greg raymond

Slowsis · Post by **Slowsis** » 20 Aug 2009 11:26

I'll be around Belleville/Picton in a week or two. We should organize a shred. Hopefully I will have shredded off most of my rust by then.

Its also very nice to read such an organized and well maintained shred training program. I feel like I need to write one up for myself. Kudos.

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 27 Aug 2009 10:52

ty sah. let us do battle via gravitational manipulation.

keep me posted!

datw o/i bsos + datw i/o bsos.

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 09 Sep 2009 07:59

NEW BLOOD!

welcome, Dante Diotallevi from Stratford.

he's been playing for a year & already has a nice trick selection. ktown sessions are about to get pumped up!

john has been a wrecking ball lately. he hit his first 5>5>5 a few days ago & is getting a pretty huge repertoire of tricks down.

yesterday's session was amazing. 50 contacts of osis > gyro clip > osis > osis > gyro clip > osis rpt, then in same string gyro osis bsos, spinning osis bsos, spinning butterfly bsos & almost gyro butterfly bsos ( footed the 2nd one ).

bringing back tricks that i nearly forgot about, like far symple swirls & blenders. hit about 30 contacts of whirl > blender rpt.

worked on zulu a bunch. i think they got a lot tighter by the end of the session. hit about 50 contacts of zulu clip > ss butter rpt, but a bunch of the zulus were thin or the. by the end of the string, they were cleaned up.

i can understand why butterfly is such an important trick to the sport. it being labelled as a generic trick really takes something away from it that it doesn't deserve. it's such a structurally supportive trick. i find that when i am trying to drill a new clipper trick, i am much more confident in clean execution if i link from a butterfly than if i start out with the trick isolated.

i suppose any trick could potentially fill this role, but the thing is that my butterflies aren't even all that good, & i still feel this way.

time to step up gyro dexterities. i think my spins are good enough now.

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 16 Sep 2009 18:17

huge potential in dante's queens club venture. he picked up 20 signatures for club membership & the shred session tonight had about 10 people out.

was a fun session. i ended on maelstrom, dante hit blurry drifter & bedwetter.

the new players are learning fast.

mc · Post by mc » 16 Sep 2009 18:24

shit! things sound pretty good up there! I hope I can come up again sometime to visit you guys and play with the new guy!

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 17 Sep 2009 11:41

Matt Cross wrote:shit! things sound pretty good up there! I hope I can come up again sometime to visit you guys and play with the new guy!

awesome! apparently as part of the Queens club criteria to receive a club budget, we will need to throw an event sometime. netting funds from Queens to host an event would be pretty pimp. or, INCREDIBLY pimp.

go Dante go!

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 19 Sep 2009 06:48

ripstein bs

Asmus · Post by **Asmus** » 19 Sep 2009 07:11

Props! Great trick.

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 21 Sep 2009 07:18

thanks asmus.

i couldn't hit it again yesterday ( just played for 10 minutes or so in my house ), but i noticed that working ripstein can definitely help regular swirls. like, having that extra component to work towards causes you to make that first component more efficient, & you have the energy to push forward after that component is complete, which affects the base component with respect to linking.

i noticed a similar quality the other night when working on maelstrom. i found my spinning ducks to be cleaner when i had the motivation to try for that whirl after the duck, as opposed to when i would try spinning ducking clipper on its own.

i've never really worked on big tricks before, but i'm starting to see how the big tricks can help solidify the little things. also, depending on the trick, big tricks take a lot less toll on the body than trying to pound out long strings all day. ( except, for me anyways, symposium tricks. they still haven't really clicked for me in the sense of being efficient. )

tuesday & wednesday nights this week are Queens Club Nights. we'll be shredding it up somewhere on campus both nights, collecting more signatures, pumping out the beats & kicking the shit out of that thing called gravity.

dante's got the positive energy & enthusiasm to make this thing fly. he got 20 signatures on the first night of shredding. Club Night should be a great success.

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 30 Sep 2009 12:58

ripstein bs again!

not much else to report. started working on whirr. got to the point where i can complete the first whirl then leave the dexing leg hanging in mid air. i used to be able to do whirling set pretty well, but haven't touched it since i started playing again. hopefully those old muscle motions will come back to help with this trick.

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 08 Oct 2009 09:13

played well last night.

hit pendulum to rake both sides ( pendulum releases straight up behind, rake brings back to front ).

worked on butterfly rakes. simple trick, but very fun. hit 12 butterfly rakes in a string & also hit pixie xbd rake > butterfly rake. learned whirling rake both sides as well ( i think working butterfly rakes helped with this somehow, my attempts in the past were never very clean but these ones were much easier ).

spinning ducking clip > gyro mirage.
gyro mirage > toe drifter bsos a bunch. ( my little vortex training link )
some vortex attempts, not quite there yet.

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 21 Oct 2009 10:43

repeat until fail.

something i don't do often enough.

on sunday, i trained spinning ducking pdx mirage on both sides until i couldn't stand any longer.

i shall revisit this trick, & this training philosophy. while crumpled in a fetal position after 25 minutes of spinning ducks, i felt strangely satisfied.

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 22 Feb 2010 15:08

When I touch the footbag to my shoe, there are a million things that go through my mind at once. Or I might have an idea beforehand what I'd like to try, but then watching another player's string sends my mind off on a tangent into other tricks & I lose track of what I wanted to hit.

Maintaining clarity of mind as to personal inspiration regarding anything needs to become the focus.

