reap all the benefits this exercise has to offer.

Puppet show theatre: Three Billy Goats Gruff / on Instagram...

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 07:01:02 -0600

Puppet show theatre: Three Billy Goats Gruff / on Instagram http://instagr.am/p/G5_iVCxSbJ/

The Importance of Roughhousing With Your Kids

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:09:01 -0600

[shared via Google Reader from The Art of Manliness]

Roughhousing. Horseplay. Wrastling. Whatever you call it, it’s one of the best things about being a dad. I love chasing my one-year-old son, Gus, around the house or pretending that the living room is a lucha libre ring and wrestling with him. No matter how stressed out I’m feeling, hearing one of his big, belly laughs erupt as I swing him around like a monkey makes all my cares go away.

Gus-Dad Throwdown

Unfortunately, in recent years, horseplay has gotten a bad rap. Parents, concerned about safety and preventing ADHD, limit the amount of rambunctious play their kids take part in. At least 40% of US school districts have eliminated or are considering eliminating recess, because teachers need more time to cram kids’ heads full of information for standardized tests, because they’re afraid of children getting hurt and the school being held liable, and even because play can apparently encourage violent behavior; according to a principal that banned recess at her elementary school in Cheyenne, a game of tag “progresses easily into slapping and hitting and pushing instead of just touching.”

But recent research has shown that roughhousing serves an evolutionary purpose and actually provides a myriad of benefits for our progeny. In their book The Art of Roughhousing, Anthony DeBenedet and Larry Cohen highlight a few of these benefits and the research behind them. Instead of teaching kids to be violent and impulsive, DeBenedet and Cohen boldly claim that roughhousing “makes kids smart, emotionally intelligent, lovable and likable, ethical, physically fit, and joyful.” In short, roughhousing makes your kid awesome.

Below, we highlight six benefits of roughhousing with your children. The next time your wife gets on to you for riling up the kids, you can tell her: “I’m helping our children develop into healthy, functioning adults, dear!”…right before performing a baby suplex on your daughter.

The Benefits of Roughhousing

Roughhousing Boosts Your Kid’s Resilience

Helping your child develop a resilient spirit is one of the best things you can do as a parent. The ability to bounce back from failures and adapt to unpredictable situations will help your kids reach their full potential and live happier lives as adults. And an easy way to help boost your kids’ resilience is to put them in a gentle headlock and give them a noogie.

Roughhousing requires your child to adapt quickly to unpredictable situations. One minute they might be riding you like a horse and the next they could be swinging upside-down. According to evolutionary biologist Marc Bekoff in his book Wild Justice, the unpredictable nature of roughhousing actually rewires a child’s brain by increasing the connections between neurons in the cerebral cortex, which in turn contributes to behavioral flexibility. Learning how to cope with sudden changes while roughhousing trains your kiddos to cope with unexpected bumps in the road when they’re out in the real world.

Additionally, roughhousing helps develop your children’s grit and stick-to-itiveness. You shouldn’t just let your kids “win” every time when you roughhouse with them. Whether they’re trying to escape from your hold or run past you in the hallway, make them work for it. Playtime is a fun and safe place to teach your kids that failure is often just a temporary state and that victory goes to the person who keeps at it and learns from his mistakes.

Roughhousing also helps children learn how to manage and deal with pain and discomfort. You shouldn’t intentionally hurt your kids while roughhousing (obviously), but little bumps and scrapes are bound to happen. Instead of cuddling and kissing a child’s “boo boo,” dads have a tendency to distract their kids from the pain with humor or some other task. Learning to deal with and manage minor discomforts while roughhousing can help your child handle the stresses they’ll encounter at school and work.

Roughhousing Makes Your Kid Smarter

Image by ctsnow

Go ahead. Toss your kid like a sack of potatoes onto your bed. It will help turn him into a Toddler Einstein.

Psychologist Anthony Pellegrini has found that the amount of roughhousing children engage in predicts their achievement in first grade better than their kindergarten test scores do. What is it about rough and tumble play that makes kids smarter? Well, a couple things.

First, as we discussed above, roughhousing makes your kid more resilient and resilience is a key in developing children’s intelligence. Resilient kids tend to see failure more as a challenge to overcome rather than an event that defines them. This sort of intellectual resilience helps ensure your children bounce back from bad grades and gives them the grit to keep trying until they’ve mastered a topic.

