Reilley Adamson's footblog
June 6, 2012
Kicked with Justin after work. This was another trial by fire session where nothing felt strong. Since we had bothered to stop watching the Thunder-Spurs game in the first place I just grit my teeth and went with it.
If I should do one thing to improve my footbag game before the 2012 U.S. Open it's improve my flip clipper. After this session it's seriously amazing to me how I've managed to do much of anything both sides with such a poor flip. I started working on osis (mostly flip) again yesterday, but it was so shitty that I regressed to consecutive flip clippers. It was sort of eye opening how uncomfortable it is -- I feel so unsure of my balance and posture that I don't even know what to do to best improve it. Turn away more? Rotate planted foot? Stand up straighter? Bend my planted knee less? Though my form on my good side is far from perfect I can at least tell intuitively by now when I'm doing tricks with good or bad form, and slowly make adjustments as I practice. If I'm trying something that needs a precise set, I know before the bag is even off my setting foot if it's worth attempting the following trick or simply catching the bag and trying again. But right now I feel like I could do a million flip clippers and it would feel just as uncomfortable as it does now. I can't tell the difference between when I'm doing it right or wrong, so I never know what my set will look like. I feel like before I even bother putting more time into repetition of my flip clipper I need to figure out how to do it right.
The only other thing I really worked on was consecutive down practice. I've never really been good at it, but even last summer I could take a day to work on this and after a few rounds I'd start to break double digits more easily. Now I just get a handful and drop it every single time. It's utterly defeating.
Finally I worked on my open sets some more. Following suit with everything else they were fucking terrible, but I at least felt like I was putting in good work while I was trying. Right now if I'm not attempting any specific tricks with the set I'll really lower the density and try a drill like open toe stall > toe stall > toe stall, rpt. Doing something like this where I can avoid dropping seems most efficient, and pretty soon I'll be able to go into any session ready to just do alternating open toe stalls.
I'm going to take a couple more days to rest, and perhaps try again on Friday if my legs feel okay.
Kicked with Justin after work. This was another trial by fire session where nothing felt strong. Since we had bothered to stop watching the Thunder-Spurs game in the first place I just grit my teeth and went with it.
If I should do one thing to improve my footbag game before the 2012 U.S. Open it's improve my flip clipper. After this session it's seriously amazing to me how I've managed to do much of anything both sides with such a poor flip. I started working on osis (mostly flip) again yesterday, but it was so shitty that I regressed to consecutive flip clippers. It was sort of eye opening how uncomfortable it is -- I feel so unsure of my balance and posture that I don't even know what to do to best improve it. Turn away more? Rotate planted foot? Stand up straighter? Bend my planted knee less? Though my form on my good side is far from perfect I can at least tell intuitively by now when I'm doing tricks with good or bad form, and slowly make adjustments as I practice. If I'm trying something that needs a precise set, I know before the bag is even off my setting foot if it's worth attempting the following trick or simply catching the bag and trying again. But right now I feel like I could do a million flip clippers and it would feel just as uncomfortable as it does now. I can't tell the difference between when I'm doing it right or wrong, so I never know what my set will look like. I feel like before I even bother putting more time into repetition of my flip clipper I need to figure out how to do it right.
The only other thing I really worked on was consecutive down practice. I've never really been good at it, but even last summer I could take a day to work on this and after a few rounds I'd start to break double digits more easily. Now I just get a handful and drop it every single time. It's utterly defeating.
Finally I worked on my open sets some more. Following suit with everything else they were fucking terrible, but I at least felt like I was putting in good work while I was trying. Right now if I'm not attempting any specific tricks with the set I'll really lower the density and try a drill like open toe stall > toe stall > toe stall, rpt. Doing something like this where I can avoid dropping seems most efficient, and pretty soon I'll be able to go into any session ready to just do alternating open toe stalls.
I'm going to take a couple more days to rest, and perhaps try again on Friday if my legs feel okay.
-
h0ag3yb3atZ
- Egyptian Footgod
- Posts: 1161
- Joined: 03 Jul 2008 09:05
- Location: Shaolin
June 8, 2012
Today was another two-man with Justin. Today's session went much better than when I kicked on Wednesday. I drastically lowered the density of what I was doing today. For the entire session (about an hour and a half) I worked on the most fundamental stuff -- toe stalls, inside stalls, and clippers. I did tons and tons of consecutives and really easy combos (clipper > op inside stall, rpt; toe stall > toe stall > legover, rpt). For the past year I've been doing combos of tricks that I am lucky to get ten contacts through, and fifteen or more warrants high fives from people. That's stupid. I think I've known that all along, but I guess I had a minor epiphany over the past day or two. I need to be doing repeat combos I can get through fifty contacts of regardless of if it's (not) tiltless or (not) guiltless or what.
I don't want to romanticize this mental breakthrough too much, but I think it really helped today. By the end of the session my toe stalls had gone from scoopy, so-so, and generally unsure to just inside my knees, totally up and down, and even. I've always been fairly proficient at inside stalls, but I noticed that I didn't magic hop on one side nearly at all. Not only did my inside stalls feel even better after I started actively working that in, but everything else came together around it. I found out that one of my biggest weaknesses was a building block as basic as clipper > ss toe stall. I either have to do it awkwardly or risk contact with my knee.
I worked on my flip clipper a lot. I warmed it up with a gratuitous amount of clipper bumps. I worked up to doing alternate clippers, then consecutive down practice, and at my peak did some same side down work. It certainly still doesn't feel comfortable, but I imagine I'll find myself setting more consistently before I notice it's suddenly second nature. Some days I have to really bear in mind that the work I'm doing won't pay off until later. Today I could tell I was practicing as efficiently as I ever have.
