I need General advice on pushing myself to the next level

[tuomoruutufan]

Ok so heres some background.

I was told i learned pretty quickly by most of the cic peeps, I been shreding for almost two years but i feel like i stoped progressing in trick development.

The good side to that is my consistency with 2 adds and the easier 3s have greatly improved. I can do very styly looking runs with a healthy mixture of 2s and 3 both sides.

The only hard 3 add im really good at is whirl, I can hit whirl bs and paradox whirl strong side only.

But!

These tricks have been the thorn in my side to keep me from getting to that more advanced level of shred

Drifter
stepping
torque
blender
swirl (actually getting close to hitting this now)
spins
flip butter fly

I really run into a powerfull mental block, i remembered when i was first starting out i would try tricks over and over and over with the belief i will be hitting leg over in no time, reverse mirrage, pixie leg over exct... i wouldnt be close to hitting these but i believe with hard work and effort i will be doing them in no time.

I lost that feeling, no where in my mind do i see my self hitting drifter mid run, or doing a spinning {anyything} or a blender.

Please anybody with advice stories of being in a similar slump, suggest which ones of those harder tricks i should be focused on (besides the osis and flip butterfly thats odviously more important than drifter or spins)

Someone give me a kick in the ass so i can stop cuddling with my 2 adds and start advancing my trick difficulty.

[xXLoss_of_ControlXx]

Someone give me a kick in the ass so i can stop cuddling with my 2 adds and start advancing my trick difficulty.

hahahha... Hey shawn, im still pretty fucken one-sided when it comes to clipper, but ive been getting clean dexes on my whirls and i hit stepping butterfly yesterday and almost ripwalk. I cant spin at all, and drifters hurt for me. I'd say work on stepping, swirl, and how bout fairy or atomic?

Oh, and i thought you had no problems with the flip butter?

[Guest_1]

Just play drunk all the time

From what I saw, it did your game wonders

JK, actually, I have some really good advice for you.

A) Start all your runs with your flip anything. Say, two flip butters or anything like that.

You'll drop a lot more

Then, you'll get better and be able to do a decent run

B) Start off a solo session [if you have them] with 5 minutes flip everything. Then, eventually 10 minutes flip everything. Then 15 minutes flip everything. And after 3 months, you won't have a flipside. Promise!

[Muffinman]

The thing that is holding you back is the flip butterfly; it should be obvious. Get your basics down. Regardless of your level, I would suggest learning butterfly, paradox mirage, and osis both sides until they actually are bails (later on when you can do 30 contact runs, when stopping to do a butterfly will give you a break enough to continue busting bigger tricks and harder links).

Being able to hit these tricks with the greatest ease is VITAL to a guiltless game. Being able to string them together with nothing else for as long as you can is VITAL to gaining stamina and long runs. Practice butterfly > pdx mirage [repeat] as many times as you can. A big barrier is the mental block -- think of every combo of 4 moves as a single move; count this way when you are trying for a max number of reps and you will be able to do more.

It's very simple: if you can't do flip butterfly how do you expect to be able to hit drifter, or flip pdx whirl, which require both clippers?



To learn flip butterfly, study how you shift your weight on your good side and apply that to your flip. I always had a weak flipside butterfly too, and sometimes I would really have to concentrate on leaning into that side of my body when performing the move.

I would highly suggest not bothering with all of those tougher moves until you are at least guiltless (even if your only guiltless moves are the BOP bails). Even then, each of those moves took me months to master (although I think whirl took me the longest, so kudos). Remember to practice everything evenly on both sides.

[tuomoruutufan]

Drilling flip butterfly and osis isnt a huge deal cause even though im not good at them the motion is there the trick is there i know its completely within my realm of capability it just needs to be drilled. And im by no means scared of doing tricks bs, my flip whirl is almost as good as my strong already for example

But i need some advice on how does anyone get past a huge mental block.

I mean how do you learn a trick thats next in line skill level, i mean im not saying i want to learn nemisis. But i can hit pheonix and paradox whirls why shouldnt i be doing drifter, spins, torque, blenders, stepping sets, DLO exct....

I can see the next level i need to go, i know it wont be easy and it will require practice.... but when i put in the effort for these next level tricks i dont feel in any way shape or form i am even close to hitting them and i dont feel like im making any steps to get closer to these next level tricks. Then i get discouraged and feel like im better off going back to what i know i can hit

Its 50% mental block 50% physical, im looking for tips on getting past that issue.

