Chronicles of a Footbagger

[PrunusAberration]

Add block, I have stopped doing mirages as I thought they were hurting my right knee. However I might be wrong. I'm thinking it might be my form at this moment. I'll get a new video uploaded. Have you ever dealt with pain in your knees? I would like to practice legovers to mirages.

[Add Block]

I only get knee pain if I practice Osis for more than 10 minutes. Though I have given up on that trick, since I realized it looks ugly and feels cheap to me.

I have had shin splints, but never from mirages. But there's many ways to do a Mirage, and I think most of them are/should be considered clean/good form.
You can set the bag to the side, above the dexing leg and then sort of hop to the side. This way is very muscle relaxing, but it's hard to delay the bag this way, since you're going for the stall from the side.
Second style is, you set the bag up, bring your dexing leg to the side and the sort of cut above the bag with your leg and delay. This version feels much cleaner when you do it, and is more reliable, but maybe harder to learn.

[AlekseyV]

mirage is just a jump, did you feel some pain in your knee while jumping?

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

This happen to me on Friday, the 22nd.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSdGcB8mCq0[/youtube]

Just reading through some of your older posts that I missed. That lady was stupid. Those were not bats. Indeed, you were ALMOST correct. I give you kudos for getting part of the name right, because you nailed it closer than most people could. They're Chimney Swifts. I used to work at an Audubon Society nature reserve and I co-hosted a public program about Chimney Swifts. Nice call on arguing with that dumb lady for the right reason.

Also, angle your leg out more for your Pickups. You'll have an easier window to work with.

Looking forward to meeting you at East Coasts.

Also.. AddBlock:

I only get knee pain if I practice Osis for more than 10 minutes. Though I have given up on that trick, since I realized it looks ugly and feels cheap to me.

Reading that was like hearing someone call my mother a whore You should learn to love Osis. If your leg is hurting while doing it, you're not doing it correctly. I used to say I "hated" Illusions, but that was because I couldn't do them. And saying I hated them made me stay away from them and not practice them. So by hating Osis (or any trick, for that matter) you are burning bridges, if you will. Later on, when all of your toe stuff gets boring and you want to expand your game, you're going to want to learn Atomic Torques and other big tricks ending on an Osis.. but that will take much longer than if you would have been practicing Osis this whole time. Sometimes, it's worth it to learn the tricks you think are cheap or lame (to you) to get better at cooler tricks in the future. Just a thought.

[Add Block]

I didn't say they are cheap, I'm just saying they feel so to me. If I have to bail, I'd much rather use Butterfly.
I do hit Pixie Osis occasionally, which is fine, but a lot of work for one DEX trick.

Also, I don't dislike them because I can't do them, they're really easy, I could get 30 in a row after like half an hour of practice. I don't have problem with them if they're a component of a trick, but if they're hit alone, not my cup of tea.

Prunus: I'll tell you how I got Mirages. I practiced them like mad all the time, and I was hoping to the side. So even though I practiced, I often failed at the delay. So one day, I decided that I will devote 3 session to Mirages only. For 3 consecutive sessions, the only thing I did was hit 1000 of them on each side. After that I could do them without much problem.

Don't follow this, though, unless you're sure it's going to work for you. I did the same thing with Clippers, and I know most people would disagree with this method. But I think they're thinking of 3ADDs, where this is not possible. For 2ADDs, this method made me tiltless in a month. I have a feeling this might offend someone, there's usually people jumping at me for saying something that's not in their books.
However, you can interpret this as, there's a superior method of training for everyone, but it's also different one for everyone, so you can either find it, or stick to the normal stuff.

[PrunusAberration]

Nathan, I am trying extremely hard not to develop bad habits and horrible form. I believe right now, I am setting the bag straight up and launching off with my support foot to the side while preforming the dex over the bag. I was wondering if this was causing pain in my knee/back of the knee.

AlekseyV, I definitely felt pain in my knee today, but not as much. However, I found if I set the bag up just a bit lower and hit the dex later it's ten times easier to stick it.

Nick, After researching the bird and editting the video, I found out that they were Chimney Swifts, but I wanted to include what I actually said during the video. Thanks for the props though. I'll try to angle the pickups a bit more. But they are getting way easier for me to hit.

Nathan, I kind of did this with my flipside clippers. But to a lesser degree, and it has helped ten folds. However, why wouldn't this work with guiltless? It should be the same, right?

Had a pretty chill and laid back session today. Did kicks and stalls for an hour hitting inside kicks and stalls. The toe flicks are still extremely unattinable for me. However, I was hitting mirages back to back like no one's bussines.

toe flicks x6
inside kicks x20
inside stalls x20
toe stalls x20
mirage b2b x5
around > ss orbit > op orbit > ss around

Sadly, I am not superman of footbag. For my mirage strings, I hit them back to back but I hit them in a total of five different strings. Is there such a thing as, "in total, but different strings" terminology. IE: iT:DS? lol If not, I am making it a thing right now.