I did a bit of osis work. I wasn't really feeling it. My good side is getting better. I don't rotate enough on my bad side. I don't foresee this getting better until my flip clipper is more natural.
I foresee a lot of sessions like this over the next few weeks. Just easy stuff -- no pressure to go big, and easy on the legs.
I also hit quantum down today. Took a minute to get the motion back from doing it the other day, but once Justin told me to set lower it was there.
As an aside... I've officially been kicking for a year. I knew I had been getting close -- I started up again shortly after the Northwest Folklife Festival (Memorial Day weekend) last year. I just scrolled back through my email to figure it out. I don't think I've invested myself heavily into any hobby or pastime for a year straight like I have with footbag. Thanks to all of you guys who have made this community what it is. Hopefully by this time next year my posts will be much more interesting.
Kevin -- thanks for the props! I probably got it because I learned torque from toe.
Today was another two-man with Justin. Today's session went much better than when I kicked on Wednesday. I drastically lowered the density of what I was doing today. For the entire session (about an hour and a half) I worked on the most fundamental stuff -- toe stalls, inside stalls, and clippers. I did tons and tons of consecutives and really easy combos (clipper > op inside stall, rpt; toe stall > toe stall > legover, rpt). For the past year I've been doing combos of tricks that I am lucky to get ten contacts through, and fifteen or more warrants high fives from people. That's stupid. I think I've known that all along, but I guess I had a minor epiphany over the past day or two. I need to be doing repeat combos I can get through fifty contacts of regardless of if it's (not) tiltless or (not) guiltless or what.
I don't want to romanticize this mental breakthrough too much, but I think it really helped today. By the end of the session my toe stalls had gone from scoopy, so-so, and generally unsure to just inside my knees, totally up and down, and even. I've always been fairly proficient at inside stalls, but I noticed that I didn't magic hop on one side nearly at all. Not only did my inside stalls feel even better after I started actively working that in, but everything else came together around it. I found out that one of my biggest weaknesses was a building block as basic as clipper > ss toe stall. I either have to do it awkwardly or risk contact with my knee.
I worked on my flip clipper a lot. I warmed it up with a gratuitous amount of clipper bumps. I worked up to doing alternate clippers, then consecutive down practice, and at my peak did some same side down work. It certainly still doesn't feel comfortable, but I imagine I'll find myself setting more consistently before I notice it's suddenly second nature. Some days I have to really bear in mind that the work I'm doing won't pay off until later. Today I could tell I was practicing as efficiently as I ever have.
I did a bit of osis work. I wasn't really feeling it. My good side is getting better. I don't rotate enough on my bad side. I don't foresee this getting better until my flip clipper is more natural.
I foresee a lot of sessions like this over the next few weeks. Just easy stuff -- no pressure to go big, and easy on the legs.
I also hit quantum down today. Took a minute to get the motion back from doing it the other day, but once Justin told me to set lower it was there.
As an aside... I've officially been kicking for a year. I knew I had been getting close -- I started up again shortly after the Northwest Folklife Festival (Memorial Day weekend) last year. I just scrolled back through my email to figure it out. I don't think I've invested myself heavily into any hobby or pastime for a year straight like I have with footbag. Thanks to all of you guys who have made this community what it is. Hopefully by this time next year my posts will be much more interesting.
Kevin -- thanks for the props! I probably got it because I learned torque from toe.
Last edited by rjadamson on 10 Jun 2012 21:15, edited 1 time in total.
June 10, 2012
Lots of basics again today. And lots of fun quantum stuff. My legs hurt. I didn't feel like I was playing particularly strong today, but I revisited lots of recent milestones and hit them pretty quickly. That's a good sign.
For example my open sets don't feel like they've overall made much improvement lately, I got through dimwalk > far mirage/paradox mirage, rpt after a pretty brief warm up of my flip open set. Dimwalk > torque is a really easy tripless link for me, but I don't yet have anything I can comfortably add on to the end of it.
I'm so glad I really took the time to improve my toe stall form in the previous session. They were just a little bit rocky at times today, but overall the form looks like how I want it to now. I tried tiltless toe combos for a couple rounds and wasn't really impressed with how my form deteriorated. I wasn't really in the mood to school that stuff though. I'll have to work on that over the next week. It has made a huge difference on around the world stuff. My double around the world was money today, and I hit a link I've been wanting since probably early May -- double around the world > dimwalk. Someone was blocking the camera.
I did not originally plan on doing much quantum set stuff today, but by the end of a few hours of playing I just wanted to mess around and tire my legs out. I got a few things:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0XiCM1Y ... e=youtu.be[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpW2kcgb ... e=youtu.be[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjo-aKYp ... e=youtu.be[/youtube]
I also got quantum clipper (eventually). Dan was joking around about how Job's notation would consider quantum clipper a whirl, and I thought it would be funny to post a video of it with a comment like "everyone keeps telling me my whirl form is really bad?!?!??!!?!11" Unfortunately I think I deleted the clip.
I should consider moving the furniture in my room around a little. Every time I come home from a session with new video to post I'm really excited until I remember I'm going to have to move shit around just to access the back of my computer (which is in a little cubby-hole in my desk). It's such a pain in the ass when I just want to relax after kicking. At one point I had my computer facing backwards -- I rarely have to access the power button on my computer but I always need to switch USB components around. The next computer I buy will have (working) ports in the front of the case.
