Benzilla Blog

[mosher]

Your last post from the previous page:

good sesh today. I hit paradox mirage both sides back to back. I'm really stoked.

I couldn't get my cd player to work so i shredded music-less. I think it was beneficial because i could get a feel for the beat and my rhythm. I think i'll be alternating between music and no music.

So yeah, nothing else major. Im jsut schooling clipeprs, mirages, legovers and trying flip butterfly to equalize my strong butterfly. A few months ago i wasn't even able to hit these moves consistantly one sided. I'm glad to see the progress. Its one of the things keeping me going in footbag. That and the fact that when your done with a good sesh, you smile with sweat burning your eyes and salt tickling your tounge .(sp?)

If you keep trying and stick with it you will continue to get better and the game will continually refresh itself as something worthwhile as you go.

Just stay focussed and always have fun.

[Benzilla]

Thanks Tom.

I do know i need to stay focused and practice as much as i can but its hard o keep the motivation. I think im gonna start having 1 hour seshes more rather than the usual 30 min ones so i can progress a tad faster. I'll do 45 mins tomorrow and on the weekend shred alot more.

[Benzilla]

Good sesh this night. Nothing new, jsut reienforced pdx mirages. They're getting better. Its just my strong clipper > flip mirage that is pissing me off. I've been doing flip mirages as well, little progress but its getting there.

Gonna buy black lavs from Cody Carter as a christmas present from my mom. I might get amaretta suede too if the people at the company stop being dicks and open their freaking store for more than 1 hour a day. I've called 10 times, well atleast 5 and they said they'd send me a sample pack..4 weeks Later..no amaretta

[Benzilla]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I HIT PIXIE > OP CLIPPER!! first time playing out of a pixie other than a kick.

nothing else today worth mentioning..

[Benzilla]

I tried another sesh today. Since my endurance is very poor I can't really have a 1 hour shred that is efficient. So i've decided to try 2 seshes a day each 30-40 mins long. One right when i get home from school...2:40PM and one at like 6 or 7 PM. This way i can get as much progress in footbag as i can and be relatively fresh both times.

So i went for my 2nd sesh today and found this really cool way to hit pdx mirages. I bet theres a ton of people that do this or know it but its new to me.

The examples below are for a right clipper > left mirage

My past pdx mirages invovled me doing a clipper set > hopping to the left > hopping to the right with my right leg raised > planting my right leg after the dex > then stalling on left foot

My new way is to clipper set > turn my hips/body to the left > turn my hips/body to the right with my dexing leg raised > and planting my dexing(right) leg > stalling on left foot.

The latter method reduces the amount of plants i do, because i never plant my clipper/dexing leg until right before the stall, and reduce the number of hops i have to do. It also seems to make the stall at the end much easier.

Its also really fun to do too..

[Benzilla]

normal sesh.. Hit pixie op clip once. pixies require a lot of timing that i need to work on.

I made a sweet template for my latest bags and i love it. They're slightly smaller than a glofball and thast the way i like em' now. Gotta post em soon.

Nothing else to mention..besides the 2 short seshes a day worked. I was able to do two and not be wiped out for the second. In time i may be able to bump them up to 40 min each, but for now 30 min is what i can handle.

[Benzilla]

some one went into my back pack and stole a footbag and some cash from me.. I think i know who it is..but i just want my stuff back. i doubt i'll get anything back but i'll see what i can do. There are some sick people in the world.. and i wasn't the only person he stole from. He went into everyone backpacks during gym for 3-4 periods straight.

my footbag game is the same. trying flip butterflies and getting some progress, but my dexes need work. Gonna finish a bag, shred, take a break and start a new bag, then shred again shower and sleep. Im getting white/green lavers for christmas, i can't wait till i get em. Gonna mod them the right way this time, and keep my eyes open on each cut

[Benzilla]

Had a sesh with eric. I can almsot hit whirls. Tried them alot last night, just gotta speed the dex and the stall because my foot reaches the stall position just after the bag drops. Its always so close.

I'll probably have another sesh soon and practice whirls, osis, mirages, pdx mirages and butterflies.

i'll see how it goes. Devoting 10 minutes to each shouldn't take that long.

Sesh with Eric.

We played circle, horse(but with the word footbag), and this new game survival. it was like circle but when you drop you get a letter and the first to spell survival lost. Of course i lost. Eric's hardwood floor compared to my carpet basement is way different. I also knocked some stuff down in his room. Sorry Eric .

My left shin/calf has been a real pain. Its not really a pain but its extremely uncomfortable. And it gives out sometimes if i get it then the right angle and apply weight on it. It may be because of my whirl attempts. They're new and i probably wasn't doing them right.