[Add Block]

You'll fully understand when you start training 3ADD why that is not quite possible.

You could, however, do like 'Only Pixie and Butterfly' sessions and so on. But firstly, there's too many tricks and you just cannot spend so much time on every one of them. These tricks usually compliment each other, so DATWs also kind of trains your Barrages and so on.
Secondly, they're really exhausting compared to 2ADDs. Once you learn enough 3ADDs for your shred to be guiltless, you'll realize that you can't play for hours straight as you were used to. So doing multiple tricks/concepts within one training at least means that you're doing different movements, therefore you can last longer.

I will also suggest Same Side Mirages. I didn't know they existed and never trained them at first. They are not used commonly, but they make you understand the Mirage motion better.

I like that you can do a lot of Inside Stalls, that's a great start.

[PrunusAberration]

Woot woot! Two big events occurred from yesterday's sesh. I went out again last night for a second shorter session. Sadly, I incurred four to five holes in my bag. The new pink one that is. I think, it may be the ground I am kicking on. This is the second time that a bag has poked a hole in it from the same area. However, I stuck an illusion on both sides. I was ghosting the move and just trying to get my foot down in time and found this new method/tweak that just made the whole trick feel smooth. This was on my flipside? I am not sure that I have a flipside right now with tiltless moves. But I kept getting closer and closer to hit it.

Then I started to kiss the bag with the tip of my shoe and then began them harder and faster. Then bam! I stuck it and even hit it on my other side after a while. But I wasn't too sure I was doing the trick right, so I filmed it. I will get the video up soon. I haven't stuck it on camera yet. Yet!

Also, I had a friendly encounter yesterday. This is also big news, because most of the time people just start talking crazy or bother me. However, this time a neighbor stop by and offered me a beer. *kind of brought a tear to my eye* and just hung out and chatted and kicked with me for a bit. He was really good too. He hit toes, inside, outsides and knees. I was quite surprised for he has never played hacky sack before, only soccer. He asked me if I played tennis, but sadly, I do not. However I offered to kick with him again. I bet we will kick again!

[PrunusAberration]

I had a shorter/an unorganized shred session yesterday. Just about 10 minutes into kicking my pink bag ripped again. T.T And this time, I wasn't at that horrible graveyard of holey, ripped footbags known as the death parking lot. But at this point I refused to go home, so I pulled out my new footbag from Sports Authority and practiced on with that. It's awesome and just ok at the same time. The bag is a 32 panels and it's filled with sand and it's ginormous! I bought it so I could play with others and not worry about my good bags getting destroyed. [Obviously, I can do that on my own!] I practiced illusions for most of the session, but I was only able to hit it on one side well. The other side was just sloppy and I'm not counting that. For my warm up, I practiced some toe flicks, inside kicks, toe stalls, and inside stalls. It was pretty depressing and boring shred session.

[PrunusAberration]

OK, I was lazy yesterday and I felt bad. Like guilty, as if I have wronged someone, myself? I didn't kick. And the weird part is, I know I would have enjoyed myself if I did kick. In other news, I have been stalling my job's closet keys during work in my slippy, round, work shoes. I have hit toe stalls both sides and clippers both sides. I always laugh to myself when I hit. The small joys in life.

I haven't been able to kick with anyone in a while. I never heard back from Brian. I wonder, if Scott Davidson would be down to shred. I know, his kid is into footbagging as well. Which is awesome. I'll have to contact Scott soon. Does anyone know him? https://twitter.com/enlightener1

[Add Block]

R.I.P. bag

It shouldn't be a problem to replace it, if you live in America. A lot of stitchers there it seems.

[PrunusAberration]

I think, I got whiplash from footbagging. o.0 My sternocliedomastoid muscle [the muscle that makes a "V" shape in your neck] on the left side was killing me. I don't remember any one moment when I hurt myself. Odd. Still having a bit of an issue with my knee. However, my arounds and orbits are coming along nicely and my legover and pickups are really tight now. Miracles are lacking and illusions are none existed. I need a new bag, I am kicking with my Sports Authority bag now, sigh. I tried patching up my old bags and it went horribly. Hopefully I haven't made it worse.

Also, sorry for complaining about my inside stalls and kicking in Rod Lavers. I am developing a really strong inside/clipper crank now and hitting inside stalls are way easier. I just had to get use to the shoes is all.

