When I have to hit the same arrow several times in a row, my foot just won't do it. Help?

Hi there,

For example: when I play Abyss on heavy, there's one part where there are a ton of "up" arrows in a row. My foot just won't do that. I hit it a few times, then my leg just cramps up and I miss a few. Any advice? Is there some kind of trick to this? Do you alternate feet, or use your knee or elbow or hand or something?

I've been playing DDR for years. I can clear a bunch of songs on heavy, and I'm starting to learn about Perfect Attacks and how to improve my scores and such.

Thanks,
andros

I have trouble with these too, but building up stamina by practicing is helpful.

How fast can you drill? If you can drill at twice the speed that you need to jackhammer, then you can jackhammer it. Try hitting the arrow with your toe more lightly.

Listen to music and tap your foot or heel to the beat...you can do this with any music to practice sequenced foot motion and rhythm work. Other than that practice not raising your feet high off the pads and try to keep your feet level with the pads. By keeping a flat foot the energy of hitting the pad is displaced over a larger surface area than just tapping with your toes or heels and thus has less physical drain on your muscles.

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I think your main problem is cramps. Cramps are usually caused by excessive amount of lactate acid in your muscles. Warming up and eating more bananas usually reduce cramps.

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Stay in drugs, eat your school, and don't do vegetables. Stretch all of your leg muscles before even playing.

Also, it really helps if you relax while playing. It loosens up your body and you are able to get through songs without pain.

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Some people alternate feet. Seriously, I've seen it a lot on KIMONO PRINCESS. Works much better if you have a bar to hang onto, though.

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Sorry, what do "drill" and "jackhammer" mean? #n00b

I played today, and I found it helpful to grip the bar, and keep my foot flat, as OmnislashF8 suggested.

I'll try stretching and keeping hydrated and all. Thanks everyone for the advice.

Allow me to put an example of a jackhammer in layman's terms:

UPUPUPUPUPUPUPUPUPUPUPUPUPUPUPUPUPUPUPUPUPUP

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I also have that problem, for example, in PARANOiA MAX -Dirty Mix- or in Can't Stop Fallin' In Love (SPEED MIX) I lose my combo when that kind of arrows appear. Sometimes I can hit them better when I step with my whole feet, because when I step with my toe my leg gets fatigated and I miss a few arrows. You just have to find the method that may work for you, try steeping with your whole feet, or the toe, or try to change feet.

A drill is a fast sequence of two alternating arrows, like left-up-left-up-left... Generally five like that in a row is enough to call it a drill.
A jackhammer is any two of the same arrow in quick succession, like left-left-left... Generally only two in a row is enough to call it a jackhammer.

Basically what I meant was that if you take the first drill example, and remove all the up arrows, you get something identical to that jackhammer example, at half the speed. So if you can drill at a certain speed, you can definitely jackhammer at half that speed.

It varies between people, but it helped me when I found that out. Since I usually drill using my toes, attempting to jackhammer with the toe of my foot made it much easier. I can't guarantee that it will be the same for you, though. Try it out and see.

Also, from personal experience, switching feet does NOT work at all unless you use a bar, in which case it works very well. The reason is because when switching feet, at some point or other you will need to have both feet in the air. This is nearly impossible without the bar, but very easy when you can put all your weight on the bar. (I've seen a video of Brosoni screwing up the end of Max 300 when he tried doing it no bar and forgot that he couldn't switch feet at the end like he usually did.)

Yeah, I've found alternating feet is harder without the bar and I don't usually do it that way except on slower song. I will footswitch in the middle of some freeze arrows to get into a better position but for those I have a point when both feet are on the arrow and then I move one off so it isn't really the same tactic but it is a kind of variance of this kind of technique, just suited for a different situation.

With the bar, however, it works great. Here's an almost 10 year old video showing how it is time-tested true.

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Yup, this video helped me to AA CSFILSM on Heavy

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Just try to do it relaxed. If you're hitting an arrow with everything you have, your leg will cramp up. However, if you're relaxed, you'll not have problems doing it. Try practicing it with slower bpm songs, like Orion.78 (AMeuro Mix). Hope this helps.

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Again, thanks everyone for the advice!

I find that it's easier to spend a little energy using the muscles in my ankle to hit just jacks, rather than pumping my whole leg on an attempt that will probably fail anyways. Still, practice is always the best method.

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The way I get through those is by stifening my leg and then twitching it, allowing me to smack the button at a fast speed. That has to be practiced and timed correctly, but once you get the hang of it, I works much better than trying to move your entire leg.

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You should just be doing toe taps and NOT slamming your entire foot down on each step.

I do have a good stretch exercise for your ankles that might help prevent cramping. Start flat-footed and then slowly get up on your tippytoes in a 3 count. At the peak, hold for a 3 count and go down in a 3 count and repeat. It doesn't sound like much but when you go slow and hold at the top, it really stretches out your ankle muscles and you can feel the burn after about 20 or so reps. Helps with balance too.

I've never really had problems jack hammering even without the bar. Another good example for practice is Xepher & at the end of the "first verse".