Edit: wow, I am so stupid. I built my computer well over two years ago and for some reason always thought that I had never correctly hooked up the USB ports on the front of my case. Well, in a desperate attempt to not have to do a miniscule amount of physical work I found out that THEY'VE BEEN FUNCTIONAL THIS WHOLE TIME.
Lots of basics again today. And lots of fun quantum stuff. My legs hurt. I didn't feel like I was playing particularly strong today, but I revisited lots of recent milestones and hit them pretty quickly. That's a good sign.
For example my open sets don't feel like they've overall made much improvement lately, I got through dimwalk > far mirage/paradox mirage, rpt after a pretty brief warm up of my flip open set. Dimwalk > torque is a really easy tripless link for me, but I don't yet have anything I can comfortably add on to the end of it.
I'm so glad I really took the time to improve my toe stall form in the previous session. They were just a little bit rocky at times today, but overall the form looks like how I want it to now. I tried tiltless toe combos for a couple rounds and wasn't really impressed with how my form deteriorated. I wasn't really in the mood to school that stuff though. I'll have to work on that over the next week. It has made a huge difference on around the world stuff. My double around the world was money today, and I hit a link I've been wanting since probably early May -- double around the world > dimwalk. Someone was blocking the camera.
I did not originally plan on doing much quantum set stuff today, but by the end of a few hours of playing I just wanted to mess around and tire my legs out. I got a few things:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0XiCM1Y ... e=youtu.be[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpW2kcgb ... e=youtu.be[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjo-aKYp ... e=youtu.be[/youtube]
I also got quantum clipper (eventually). Dan was joking around about how Job's notation would consider quantum clipper a whirl, and I thought it would be funny to post a video of it with a comment like "everyone keeps telling me my whirl form is really bad?!?!??!!?!11" Unfortunately I think I deleted the clip.
I should consider moving the furniture in my room around a little. Every time I come home from a session with new video to post I'm really excited until I remember I'm going to have to move shit around just to access the back of my computer (which is in a little cubby-hole in my desk). It's such a pain in the ass when I just want to relax after kicking. At one point I had my computer facing backwards -- I rarely have to access the power button on my computer but I always need to switch USB components around. The next computer I buy will have (working) ports in the front of the case.
Edit: wow, I am so stupid. I built my computer well over two years ago and for some reason always thought that I had never correctly hooked up the USB ports on the front of my case. Well, in a desperate attempt to not have to do a miniscule amount of physical work I found out that THEY'VE BEEN FUNCTIONAL THIS WHOLE TIME.
Last edited by rjadamson on 15 Jun 2012 17:54, edited 1 time in total.
Definitely. A few years back I made a challenge thread to help me learn flip spinning, and hitting some of those challenges the first time was super hard. A few years later, I'm now able to get through most of the challenges in a single session. You should start a challenge thread and track your progress there.rjadamson wrote: I revisited lots of recent milestones and hit them pretty quickly. That's a good sign..
rjadamson wrote:Edit: wow, I am so stupid. I built my computer well over two years ago and for some reason always thought that I had never correctly hooked up the USB ports on the front of my case. Well, in a desperate attempt to not have to do a miniscule amount of physical work I found out that THEY'VE BEEN FUNCTIONAL THIS WHOLE TIME.
I do this kind of thing all the time.Thanks for all the video in the blog. People read, even if they don't always post.
June 13, 2012
A little late posting this, but I haven't really felt like writing over the last couple days. I love writing, but footbag updates can be mundane (especially after a few months of logging in detail every single time I play). Writing about more introspective stuff is too exhausting for what I want to commit to right now.
Another day with just a few rounds of osis. My flip improved upon the last couple sessions, but I still have to be very deliberate about my set and turning motion or it's just crap. I'm dropping osis a lot because I'm so focused on making the form correct.
Both clippers were pretty strong. Right off the bat I got about thirty contacts of clippers/downs. Fixing the form of my flip clipper has still been troublesome. It certainly hasn't gotten to the point where I can tell if I'm doing it right or not. Justin noticed that sometimes my catching/setting foot hits the ground on my flip... maybe I can work off of that advice in future sessions.
I worked on drifter for a while. I don't know why drifter has always been so hard on my legs. Most of the moves that used to give me trouble (like torque) aren't even a problem anymore. But after a couple rounds of drifter practice my shins hurt a lot. My form looks decent so I'm not really sure what to do about it. Anyway, I hit three back to back drifters and also got torque > drifter for the first time.
Shut sets were pretty good today. Had the bag going right up in front of me almost every time. I should have gone for shut mixer/double legover a little bit instead of just doing fear every time.
I was pretty burnt out by the end of the session. I think I need to consider taking another week or two off soon to let my shin splints heal. I've just been playing through them more than I usually do. I tried some quantum sets at the end of the day and didn't clear a single one.
The U.S. Open is only a little over two months away now. At my current rate of playing that's only like ten sessions of practice before I have to somehow do a routine and the other competitions. If I were practicing every day I'd have 70+ days to practice the simple repeat combos I need. It's hard to be motivated.
Chris Dean's in town for the Primus show. Hopefully there'll be a session to be had Friday.
A little late posting this, but I haven't really felt like writing over the last couple days. I love writing, but footbag updates can be mundane (especially after a few months of logging in detail every single time I play). Writing about more introspective stuff is too exhausting for what I want to commit to right now.
Another day with just a few rounds of osis. My flip improved upon the last couple sessions, but I still have to be very deliberate about my set and turning motion or it's just crap. I'm dropping osis a lot because I'm so focused on making the form correct.
