if you could start over

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 03 Aug 2007 05:52

Suppose you "started over" in regards to learning how to play footbag. It's somewhat difficult to truly do because you already know how to play, so you immediately want to begin shredding like you always used to.

But let's suppose you played twice per week for 1 hour each time (solo). What would your first month (8 practices) look like? If you could coach someone to be very disciplined about each practice (keeping in mind that person played guiltless/genuine at one point) what would you have them do?

Ok, so I'll stop beating around the bush.. I want to play. But I hated my game at the end, and I don't have a lot of time on my hands. No one ever told me about the "both sides" thing when I first started playing, so I had some serious holes in my game (harder tricks were often both sided, but easier tricks were not). If you (the general you) will coach me, I promise not to shred for 1 month. I will do the session-by-session drills that you layout.

max · Post by **max** » 03 Aug 2007 06:06

I'd recommend I do:

50% clip > op clip rpt.
25% ss. clip rpt
25% assortiment of toe delays and maybe legovers

BUT, I know myself pretty well and would no doubt be bored shitless and it would end up being:

5% practice good side clippers and toe delays
1% flip clipper practice
94% trying stuff that is way way beyond my level of play but that still drives me to keep at this sport!

Drew · Post by **Drew** » 03 Aug 2007 06:25

Rieferman! Hey, I live in Phoenixville, if you're still in Collegeville we NEED to shred in the next WEEK man! I've become nearly guiltless, and in a couple weeks I'll be moving to Philly. Let me know if you're interested to shred the end of this weekend, or sometime next week too, I haven't shred' with another person for a while now

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 03 Aug 2007 06:33

I wish I could.. But I'm promising my coach (either I'll be my coach, or someone that responds to this thread will be) to only solo practice as I rebuild my game the right way. I've got to resist the urge to just play/shred again, else I'll just end up being pretty darn good, but stuck at the same place I was before. Won't be too long though!

Btw.. PM me if you're interested.. There's a guy Brian that lives in Schwenksville. He's really good (probably better than I was at my peak at this point) and is looking to shred with someone.

mc · Post by mc » 03 Aug 2007 06:44

a good basic toe drill that will help with balance and conserved motion would be symp mirage > ss muted legover (basically, downtime atw out)> op symple legover repeat. also, illusion > ss illusion rpt and mirage > ss mirage repeat.

I also recommend hundreds of infinities. concentrate on form and regulated breathing. I used to switching between "inhaling while the bag is in the air and exhaling when it was just about to be caught", and "inhaling for a whole infinity and exhaling for a whole infinity". the quotes are just to save confusion. by concentrating on form and minimizing movement and paying attention to breathing, I was able to hit over 400 infinities in a few sessions. I'm sure my bucket feet helped too, but I bet you can get lots of butterflies like this.

janis · Post by **janis** » 03 Aug 2007 06:53

Matt Cross wrote:I was able to hit over 400 infinities in a few sessions.

consecutive?

I am a huge believer in consecutives, especially the basic moves. So doing stuff like same side clippers and really concentrating on perfect form is beneficial. For a long time I worked moves like pixie and legover and tried to get them to the point where they were as efficient as possible. Basically a suggestion is: consecutives while concentrating on perfect form and getting the energy level just right.

crazylegs32 · Post by **crazylegs32** » 04 Aug 2007 20:12

Im with Max. IMO Its about having fun. Edit- do all the towns in PA have 'ville
at the end?

sidekick · Post by **sidekick** » 04 Aug 2007 21:07

I agree that footbag should be fun, but some people (myself included) like to progress, but also make sure everything is looking good and being executed the way it should (for your own body type of course). I'm also a firm believer that if you don't like the way your game looks, change it. It's never too late.

I agree with Matt 100% as well. Consecutives! It all depends on what about your game you don't like. If you don't like your clippers or balance with the clippers, then you should drill Inside > Same foot Clipper > op foot inside stall > same foot clipper. You should be able to just swing your leg around your support leg, and that should help you clipper balance (I still use this drill to warm up)

If you don't like other components, then identify what you don't like about them. Afterwards watch other people's videos who do whatever it is, then identify what they are doing different, then drill it that way. If it hurts, then you're probably doing it wrong for your body type and need to adjust what you're doing to fit better with the way your hips/knees/anything else moves naturally. Footbag, at least for me, is about 30% muscle memory, 20% stamina, and 50% thoughtfull drilling.

shreddaily · Post by **shreddaily** » 05 Aug 2007 07:11

If I could start over I would practice EVREYTHING except clipper stalls, toe stalls and dexes. And that leaves plenty, though whatching any competition footage wouldn't leave you to believe so.

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 06 Aug 2007 04:22

Thanks for all the replies. Just to clarify (for those that were unsure based on my question) I played guiltless/genuine for a bunch of years before "retiring". In other words, not a newb.

The reason the game wasn't fun anymore is because the holes I'd allowed to develop in my game stopped me from progressing any further (for example, I never learned weakside pdx mirage, but could rip off 20-30 guiltless strings with mostly uniques).

