Let's Just Call Me Quits: 5 Months and Counting...

mosher · Post by **mosher** » 12 Aug 2005 14:14

Andrew, I watch your new video to get me stoked to shred every day now. And then I watch it again after I shred to remind me how cool footbag can be when the right blades are slicing.

Your shred is AMAZING. Quadruple props.

PS your groin will be in my prayers. .. well, you know what I mean.

Best of luck healing up.

hacksterbator · Post by **hacksterbator** » 18 Aug 2005 17:34

well i went an checked with my chiropractor what was up, and i was semi-right. it's a hipflexor and adductor strain. but not the adductor i thought it was, he said it was the adductor pectinus (maybe i can't even remember) what really matters is he swore at me for being stupid and playing on it while it hurt, then again for not coming to see him a week ago, then he realigned my shit and gave me excercises to do every hour (when possible). he said it felt like it was already healing, since i had been keeping off it, and it will likely heal tight unless i do the exercises. the excercises should help in the healing process. he thinks if i do the excercises i should probably be back to playing as early as tuesday! yay! i love having a competent medical practitioner... oh erik, i picked up his card for you...

Maraxus · Post by **Maraxus** » 18 Aug 2005 17:41

Oh shit Andrew Grant is hurt, sweet! Now I can finally use this ideal time to catch up!

B_Man · Post by **B_Man** » 19 Aug 2005 08:06

Get better asap Capitan

.

hacksterbator · Post by **hacksterbator** » 21 Aug 2005 18:11

this whole not playing thing really sucks... i'm so freaking bored. in my boredom i decided to try some clima cool mods. i'm gradually layering shoe goo into my divets. maybe now i won't get my osis caught in there. bored...

hacksterbator · Post by **hacksterbator** » 04 Sep 2005 20:55

well i played really hard this weekend at the tournament. much harder than i was going to allow my self, luckily it seems to have acctually helped

. friday my groin/ hip was hurting alot and nearly any movement on that side made me wince. as the night progressed, i gained back some more mobility, and started playing harder. i got a twinge at some point and sat the rest of the night out. i streched 3 or 4 times while at the jam, and the again at home.
saturday i had alot of mobility, and rare twinges of pain, but by the end of the day i was doing fairy and easy atomic on that sign with out any pain. hurrah!
sunday there was just minor discomfort every now and again, but things still seem to be healing. i still plan to take the next month or so off, more school related than injury related. i just need to get an idea of how much school work i'll be doing, what my schedule will look like and i'll see what kind of kicking schedule i can create.

some things i hit this weekend that were of semi interest:

-blurry drifter> pdx torque> blurry drifter> pdx torque (no seal and the last torque was pretty crappy)

-blurry whirl> ripped warrior> ripped warrior> blurry whirl> run i was pretty stoked, but i want to continue it back the other way some that combo plus ripped> ripped> blurry whirl

-food processor> whirlygig> whirlwind (no seal and pretty one sided)

-bsos janiwalkers (they seem to have improved by magic, oddly)

-atomic drifter> fog

-spinning pdx blender flipside

- blurry drifter> ripped warrior> blurry drifter> ripped caught in my dreads

so fucking angry! ken suggested this one to me and i have been working on it since may. i've hit blurry drifter> ripped warrior both sides many a time, but have never managed to string the whole drill. one day ken, one day...

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 04 Sep 2005 21:23

Glad to hear you were able to play again Andrew!

hacksterbator wrote:-blurry drifter> pdx torque> blurry drifter> pdx torque (no seal and the last torque was pretty crappy)
-atomic drifter> fog

That first combo is like whoa!

I`d like to see it start with pdx torque though, so you have the step out of osis both sides. That second combo is also real nice. Im a big fan of fearless which doesn`t have pdx whirl components.

Take it easy man.

Paul Agostinelli · Post by **Paul Agostinelli** » 04 Sep 2005 22:02

hacksterbator wrote: - blurry drifter> ripped warrior> blurry drifter> ripped caught in my dreads so fucking angry! ...

when did you get knotty?

~NEL~

mosher · Post by **mosher** » 05 Sep 2005 07:52

Ahhhhhh I finally understand what you meant about not having your romance novel hair any more!