EDIT*** Hey Erik thanks for the response you were typing it the same time i was. Im not gonna argue with the bop part at all and i have been working on it and improving with bop BS, I will take your advice and spend as much time as possible on that aspect. Its not that i have underestimated the importance of BOP i just never find it as enjoyable to do. But the stamina and bails part is odvious.

My flip clipper is actually really good and i think the problem is my positioning with the butterfly and not so much the ankle crank or timing of it.

Thanks for the tips guys, I kind of new this but it helps to have a footbag peer straight out tell me to cut the bullshit and master your bop already. I will compesate with BOP boredom with some killer shred tunes

[CIC flurry]

I find that I push a lot harder when playing with my peers.

[tuomoruutufan]

I know tom so far this summers only dissapointment is the signficantly less footbag company i have had, and i can only blame myself for that.

[hackeysnacker]

you need to take a couple of hours out of most every day of your week to just drill your weaknesses, and practice new concepts. keeping calm and relaxed and optimistic definitely helps, stressing out over not being able to hit a trick is a huge burden on how quickly you develop muscle memory. And like Tom said, come play wif us Also, don't try to learn too many things at once (keep focused).

[CIC flurry]

Drifter
stepping
torque
blender
swirl (actually getting close to hitting this now)
spins
flip butter fly

I also had trouble with all of these moves (except stepping set) for YEARS. I just got flip whirl this year and drifters last year or 2 years ago. My flip clipper/butter sucked for at least 4 years. Now it's even because I put a little time and focus into these moves by myself. Just a few minutes a couple of times a week.

Shawn, you got this, cuz u still play often, right?

Let me define a new level for me:
I suppose I gauge myself by NEW. I am excited about new moves and post about them in red. But I really felt a new level last year. I started schooling by myself a lot. Single moves, 2-3 move combos, and easy strings. Each of those three things is important.

I'm still excited about new moves. I think it denotes a new level of sorts. Longer strings and cool combos make me feel this too. Making new moves a part of my regular strings is a new level to me. Making my strings more diverse is a new level. Anything New.

All this newness only comes about by playing. More playing = more New = more levels. More in a a shorter time = easier realization that you've changed and reached a new level. Playing with other people makes me want to play. Playing with others of similar skill level makes me want to push myself. Playing with people way better than me, sometimes depresses me, and sometimes inspires me, and sometimes both.

Do you have a challenge blog? Some accomplishable clearly defined goals would be good to have. A challenge blog might be a good way to get some ideas and goals to reach by an outside perspective. Accomplishing those goals will be a new level - in writing that you can compare to urself b4hand.

Also, other people you play with will comment on your game in areas that you may not notice. I know lots of people were talking about your improved consistency just a few days ago, before you even posted about this. Also, by watching them play it will give you ideas and inspiration for things to go for. Not to mention it's fun.

[Senor Grommet]

I know a lot about footbag so I'll chime in:

1) re : BOPS
Some people like practicing them, I dont like them. What I find to be fun however, is not just practicing them, but practicing them with a perfect style, i.e., with perfect cushion every time, with concentration on setting the bag to the exact same spot for every trick, with slowing down the stalls of the tricks to gain better control, with trying the unnatural feeling BOP links, with trying to maintain the same rhythm and fluidity for 20 consec. infinities, where every single one looks the same. If practicing BOPS byt hemselves is not fun, you can probably make it fun by altering your practice to push yourself a different way.

2) re: improvement
The amount of practice you put in is very important, but equally important is the type of practice you put in. You need to practice the right way, with the correct motions. And if you do not feel the motions you are trying are the correct motions, then dont practice them with a bag, because you will be "learning" (from the motor/muscle memory sense of the word) improper technique. For example, let's say you can't hit drifter. In fact, you aren't even really close. Well: #1 stop trying it with a bag. #2: start trying it in slow motion, emphasizing a dex with perfect form and ending with perfect balance and support leg cushion. When you can do the slo-mo dex reliably and consistently, speed the dex up until you can do it with as much confindence as your slo-mo attempts. When you can hit the trick without the bag and it feels good, start trying it with the bag. I do not guarantee that you'll hit it that same day, but I will guarantee that you will feel like you have improved, that you are closer to hitting it, and who knows, you might just hit it that same day.

If you feel like you are using the absolute perfect motions for certain tricks and you still arent hitting them, watch video and figure out the differences between your attempts and Jorden's. Is he faster? That only comes from repetition. Is his dex tighter? Is the footwork slightly different? Are his toes pointed before, during, and/or after the dex? Is he planting differently than you are, either more quickly or in a different spot relative to his body?