Both clippers were pretty strong. Right off the bat I got about thirty contacts of clippers/downs. Fixing the form of my flip clipper has still been troublesome. It certainly hasn't gotten to the point where I can tell if I'm doing it right or not. Justin noticed that sometimes my catching/setting foot hits the ground on my flip... maybe I can work off of that advice in future sessions.
I worked on drifter for a while. I don't know why drifter has always been so hard on my legs. Most of the moves that used to give me trouble (like torque) aren't even a problem anymore. But after a couple rounds of drifter practice my shins hurt a lot. My form looks decent so I'm not really sure what to do about it. Anyway, I hit three back to back drifters and also got torque > drifter for the first time.
Shut sets were pretty good today. Had the bag going right up in front of me almost every time. I should have gone for shut mixer/double legover a little bit instead of just doing fear every time.
I was pretty burnt out by the end of the session. I think I need to consider taking another week or two off soon to let my shin splints heal. I've just been playing through them more than I usually do. I tried some quantum sets at the end of the day and didn't clear a single one.
The U.S. Open is only a little over two months away now. At my current rate of playing that's only like ten sessions of practice before I have to somehow do a routine and the other competitions. If I were practicing every day I'd have 70+ days to practice the simple repeat combos I need. It's hard to be motivated.
Chris Dean's in town for the Primus show. Hopefully there'll be a session to be had Friday.
June 15, 2012
Fun session with Justin and Chris. I was a little wary about being in a public square and being the shitty new guy, but it turned out to be just as relaxed as any other day.
At this point I'm sort of looking forward to taking off next week from hardcore shredding... but I still managed to hit a few cool things today. I kept up my work on drifter. It wasn't feeling super hot, but once my shins are fresh I think I'll be able to push my back to back drifters (and repeat combos utilizing them in general). I challenged myself to hit drifter > osis > osis > drifter. It took me a while, but I eventually got it. The next round I tried it going the other direction and footed the last drifter on my first try. Not bad.
I wasn't too happy with my open sets today... on either side. I couldn't hit parkwalk at all, and my dimwalks weren't really good enough to do anything interesting (I'm using this term generously of course) out of. Double around the world was pretty good before my fatigue set in, and I even got terrage into string pretty easily.
I am trying to work on a tripless combo. I've not yet been able to link three tripless moves, but I think once my far/paradox mixer/double legover is better I'll be able to throw it in front of dimwalk > torque. A part of me has been wanting to work on getting my stepping back again, and if I do I'll probably be able to integrate blurs and ripwalks somehow. I probably still shouldn't invest my time into density at this point, but seeing Dan and Justin Stephens hit their tripless stuff has really given me the itch to plan ahead.
Mixer/double legover was pretty good earlier in the day as long as no one was paying attention. One of my better strings involved mixer/double legover > dimwalk for the first time. Getting an open set out of it wasn't nearly as difficult as I had anticipated.
Tried some miscellaneous other stuff. I got matador and quantum down. It probably would have been worth my while to keep trying nuclear stuff. It felt pretty strong. As per all recent sessions I put a lot of time into toe stalls and inside stalls with an emphasis on good form. I can't wait until it's just second nature to do everything with good posture.
I tried swirl a few times and hit two of them. Considering I go sessions without even thinking about working on swirl at all I'm pretty happy with that. I will work on swirl on Sunday. I also managed to seal a few strings with a seal. That rare occasion always feels good. Just one more session to go before I give my legs some needed rest...
Fun session with Justin and Chris. I was a little wary about being in a public square and being the shitty new guy, but it turned out to be just as relaxed as any other day.
At this point I'm sort of looking forward to taking off next week from hardcore shredding... but I still managed to hit a few cool things today. I kept up my work on drifter. It wasn't feeling super hot, but once my shins are fresh I think I'll be able to push my back to back drifters (and repeat combos utilizing them in general). I challenged myself to hit drifter > osis > osis > drifter. It took me a while, but I eventually got it. The next round I tried it going the other direction and footed the last drifter on my first try. Not bad.
I wasn't too happy with my open sets today... on either side. I couldn't hit parkwalk at all, and my dimwalks weren't really good enough to do anything interesting (I'm using this term generously of course) out of. Double around the world was pretty good before my fatigue set in, and I even got terrage into string pretty easily.
I am trying to work on a tripless combo. I've not yet been able to link three tripless moves, but I think once my far/paradox mixer/double legover is better I'll be able to throw it in front of dimwalk > torque. A part of me has been wanting to work on getting my stepping back again, and if I do I'll probably be able to integrate blurs and ripwalks somehow. I probably still shouldn't invest my time into density at this point, but seeing Dan and Justin Stephens hit their tripless stuff has really given me the itch to plan ahead.
Mixer/double legover was pretty good earlier in the day as long as no one was paying attention. One of my better strings involved mixer/double legover > dimwalk for the first time. Getting an open set out of it wasn't nearly as difficult as I had anticipated.
Tried some miscellaneous other stuff. I got matador and quantum down. It probably would have been worth my while to keep trying nuclear stuff. It felt pretty strong. As per all recent sessions I put a lot of time into toe stalls and inside stalls with an emphasis on good form. I can't wait until it's just second nature to do everything with good posture.
I tried swirl a few times and hit two of them. Considering I go sessions without even thinking about working on swirl at all I'm pretty happy with that. I will work on swirl on Sunday. I also managed to seal a few strings with a seal. That rare occasion always feels good. Just one more session to go before I give my legs some needed rest...
June 17, 2012
Kicked at the Fremont Fair. Our first session within walking distance of my house since I moved back in November. I saw some kickers who joined our email list after Northwest Folklife a few weeks ago. Hopefully they're even more into kicking now.