I just met a new hacker yesterday named Nathan with really nice dreads, he will be in my militia I bet, he breakdances and shit, this is a perfect fit for him.

Your shred is INSANE, turbo ninja props.

I highly recomend that you also pull off the plastic fins on the inside surface, it makes for such a delightful soft spot, you can feel the bag more than on lavers, mmmm.

Hope all is well with you.

hacksterbator · Post by **hacksterbator** » 08 Sep 2005 20:23

shred= once on wednesday, crappy, but i found a great location on campus

hip= both are fucked

groin= both are fucked

felix= breaking in slowly, but evenly

motivation= very very high, so there's a silver ligning at least.

the last session was crappy. i don't know why, but sunday after hackrifice the groin was fine, monday i was fine but stiff, then tuesday my hip flexors really started hurting. i have done lots of streching, but to no avail. now my groin is hurting again, i don't know why. i am really motivated at the moment though and am making a big bunch of changes to my training, program wise and on what my focus is. i just hope my body starts feeling better soon so i can implement the changes.

hacksterbator · Post by **hacksterbator** » 15 Sep 2005 19:16

no sense living in the past.

SlashC · Post by **SlashC** » 15 Sep 2005 21:20

When I feel that way I always listen to negai...

www.shredmonton.com/media/negai.mp3

... and it always helps.

habitat · Post by **habitat** » 16 Sep 2005 00:20

hey g-money, dont let life fuck with you, cause it already fucks with me too much and I just say to it, sucka ona that a one time-a. and then listen to www.shredmonton.com/media/negai.mp3

cheer up, you rock!

hacksterbator · Post by **hacksterbator** » 18 Sep 2005 21:11

my grandfather, whom i lived with for a year to keep him company and cheer up after my grandmother died, has just maried his girlfriend in Toronto while they were on vacation. i am happy for him, but i can't help but feel totally unwanted and unimportant. not because my sister, my mother (his daughter), my father and my self were not invited to the wedding, no not because of that, but because we found out about it from my aunt... 2 weeks after it happened. and they got married on the anniversary of my parents wedding. way to ruine their special day. well done. you couldn't have scheduled the marriage for a day later, could you? or earlier? you just HAD to do it then? what an incredibly inconsiderate and malicious thing to do, because i KNOW you did it on purpose. So congratulations, you hurt more than i think you could possibly have tried for.

DoctorJay · Post by **DoctorJay** » 19 Sep 2005 05:59

hi Andrew

I read in the health and injuries section that you want to change something to improve faster than before .

What were the key aspects to your fast improvement up to now and what are you going to change ?

Props for your skills !

I cannot remember any other player who improved that fast !

Get well and keep well !

hacksterbator · Post by **hacksterbator** » 19 Sep 2005 16:05

DoctorJay wrote:hi Andrew

I read in the health and injuries section that you want to change something to improve faster than before .

What were the key aspects to your fast improvement up to now and what are you going to change ?

Props for your skills !

I cannot remember any other player who improved that fast !

Get well and keep well !

i don't really know how i managed to improve at the rate i have been, but i believe it has alot to do with my sport background. for a while i was training 40 hours per week for fencing, no school, nothing but training, so i know what it takes to reach a certain level and what i have to put in so i can reach the next level. at the end of the month i am starting a training plan to elevate my game to "the next level" it may sound cheesey, but i have prepared a very demanding training schedule. ask the rest of hackrifice. i told them that i won't be playing with them untill spring because i am choosing to work alone for the next 5 months. i need to work towards certain goals i have, and i feel i will best be able to get to them is on my own. it's what i feel i need to take my shred up a notch. for some, footbag is a past time to hang out with friends and such, to others it's a very serious sport. and like any other sport demands sacrifice and dedication. saying "i want to improve" and doing something to improve are very very different things.
know that i have improved through certain phases faster by doing different things, i tend to change my training techniques when ever i feel that i have come to a plateau. one thing i think is important is how you think about it. are you going out to play, or are you going out to train?
the most important thing that i feel i do is i question my methods. i think about what is going well and what is not.
if i am having trouble with a certain trick, concept or link, i don't just keep trying it. i stop and think. i question my technique, i think about all parts of my body and what they are doing during the action. then i ask my self if this is the best use of energy, momentum, etc. and try to see a better way to move or balance or change my weight that would help me to succede what i am trying to do. maybe i need to leane one way or the other, maybe i need to tilt my head one way to better see the bag, it all depends, but it's things like this that i look for.
alot of it just comes down to practice. how much time do you sepend working on your game. you also have to set goals, things to work towards. if you just go out and play and don't set any goals, you probably won't make much progress. if you set a goal for the session, even if you don't succede, at least you spent your time working instead of just goofing around. set some short term, mid term and long term goals. goals where your results can be objectively examined.
i don't know if i answered your questions or not. i seem to just make up programs and training plans on auto pilot. i seem to just know what my game needs and what i need to do to fix it up. i don't really think about what i do any more, i just seem to do it. lucky for me, up to now it has worked.