Lastly, challenge yourself. Set goals that are attainable and work for them. Keep track of your progress so that you can be proud of your accomplishments. Pick something that Tom K. or a Ray bro doesn't have very well and learn it better than they have it

[tuomoruutufan]

Ok last night i drilled bop,

I can drill the B and P part together but im still working out my technique on osis, Im releasing my set before im spotting it on the other side of the trick making it impossible to do anything afterwards (problem is on both sides)

But i did set the goal of doing Infinity>pardox mirage BSOS and well i achieved that goal and did it X2 back to back.

Jeremy your tips on making them fluid and identical are noted and appreciated cause um.... mine are definately not. so again something for me to work on.

With this thread in mind please post me some new BOP guiltless related challenges

http://modified.in/footbag/viewtopic.ph ... 0&start=20

[SlashC]

Drifter
stepping
torque
blender
swirl (actually getting close to hitting this now)
spins
flip butter fly

To reach any goal, you should break it down into smaller attainable goals.

Here's how I learned the above tricks:

drifter
- ss clippers and op clippers x a zillion (practise in alternating drifter style)
- clip set mirage, toe set mirage x a zillion (it's easier to use a more miragey dex than a whirl type dex with drift)

stepping
- don't worry about uptime dex sets until your clippers are solid... by solid i mean you can delay it everytime bothsides with a straight and consistant set.

torque
- more mirages
- more clippers
- OSIS... osis is sort of a weird trick all on it's own... To learn torque I started with clip set symple far osis... which is the same motion as torque, but without the mirage. When I became decent at that... then I added the mirage.

spins
- practise spinning without a bag and maintaining balance. Remember to always SPOT before and after every spin
- I started with toe spinning, which wasn't the easiest way to go... I suggest learning gyro and spinning toes set from clip and then moving towards gyro and spinning clippers

so in conclusion... break everything down into it's components and practise them individually until you hate them because it's so boring and you're so good at them. Then slowly add in more and more of the components until you can hit the trick.

i.e. if I wanted to hit spinning butterfly swirl I would do the following:

practise clippers -> practise butterflies -> practise swirls > practise spinning clipper > practise spinning butterfly > practise butterfly swirl > practise everything again x a zillion > HIT SPINNING BUTTERFLY SWIRL.... and it will happen trust me.

[Oroza]

tryin to get that monkey (claw) off your back?
try some stuff you never try, give your body a break from certain motions.

[tuomoruutufan]

Yeah i been laying off the pixie sets a bit, i mean i can almost duck my flip pixie so i dont really need much more practice with those.

Been doing alot more reverse mirages and still fidlling with XB rake but i struggle setting into any move directly after.

Thank you all for the pletra of advice and support. things have been going good so far!!

[sampotter]

Listen to everything Rory said. That is exactly how to get good at footbag. Apply that advice to anything you want to learn. If you 'feel' like you can hit a move like ps whirl but can't hit symposium whirl, paradox whirl, or even whirl consistently, then STOP! A good footbag game has solid tiers that support each other. If you have trouble doing 10x inside stall, why oh why are you trying to link butterflies? Consider every component that combines to form the concept you want to hit, and make sure you own each. If you want to hit 10 fearless, consider the moves you will need to own, the links you will need to have dialed, and work from the ground up. Don't just start attempting 10 fearless every day. That would be like running head first into a brick wall.

[CIC flurry]

I would like to hear people talk more about how to attack mental blocks.

[Oroza]

I would like to hear people talk more about how to attack mental blocks.

there is no spoon

[brinard]

try some new sets, and just have some fun instead of trying to progress everysession.

like bubba.

or pimpy or gimpy (kneebumping).

i dont know if you atomic much, but thats always fun.

if you rock the pixie set, try terraging.

fairy might not be your thing, but a midrun fear is always impressive.

then theres all that shit i dont have any clue about (ie- phasing, shooting, gyro,.....)

but new concepts always make my sesh more fun, and less frustrating.

broaden your game horizons, instead of trying to maximize your potential out of 3-4 sets. variety is more impressive than every pixie move possible in one string.

[Slowsis]

Good call on diversity to make it more fun for yourself, Brian.

Skool a new component (drifter say) like crazy for the first part of a session, then try to work it into lots of different runs later in the session. Who cares if you drop alot to begin with? In a couple sessions you'll be able to toss it into your runs and figure out new links with your cool new trick. Then do the same thing with something else (whirls, stepping, symp miraging, whatever...) and after a few months you will have diverse and interesting runs, which in the long run will make the game more interesting. Even if after doing this your runs are not that much longer, at least the new tricks will make it fun again and ignite you're desire to progress to harder, longer runs.

Footbag is fun!