Not a lot to say about today regarding my shred. No new links or spectacularly long strings. Playing through my shin splints over the last couple weeks has really worn me down and I am ready to let them heal. Dan gave me an encouraging comment about how it looks like I don't have to think so much about what I'm doing next while in the middle of string. Can't wait to see how I play with fresh legs again.
Kicked at the Fremont Fair. Our first session within walking distance of my house since I moved back in November. I saw some kickers who joined our email list after Northwest Folklife a few weeks ago. Hopefully they're even more into kicking now.
Not a lot to say about today regarding my shred. No new links or spectacularly long strings. Playing through my shin splints over the last couple weeks has really worn me down and I am ready to let them heal. Dan gave me an encouraging comment about how it looks like I don't have to think so much about what I'm doing next while in the middle of string. Can't wait to see how I play with fresh legs again.
Sorry to hear your shin splints are still bugging you. Have you tried metatarsal insoles? I slip them in below my normal insoles, and that helped a lot. Also, once your splints do heal, continue to do toe taps to keep the shin muscles strong.
Challenge: dlo-plo repeat. If too easy, stick a smear in the middle of it.
Challenge: dlo-plo repeat. If too easy, stick a smear in the middle of it.
June 23, 2012
Baby pre-session session. Club shred day is tomorrow, and my legs feel good. I just didn't want to be completely rusty.
Warmed up with lots of kicks, which were a little out of control. My inside kicks are decent but for some reason I just couldn't keep the bag going as straight up as I like. On the contrary, my toe kicks were better than usual... but that's not really saying much. Why are toe kicks so hard? Between kicking I stretched a little bit. I eventually moved on to toe stalls. Now that my form is way better I can do 100 consecutive toe stalls pretty consistently. I always have a couple lapses in posture during the middle of the drill, but quickly fix it. I should start pushing for a few more every session.
I was hoping to get 100 contacts of clipper > op inside stall, rpt, but only managed to get about 40 at most before dropping each time. I spent a lot of time on this in preparation for tomorrow, and seemed pretty both-sided. I only dropped on the inside stalls, which is a little weird. I also worked on the hardest easy drill ever for me... clipper > ss toe stall, rpt. I simply cannot yet do same side toe stalls from clipper with the form I desire.
I want to say drilling all of these basics is helping my game, but so far I haven't really seen much improvement in my form while I'm actually doing real tricks. I can do as many good looking toe stalls as I want, and then once I try consecutive legovers I can't even stay in control. I've been playing for a year now and I pick up new concepts at what I feel is an above average pace. Why the fuck can't I just get more than mediocre at anything? That sounds a lot more negative than I actually feel about today's session or my overall skill level, but I don't want to bore myself (and anyone who happens by this blog) with endless basics just to improve at about the same rate as someone who doesn't even give a shit about being remotely disciplined about what they are doing each session. Sometimes it really just feels more like a quantity than quality thing.
Ken, I haven't tried any insoles other than the Superfeet I have in my Lavers. I am not really convinced these problems are a support issue. The soles of my Lavers haven't even really worn down (guess it's obvious I don't work spinning too much) so I practically feel like I'm playing with platform shoes. In any case I'm sure I can get the easier version challenge on film tomorrow. If I don't you get a free Camera Beard.
Baby pre-session session. Club shred day is tomorrow, and my legs feel good. I just didn't want to be completely rusty.
Warmed up with lots of kicks, which were a little out of control. My inside kicks are decent but for some reason I just couldn't keep the bag going as straight up as I like. On the contrary, my toe kicks were better than usual... but that's not really saying much. Why are toe kicks so hard? Between kicking I stretched a little bit. I eventually moved on to toe stalls. Now that my form is way better I can do 100 consecutive toe stalls pretty consistently. I always have a couple lapses in posture during the middle of the drill, but quickly fix it. I should start pushing for a few more every session.
I was hoping to get 100 contacts of clipper > op inside stall, rpt, but only managed to get about 40 at most before dropping each time. I spent a lot of time on this in preparation for tomorrow, and seemed pretty both-sided. I only dropped on the inside stalls, which is a little weird. I also worked on the hardest easy drill ever for me... clipper > ss toe stall, rpt. I simply cannot yet do same side toe stalls from clipper with the form I desire.
I want to say drilling all of these basics is helping my game, but so far I haven't really seen much improvement in my form while I'm actually doing real tricks. I can do as many good looking toe stalls as I want, and then once I try consecutive legovers I can't even stay in control. I've been playing for a year now and I pick up new concepts at what I feel is an above average pace. Why the fuck can't I just get more than mediocre at anything? That sounds a lot more negative than I actually feel about today's session or my overall skill level, but I don't want to bore myself (and anyone who happens by this blog) with endless basics just to improve at about the same rate as someone who doesn't even give a shit about being remotely disciplined about what they are doing each session. Sometimes it really just feels more like a quantity than quality thing.
Ken, I haven't tried any insoles other than the Superfeet I have in my Lavers. I am not really convinced these problems are a support issue. The soles of my Lavers haven't even really worn down (guess it's obvious I don't work spinning too much) so I practically feel like I'm playing with platform shoes. In any case I'm sure I can get the easier version challenge on film tomorrow. If I don't you get a free Camera Beard.
Last edited by rjadamson on 25 Jun 2012 11:32, edited 1 time in total.