DoctorJay · Post by **DoctorJay** » 19 Sep 2005 23:14

nice reply I think so too that it is very important to set always one or two main goals per session where you work on .

For me it is always very good to see how a fast progressing person thinks about footbag.

thanks !

have fun in your winter training camp - would be cool if you can post something of your schedule / plans after you have done your program.

hacksterbator · Post by **hacksterbator** » 27 Sep 2005 21:43

DoctorJay wrote:have fun in your winter training camp

thanks, but the winter training program will have to be put on hold. my hip/ groin injury hasn't healed.

recap: early august i started getting some pain in my right groin and hip flexor. i continued light playing, but the pain got worse. i cut my playing down to once a week while doing rehabilitative excercises. the pain continued. i quit for a little over one week, and followed it with some very very light almost dexless play. i played fairly hard at the Hackrifice open, and the result was the condition of my groin/hip got worse and i aggrivated the left hip as well.

i had 1 dexless session after a couple days or rest, but i was unable to do more than about 45 minutes due to pain and fear. i spent just under 4 weeks off from any strenuous activity untill today.

today erik, derek and i did a demo at FRC highschool here in winnipeg. first generation hackrifice member Mark Leeman is teaching there and has decided to start a footbag club, and so he got us playing out front of the school with some music. kids would come out and be like "wha?" and mark would go around talking to them asking what they thought of what they saw, if they were interested in joining a club at the school, yada yada yada.

well i was playing for the first time in my new pair of climas which are still pretty stiff plus i haven't been playing for a while so it took me some time to get my feeling back. it was good though. it kept my runs short and low intensity for a good half hour, perfect warm up.

i was streching inbetween runs and so on, because i could feel the right hip wanting to tighten up. the left hip was fine though, and it seems the rest for that side work quite well. the original problem with the right hip-groin still remains however. as the session went on and my level of difficulty went up, so did the pain in my hip.

i ended up having to stop my self. i would have played untill my leg fell off, because as sore as my hip was, it felt so damn good to be playing again. as i cooled down i could just feel the area tightening right up, and even after a good solid strech, it would just twist right up. i have an evening class on tuesdays, so i went home to quickly shower and prepare for class. while showering i noticed that my right hip flexor/ groin was enflamed and very sensitive to pressure. while just sitting in class, not to mention walking or moving around, it was very painful, and when i applied pressure to it i could feel it throbbing.

needless to say, i'll be taking some serious time off from playing. i'm estimating 2 months give or take to work on recovering and getting back into playing shape. after that i expect it'll take me 2-3 weeks to get the rust off and back into performance mode.

i plan to do alot of juggling in the next few months.

Paul Agostinelli · Post by **Paul Agostinelli** » 27 Sep 2005 21:47

that sucks man, but im sure its for the best, i hope you're in working order again soon. i cant wait to shred with you again, ive watched your recent videos and was blown away, it would be sad not to see some new video ever, so ill look forward to seeing some in a few months. (PUT OUT A JUGGLING VID!)

~NEL~

B_Man · Post by **B_Man** » 27 Sep 2005 22:41

Man, today I was just wondering how you were doing these days. That said, I'm sad to hear that you are cutting it quits for the next few months. It is for the best, that's for sure, but reading about the shit that plaques your body has me worried you'll end up with something along the lines of what Erik has.

In any event, take good care of yourself Andrew. Do whatever it takes - whatever it takes - to get that hip and groin strong and keep us posted as you do so.

Cheers mate