In addition to making students more resilient, roughhousing actually rewires the brain for learning. Neuroscientists studying animal and human brains have found that bouts of rough-and-tumble play increase the brain’s level of a chemical called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). BDNF helps increase neuron growth in the parts of the brain responsible for memory, logic, and higher learning–skills necessary for academic success.

Roughhousing Builds Social Intelligence

I’ve talked to several parents, especially moms, who are afraid to encourage roughhousing because they think it will turn their kids into little bouncing-off-the-walls hellians who will someday wind up in a juvie center. I guess I can see the reasoning behind their concerns–five-year-old play fights with dad; five-year-old thinks violence is fun; five year old turns into violent sadist bent on human destruction.

The problem is that research actually shows the opposite outcome: children who engage in frequent roughhousing are almost always more socially and emotionally adept than kids who don’t. Dr. Stuart Brown, an expert on play (Yeah, you can be an expert on play. Who knew?) says that the “lack of experience with rough-and-tumble play hampers the normal give-and-take necessary for social mastery and has been linked with poor control of violent impulses later in life.” That’s right. Wrestling your kid around in a play fight ensures that he doesn’t turn into the next Ted Bundy. Keeping him away from the neighborhood cats helps too.

Roughhousing builds social intelligence in several ways. First, when kids roughhouse they learn to tell the difference between play and actual aggression. Dr. Pellegrini found in a survey among school-aged children that the ones who could tell the difference between play and real aggression were more well-liked compared to kids who had a hard time separating the two. The kids who mistook play for aggression often ended up returning their classmates good-natured overtures with a real punch in the kisser. The ability to differentiate between play and aggression translates into other social skills that require people to read and interpret social cues.

Roughhousing also teaches children about taking turns and cooperation. You might not recognize it, but when you horse around with your kids, you’re often taking part in a give-and-take negotiation where the goal is to make sure everyone has fun. Sometimes you’re the chaser and sometimes you’re the chasee; sometimes you’re pinning down your kids and other times they’re pinning you down. Your kids wouldn’t want to keep playing if they were constantly on the losing side. Everyone has to take turns in order for the fun to continue.

What’s interesting is that animals even take part in this back-and-forth role reversal. Adult wolves will expose their bellies and necks to their cubs and let them “win” the play fight. Stronger rats will handicap themselves during bouts of play and let the weaker rat win so play can continue. Marc Bekoff posits that roughhousing may be nature’s way of teaching cooperation to animals, a necessary skill for the survival of a species.

Roughhousing Teaches Your Kid Morality

We all want kids who end up like Atticus Finch–moral, upright, compassionate. That’s exactly why you need to body slam your kid every now and then.

When we roughhouse with our sons and daughters, they learn boundaries and the difference between right and wrong. If they start hitting hard, aiming below the belt, or becoming malicious, you can reprimand them and then show by example what’s appropriate roughhousing behavior.

Also, roughhousing teaches our children about the appropriate use of strength and power. As I mentioned earlier, when we roughhouse with our kids, we often take turns with the dominant role. Because we’re so much bigger and stronger, we have to handicap ourselves. The implicit message to your child when you hold back is: “Winning isn’t everything. You don’t need to dominate all the time. There’s strength in showing compassion on those weaker than you.”

Roughhousing Gets Your Kid Physically Active

Dads have a profound impact on their children’s physical fitness. Studies have shown that the father’s, (not the mother’s), activity level and weight strongly predict what their children’s activity level and weight will be as adults. If you want your kids to be healthy, active, and fit, then you better be healthy, active, and fit yourself.

What better way to teach your kids to live an active lifestyle than by getting down on the carpet with them for some vigorous roughhousing instead of everyone vegging out in front of the TV? All that running, tumbling, and tackling helps develop strength, flexibility, and coordination in your child.

Roughhousing Builds the Father-Child Bond

Some of my best memories of my childhood were when my dad roughhoused with my brother and I. When we were smaller he’d do the obligatory “ride the horsey.” When we got a little bigger we moved to slap fighting, which consisted of my dad dramatically swirling his hands in front of him like you see fighters do in the old kung fu movies and then very lightly smacking our heads with quick open-handed jabs. Slap fights were the best.

You probably have similar memories of roughhousing with your dad. Roughhousing offers dads a chance to physically show their affection to their kids in a fun and playful environment. When Gus and I wrestle, there are lots of hugs and kisses scattered in-between pretend sleeper holds.

