How do you practice?

[ShredOnLawn]

I usually put on my favorite song from youtube.com and play in my small room at home.

I start with whatever feels easy and fun.

I change socks 1/2 way through IF I break a sweat.

I usually avoid hard tricks for atleast 5 minutes.

[PoisonTaffy]

I've been successfully incorporating suggestions from this thread in my sessions recently, so thanks to all contributors.

Quick question, I see most people here start with kicks and move to stalls, while I remember reading a few months ago an article on Fourkast suggesting doing it the other way around (stalls first, kicks after): http://www.fourkast.com/magazine/articl ... at-footbag since stalls are a soft movement compared to kicks(makes sense!)

I've tried that for a while, but since I'm so used to starting with kicks I can't objectively tell if whether it's better for me. Did anyone else try that? Any thoughts?

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Bump. This is a cool thread for our newer players to learn from.

I'd also like to add… Basics are so ridiculously crucial.

If you don't practice basics but you do just play and try to keep learning new tricks and/or bigger tricks and/or can only hit them on one side and you are trying to get good at this sport and one day, perhaps become BAP… then you are not going to get good at this sport.

I used to be one of the ones who would do exactly what I just mentioned. I was flipping through the old posts and I realized how foolish I was by doing what I just said to not do above. Don't be a Nick Polini from 2010.

[Vraidave]

Nick Polini said:
I used to be one of the ones who would do exactly what I just mentioned. I was flipping through the old posts and I realized how foolish I was by doing what I just said to not do above. Don't be a Nick Polini from 2010.

Haha I read the original post and thought "wow, that does not sound like Nick."

My practice methods are not super consistent. But I do find the best results doing basically what everyone else is saying. I warm up with a few toe stalls, then clippers, etc. Just stall for awhile. i've heard kicks are NOT good for warming up, as they are higher impact than stalls and can damage your muscles. After that i try doing long tiltless strings. I'm mostly a tiltless player, with a handful of three's and four's, so this is a large part of my sessions. After I feel good and warmed up, and I start to "feel the burn" as some might say, i stretch. I've heard stretching muscles that aren't warmed up is a no-no. So I stretch, then start to work into my guiltless tricks or maybe certain components, or one or two specific tricks. After my session i like to stretch again.

All that being said. Sometimes i just sorta slip on my lavers and just go crazy. just kinda start hitting whatever I want. Or dropping it. Whatever. When my sessions go like this, my progress is basically nothing. If I go through all the hassle of warming up and stretching, my sessions are always more fruitful than my sessions where I'm just like "HACKY SACK YAYYYY" so.... yeah. Warm up. Stretch. Focus your energy.

Train smart, not hard.

[Vraidave]

Nick Polini said:
I used to be one of the ones who would do exactly what I just mentioned. I was flipping through the old posts and I realized how foolish I was by doing what I just said to not do above. Don't be a Nick Polini from 2010.

Haha I read the original post and thought "wow, that does not sound like Nick."

My practice methods are not super consistent. But I do find the best results doing basically what everyone else is saying. I warm up with a few toe stalls, then clippers, etc. Just stall for awhile. i've heard kicks are NOT good for warming up, as they are higher impact than stalls and can damage your muscles. After that i try doing long tiltless strings. I'm mostly a tiltless player, with a handful of three's and four's, so this is a large part of my sessions. After I feel good and warmed up, and I start to "feel the burn" as some might say, i stretch. I've heard stretching muscles that aren't warmed up is a no-no. So I stretch, then start to work into my guiltless tricks or maybe certain components, or one or two specific tricks. After my session i like to stretch again.

All that being said. Sometimes i just sorta slip on my lavers and just go crazy. just kinda start hitting whatever I want. Or dropping it. Whatever. When my sessions go like this, my progress is basically nothing. If I go through all the hassle of warming up and stretching, my sessions are always more fruitful than my sessions where I'm just like "HACKY SACK YAYYYY" so.... yeah. Warm up. Stretch. Focus your energy.

Train smart, not hard.

[Asmus]

I made a post about warming up here: http://bsos.it/?p=196