First Wingsuit, Hand Grips?

[EOCS 0]

heya everyone,

im looking to order my first wingsuit very shortly. I have gone through PF FFC and now that summer is coming back we should be jumping soon.

I am looking at something that will be good for teaching the basics and something i can grow with. i was thinking starting with a Venom or possibly a V5.

hehe nah, actually something along the lines of a shadow2 or P3, swift, ect.

I can see myself mainly getting into the acrobatic side of WS flying and so my question is this, are hand grips something i will really miss? i used them on my FFC on and off and i seemed to prefer flying without them, but then again what do anyone of us know on the first try of anything. (have read the flylikebrick guide) but looking for other insight


As a sort of side question, this happened:
During the FFC i was asked to reach back and grab the hand holds on the arm wing, to do this i needed to twist my wrist so my hand was facing backwards and then reach for it. when i did this there was an extreme pain in my lower forearm, trid it again and the 2nd time the pain was not there, during the jump everything went fine as did a few jumps after that on the same day, however when i showed my girl what movement i did to get the pain it happened again.... is this aknown thing that can happen or am i broken?

Thanks!
eocs

[dthames 0]

Sorry, but....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCh7z5EwYF8

Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

[DSE 3]

EOCS

During the FFC i was asked to reach back and grab the hand holds on the arm wing, to do this i needed to twist my wrist so my hand was facing backwards and then reach for it.

Thanks!
eocs

I'm a little lost by your description.
When you deploy, you should not be holding grippers.
Based on your description, I *think* you're trying to say that you're rotating your wrist after letting go of the grippers, so that your palms can be palm-up on your BOC, thus getting the rest of the armwing out of the way?
If that hurts, either you're doing it wrong, or you've got some sort of physical impediment.
point your palms so that they're facing back behind you, while in a neutral wingsuit position. Now bend your wrist so that your palms/hands are 90 degrees/now facing the sky (assuming you're practicing this in a standing position).
Now swing your arms around so your hands are just above the top of the curve of your butt cheeks/approximately where you BOC is.

Does that hurt?

[fasted3 0]

I don't think he was talking about deployment at all.
It's about grabbing the grippers after you let go of them. Almost all my flights are in suits with grippers, most of the time I'm holding on to them, but when I let go it's usually really easy to grab them again. If certain positions are difficult for somebody, they just have to adjust. My first thought was a previous injury, but it could just be awkward for someone to do. In any case, I'd spend some time on jumps just to practice grabbing without causing pain, so that difficult hand positions will be automatically avoided, (muscle memory...) Catching grippers quickly is a good skill to work on if he's having trouble with it I think.

But what do I know?

[DSE 3]

That makes more sense, Ed.
If grabbing the grippers 'hurts' then again...physical impediment or something is being done wrong. Too much muscle input happens with some folks, but I've never heard of it "hurting."

FWIW, we don't teach people to use the grippers in the FFC. It's unnecessary, and it's also a good skill/realization to know that the grippers may or may not be used. Releasing grippers is the gateway to docking as well...

[EOCS 0]

Thanks for the answers. yes my initial post got a bit off topic as i was writing it. also :D that video! sounds about right.

I do not mean for deployment, this is for just grabbing the grippers in flight.

the best way i can describe the motion is as follows:

1: stand with your arms down to your sides.
2: face the palm of your hand behind you.
3: raise arms to about where the wings allow you to keeping the same hand position.
4: extend fingers and grab for where the grippers should be in flight.

i was also told that i didnt need to use them in FFC but i could if i wanted to.

For some reason this movement hurts in what feel like a tendon for either the pointer finger or the F*** you finger along my forearm...

previous injury? possibly, i have broken this wrist but have noticed no other movement problems/pains..

I think i will go with gripperless as i know i will be into acro/grips and things like that once i get the hang of it.

Thanks!

[DSE 3]

If you're going into acro, and docking/flocking is the goal, check out the Shadow. Great suit, serious power in a small package.