June 24, 2012
Today was weird. I woke up feeling like shit and was totally unmotivated to do anything. I decided to can the idea of going to kick. But a few people started calling me to confirm where/when we'd be playing so against my best judgment I dragged myself out of bed. A half hour later and I notice there's been a major car accident practically outside my house totally blocking the public transit. Long story short, I wasted a bunch of time trying to take the bus anyway, getting off after the clueless bus driver inevitably detoured, and walking to find an alternate route... but ended up in such a pissed off mood that I didn't care anymore. I was walking back to my house and decided it would be a shame to just waste a day I had cordoned off for footbag. I found a couple different spots in my neighborhood and had a solo session since the weather was looking pretty good... and I really needed to blow off some steam.
I figured Ken's challenge would give me a little bit of trouble so I spent virtually the whole session working on my flip open set. My toe stalls were still primed from the previous day, and I tried really hard mentally to convince myself -- contrary to what I wrote yesterday -- that it would really help me out with things that weren't toe stalls. I started off slow with stuff like open toe stall > toe stall > toe stall, rpt. I also spent a lot of time just doing individual sets to hand catch on my good side, and then trying to mirror it on my flip. After a while I started doing some smears and open pickups.
After being kicked out of like three places for trespassing I found my new favorite local spot, and hit the challenge after about ten minutes:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7BnzdTR ... e=youtu.be[/youtube]
Other than that I managed to hit torque bsos again, hit what seemed like the cleanest eggbeaters I've ever done, and I'm happy to report I didn't develop any shin issues after two hours of playing. I have a feeling my clipper game is responsible for my shin splints so I'm going to see how working exclusively on my toe game for a week or so treats me.
Today was weird. I woke up feeling like shit and was totally unmotivated to do anything. I decided to can the idea of going to kick. But a few people started calling me to confirm where/when we'd be playing so against my best judgment I dragged myself out of bed. A half hour later and I notice there's been a major car accident practically outside my house totally blocking the public transit. Long story short, I wasted a bunch of time trying to take the bus anyway, getting off after the clueless bus driver inevitably detoured, and walking to find an alternate route... but ended up in such a pissed off mood that I didn't care anymore. I was walking back to my house and decided it would be a shame to just waste a day I had cordoned off for footbag. I found a couple different spots in my neighborhood and had a solo session since the weather was looking pretty good... and I really needed to blow off some steam.
I figured Ken's challenge would give me a little bit of trouble so I spent virtually the whole session working on my flip open set. My toe stalls were still primed from the previous day, and I tried really hard mentally to convince myself -- contrary to what I wrote yesterday -- that it would really help me out with things that weren't toe stalls. I started off slow with stuff like open toe stall > toe stall > toe stall, rpt. I also spent a lot of time just doing individual sets to hand catch on my good side, and then trying to mirror it on my flip. After a while I started doing some smears and open pickups.
After being kicked out of like three places for trespassing I found my new favorite local spot, and hit the challenge after about ten minutes:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7BnzdTR ... e=youtu.be[/youtube]
Other than that I managed to hit torque bsos again, hit what seemed like the cleanest eggbeaters I've ever done, and I'm happy to report I didn't develop any shin issues after two hours of playing. I have a feeling my clipper game is responsible for my shin splints so I'm going to see how working exclusively on my toe game for a week or so treats me.
June 25, 2012
I played twice today for a total of probably an hour and a half.
I wasn't quite as focused today overall, but the meat of my first session was yet again to improve my flip open set. I started off with hand sealing individual sets and quickly progressed to trying to hit Ken's open switch > mixer, rpt again. It didn't come very quickly so I worked on toe double switch to see if I could hit one. At some point I decided to spend a few rounds going for hitting open switch back to back. I ended up with this:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGUq6QGA ... e=youtu.be[/youtube]
Wasn't expecting to get four, and now I know I cold probably get more if I focus on keeping my sets straight. Cool.
The second session was sort of spur of the moment and I once again just worked on little not-even-tiltless drills. It's very gratifying seeing how much my toe stalls have suddenly improved, and it gives me confidence I can get something to actually look and feel solid at all.
The bad news of the days is that I may have confirmed my theory that clipper stuff causes my shin splints. I briefly messed around with some drifter/torque stuff earlier in the day and could definitely feel that familiar dull pain building above my ankles. It's possible that I'm getting them just because I've played two days in a row, but I feel like I've been unconsciously noticing this pattern for a while. If it turns out to be true it'll be nice to know what is causing it so that I know what specifically to do different, but at the same time disheartening to realize the most fundamental move is the problem creating my shin splints.
I also landed on my Nick Landes bag earlier. It's toast. I have a backup... but time to get another one.
I played twice today for a total of probably an hour and a half.
I wasn't quite as focused today overall, but the meat of my first session was yet again to improve my flip open set. I started off with hand sealing individual sets and quickly progressed to trying to hit Ken's open switch > mixer, rpt again. It didn't come very quickly so I worked on toe double switch to see if I could hit one. At some point I decided to spend a few rounds going for hitting open switch back to back. I ended up with this:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGUq6QGA ... e=youtu.be[/youtube]
Wasn't expecting to get four, and now I know I cold probably get more if I focus on keeping my sets straight. Cool.
The second session was sort of spur of the moment and I once again just worked on little not-even-tiltless drills. It's very gratifying seeing how much my toe stalls have suddenly improved, and it gives me confidence I can get something to actually look and feel solid at all.
The bad news of the days is that I may have confirmed my theory that clipper stuff causes my shin splints. I briefly messed around with some drifter/torque stuff earlier in the day and could definitely feel that familiar dull pain building above my ankles. It's possible that I'm getting them just because I've played two days in a row, but I feel like I've been unconsciously noticing this pattern for a while. If it turns out to be true it'll be nice to know what is causing it so that I know what specifically to do different, but at the same time disheartening to realize the most fundamental move is the problem creating my shin splints.