I'll strech out my calf/shin and see how it'll go.

I posted my newest template on my thread. No one has bought any from me yet , but Maverick will buy some in march or april. I'll make them when the time comes.

[Benzilla]

I finally hit a real infinity . flip butterfly > strong butterfly!!! Did that about 15 times.

then i hit flip mirages like hell. I was bustin strings of only mirages back to back and it was nuts. Major improvement there.

pdx mirages are the same, pretty sonsitant but not quite perfect, then again nothing can be "perfect"

Whirls i didn't really try, i think they're the source of my pain...im gonna stop them for a little then pick them up again.

Clippers are strong.

Osis had major improv. Flip and strong are about equal in the sense i can hit one 1/10 times on each, but its a start.

I can't wait to start BOP drills, that'll be fun considering i have no idea of what BOP drills are besides BOP standing for Butterfly, osis and pdx mirage.

[Benzilla]

Starting to get osis down. Both sides are coming together at the same time, which is sweet. I drilled clipper>osis on my flip then strong then flip then strong..for about 15 mins im guessing. It really helped. A few times the bag same straight up but most of the time it either shot sideways or just a tad out my frontward reach. Spinning off the clipper set helps so much. But i have the habit of not spinning...gonna have to break that.

Finished a bag early this morning. it looked huge whn i was making it but it came out a tad small. It'll break in to be golfbally.

my calf/shin awkwardness seemed to be lessened during the shred but came back shortly after. it'll go away soon i hope. Im gonna stitch a bit then sleep. I wanna get atleast a bag a day done during the break. Hopefully i can get that done..cuz i'll have 10-11 primo bags when its all done

[shredzilla]

Sweet new moves ben! Yeah bop drills are exactly as they sound. butter>osis>pdx mir. You can repeat that, or if you want to just keep going and hitting both sides, you can go buterfly>infinity>osis>pdx mir>rpt. One that's a lot easier, but pretty crucial is butter>pdx mir>rpt. Get to where you can hit 6-10 contacts of that. You seem like you're getting close enough to at least start trying that stuff. Also don't abandon your clip>rpt x amap (as many as possible), and clip>op clip>rpt x amap.

Try to keep a record of all these moves and drills. I put mine in the first post on the first page of my blog, and would just update that page with any new moves and records. It's pretty out-dated, I'll probably update it at some point after the new year. Anyway, here it is if you want to check it out, and maybe give you some ideas on organizing your progress. Keep in mind, that post was pretty bare when I started it, it was fun watching it grow!:

-Chris

http://modified.in/footbag/viewtopic.ph ... 04&start=0

[Benzilla]

wow, thats a huge list. Thanks for the advice. I'll probably update it after the new year like you suggested.

i do these drills alot:
clip>op clip>rpt x amap
clip>op toe>ss clip>op toe>ss clip> rpt amap
pdx mirage>toe> op paradox mirage.
infinity>handcatch>rpt
clip>osis>catch>rpt

and some more that i can't think of..

[Benzilla]

wow. I just read the first page of this blog.It brought back so many memories. Like when i hit my first mirage, or flip clipper...when i was having trouble hitting a butterfly..ah, im glad i made progress. I now only consider the day i made a modified account the day i cctually started footbaggin and stopped hacky sacking.

TODAY

My little brothers birthday. Cut cake, ate cake. My cousins were over and they wanted to know about the footbags i make. I told them that it took me approx 4 hours of work, how i cut the fabric, stitch them together with floss and fill em up. They were really interested in it. Then i showed them how i play footbag in my basement. they were shocked. I felt proud when they said "he's the best hacky sacker i've ever seen..." but thats really not saying much .

I had a decent shred sesh. Osis was the same as yesterday..i didn' have too much time t shred but i tried. I can hit mirages bsos like hell now. They're awsome, and a great non-footbag crowd pleaser.

[Benzilla]

i had two great seshes today.

The first one was to get me warmed up and back up to shape, because taking breaks even if its for a day set me back a little if i don't get shreddin quick.

I realized how much i had neglected to hit legovers for about 1-2 months now. I really wanted to get back into hitting them so i started drilling them. After a while i was able to hit them in strings almost as easy as my mirages. I hit lo's bsos a few times and was very satisfied. I also had a good string where i hit paradox mirage 3 times, alternating, and alot of clippers, mirages and a lo or two.

Osis i finally hit bsos. There were a few toe stalls between the osis's but it still counts. I wanna get to the point where i can just hit osis>osis>osis rpt amap. I think that'll look kickass.

paradox mirage hit bsos like every other session.

clippers are still strong.

mirages are nice. hit them back to back alot. i had strings of just mirgaes and lo's.

butterflies i need to keep drilling. flip butterflys are awkward as hell, but i think they'll come around soon.


