Sep 13, 2012, 2:42 AM
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Solo sit drills
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So I'm new to the sport but have known from the beginning that I wanted to get into free flying and thanks to some tunnel time and some awesome coaches, I can hold a steady sit without back tracking. At my home DZ, it's not uncommon for me to have to go on solo jumps and was wondering if anyone had some drills to improve sit skills when you don't have a visual reference?
So far I've got up & down levels, 360 turns and flips from sit to sit…any other suggestions?
(This post was edited by canatheart on Sep 13, 2012, 3:28 AM)
So I'm new to the sport but have known from the beginning that I wanted to get into free flying and thanks to some tunnel time and some awesome coaches, I can hold a steady sit without back tracking. At my home DZ, it's not uncommon for me to have to go on solo jumps and was wondering if anyone had some drills to improve sit skills when you don't have a visual reference?
So far I've got up & down levels, 360 turns and flips from sit to sit…any other suggestions?
Left and right cart wheels, moving forward moving back
Take up a pullup cord and practice transferring it from one hand to the other.
This, but one hand to another means behind your back around your front then reverse directions... it pretty much means you HAVE to learn to use your legs and core to fly instead of relying on your arms.
I like a bunch of these!! I echo the concept that strong legs and a strong core are key in being a fluid sit flyer. We can develop those skills with transitions, which can jeopardize stability in a productive way. If you can stay stable and on heading when moving your arms independently, the rest of your body will start to become versatile as well.
The only thing I would add is to be aware of jump run. When people first learn sit, or head down... or even belly I reckon, there's a good chance that they'll backslide. Just something about how we roll, I guess.
So... If you face perpendicular to jump run when you do your solo, if you backslide it will likely be in a safer direction (away from others). We may lose the heading briefly during a transition, but if we return to the sit quickly enough, overall the effect of facing perpendicular is maintained.
also once you have a solid and fast sit and youve worked all of the random corking out by learning how to stay fast, you should try to tag along on smaller freefly jumps with experienced jumpers who can fall straight and at a normal speed. this will let you "chase" and improve movement and level control a lot more easily. keep it small with more experienced people for the time being so you dont have 4 new freefliers having a horrible break off a the end of the jump! good luck!
I can hold a steady sit without back tracking. At my home DZ, it's not uncommon for me to have to go on solo jumps and was wondering if anyone had some drills to improve sit skills when you don't have a visual reference?
Ok, so you have a standard sitfly position, cool. now forget it :) for a while
Actually it is much easier to learn new tricks in the tunnel, especially difficult ones like headup.
What I could suggest is to take yourself out of comfort zone by stealing some from freestylers - like head-up straddle, sit with spead and straight legs, headup helicopter spinnings etc.
Here you could find lot of ideas: http://www.winddance.com/
You could try positions which are non-symmetric from the very beginning and hold them - like, grab your knee with one arm. Got it? Grab another with other arm. Or with the same :) Grab youh head with both hands, bend one leg in knee and lay its foot on other knee (this one is really difficult). Try to fly in 'wrong' positions and you will increase your skill dramatically