I also landed on my Nick Landes bag earlier. It's toast. I have a backup... but time to get another one.
Props on the flip open set progress. I think open switch (PLO) back to back is a great way to train flip open. That's how I learned to get flip open consistent. Basically, the way I looked at it was that pixie set is like the rewind of a legover. So by doing PLOs b2b, you're essentially reinforcing that motion twice on every rep, since the legover just rewinds to do the sets. Make sense?
For your shinsplints being related to clippers...is it possible you aren't landing on your toes enough with your clippers? If you are coming down flatfooted, or just coming down too hard on stuff like torque, that might be the cause of it.
I love how weird this sounds to people who don't know what we're talking about.rjadamson wrote: If I don't you get a free Camera Beard.
For your shinsplints being related to clippers...is it possible you aren't landing on your toes enough with your clippers? If you are coming down flatfooted, or just coming down too hard on stuff like torque, that might be the cause of it.
June 27, 2012
Today was beautiful outside. Justin and I went down to Green Lake. I went into today without too many expectations -- I've been super stiff from all of my recent open work (don't get me wrong... it's a great feeling), and I was also half expecting to play for a few minutes and agitate my dormant shin splints.
I started with more open progress. I got off to a bit of a rocky start, so I spent a few rounds here and there just doing sets and hand catches. I tried to get consecutive open switches, but my flip was just moving too slowly to get much momentum going. I wasn't even close to any sort of repeat combo. Justin did remind me to slow down my flip side sets, and sure enough I was getting a lot more clearing my leg soon after. Still, today didn't show any immediate payoff on this.
The meat of my session consisted of consecutive down work. To be honest I haven't really drilled this since late last summer. It's been a major weakness of mine. Hitting a double digit contact count is rare. But suddenly today my clippers were pretty even, and when my form was good for the first trial round I was super encouraged to continue working on it (even assuming it would lead to shin problems). I averaged between 10 and 15 contacts for most of my runs. My sets were not quite even, but I felt much more confidence in catching and setting on my flip clipper than I ever have. It's sort of like how you can look at a lot of intermediate players who don't quite have their osis form down, but by now they've learned to save the shitty ones and keep it going longer. My best run was 22 (dropping on 23). We currently have a challenge in the club to see who can hit 50 first. Maybe I have a shot at that.
Did lots of mixers today, and they were decent. I'm getting really sick of my flip side not being very consistent though. I attempt it in string all the time, and like so many other things it's pretty much just a 50-50 chance that I'll hit it. I should have down > osis > mixer, rpt on lockdown by now. I also want far mixer > dimwalk > torque as my first 4-4-4. I put some attempts in today, but my far mixers were terrible. Some days I can just go and hit far mixer bsos and other days I can't do them at all.
I also hit bubbabeater today. I don't know why I try eggbeater stuff despite totally ignoring my shitty illusions.
I played for two hours today and did plenty of clipper shit. My shins feel fine. Only normal muscle tenderness. That's great, but it means I maybe haven't pinpointed exactly what causes my shin splints. I also just grazed the back of my leg on the hot oven door and out of reflex slammed my knee into a table at full force. Hope this doesn't ruin my plans to shred later this week.
Ken, I think I'm going to keep working on a couple repeat combos to improve my open set(s). The consecutive switches thing definitely makes sense -- I learned my good side open by doing it out of legovers. My next goal is smear > open switch, rpt.
Today was beautiful outside. Justin and I went down to Green Lake. I went into today without too many expectations -- I've been super stiff from all of my recent open work (don't get me wrong... it's a great feeling), and I was also half expecting to play for a few minutes and agitate my dormant shin splints.
I started with more open progress. I got off to a bit of a rocky start, so I spent a few rounds here and there just doing sets and hand catches. I tried to get consecutive open switches, but my flip was just moving too slowly to get much momentum going. I wasn't even close to any sort of repeat combo. Justin did remind me to slow down my flip side sets, and sure enough I was getting a lot more clearing my leg soon after. Still, today didn't show any immediate payoff on this.
The meat of my session consisted of consecutive down work. To be honest I haven't really drilled this since late last summer. It's been a major weakness of mine. Hitting a double digit contact count is rare. But suddenly today my clippers were pretty even, and when my form was good for the first trial round I was super encouraged to continue working on it (even assuming it would lead to shin problems). I averaged between 10 and 15 contacts for most of my runs. My sets were not quite even, but I felt much more confidence in catching and setting on my flip clipper than I ever have. It's sort of like how you can look at a lot of intermediate players who don't quite have their osis form down, but by now they've learned to save the shitty ones and keep it going longer. My best run was 22 (dropping on 23). We currently have a challenge in the club to see who can hit 50 first. Maybe I have a shot at that.
Did lots of mixers today, and they were decent. I'm getting really sick of my flip side not being very consistent though. I attempt it in string all the time, and like so many other things it's pretty much just a 50-50 chance that I'll hit it. I should have down > osis > mixer, rpt on lockdown by now. I also want far mixer > dimwalk > torque as my first 4-4-4. I put some attempts in today, but my far mixers were terrible. Some days I can just go and hit far mixer bsos and other days I can't do them at all.
I also hit bubbabeater today. I don't know why I try eggbeater stuff despite totally ignoring my shitty illusions.
