Israel Footblog - Training program

boyle · Post by **boyle** » 01 Jan 2011 01:17

feliz ano nuevo!

You should make your new year resolution to come to Australia and hang out....good plan imo. (in the first half of the year)

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 05 Jan 2011 21:35

I got promoted to Team Leader at work yesterday! I've spent a lot of my spare time professionally improving this past year, and it totally paid off.

I'm also on semi footbag hiatus until my office moves. The weather has been terrible, and I can't bring myself to play in that spot that nearly killed me with dust. My new office has lots of potential spots in the area, and we're moving later this month.

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 28 Jan 2011 03:14

I haven't been writing since I haven't been playing since that fateful day where I shredded in dust. I want to play, but the weather is still crap and I want to get back to play when I know I can dedicate 3-4 times a week again.

However, I was informed that a freestyle player named Patricia from Poland is visiting Israel, and I'll be meeting her tomorrow for a session. I don't remember meeting Patricia in previous worlds I've been to. I wonder who she is!

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 06 Feb 2011 05:15

I sort of got into playing again, been having real good sessions, with a focus on relaxation and string length rather than on tricks and drills. A lot more fun. Screw guiltless runs. I hope to rebuild my routine of playing at least 3 times a week, and perhaps play at work when the weather's good, now that we have showers.

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 17 Feb 2011 11:11

I can't believe some of the stuff I'm NOT hitting. Me from a year ago wouldn't have been happy to know I still don't hit fairies and ps whirls and stuff. At least I do hit some nice runs now and then that he'd be pretty proud to know of.

I've been back to playing, mostly at home due to the lack of any decent shred spot in my vicinity. I must be playing half the amount I've used to, due to girlfriend and job and other stuff, like the book I'm working on, but I plan to expand into playing during working hours when the weather will permit. 30 minutes of shred in the middle of a work day should do wonders. Maybe I'll even get some people in the office to kick!

Iron Clad Ben · Post by **Iron Clad Ben** » 17 Feb 2011 14:37

I want to hear about the book you're writing.

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 19 Feb 2011 23:26

It's a total beginner's book on programming, in Actionscript 3. I find it to be a wonderful environment for beginners and there's very little literature at the most basic level using it.

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 26 Feb 2011 10:15

Right before I took a month break, I was training really hard, all drills and hardly any shred in a shitty spot in the cold of winter, and it brought me to a point where I wasn't sure why I'm doing this if it's not all that fun.

I realize I'm not a competitive player, so if I don't have the goal of winning a competition or rising to the top, what's the goal I'm suffering for? It didn't make sense.

I took the break in hopes of feeling out whether I want to play to be a good player (in comparison to other shredders), in which case I should quit, or whether I want to play for fun, in which case I should stop having suffer sessions.

Fortunately I did miss playing, and the first few sessions after the break were great. I am a good player 99% of the time, since there aren't any better players around when I'm not going to a competition.

I'm currently trying to find the balance in sessions between enjoying the "now" and improving. Each has its appeal and they quite contradict each other.

Today a bunch of people were having a small gathering to promote raw food (they did a horrible job). They invited me for food and music, so I broke out a mr. sandbag and had kick circle. Then I finale'd with a shred and went home. It was lots of fun.

Lately I've hit some new tricks:

Pdx DLO (either new or haven't hit it in a long time)

Down double down (definitely new. Have no idea why I haven't tried this before)

shoulder stall to op shoulder stall (hit it in the raw food circle!)

I footed a superfly trying to demonstrate my gf the idea of symposium. But i wasn't even close on subsequent attempts

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 27 Feb 2011 14:28

From this Saturday:

So hard to get good/interesting pictures in this sport

boyle · Post by **boyle** » 27 Feb 2011 17:18

I think the key is to take the pictures in front of an interesting place, because so many of the pictures look exactly the same.

Iron Clad Ben · Post by **Iron Clad Ben** » 28 Feb 2011 15:10

Just curious what they did to promote raw food and what was so bad about it. I have been getting into it lately, and yes there are a lot of people who are just clueless when it comes to explaining it or promoting it. That's part of the reason why I didn't get into it until recently. There was a raw restaurant here in Austin, but it went under. "raw food restaurant" is almost a contradiction in terms.