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 25 Feb 2010 12:26

been listening to music attuned to the 432 hz frequency during the last 2 training sessions in my apartment. obviously inconclusive this early in training, but will see in time if it has an impact.

primary goals from the last two sessions have been to maintain clarity of mind with regards to intent at the moment the bag touches my foot prior to a string.

no matter what i conceptualized while the bag was on the floor or what i was working on prior, the thought that is conceptualized at the exact moment of the bag hitting my foot for the first time before a string is what i wish to hold on to.

last night, i had a real affinity towards working my toe game, which is really quite weak. for about 25 minutes, i felt very strongly about working on toe set barrage.

set from left toe -> attempt to clear the dexes with right leg -> let the bag fall to the ground.

immediately followed by

set from right toe -> attempt to clear the dexes with left leg -> let the bag fall to the ground.

towards the end of 25 minutes of this, i was clearing the dexes on nearly every attempt on both sides, although admittedly with very little time for anything to be accomplished afterwards. later on i hit a little string with clipper set barrage bsos which felt decent, but the flow isn't quite right yet for my clipper set double dexes.

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 08 Mar 2010 09:56

I'm so glad that we have started playing HORSE regularly. It unabashedly forces me to work on links & tricks that I might not do otherwise.

It is so easy to adapt rules from game to game as well to suit warming up, shred or working specific components.

For example, we started last session with an Only-2-Add game. We quickly noticed that one of the greatest challenges of the 2-add game is remembering the entire sequence of tricks as it gets longer & longer.

After a couple of 2-add games, we played a Unique game, a Genuine game & a game where every trick needed at least 2 dexes.

The last game had me working on Ripwalk -> Blurry Whirl, a very weak link for me. Meanwhile, Dante footed Whirr out of that link ( which would have sealed my fate had he sealed the trick ). He keeps pushing me, which is just what I need.

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 09 Mar 2010 12:49

first outdoor session of the year! i feel so rejuvenated. the winter just destroys me, every year without fail. 10 degrees celcius has never been so sweet!

i can barely even remember what i hit, it was just so amazing to be playing outside again. some people are more "solar powered" than others, i am definitely one of these people!

clear skies again today, going to play after work.

edit: on second thought, i shouldn't get ahead of myself. play every 2 days until body is ready for the climb to summer glory!

edit2: played tonight after all. nyj10 tore the shred right out of me.

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 17 Mar 2010 10:24

goddamn, that sunshine is nice.

seriously invigorating.

2 hour session last night. expected it to be not-as-good as the previous night's session, but it ended up being FAR SUPERIOR.

holy shit. i kept things simple & worked on components i am already quite comfortable with & tried to expand on those things. namely, ducking variants & spinning variants.

ducking osis > spinning osis rpt x 6
diving mirage > pixie op osis rpt to string
zulu pdx mirage bsos
spinning weaving clip bs
spinning diving clip bs
zulu clip x 8
spinning clipper > spinning osis rpt x 4
spinning clipper x 10 on flip
diving osis x 4
paradon > blender > gyro whirl bsos
zulu clip > ducking osis rpt

more to come.

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 25 Mar 2010 09:08

ack, mein knees.

starting a 12 week training program beginning of april. if i'm super-diligent, it will be a videoblog.

i think i will not be playing footbag for the rest of the month. copious stretching will be required to strengthen the muscles around my knees. the winter weight gain is putting too much stress on the knees during this awkward period of shedding some pounds.

i'm like a bear in reverse, but with the same sense of action upon awakening in the spring. but whereas the bear is bulking up again, i am toning down.

and now for something completely different:

http://www.blip.tv/file/1251548/

knowing who you are in this world isn't as straightforward as you'd think.

Darkshredder · Post by **Darkshredder** » 25 Mar 2010 09:37

Good show, Greg! Think you'll be rested up to hack at GRASS? It'd be a grand finale to your regiment!

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 29 Mar 2010 09:20

hmm, that sounds like an excellent idea, good sir.

i will be getting my passport sorted out in the next week or so then there should be no limitations on travelling shenanigans.

so i will try!

edit: gah! didn't realize GRASS was so soon...money will be too crazy in april to pull this one off. need to get first & last for a new apartment & find an unlocked iphone for work. sorry, won't be able to make this one.

CUReCUMIN from AOR is a fantastic anti-inflammatory, for anybody looking for a natural alternative to tylenol & the like. it is quite fast acting. i had pain in both of my knees & within 10 minutes of taking 1, the pain was virtually gone. they have also been helpful for John Bagi's back pain.

it is made from the spice, curcumin, which is a natural anti-inflammatory, but then it is enhanced with NANOTECHNOLOGY ( not a joke ). so in essence, i believe i am becoming a cyborg. that's a good thing, right? so long as the little bots don't have AI scripts that will control my precious, precious organs, i think i'm on the road to success.

my training plans seem to be falling perfectly in line with upcoming weather patterns. the first 2 weeks of april are supposed to be 15 to 25 degrees every day! AMAZINK.

SLINK -> sick link. that shit was slink, dawg.

i have been thinking of fun links i want to try during my slight hiatus from playing this past week, like:

fairy ss symple legover > pixie ss symple swirl
double diving whirl > symp whirl ( that's a lofty one for me currently, but doable. if i clear the double dive, the whirl shouldn't be difficult. )
surging ss legover > pixie ss refraction ( i have wanted to learn surging for years, ever since seeing really early felix videos, hitting surging combos & watching chad dehovlavich ( sp? ) hitting surging blenders...definitely one of my all time favourite sets to watch )