When you throw your kids up in the air and catch them or swing them upside-down, you’re building your child’s trust in you. As they take part in somewhat risky activities with you, your kids learn that they can trust you to keep them safe. Just don’t be like this guy when you tell your kids to jump into your arms:

How to Roughhouse With Your Kids

The beauty of roughhousing is that there’s no right or wrong way to do it. Roughhousing is just spontaneous, improvised play that’s both rowdy and interactive. Don’t think too much about whether you’re doing it wrong or right. Just have fun.

With that said, the The Art of Roughhousing provides a few guidelines to keep in mind while you’re tossing your kids in the air:

Safety first. While you want to get rough and rowdy with your kids, you don’t want to get too crazy with them. Just be aware of your surroundings and keep your kids away from areas where they can get hurt. Also, keep in mind that a child’s joints are prone to injury when roughhousing. Save the joint locks for when your kids are older and fully developed.

Don’t roughhouse right before bed. For me, I have a tendency to want to horse around with Gus right before bed. I’m going to miss the little guy while he’s asleep, so I want to get in as much daddy time as I can before he hits the hay. But just like adults, kids need some time right before bed to relax and ramp things down so they can get into sleep mode. Unless you want a little night owl joining you on the couch to watch late-night TV, roughhouse earlier in the day.

Roughhousing is for girls, too. While boys are naturally prone to engage in roughhousing, make sure you don’t leave your daughters out of the fun. Studies show that girls who roughhouse with their fathers are more confident than girls who don’t. And some studies even indicate that roughhousing can prevent your little angel from growing up into one of those Queen Bee, Mean Girls that psychologically terrorize other girls.

If you’re looking for specific things to do with your kids while roughhousing, I definitely recommend picking up a copy of The Art of Roughhousing. The book features some great suggestions for roughhousing fun, along with helpful illustrations showing you how to do them. Also, you can visit their website for roughhousing ideas, too.

Sources:

The Art of Roughhousing by Anthony DeBenedet and Lawrence J. Cohen
Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals by Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce
The Science of Parenting by Margot Sunderland

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How to Back Up a Trailer…Like a Man!

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:38:56 -0600

[shared via Google Reader from The Art of Manliness]

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Colin Braun.

So, you borrowed your father-in-law’s boat for your weekend at the cabin, or you bought a RV to take the family camping for this year’s vacation. You got to where you were going and realized you now had to back up to get that trailer where you needed it. Maybe you hadn’t anticipated this (but really, how did you expect to get that boat in the water?), or maybe you didn’t think it would be a problem. How hard could it be? It’s not like you need a special license to do it, and you’ve seen other guys at the boat launch do it, and they look like lesser men than your manly self. Right?

A few years ago, during a break between years at university, I got my truck license and went to work driving a big rig. What man hasn’t wanted to get behind the wheel of one of those machines? They’re big, they’re noisy, you can see over everyone else, they can haul just about anything, and they have a horn to rival a locomotive. The part of the job I didn’t count on when I started was the fact that I would be spending a large amount of my time in reverse while going around corners. I was not exactly what you’d call a natural at backing up. In fact, I almost lost that first job because I had such a hard time. With some coaching, and a lot of nervous practice, I eventually became quite good at it, and now I can back a trailer around corners and into little garage doors on the first shot.

Reading this article is not going to substitute for practice, but it should prepare you to start. The principles are the same whether you have a 53’ tractor/trailer rig or a rented 8’ U-Haul.

A Solid Approach

Backing a trailer into a specific spot at a specific angle is mostly in the set-up. Like most things, preparation is key.

First things first: roll down your windows. Driver’s side and passenger’s, and it doesn’t matter if it is raining. If you have a passenger, it is best to kick them out before you even approach the actual boat launch, driveway, or campsite. You are probably going to want a spotter anyway, and they will either distract you or block your view if they stay in.

Forget about your rear view mirror, and don’t turn around and try to look out the back window. Chances are, you can’t see much over your trailer, and who cares what the front of that trailer is doing? You want to make sure your side mirrors are adjusted properly, because they are going to show you where the sides of your trailer are, allowing you to deduce what the back is doing. It may be more showy to do the big turn around and hug the back of the seat thing, but how much cooler to pull up and back that baby in without turning around? Appearances aside, it really is the proper way to do it. Proper mirror adjustment means when your rig is straight, your trailer is visible in about the inside third of your mirror. It is good to be able to see your trailer tires. This gives you a good view of where you are going and how you are doing.