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 01 Mar 2011 05:41

I was passing by with my bicycles, and they started out by telling me "Hey, we're having a festival to promote awareness of the food industry". And I looked around to see where the festival is, turns out it's like 6 ppl with a guitar and a bucket of falafel mix.
So I ask "what about the food industry", they say "oh, food should be free. we industrialize food and spray it with toxins and then dump most of it, food should be organic and free".
So I ask "if the food isn't industrialized, wouldn't there be less of it, and then it couldn't be free?"
So they're like "yeah, no, well we could grow our own food! Like little gardens. People should grow their own food".
"So this festival is about growing your own food? I don't even have a garden."
"No, it's about raw food! Raw food should be free"
At which point I asked "Right on. So hey, you guys ever heard of footbag?"

Being an ex vegan and present day vegetarian I was sympathetic to the cause, whatever it may have been, but I just found this gathering rather hilarious.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 01 Mar 2011 19:24

PoisonTaffy wrote: At which point I asked "Right on. So hey, you guys ever heard of footbag?"
.

That made me laugh really hard.

Regarding the whole fun/drilling dichotomy: even if you don't want to be better than other shredders, or be the best in the world, footbag is more fun the better you are. So drilling isn't fun for anybody, but even if your goal isn't to be great, drilling still pays off when you master new concepts, because you have more fun hitting cooler combos.

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 02 Mar 2011 10:43

I think I have this vicious cycle of getting too much into drilling until I am emotionally exhausted from sessions, then quit for a month, then get back only to shred, then gradually drill more and more and.. repeat.

I'm totally not worried about not drilling enough. I am worried about not having fun enough.

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 14 Mar 2011 10:11

I was contemplating on publicly admitting (on this blog) that I failed myself in building a footbag/gym routine in Tel Aviv.

In an interesting twist of fate, however, this morning a flyer was left in my mail box regarding a new gym in my neighborhood. I went there this evening, and it's not even open yet, due next week. However, the guy in charge says he doesn't mind at all that I play footbag there.

It's tiny, cheap, near my apartment and lets me play footbag. If there was ever a reason to reconsider my atheism, this must be it. However, I'll hold to my disbeliefs until the arrangement works out in practicality.

I also got peng peng's 5$ bag in the mail today - it turns out to be a bag of her own making, and it looks perfect. Since she's not making bags anymore (as far as I know), I'm going keep it for interesting sessions only and do my best to extend its lifetime.

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 27 Mar 2011 13:01

Last week was Purim, which is the Jewish equivalent of Halloween. I wore my funky quantums and went out to the party, hoping to find some jugglers to join in some street performance. There weren't any, and I found out I suck with quantums. But I got this little video to show off a bit of Tel Aviv in costume.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUMwUAUkUq0[/youtube]

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 22 Apr 2011 15:14

Did you know there's a word in Hebrew for "first rain" and a word for "last rain"?
That's because around here, where the language was born, it rains only during specific seasons. It literally NEVER EVER RAINS during the summer.

Only until a few years ago did it occur to me that this type of weather pattern is unique to the region, and only a few days ago did it occur to me that Hebrew may be one of the few languages, perhaps even the only language with words for first and last rain.

How's that related to footbag? Today was supposed to be the last rain, so I canceled an otherwise perfectly timed session by the beach with some hack fiends. BUT THEN IT DIDN'T RAIN

A few days ago I went to that super ghetto gym near my house, and as promised it was cheap, ghetto and solitary. Even picked my own music. Not completely ready yet, but functional. Here's what it looks like:

Looks like I've got a new shred spot.

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 24 Apr 2011 10:10

Had an epic session today, 4 hours (!!) by the beach, with 6 other people (some came early, some stayed late, so it wasn't more than a 5 ppl circle most of the time). It was sunny but not too warm, so I didn't sweat gallons, however my skin is now burnt to a crisp. Worth it. Sealed the session with a cold beer with one of the hackers and then straight to my favorite pizza place, that was just about to close, but were willing to dish out the last pizza of the day for me. Both the beer & the pizza were especially good since it's passover now and you're not supposed to eat wheat products. Ah. Sin.

[Highlights]
I'm still somewhat out of practice, so I didn't go for anything beyond my abilities, but I did hit Blender, barfly, pixie quantum legover, nuclear (to toe stall) and near double switch over, which I don't recall ever doing. I'm also pretty proud of myself that at the 4th hour I was still hitting double dex combos. That's the nice thing about a circle that's only part shred, you get to conserve energy.
[/Highlights]

boyle · Post by **boyle** » 24 Apr 2011 19:14

sounds good, particularly the combo of beer>pizza

Asmus · Post by **Asmus** » 25 Apr 2011 03:18

I agree, props for the tricks and ending sessions with beer and pizza - best way to do it.

The gym looks pretty sweet too.