technique: lifting bag from ground

Anz · Post by **Anz** » 27 Jan 2005 05:29

Sounds so funny... - but have you guys ever noticed that when you are skooling some trick that you drop all the time. When you have dropped it 30th time your back is hurting like hell when you pick it up once more.

I know you guys have too much free time, so somebody must have done some research about best techniques for lifting the bag (with your hands) from the ground without getting your back hurt.

Any ideas?

My advice would be keeping your back strainght and bending your knees.

zachatree · Post by **zachatree** » 27 Jan 2005 05:38

when u pick it up, bend straight down like a swat then pick it upa nd stand straight up, this puts the presser on ur legs, witch shouldnt bother u if u play footbag, there shouldnt be any strain on the back at all..

Sergey · Post by **Sergey** » 27 Jan 2005 07:35

I never let it drop.

cd · Post by cd » 27 Jan 2005 09:14

I think people are too anti-foot-pickup. Especially when it comes to skooling a move/combo over and over again like you said, it's bothersome and tiring to bend over every 5 seconds.

Of course, the one-foot technique where you scrape the bag against the ground and try and scoop it up is totally unacceptable, but I can roll it onto my toe with my opposite foot just as gently as picking it up with my hand. That probably puts less wear on the bag than even kicking it a few times.

And I'd trust any experienced freestyler to properly pick up my brand new felix bag. It wouldn't bother me one bit. (but of course I wouldn't do that to someone else's bag, for fear of getting my head bitten off)

junkyardjew · Post by **junkyardjew** » 27 Jan 2005 12:51

i sort of like bending at the waist to pick up my bags. up until, well, the week after i started playing footbag i guess, i couldn't touch my toes. not even close. the fact that i can now reach the ground to pick up a footbag without bending my knees still has a lot of novelty value to me. plus, it stretches out my legs and back while i'm playing (i have chronic back tension, which is why i couldn't touch my toes before).

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 27 Jan 2005 23:45

At many maritime amusement parks, like seaworld, they sell these sticks which are about 2 feet long, which have a small plastic shark at one end, and a pulley mechanism at the other. When you pull the trigger/lever on one end, the shark closes his mouth on the other end. In the movie ET, Elliot has one, and he uses it to scare his fish. Anyway, I think you could use one of those to pick up a footbag off the ground without bending over.

Alternately, I have a method of picking up the bag without damaging it using my feet. I stand over the bag, with my heels touching, but my toes at a 40 degree angle pointing away from each other. I grab the bag between my heels, and then quickly stand on my toes, which pops the bag in the air. Then I quickly toe stall beneath it. Anybody who has played with me has probably seen me do this... I should try and get a video up. until then, you should use the shark-stick method. Good luck.

jon · Post by **jon** » 28 Jan 2005 07:18

ken, would a stick with a lobster claw at the end also work? I dont have one with a shark.

mosher · Post by **mosher** » 28 Jan 2005 10:31

Yep! it will work fine.

You just put it on the ground next to you when you shred, then bend over and pick it up when you need to pick up the bag from the ground. It's so handy.

peanutbuterboy · Post by **peanutbuterboy** » 28 Jan 2005 19:04

I just carry one of these around...

Usually I just bend down and pick that sucker up. My back dosent really hurt either...except when learning something because I learn slow and dont stop till its perfect...so its on the ground most of the time. But bend at the knees.

mc · Post by mc » 28 Jan 2005 20:10

peanutbuterboy wrote:bend at the knees.

end of story for you back pain people.

I've recently instituted a "no using your feet to pick up my bags" rule. Felix mentioned something about it at Chilly Philly, saying he felt it's really bad for bags, and shortens their life span. I just want my bags to last for as long as possible, and if that means bending over, or squatting at the knees

, then that's what I'll do.

brian relly · Post by **brian relly** » 28 Jan 2005 20:27

I always wondered why my bags died so quickly, then when I got my new Lonn I only picked it up with my hands. About 4 months and not one hole. Great conditon. Then I dropped it down a bottomless crevace in the theater at my school.

mosher · Post by **mosher** » 28 Jan 2005 21:04

Today I took a shot at the technique that Ken posted, it is SO frigging cool!!

