Begin Phase 1 again

PacLoc · Post by **PacLoc** » 05 Sep 2009 06:31

Congrats on getting married man and on the talent show. We need to get some bagging done when your knee is ready. You know I like taking trips to Austin. I've been playing about every other day for the last month. Really want to play with some fellow freestylers tho. Hopefully see you soon man.

SlashC · Post by **SlashC** » 05 Sep 2009 09:36

Best wishes on the marriage!@

Did you get any wedding gifts with the same names as footbag tricks?

Corey · Post by **Corey** » 06 Sep 2009 19:04

congrats

KEEP DOING THE COMEDY i enjoyed those two videos except when they laughed at the hacky sack tournament. harmonica so true

Iron Clad Ben · Post by **Iron Clad Ben** » 04 Oct 2009 18:32

Still playing footbag about once a week.

Got another one of my comedy sets on video, but there were a lot of microphone troubles that night. Need to review it, see if I need to edit it and then upload it.

I've been exercising A LOT (non-footbag) lately. In the past few months I have gained 17lbs of muscle, I'm up to a murderous 187

I'd like to get up to 200 by the end of the year if possible.

Apparently the online comps were supposed to be 9/24 but then the date got changed? Well, I entered. Submitted a sick 1&3 from this video. Check it out if you don't mind a spoiler.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSgBxiv78v8[/youtube]

Iron Clad Ben · Post by **Iron Clad Ben** » 27 Oct 2009 15:07

Well I am officially all the way back to footbag. I've got to say strength training has been extremely beneficial. I've gained 25lbs since the start of this year. I'm also now riding my bike to work 3-5 times a week. I'm feeling much healthier.

We had Texas States this past weekend. Also, I turned 28 yesterday. The tournament was a great time as usual. A few out of staters even showed up including Tuan Vu and Chris Siebert. I had a blast

Interesting stuff I hit this past weekend or recently:

BOPs feeling very solid, been schooling those tons

Infinity x 40 new PR

PDX Whirl - new trick

Far swirl - out of nowhere, prob 2nd time ever

Ducking clip > Merkon BSOS

Spinning Ducking XBD rake - not new but still awesome

Diving Mirage BSOS

I'm warming up every session with tons of BOP drills. My flip clipper had kinda crapped out after I got injured, and I've got a lot of work to do to bring it back. I've been having a lot of fun, and the endurance boost from the strength training and cycling has made footbag much more fun. I may be nowhere near top level at freestyle, but I'm sticking with it indefinitely. I love it too much to switch to net.

Reid · Post by **Reid** » 27 Oct 2009 20:11

happy birthday.

Iron Clad Ben · Post by **Iron Clad Ben** » 21 Nov 2009 16:11

Shredding a lot and it's paying off. SIX sessions last week and 3 so far this week. Session with Cody today was great. Really starting to see the benefits of drills:

Today's highlights:

Infinity x 31

Ducking Clip x 12

BOP drill 24 contacts

Infinity Swirl (almost BS) *new

Alternating rakes x 5

Ducking xbd rake BSOS

Ripwalk BSOS a couple times

Footed atomic xbd rake BS

Feeling stronger and more endurance all the time. Hellllll yeah.

PacLoc · Post by **PacLoc** » 21 Nov 2009 18:59

hell yeah ben, infinity swirl sounds crazy bro! Keep it up, make cody play in the cold, lol. I need to go up for a weekend soon to kick with you guys. Been playing about everyday still, improving for sho. Take it easy

Iron Clad Ben · Post by **Iron Clad Ben** » 29 Dec 2009 11:00

Wow over a month with no blog post and I'm still on the first page? I didn't realize how much modified had tanked. I hope that means people are just playing more and posting less.

I have been cross training like a mofo. Strength training and cardio. It's paying off huge. I am getting STRONG! I had a near 3 hour session on Saturday without an ounce of pain and not a bit of soreness the next day. In fact the only reason I really had to stop was because this cough that I've had was being too much of an annoyance.

Planning to be playing better than I ever have next month. My goal for Vegas Jam is to play every day without getting injured or very sore. I think I can do it.