I played for two hours today and did plenty of clipper shit. My shins feel fine. Only normal muscle tenderness. That's great, but it means I maybe haven't pinpointed exactly what causes my shin splints. I also just grazed the back of my leg on the hot oven door and out of reflex slammed my knee into a table at full force. Hope this doesn't ruin my plans to shred later this week.
Ken, I think I'm going to keep working on a couple repeat combos to improve my open set(s). The consecutive switches thing definitely makes sense -- I learned my good side open by doing it out of legovers. My next goal is smear > open switch, rpt.
Do you think you could hit Pixie Mirage > Pixie SS Mirage > Pixie ATW? I feel like it's a super bomb combo to make sure you are setting straight, but it's on the haarrrrrrder side. Well for me. Also, I kinda hit your challenge, it's at the end of the video on my blog. Cheated a bit and hit a SS Mixer on my flip, but I'll get it. Quick question, how much stretching do you do before and after a session, and how is your diet?
Live, Love, Footbag
Derek Littlefield
Derek Littlefield
-
F[uns]tylin' Eclectic
- Post Master General
- Posts: 4092
- Joined: 05 Feb 2010 19:53
- Location: Drumore, PA
June 29, 2012
First, I want to thank Nick Polini for the very helpful phone call. The fact I'll have to come to a head with my shin splints and really take some time off has been a dark cloud looming over me for while now. I was already sort of planning on taking a break after the U.S. Open in August, but Nick really helped me reaffirm that I need to seriously take some time off. And now I know of some measures to take in order to speed up my recovery. I wish I had medical insurance...
Anyway, I played for about an hour and a half, and I spent pretty much that whole time trying to hit two combos:
Worked on consecutive down practice here and there. It wasn't quite as strong as it was last session, but the fact I now expect to hit 15 every single run is a good indicator that it's getting easier on some level. After a couple sessions they suddenly feel way more symmetrical than they have for like the past year. I know that if I keep pushing it I'll have a freak run somewhere in which I hit 50.
I sort of want to work on my form again. I haven't worked on getting rid of my crazy hand movements lately, and my flip toe tricks in particular just look stupid because of it. My right hand opens up whenever I catch the bag. Not really sure if I should work on this by balling my fists, or if I should just work on keeping my hands totally relaxed. Anyone have advice on this?
Derek, I'll try to hit your combo next session. I'm guessing it's meant to be a repeat combo though, and if that's the case I don't think I stand a chance. I don't know if I've even hit three flip open tricks in a row. I'll try though -- I can probably get three contacts in on both sides. I gotta say though... after watching your video I think you stand a way better chance of hitting that one first! Your toe game looks awesome. Maybe we should make it a race?
Ken -- I don't know if my flip open is ready to even attempt smog yet so I don't see this one plausibly happening for a little while. That said, TF2 stuff is a really great incentive for me to try things. I'll try some flip smogs the next time I'm particularly confident in my flip open set, and if I manage to seal one you can bet I'll try to keep it together long enough to try the other side.
First, I want to thank Nick Polini for the very helpful phone call. The fact I'll have to come to a head with my shin splints and really take some time off has been a dark cloud looming over me for while now. I was already sort of planning on taking a break after the U.S. Open in August, but Nick really helped me reaffirm that I need to seriously take some time off. And now I know of some measures to take in order to speed up my recovery. I wish I had medical insurance...
Anyway, I played for about an hour and a half, and I spent pretty much that whole time trying to hit two combos:
- down > far mirage > smear, rpt
- down > far mirage > mixer, rpt
Worked on consecutive down practice here and there. It wasn't quite as strong as it was last session, but the fact I now expect to hit 15 every single run is a good indicator that it's getting easier on some level. After a couple sessions they suddenly feel way more symmetrical than they have for like the past year. I know that if I keep pushing it I'll have a freak run somewhere in which I hit 50.
I sort of want to work on my form again. I haven't worked on getting rid of my crazy hand movements lately, and my flip toe tricks in particular just look stupid because of it. My right hand opens up whenever I catch the bag. Not really sure if I should work on this by balling my fists, or if I should just work on keeping my hands totally relaxed. Anyone have advice on this?
Derek, I'll try to hit your combo next session. I'm guessing it's meant to be a repeat combo though, and if that's the case I don't think I stand a chance. I don't know if I've even hit three flip open tricks in a row. I'll try though -- I can probably get three contacts in on both sides. I gotta say though... after watching your video I think you stand a way better chance of hitting that one first! Your toe game looks awesome. Maybe we should make it a race?
Ken -- I don't know if my flip open is ready to even attempt smog yet so I don't see this one plausibly happening for a little while. That said, TF2 stuff is a really great incentive for me to try things. I'll try some flip smogs the next time I'm particularly confident in my flip open set, and if I manage to seal one you can bet I'll try to keep it together long enough to try the other side.
Whoops! Yeah, it was meant to be a repeat drill. That's perfect, cause this is an awesome one to pop that cherry with 
. If not, how about Magellan > Smear repeat? Muchos gracias good sir. My toe game might be a level or two up from you, but your Clippers DESTROY me 
. Haha. If you wanna race, I have to warn you... Last time I tried it, I footed the flip Magellan at the end of it. It was totally uncalled for, but I came close. Also, I feel ya on the crazy hands.
. If not, how about Magellan > Smear repeat? Muchos gracias good sir. My toe game might be a level or two up from you, but your Clippers DESTROY me . Haha. If you wanna race, I have to warn you... Last time I tried it, I footed the flip Magellan at the end of it. It was totally uncalled for, but I came close. Also, I feel ya on the crazy hands.Live, Love, Footbag
Derek Littlefield
Derek Littlefield