I got these kickass stickers Guydro sent me. They're pretty sweet. I spent 4 minutes staring at them trying to think of were to put them. But even after that i couldn't think of a place to put them..

[Benzilla]

I also forgot to say that im going to stop using lead. Steel plays just as well and therefore there is no use of playing with a toxic substance that plays the same way as as a non-toxic substance.

Hopefully i can buy some steel soon, its also half the price of lead(where i buy it), but in the meantime i think Eric wil let me use some of his steel.

[Benzilla]

Had a decent sesh today. Infinities are on their way..I hit flip butterfly a little better than before but am still not able to hit it out of anything but a hand set.

Osis is same. Not much improve. Hit it bsos once.

mirages and pdx mirages are alright. The pdx mirages just need more drilling as i feel that they're unnatural. But normal toe mirages are hawt.

clippers are strong as usual


My Lavers still didn't arrive . I hope by tomorrow. I helped Eric mod his lavs he got for christmas. I didn't remember how hard they were to mod..maybe because i moded my old lavers a few months after i got them because i didn't know what an inside cavas mod was

Does soaking them in water do anything to the heel? I think the heel is reienforced by cardboard so soaking it may not be so great.. I'll ask someone.

I sent a bag to David along with money for an amaretta bag. I never have played with an amaretta bag before and wanna make sure i treat it really good and only use it for shredding on carpet and be uber careful with it. Riding to the post office in the cold stung a bit. My hands were cold and my face burned. While i was riding there with my friend chuck, this guy screams "get a bike!" out of his car window..and me and chuck just looked at each other and started laughing at him. It was pretty awkward.

Eric hooked me up with steel. He gave me some steel for a bag and that'll last me until i can order some. So that is taken care of. not much else to say..Tomorrow im going to the dentist at 10AM to get a crown placed on my molar. I hope it doesn't hurt or feel awkward or sensitive. I hate toothaches and problems.

[Benzilla]

Had a nice sesh today.

I started hitting infinities both ways(strong side>flip side & flip side>strong side). I haven't been able to realla incorporate them into a string but im getting close.

Osis are the same.. I hit like 1/7. But both sides suck equally so i got that going for me

Pdx mirages are nice. I hit 5-7 of each side. 2 or 3 times i hit them bsos.

Mirages are hawt. I started doing ss mirages(downtime pixies) a little. They're pretty cool. I kept hitting ss mirage >ss mirage > ss mirage rpt amap and it felt really great. I think my record was like 7 or 8.

I tried some spinning. Set out of clipper and outwards, clockwise, spins. I get pretty dizzy doing 3 or 4 of them but i think in time i'll be able to get it. But my spins are fine, speed wise, but it takes my eyes a little while to find the bag and then process where i should put my foot.



Nothing else to mention. Made a sick bag today. yellow/red soccerball. Its really round and my gather/bite problem is gonig away making my bags round. I've had 6 perfectly round bags out of my past 7. Which is an improvement.

[Benzilla]

Got my lavers and my DC bag in the mail today!! I like how they both came the same day. Dave's bag is so soft and squishy. I can't wait to shred with it.

Gonna mod my lavers later today then shred. But first im making a bag green and white to match my lavers. lol

[Benzilla]

Dave's bag is so soft and stally that it never seems to stay round. I still gotta break it in, its gonna be so sweet.

My lavers are doing nicely. They just need to be broken in. Walking and a little shredding in them should bring them up to shape. Im so happy i didn't ruin them when i modded them, unlike my other pair

Today i hit infinity 3 times in one string. im gonna start illusion drills when i get my legovers and mirages down. Also need to work on osis and flip butterfly and get them to be natural. Lots of work to do. I wanna start spinnnig, but i feel like i should get osis and butterflys down first so i'll hold off on that.

I made a sick bag today. Its a radation pattern with an all red, blue, yellow and green radiation symbols and black surrounding hexes. Took the pattern from a bag i saw in a video. Its sick.

[Benzilla]

I've created my own training program so i would stop half assing my sessions. And it worked!

This is what i do.

50 Total alternating toe.
10 Legovers BS
5 Legovers BSOS
20 Clippers BS
20 clipper> clipper rpt amap
20 mirage BS
10 mirage BSOS
15 Butterflys BS
10 Butterfly BSOS
5 Infinities BS
5 PDX mirage BS
5 PDX mirage BSOS
10 Osis
5 Osis BSOS (i'll do these more when i can osis consistantly, but i'll try them every time for 5 mins)

My session lasted for about an hour, and i got a lot of reienforcement of flip tricks and such. Flip toe sets are a pain. They're why i never flip toe when i freestyle.