PacLoc · Post by **PacLoc** » 29 Dec 2009 12:55

Yo Ben, have you been playing indoors or outdoors in the current cold temperatures? I want to take a trip up there but the weather always looks pretty damn cold or rainy. Let me know if you got a good spot that we can play at no matter the weather and when a visit would be cool. (Perhaps this coming weekend if you're down) Or maybe we can coordinate something where the houston crew and I can all meet for a little session. I don't know, just throwing something out there.

Iron Clad Ben · Post by **Iron Clad Ben** » 22 Apr 2010 13:03

Figured it was about time to make a check in here.

Been cross training like a mofo the past few months, but I don't think it's helping with shred endurance or injury prevention much unfortunately, kinda sad. My knee and my shins still get sore if I play two days in a row.

Filmed a mediocre session today. It'll be nice to get a video out, but don't expect anything huge.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMhg7F5b5-U[/youtube]

Started running this week. I got fitted for a pair of running shoes. It turns out I pronate both feet, meaning they both point outward, like a V. Problem, I pronate my right foot A LOT. I never noticed it until the guy at the running shoe store pointed it out, but it's BAD. It definitely explains why my flip clipper form is terrible, and also my right knee injury. It's very hard for me to get into flip clipper position with my feet perpendicular, in fact sometimes they're almost parallel. I don't know how I'm going to fix this. Ugh.

Good news is, it's the middle of hack season here in Texas. Last weekend was Reggae Fest which was a blast, and this coming weekend is Eeyore's Birthday party which is AWESOME. Think just 8 hours of pwning hack circles, and generally just being a god. It's freaking great. Southern Regionals is the following weekend in Houston, but preparation for that tournament has been for lack of a better word, lackluster. I'm gunning to have an awesome Texas States in October though. Tuan Vu already emailed me and said it's on his radar. W00tage...

Oh also, I started a blog on work-life balance. Feel free to check it out and tell me what you think. It needs work.

www.balancetheories.com

Well, till next time, keep shreddin'...

Iron Clad Ben · Post by **Iron Clad Ben** » 28 Jun 2010 09:02

What am I working on?

-Started running 10 weeks ago. The first week I alternated running for 2 minutes and walking for 4, and just upped the ante each week from there. Before that I don't think I've run a mile since high school (11 years ago). Last night I just did 4.2 miles (6.7km) in 38 minutes. W00t! I'm hoping for a big boost to shred endurance and the end of shin splints. Running has been a lot of fun to keep leveling up little by little and push myself.
-Getting deep tissue massage therapy on my right quad. Apparently jacked up fascial tissue in my right quad is causing the knee pain. "Massage" is a terrible word, hurts like hell when they do it. But I had a footbag session yesterday and I can definitely tell the difference. Flip clipper is much easier (right support leg has an easier range of motion). I have one last therapy session today. I really think this will get my game back.
-I hit matador a while back, that was pretty cool.
-Stoked for worlds, I'm rooming with 3 Canadians I've never met. Should be fun!
-Did an elementary school demo last month, fun as always.
-Still cycling and strength training pretty heavily. Footbag not so much. But I'm really taking it slow on the shred. I'm basically trying to get so gnar-gnar-ishly cross trained such that when I can commit more time to footbag I'll have really good strength and endurance, and be much less prone to injury. My abs look like a magazine ad, it's great. But I'd trade that in in a heartbeat to be able to shred 1-2 hours every day.

jay7 · Post by **jay7** » 28 Jun 2010 09:19

Glad to hear you're going through some positive physical progress. It always feels good, because you can't really cut corners to get great results.

Which Canadian's are you rooming with? Whoever they are, I'm sure you'll have a blast. Can't wait to see you represent Texas at worlds.

Iron Clad Ben · Post by **Iron Clad Ben** » 18 Aug 2010 20:47

I wrote the most amazing epic post here about how Worlds is an alternate universe or pocket dimension that is not about footbag, but it's about the love of footbag and how the love manifests in waves that constructively interfere and shake our consciousness at its core. Normally I'm not really into that new age shit, but sometimes... that's how you gotta get down. Too bad you missed it.

You see, the Google Chrome extension that limits me to 15 minutes of facebook/modified/twitter etc. per day booted me out of Chrome and I lost the entire post. Now I'm cheating and using Firefox which I never do.