[PrunusAberration]

Lame! Both of my good bags are dead and re-stitching them is proving to be difficult for me. Thankfully, I have at least something to kick with. My light as a feather sand bag from sports authority. It's awesome and cheap if you are looking for a good starter bag, but after playing with my 32p bags... yea, I would prefer the worse 32p bag filled with anything else than sand.

Sessions have been shorter and a bit out of wack. Hit legovers b2b x5 and pickups b2b 5x. Also, I have put more time into my other weak clipper now. However, my mirages and illusions need more work. Sadly, I have missed another challenge date. But I will update them and continue on! Looking forward to ECFC.

[PrunusAberration]

Woot, woot! New footbag came in. Thanks Ivan. I have been kicking with my sandbag lately and haven't been hitting much. However, today with the new bag everything is different. No need to break in Ivan's bag as it's ready to go. Hit mirage b2b 5x and practice my clipper a bit more. Also, had a nice string of 3x or 4x contacts. Pretty excited about that as I never, ever practice strings. Even though it was a extremely short session, it was still good. Can't wait to meet everyone at ECFC.

[PrunusAberration]

Had a really awesome sesh yesterday. Hit clippers b2b 2x as I have been working on good clipper form on both sides lately and been trying to get longer strings inside of just practicing tricks. Also, I found this sick position for mirages on my one side that seems like I could push out mirages b2b which would be totally sweet. Can't wait to start hitting those. See everyone soon!

[PrunusAberration]

I focused on better form last night for the vast majority of the session. I must have gotten lazy, because one of my hands has been crawling up towards the sky without me noticing it! Grrr, damn hand, stay down! Didn't practice too much stuff outside of the form training. Hit some miracles, clippers, pick ups & legovers.

I felt a pop behind the back of my left knee which happen before earlier in the day stalling keys. Lately, I have been having a blast stalling random objects on my feet. I also got a water bottle to stand up on my inside stall from a pretty big drop a few times. And door lock keys are the most forgiving in a sense. I hit a inside > inside > clipper and a toe to pickup with them. The heavier the better. I get way too much enjoyment out of it. hahah!

[Add Block]

Keys have similar stalling properties as chainmail bags.

What's a miracle?

[PrunusAberration]

A miracle, it is a magical moment that should be cherish and remember forever. That moment which just happen to me, when I type too fast and don't proof read and write miracle instead of mirage.

[PrunusAberration]

Wow, ECFC was an eye opener to say none the less. I received lots of great criticisms and advice for bettering my form, stance, and maneuvers of dexes and feet. I will take a step back and address these issues and then move forward. My first 3 goals for laying down a good foundation is perfecting these: toe stalls, inside stalls, and clippers. All of them are back to back. I will extend the clippers goal to breach ss clippers as well. Of course, this will affect my challenge page as well.

Challenges are getting jacked up! I will set my original goals back a bit and bring these core tricks to the front. I know, some of these are extremely ambitious. But these must get nailed down, if I want get into the next tier. These challenges and their dates will most likely change.

I have already practiced my new October goals. I hit some toe flicks [8x], inside kicks [20x], toe stalls [about 50x], inside stalls [40x]... This was such a huge deal for me getting 40x inside stalls. I literally went from not hitting these at all to almost busting my 50x contact goal. So excited to film it. Also, hit a whole bunch of clippers as well. 10 toe > clipper > toe stalls, ss hand drop to clipper to hand catch, & op hand drop to clipper to hand catch. Of course, all of these were on both sides.

October Goals:
-50x toe stalls b2b [already completed]
-50x insides stalls b2b [40x 14-9-29]
-50x clipper ss [14-10-15]
-50x clippers b2b [14-10-15]

Pending Challenges:
-50x toe flicks b2b [14-11-30] 15x
-50x inside kicks b2b [14-10-30 21x
-50x outside kicks b2b [14-11-30]
-50x outside stalls b2b [14-11-30]
-50x around the world b2b [14-10-30]
-50x orbits b2b [14-10-30]
-50x legover b2b [14-10-30]
-50x pickup b2b [14-10-30]
-50x mirage b2b [14-11-30]
-50x illusion b2b [14-11-30]

ECFC 2014:
Nick, It was an honor to kick with you, man. Thanks for the tips.
April & Ben, awesome brownies & damn Ben, you are hilarious!
Dan, Basement shredding all the way! Watch out, I am going to catch up to you.
Evan, What an awesome down to earth gentleman! I believe all of his power is held within his beard.
Bob, Did we even get to kick together?
Bruce, thanks for the crash spot & sweet place!
Ken told me he got to kick with Taishi and that he taught ken a lot of moves. So cool!
Ted, thanks, man for the awesome event!
And everyone else, it was a blast. Let's kick at NYJ!

[bobgreen]

Hey man, we shredded together a little bit on Sunday. You probably forgot after April busted fairy dyno in our faces.