Optimal flight time for learning

[blouberg 0]

How much time are you guys spending when you fly? I know distance will factor in, but in an ideal world, how much time for a visit and how many flights?

So far I have used 10 minutes a week, varied between 5 x 2 minutes and 4 x 2:30.  I'm a little undecided on this, on one side more flights gives an extra chat with the coach, or to an extra look at the video between flights, on the other hand the ekstra 30 seconds are nice when I struggle with a move etc.

Cheers

 

[billvon 2,384]

7 hours ago, blouberg said:

How much time are you guys spending when you fly? I know distance will factor in, but in an ideal world, how much time for a visit and how many flights?

 

We regularly do 15 minutes a night - 10 sessions, 90 seconds each - for informal 4 way training.  But all of us are fairly used to the tunnel.  For a "big" camp we might do 30 minute sessions, 4-6 of them over the course of a weekend.   Intervals between flights is critical for those.  You need at least 2 minutes for walking the next dive, and the more time to recover between flights the better.

[blouberg 0]

32 minutes ago, billvon said:

We regularly do 15 minutes a night - 10 sessions, 90 seconds each - for informal 4 way training.  But all of us are fairly used to the tunnel.  

Thanks for replying, 90 seconds makes sense when practicing routines and formation work.

So far I have only done solo flights (with coach). I'm trying to figure out the best way to learn and get the most out of the time in the tunnel.

 

[billvon 2,384]

30 minutes ago, blouberg said:

So far I have only done solo flights (with coach). I'm trying to figure out the best way to learn and get the most out of the time in the tunnel.

A few random ones:

1) Get a good coach.  (Sound like you already got one.) They will be able to see problems that you can't.  Also switch them up occasionally, because everyone will see something different.

2) Spend at least 10x the time outside the tunnel going through the exact same dive before you go in.   So if you have 60 seconds, spend 10 minutes on the floor or on a creeper going through the dive.  Time outside is free and can make your time in the tunnel more useful.

3) Once you feel you are ready, find someone to fly with.  Cuts tunnel costs in half and that's something you'll have to learn anyway.

[blouberg 0]

34 minutes ago, billvon said:

A few random ones:

Sounds like good advice (:

The local tunnel have a membership option, probably the easiest way of finding  people to fly with. Membership cuts a little of the cost  as well. (: 

 

[BigL 4]

If I have the time on my account and a coach available, I would look at doing 30-45 minutes per day. I'm working on dynamic so it's not too taxing on the body.

I find after the 45min mark the fatigue from (mental and physical) starts to inhibit my flying.

[blouberg 0]

12 hours ago, BigL said:

If I have the time on my account and a coach available, I would look at doing 30-45 minutes per day. I'm working on dynamic so it's not too taxing on the body.

Think it will be some time before I can do 45 minutes a day. Did 20 minutes today, as I'm still learning the basics it*s a lot to absorb, body holds up fine, but i get mentally worn out. 

[BigL 4]

4 hours ago, blouberg said:

Think it will be some time before I can do 45 minutes a day. Did 20 minutes today, as I'm still learning the basics it*s a lot to absorb, body holds up fine, but i get mentally worn out. 

Absolutely, work up to what you're comfortable with, everyone is different!

When I'm doing 45min in a day, I usually fly 3x blocks of 15 minutes an hour apart between each session. This gives you the debrief time in the tunnel between rotations, and the 30 mins debrief time between sessions.

Edit to say: When I'm flying VFS with my team, we usually only do 20 minutes a night (20 x 1min).

Edited August 13, 2019 by BigL

[massis 2]

I've been doing 15 minute sessions, 6x2:30. It's the most my budget will allow for now, but I've noticed a few things.
Take into account I'm a novice, I have about 1h30 of tunnel experience, spent the last 40 minutes on learning backfly...

- the first flight is usually lost to warm up. The longer your session, the less time is "wasted" on warm up

- if it's been too long, you lose some of your gained abilities, so staying current is very much also valid for tunnel

- I usually struggle with some stuff, discuss it with my coach after the 15 minutes (since coach is usually rotating students and you can't really talk in the tunnel "holding area"), and then review the video at home. Pretty much every time, my brain makes a few clicks in the 24h AFTER flying, realising what I need to change next time.

So personally I think the most ideal way would be 30 minutes on a day, 2x 15 minutes an hour orso apart, split into 6x 2:30 each. That way you get a lot of practice, then enough time to review everything with your coach, and then enough time to practice all the things you figured out in review.

Longer than 30 mins would be too much for me right now, I'm tired enough after 15

[blouberg 0]

I see the value of more time a day. I feel like I had good progress from the 10 + 10 session yesterday, a little sore shoulders today, but that's only a good reminder to do more stretching.

Cheers

 

    

[Wirzael 0]

Depends what you are doing and is for everybody a bit different.

In the beginning less might be more. Doesn't really help if you are to tired to fly. So don't overdo it until you get used to it and realise you can fly in a relaxed way and aren't fighting against the wind to much anymore.

I think it is better to fly regularly like at least every second week a small amount of time than once a Year a big camp in which you fly up to 1hr a day.

In the perfect world you would do both, but who can afford that?

Start sharing your time as soon as possible as an addition to your time with the coach, this will help and don't forget to have fun in there.

 

[blouberg 0]

6 hours ago, Wirzael said:

Start sharing your time as soon as possible as an addition to your time with the coach, this will help and don't forget to have fun in there.

 

Good advise to have fun, I struggled bigtime on backflying yesterday, then it's good to just "fly around"  and feel the joy a couple of flights before the struggle continues (;

Think it makes sense for me to go from 4 x 2:30 to 5 x 3 minutes sessions, even if it means some more days in between. 

  

[dolphinka 4]

I agree with everyone who commented, it all depends on your goal, your body and ability to process. If I do 5 day camp, I like to mix 30/45 minutes per day to give my body chance sometimes to rest. I always prefer 15 mins sessions 6x2:30. However, if I do one day per month after work type of flying, then I’d prefer 2x10 mins sessions, as I get too tired after work to do more.

Having a coach makes a lot of difference, so definitely agree with that advice too:) 

[blouberg 0]

Thank's guys for sharing your advise. It's easy to get hooked on flying so it's good to know how to get the most out of each penny (:

Cheers