Feb 1, 2013, 5:35 AM
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better arch
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So im in AFF and when im on the ground I arch 'perfect' 4 out of 5 times...however once I get in the air and i get the 'arch' signal, i bend my knees...any other tricks to making myself do it better in the air? Ive begun practicing standing up and touching my 'belt to the door frame' but when i get in the air my knees bend....
thoughts/tricks? anything mentally i can picture on the way down?
Gary the Instructor pulled me aside very early on in my AFF training. I forget if it was my 2 or 3. He's was like "Dude relax! Here, put your hand up like you're holding a beer. Now put your other hand up like you're holding a beer. Now pretend you're about to pee." I don't know if that helps, but it was pretty funny.
Now I'm told I have a beautiful arch, and that I don't really need to arch at all. *sigh*...
True! But it seems like an entirely unreasonable suggestion on your first few jumps! Everyone's all like "Ooh I never really felt the air until I relaxed!" or "It got a lot better for me when I relaxed!" and you're like "No! F that! I'm about to jump out of a F'n airplane and I am NOT GOING TO RELAX!" Then you do it a few times, get used to it, relax, and then you're all like "Oh... so that's what they were talking about!"
When I went to the wind tunnel after failing my level 3 twice for similar reasons, my coach made it super simple. breathe, keep your legs shoulder width apart (too wide makes it very hard to arch), and most importantly "stick your dick in the ground"
They clicked very easily for me and all the frustration I had was gone. I don't worry about anything other then sticking my dick in the ground and it made me have a very nice arch while keeping me relaxed. After awhile it just becomes natural.
I'm incredibly stoked that I "found" this website before my jumps. There are all kinds of things that I never would've thought about that I now know to be prepared for....awesome.
It can be hard to control your body on those early jumps. I did some AFF and then some SL jumps. Hanging on the wing strut I kept getting the ARCH signal. Clamping tight my butt muscles helped. I can't say how well I held it after release, but it was a help in getting started right, giving the pissing drunk pose while hanging there.
Thanks everyone, some i've heard-but some i hadn't! Trying again Sunday...as always its nice to see others felt this way/had this happening too! I'll give it a shot!!!!
I would strongly suggest the wind tunnel. Tell them your concerns and let then instructors get you to the stage where you do it naturally.
Makes no sense to go back to the 70's 80's and 90's when all we had was advice. We have wind tunnels now, and they are one of the great advances in our sport for these types of problems.
I doubt you'll remember all of the "dick to the dirt" and "pretend to pee" stuff anyway. 20-30 years ago that's all we had. Advice. Take advantage our new technology and get over this hump. It's there. My advice is to use it and not rely on the "dick"/ "pee" "push the bush" and whatever other stuff was good in the previous era of our sport.
