Dance Game Grip

I recently realized that because I have strong legs, playing with less grip prevents me from being able to utilize the full extent of all of that muscle I have.

The stages at my local arcade tend to get really dusty, really really fast due to patrons coming in off the street and playing the games with the same shoes that they wear outside. 

I just got used to playing without significant grip a lot of the time, but after developing a consistent routine for running every day, I realized that the traction & grip I have when running is what allows me to have have that extra bit of explosive energy coming from my muscles, and also continuously push my physical limits.

I had an interesting experience related to this also a while back when I visited Round 1 HVM (Hicksville) in the summer. Because there was no ventilation over by the dance games, it was incredibly humid and the pads were incredible sticky/had a lot of grip. I wasn't ready for it since I hadn't been running consistently at the time to strengthen my muscles and my performance was notably worse compared to playing at my regular arcade.

But now that I've been running regularly, I absolutely despise playing without that gorilla grip because I feel like I have all this dead weight muscle in my body that works against me if I don't have grip to be able to use it. 

My current pair of shoes that I'm using to play (Nike Zoom Rival Waffle 6) leave a lot to be desired in the grip department. They're like, JUST grippy enough that they're not ice-skates when exposed to dust like any of the Nike Frees, but strike a perfect balance between grippy and not-grippy. But the problem I'm having is now I feel like I just want full send maximum grip, because I always lift my feet for streams, even on Pump. 

I played on Friday night in my casual flats, which are a pair of Onitsuka Tiger Serrano's, and while they didn't have the tightest fit in the world to increase perception of speed/lift off, the grip factor felt like it affected my gameplay positively a lot, especially on drills and dense streams on both Pump and SMX.

I find it interesting because a lot of players despise super grippy/sticky feeling shoes, but I'm starting to think that maybe it is just a difference of body types.

I also noticed that extra grip changes my perception of sensitivity by a lot compared to any other factor. Less grip makes me feel like panels need to be more sensitive to accommodate lack of force, and more grip feels like the panels can be way less sensitive b/c it's easier to transfer extra force into the panel with the grip.

On the topic of force, sensitivity, and panels-- something I realized is it's possible to strike panels with a light touch, but also APPLY a lot of force when playing-- and this is where having big grip/sticky pads comes in handy. To me, that's the ultimate in good form-- you're not hurting your body because you're touching down lightly to make contact without significant shock, but then the moment you touch down, you push into it to apply force in a natural way that pushes the actuation over the threshold and then spring your foot back up and release actuation.

I think I'm gonna start running my New Balance XC7 v5 Flats more often now, since I really like the grip on those that the rubber has on dance game stages (I would describe it almost like a pencil eraser where it heats up the more friction there is), and the shoes themselves have a very nice tight fit, really nice cushioning, and are super light/flexible. 

I also have another pair of shoes (the Saucony Havok XC3 Flat) that have less foam stack height, but have a ton of grip. I played Pump in them once and really liked them for that because of how weightless they felt, so I'm probs gonna run some Pump in those again.