Therefore, at this stage, fun = removing the most glaring holes in my game so I can progress again, or at least feel well balanced. To put it in perspective, if I could do all my strong side tricks (and my strong side siwtches back and forth based on the component) on the weakside, I'd have at least 25-50% more tricks! That's a nice pickup (pun)

Thanks again

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 06 Aug 2007 04:25

Oh.. And one more thing.. In my blog I listed my plan for rebuilding.

Nate.. For me, starting over (not kidding) is basically looking at how you built your game back when. I remember watching you early on and you were so well-versed on so many important concepts. And I couldn't distinguish your weak from strong side. Then, as you built your game, I saw how much that benefited you while learning new concepts and in your string length. Honestly, my rebuild program is largely influenced on how I guessed that you built your game once upon a time.

shreddaily · Post by **shreddaily** » 06 Aug 2007 07:57

cool. good luck!!! I think a lot most of my early success was from 1, doing tricks I could hit A LOT, and 2 playing in front of people who don't know footbag. So my first 2 years were pretty much about going long and easy... eventually hard things become easy and your long strings can become hard while playing easy. hahahaha not confusing at all

thanks for the props either way, makes me wanna go skool my weak flying insides

krawallier · Post by **krawallier** » 06 Aug 2007 14:35

when drilling my flipside or anything that is not consistent, it helps me a lot to set myself a small goal, like saying i won't stop until i hit flip flurry 8 times. or something like that.
it feels much better than just trying the same trick until you get sick of it.
oh and go one after another... if you have troubles with flip pdx mirage, don't go for flip blur.

i'm such a hypocrit.

Dat · Post by **Dat** » 06 Aug 2007 16:44

-carry a notebook everywhere, even when not playing footbag, and writing every observation and idea down
-more cross training
-more time studying videos
-make videos of myself
-finding/making a good and convenient night shred spot in my house or close by
-frequent short sessions instead of occasional long tiring sessions.

ShredOnLawn · Post by **ShredOnLawn** » 26 Dec 2007 17:18

I would never have tried a trick that was too hard for me.
I would have perfected my equipment in the very beginning.
I would only watch video of Vasek.

hacksterbator · Post by **hacksterbator** » 26 Dec 2007 17:48

shreddaily wrote:If I could start over I would practice EVREYTHING except clipper stalls, toe stalls and dexes. And that leaves plenty, though whatching any competition footage wouldn't leave you to believe so.

okay mr. blough.

if i could strat over from scratch this is what i would focus on in the beginning:
-kicks, done properly, all surfaces. toe, inside, outside, clipper, flapper, etc.
-stalls all surfaces done properly with focus on proper form, long slow delays.
-consecutives of clippers, toe stalls, inside stalls etc. with focus on proper form, long slow delays. string clippers, toes, insides, outside stalls with emphasis on form and long slow delays.
-work basic single dex tricks untill they are stupid easy with focus on proper form, long slow delays. like 100 illusions/pixies/atw/pickups/illusions/legovers in a row should not be a problem. learn them all both sides, op side, same side.
-do tiltless toe runs that go on for minutes.
-learn all basic single dex tricks set from clipper. clip set far legover and clip set near legover, clip set mirage and pdx mirage, etc...
-butterfly, toe op, toe same, infinity, clip set ss, etc. make tiltless drills or bop drills that will make you work all of the different types.
-osis, op and ss. build drills that will force you to work them all.
consecutives like crazy on one day, string like nutz on the other. you gotta balance both.

Jorden · Post by **Jorden** » 26 Dec 2007 20:37

I would start dance lessons, acrobatics and juggling at the same time I started footbag.

JM

Benzilla · Post by **Benzilla** » 26 Dec 2007 21:10

i would have learned alot more about footbag before starting to play.

Have less pauses in between shred days.

Be more independant about shred sessions(i now am)

Start off both sided for stalls and kicks.

Learn that ultrasuede soft IS NOT ultrasuede light..set me back a long time and cost me 60 bucks..

Not be so shy about asking questions and posting on modified.

Anz · Post by **Anz** » 27 Dec 2007 06:21

Many of you talk exactly about what I've been learning about for a long time now. A while ago I made it a research, original thread here:
http://www.modified.in/footbag/viewtopic.php?t=17541

You don't have to start over, the key is that you use your sessions for something useful and not just hunting new tricks that are beyond your reach, like propably all of us are guilty of doing sometimes.
By programming sessions you don't get distracted hunting tricks and you have a clear vision where you are and what you should do. You train the right concepts and do the right amount of repetitions.
I'll have my research ready for publicity in a few months.

Nathan · Post by **Nathan** » 27 Dec 2007 19:06

Here's one idea:

Make sure you can toe set (well) to the inside of your knee, to the outside of your knee, and straight in front of your knee on both sides. I've had trouble with this since I started, and now I am going back to work on it. It helps to be able to set high inside your knee for things like atomics and paradons, and outside for fairies and pixies.

Hope that makes sense...