Ankle Crankability

General footbag-related topics that don't fit elsewhere go in here.
ptaku
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Post by ptaku »

Seath wrote:off to watch css4 footage with penske and lon crankin it all over the place.. eeew.
I think that Lon's clippers are more body position than cranked ankles.

Ps. If You lost hope that you will be a top shreder, because you can't crank ankles all over the place watch some Justin Dale Footage. He hasn't cranked ankles ane he's bustin hard, and is one of the best players on worlds.

Ps2. I found that when I'm hitting some trick I don't crank my ankles so much, and when I'm hiting some other trick I crank my ankle much more than by other tricks. ex. when hitting Butterfly I crank ankles less, and when hiting Drifter I crank ankles much more than by any other trick, and my clipper is much more flatter - I think that is because of my body position when hitting Drifter.
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Post by Seath »

I've lost no hope! I won't lose hope :P The crank factor is just something that i want to improve because im so toe oriented, dont get me wrong, my clippers are coming along very nicely!
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King Monkey
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Post by King Monkey »

hahah ive sort of lost hope of making it big. Having shit clipper flatness makes its sooo slow to get good at stuff, and it makes my style really crap looking. Justin does give me some hope, but not enough :P
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Post by Ph33rh4x »

I cant get my left clipper flat at all, my toes are always angled towards the ground no matter what I try. Same with my left insides.
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Post by ShredPirate »

if you guys saw footage of me trying clippers like 2 years ago, you wouldn't think your ankle flex was bad.

it really is just about changing the way your entire body is, while doing a clipper.
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Outsider
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Post by Outsider »

To get a better, flatter clipper I recommend learning the Walk-Over.
Obviously a really old-skool trick (though I've heard V.K. is doing some interesting stuff with it lately, and I remember seeing somebody years ago[from Chicago, I think] doing these interesting planted-osis-into-walkovers a while back, really cool looking...), but its useful, especially for building up a foundation of consistent (relatively) flat clipper stalls. (I don't think clippers need to be perfectly flat to be perfectly good. My clippers are not perfectly flat, and I've got 15 consecutive whirling swirls to say that there is nothing wrong with my slightly angled clipper position).

At first they can feel very awkward, but with a little persistence they become smooth and easy. Here's what I'd do:
Start with an inside stall, and lower it to the ground. At first, since it feels freaky to put all your weight on your deliberately twisted ankle, you'll do them very quickly. Just a quick little step so your weight is resting on that bent ankle for just a half-second. Then try walking back the same way. When you feel a little more at ease with this manuever, do that walk-over, then still holding the bag on your clipper, lift the clipper up off the floor slowly and hold it there. Then slowly lower the foot back to the ground with the bag still on the clipper, and do the Walk-back. Again, pause a moment and slowly lift the foot up off the ground to stand in a basic inside stall, keeping the bag right where it was. Now carefully lower it back to the ground and do the Walk-over again, and slowly lift the foot back up in clipper position, hold it, and then slowly put it back down. Repeat repeat repeat. As you go, and as you feel less freaked out putting your weight on your bent ankle, try doing the actual Walk-over part a little more slowly.
I still do this exercise from time to time.

If you worry about compromising the strength of your ankles, then I recommend another simple exercise: do a quadriceps stretch (while standing on one leg, pull the foot of the other leg up against your butt) without holding on to anything. Just stand and gently stretch your quad, and balance as well as you can as long as you can on the other foot. No hopping. This will strengthen the muscles in your ankle that are responsible for ankle stability. If you find this easy, try closing your eyes while you do this balancing act. Much of your sense of balance is derived from visual cues, and if you take those visual cues out of the equation, the muscles in the ankle have to work harder to compensate.

I recommend against agressive stretching. Don't stretch anything so much that it hurts. I agree with Jeremy that this is more about muscle strength and muscle memory than flexibility. Your ankles are probably already flexible enough, and nothing you do is going to make them become more flexible. The muscles controlling how your ankles cranks are simply untrained. They are not yet accustomed to flexing in the right way. You just have to help these muscles learn which of them are supposed to flex and stay flexed, and which of them are supposed to relax and stay relaxed. Doing those walk-overs, especially the part where you slowly pick your foot up off the ground with the bag on it and slowly lower it back down (much more important than then actual walking-over), train these muscles to act the way you want them too. After a little while, muscle memory does most of it for you.
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Post by Seath »

Thanks, Jon, that was an awesome read! Good idea, I will start practicing that more often as soon as i practice next. Thanks for the tips and info!
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Post by max »

thanks Jon, I'll try that walkover drill.
Oh and let me add:

15 CONSEC WHIRLING SWIRLS?????
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Post by BalinorNZ »

Jon, you are a genius!

You may have solved my weak ankle problem. :D

Btw is that you with the orange hair and the glasses ive seen in videos that can do like dragon ripwalks n stuff?
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Post by Outsider »

Jon, you are a genius!
I know it, baby.

Just, please be patient. This isn't a quick fix, either for the flexibility of the stability. No exercise can work overnight. Maybe set yourself a goal, like, to do the exercise regularly (but not fanatically) at least until the New Year. You might have the results you want by then.

And yeah, I'm the guy with glasses who does dragon ripwalks and stuff. But my hair is yellow, not orange (maybe it was some strange video-quality issue) and I'm wearing contact lenses more often now.
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Post by Ph33rh4x »

Thanks alot Jon, now hopefully I can get my left clippers down and finally hit my ripwalks. I can do the dexing pretty decent but I could never seal it. I think this should help.
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Post by BalinorNZ »

Outsider wrote:
Jon, you are a genius!
And yeah, I'm the guy with glasses who does dragon ripwalks and stuff. But my hair is yellow, not orange (maybe it was some strange video-quality issue) and I'm wearing contact lenses more often now.
Oh man! I had no idea! Man ive shown videos of you to so many people, lol I tend to show everyone I can footbag videos and ur stuff is pretty amazing!
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Post by Krafty »

About the clipper and butterfly stuff, my strongside is really good at it but my flipside butterflies are very inconsistent. I can clipper okay on my flipside but it still feels a little awkward I guess; anyone else feel this way? If not, should I just keep doing more clippers on my flipside to make this feeling go away? As for my flip butterflies, I can hit them once in a while, so the most infinities I ever did were like 4 or 5. Any help for making flipside butterflies easier? Also, what do you guys mean by the body position that helps make clippers easier? Thanks a lot for the help!
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Post by mosher »

I'd say the best way to learn butterflies is to just keep trying to break your infinity record. That way you will HAVE to hit both side butterflies well in order to hit alot.

By body position they mean the postion of your body. :P

The way you bend your knees and twist your hips and center your torso all make a big difference in how well you control the bag and make a good pocket for it to land in.
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Post by Krafty »

Thanks for the help Mosher! Yeah, by the body position, I meant to ask what the proper body position was supposed to be like. I guess it's different for everyone though! Oh well, I'll keep trying to break my infinity record. :)
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Post by ptaku »

Yeah.. You're right - you must find the best body position for you.

And for infinieties... You should always do first infinity on your flipside... Drop bag on your stron clip and do far butterfly on youre flipside, and then on your strongside, then on flipside.. etc.
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If I work hard at it, I'll be where I wanna be."

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