It is touchy to get right, but when done with finesse you can pop the bag up from your heels right to your toe and into a string!

You HAVE to give it a shot.

Pinch it with your heels and pop up onto your toes and let go. Then all you have to do is catch it on your toe.

Thanks for the sharing your smooth moves Ken!

Atom · Post by **Atom** » 29 Jan 2005 08:30

I prefer to roll my footbags onto my toe. that being said i try to avoid that on my only bag that is decent, it is an abshire that is weathered, worn and torn and patched too. Mr suderman has made me a deal, i take care of the bag and keep it for big sessions (GLASS!!!) and he will give me a suderag to replace it.

mosher · Post by **mosher** » 29 Jan 2005 09:05

I cringe so bad when ASSHOLES roll my bag up onto their lazy toe with their shoe.

I am warning everyone on modified that I WILL be a dick about it if you toe-up my bag.

Colin · Post by **Colin** » 29 Jan 2005 09:32

Matt Cross wrote:
peanutbuterboy wrote:bend at the knees.
end of story for you back pain people.

I've recently instituted a "no using your feet to pick up my bags" rule. Felix mentioned something about it at Chilly Philly, saying he felt it's really bad for bags, and shortens their life span...

My back AND knees are screwed. Repetative deep bends with either end my session. I roll my abshire (which has been in use for almost a year now) onto my foot with my other foot. It's gentler than when I kneed the bag in my hands (which I do constantly, it's a habit).

On a related note, I NEVER use the bag on rough playing surfaces. I think that kills bags way faster than my toe pickups do.

EDIT: I thought I'd point out: The method I use for picking up the bag actually IS damaging to bags that use sand as filler, but the damage to pellet filled bags is minimal. This is because you use your feet squeezing the bag on itself to lift it, and the sharp sand is able to wear away on the panels, but the round pellets do not.

B_Man · Post by **B_Man** » 29 Jan 2005 12:24

Ah poop. Tom will hate me then, because half the time I roll the bag on my foot

The other half I usually pick up with my hands. When I do that, I usually bend my legs a little bit whilst bending at the waist to pick it up. Not the best technique, but it works.

I want to try Ken's method now

mosher · Post by **mosher** » 29 Jan 2005 17:57

B_Man wrote:I want to try Ken's method now

I promise you'll laugh and smile the first time it works!

It's so easy, go try!

JFootbagger · Post by **JFootbagger** » 29 Jan 2005 19:46

a cool nifty way to do it is pick it up with your heals than rake it with your toe and fling it up...Mike Park does it, it's pretty neato

mc · Post by mc » 29 Jan 2005 20:14

someone used to say in their signature,

"before you read what I wrote, just be aware that I read half your post at most. I may seem misinformed, or be discussing something entirely off-topic, but this is a small price to pay for not having to read your whole post."

or something like that.

...

qphox · Post by **qphox** » 30 Jan 2005 05:12

See, when I think "toe pickups", I think spatching. As in, swinging your foot down towards the bag, rolling/scraping it quickly along the ground so that it pops up on to your toe. Hacky Sackers do this a lot with crocheted bags.

I toe pickup constantly, but I like to think I do it respectfully. I put on foot next to the bag on the ground, bring my other foot next to it so that the bag is held in between, then roll it up on to my toe. I don't know, to me, it doesn't seem any different than kneading a bag in your hand. I never even thought of it as harmful or bad-form.

In fact, I remember at worlds, on the first balcony in the Rialto Theatre, I was playing with Cole's bag, and he said, "Whoa Kevin, easy on the toe pickups, eh?" I was like, "Oh. Sorry." It hadn't even occured to me that THAT was an ever-dreaded toe pickup.

Fuck, I'm at work and the air-conditioning just came on. I'm freezing now.

...

Alternatively, when I'm practicing/drilling, I have about a dozen bags at my disposal...whenever I drop, I just drop another bag to my foot and try again. Once all the bags are on the ground, I only once bend down to pick up twelve drops.