Now you are almost ready to approach. For the sake of a consistent example, let’s say you are backing a camper into a campsite. It is coming up on your right-hand side. Stop short and get out of your truck. Go check for obvious obstacles that you will have to avoid. Don’t forget to look up. Even if you have a straight shot to the back of the site, will you clear all the tree branches? This sounds like retentive health and safety advice, but backing over a stray chunk of firewood or someone’s leftover wire roasting stick is going to be a rough start to your weekend. Try to make a mental map of where the picnic table is in relation to the fire pit and the back of the site. Pace off distances if you need to (you do know how wide your camper is, don’t you?). Have your passenger(s) stand near major obstacles so they can shout if you are too close. You may not always be able to see them, but your windows are already rolled down, right?

The Right Set-up

The moment of truth is at hand. If you do this next part wrong, it doesn’t matter much what you do after. Get it right, and you will look like a pro. It is the S-turn. You are in a forward gear with your campsite coming up on the right. Get that vehicle over to the right as far as you can without hitting something or rolling into the ditch and pull up alongside the entrance. How far along you go really depends on how long your rig is and what kind of hitch you have, but probably somewhere around when your truck bumper is coming up on the far end of the entrance, you want to swing out left. Don’t go all the way. Before you drive into the left side ditch, crank it back to the right. This will make the smaller angle between the truck and trailer be on the right-hand side. Stop with your truck somewhere around midway between road shoulders. Congratulations, your trailer is ready and begging to be backed into the sweet spot.

The Moment of Truth

The next part is where everyone gets nervous. People will offer “helpful” advice here, about how the steering wheel works in reverse now, but I’ve seen people start thinking everything in their vehicle works backwards and forget which pedal does what. So, take a deep breath and imagine you are a kid playing with toy trucks. You will probably need to make your turn angle a bit sharper, especially if you have a narrow entrance or a longer trailer. To accomplish this, turn your wheels as though you were going to steer to the left if you were going forward. Don’t turn it all the way. Put the truck in reverse, and let off the brake. Stay really calm at this point and constantly ask yourself “Is the right thing happening at this instant?” If the answer is yes, don’t change anything. As soon as the answer is “No,” stop. You aren’t going fast (I hope), and hopefully you didn’t choose a busy spot for your first attempts.

So, you are in reverse, with your wheels pointed left, causing your trailer to turn sharper. You won’t be able to keep that up for long before you fold your rig like a jack knife. It only takes a little distance to do what you need here. It is kind of like putting a crease in a piece of paper, where you only need that instant of pressure to kink it over. After that, you can lighten up and it will stay. So, after a couple feet (literally), start turning the wheel to the right. Think of following the trailer with the truck. My trainer always told me once I had the kink to “follow the trailer around.” Turning your wheel to the right will begin to straighten out the whole rig. I always think of it as “unsteering.” How soon you do this, and how sharply you turn depends on the relative sizes of everything. One of the biggest mistakes people make in reverse is over-correction. If the trailer starts going one way or the other, don’t crank the wheel all the way over. Unless you are in a really technical spot, needing to crank the wheel more than 180 degrees probably means you need to pull ahead and try again. Never shout when a whisper will do.

Words of Warning

Throughout this exercise, keep an eye on what the front of your truck is doing. Watch for ditches and obstacles. I once blew a steer tire on a set of stairs because I was too focused on the back end. This is another reason to back up like a man, using your mirrors, not wrapped around your seat trying to see out the back window.

Don’t be afraid of taking multiple runs to get into your spot. Obviously it is better to take a few runs and get it right than to hit something first shot. Some spots require multiple runs no matter how good you are. Also, don’t be afraid to put it in park, get out, and walk around to see what the back end is doing and how close you are to that fire pit. I did this constantly, even once I had some skill and confidence.

A word is necessary here about having someone “guide” you into a spot. Don’t. Having people to help is great, but give them specific jobs. Just like you have a limited perspective from the driver’s seat, they will have a limited perspective on what the far side of the trailer is doing. Tell your helper something like, “Stand so you can see my face in the side mirror of the truck and let me know if it looks like I’m going to hit the fire pit.” If they can’t see you, you can’t see them. Give them a specific signal that is verbal (your windows are still rolled down, right?) and visual. Inexperienced guides will usually run eagerly to the back of the trailer and start waving incomprehensibly while standing somewhere you can’t see and then yell after you’ve run over the picnic table.

Please practice this before you get to the boat launch with your new boat. Get your wife or your kids to come out and practice spotting you while you back up. How great will it be to pull up and have everyone know what to do? Don’t be that guy with the shiny new boat weaving and winding your way down the boat launch stressing everyone else out.

This isn’t comprehensive, but it’ll get you started. Comment if you’ve got a good tip.

Illustrations by Ted Slampyak

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