Additionally I had a second segment in that post about how tonight I had an epic night of footbag tonight with Curtis Taylor and it was awesome. He had just moved to Austin. Our crew is now 3 strong. Time to play LOTS of footbag here in the ATX...

Oh well.

Now it's past midnight, so 8/19/10 is my 1 year wedding anniversary with Amber. Hard to believe it's been only 1 footblog page in that time. But it's mainly because I was injured from May 2009 to about Feb 2010 or so.

There is only love. Goodnight.

Asmus · Post by **Asmus** » 18 Aug 2010 23:03

That sounds like a sick post. Would have loved to read it.
If you rewrite it, I am sure fourkast would post it.

And big congratulations. Hope to play someday.

Iron Clad Ben · Post by **Iron Clad Ben** » 19 Sep 2010 14:59

I've been in a pretty bad slump, footbag and otherwise since worlds. Not sure what's been going on, but getting up in the morning, focusing and giving 100% each day have been really difficult. I'm not playing as much footbag as I would like. I have fallen off with cycling too. I am mostly staying in shape with running (5 runs this week, but no footbag).

Curtis moved to Austin which has been awesome. Everyone has upped their game quite a bit to keep up. It is definitely good for the scene here.

This week I won a pretty prestigious award on Thursday. I try not to brag too much, but this really means a lot to me. It's given only once a year by our vice president:

This award represents a considerable amount of not only hard work, but smart work. I have been busting my f**king ass my job since I started at it in the beginning of '09. It felt damn good to be recognized. I came into work the next day and had one of the most productive days of my life (even though I was hungover on 4 hours sleep from celebarting).

That being said, getting it made me realize something this weekend. To some degree the award represents energy and work put into my job that maybe I could have put into something else. The 2 things that come to mind first are of course footbag, and 2nd starting my own business on the side. I had wanted to do that this year but haven't put in the time or the effort to do it. It was easier to "procrastinate" on that by putting in extra hours at my day job (even though I'm salaried), play video games or do some other time waster.

I guess what I'm trying to say is be clear about your priorities with yourself. For different people it's different things. If you're reading this chances are footbag is a priority for you. So I hope that you are putting into as much as you want to be putting into it. It can be easy to fall into the trap of doing what's "easy" and offers short term gratification (video games, TV, surfing facebook, whatevs). My hope is that you will invest more of your time and energy into what will make you happy long term instead of just what's easy right now.

Take care,
Ben

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 20 Sep 2010 06:48

Thank you for the insightful and thought-provoking blog post. I think it's interesting that you looked at your award and took away that conclusion. I probably would have just looked at it and patted myself on the back, but you're right, it does represent time and energy you used last year.

Priorities in footbag and life can be hard to juggle. On one hand, I go to Worlds and I compete against all these amazing players who are in their early 20s, and I wonder how much better a player I could have been if I had dedicated more time and focus to practicing footbag. On the other hand, non-footbag priorities in life are important too, and I'm happy I prioritized school and career, even though it cost me time and energy for footbag. It's tough to find a happy balance between the two for me, and I have friends who have picked either extreme. I guess what I'm saying is, I hope you find the right balance between work and footbag that will make you satisfy your most important priorities in both, or come as close as possible to that.

Iron Clad Ben wrote: That being said, getting it made me realize something this weekend. To some degree the award represents energy and work put into my job that maybe I could have put into something else.
I guess what I'm trying to say is be clear about your priorities with yourself. For different people it's different things. If you're reading this chances are footbag is a priority for you. So I hope that you are putting into as much as you want to be putting into it.

Frank_Sinatra · Post by **Frank_Sinatra** » 20 Sep 2010 08:20

Props on the award. And on having the best blog title on modified.

Zeke · Post by **Zeke** » 20 Sep 2010 10:43

C-Fan wrote:Thank you for the insightful and thought-provoking blog post.

Same

boyle · Post by **boyle** » 20 Sep 2010 19:31

I like the post you made and I also like that people are thinking about it and responding.

It was good to spend a bit of time with you at Worlds, even if it was just in the pub or whatever, you seem like someone who has a good idea of where their life is going.

Congrats on the trophy too!

And for Ken, I think the best thing is not to wonder. It's best to be competing in the way you want to now, rather than dwelling on the fact that you could have been a contender.