Skydiving without a good arch...

[jackwallace 3]

http://www.dropzone.com/photos/Detailed/Style_and_Accuracy/russtyle_115289.html

See any arch here. It's your brain that flys, not your belly.

U only make 2 jumps: the first one for some weird reason and the last one that you lived through. The rest are just filler.
scr 316

[Numatik 0]

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http://www.dropzone.com/photos/Detailed/Style_and_Accuracy/russtyle_115289.html

See any arch here. It's your brain that flys, not your belly.

Nice pic master jedi! I hope to be doing rad free falls like that too!!

[erdnarob 1]

Arching is a good way to fly in freefall but it's not the only way. For sure, it helps to be able to arch in order to be stable and for the speed range too. You should be able to compensate that problem by a bit more of practice until you will fly in the box position when the body, arms and upper legs are in the same geometrical plane. You are able to bend the knees and to move up or down your arms which will allow you to change your speed. Practicing that in a wind tunnel should help you a lot.

Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

[riggerrob 558]

To stretch your hip flexor muscles, do the yoga pose called "Warrior One."
Emphasis pushing your rear foot backwards and feeling the stretch in the front of your thigh.

[Numatik 0]

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Arching is a good way to fly in freefall but it's not the only way. For sure, it helps to be able to arch in order to be stable and for the speed range too. You should be able to compensate that problem by a bit more of practice until you will fly in the box position when the body, arms and upper legs are in the same geometrical plane. You are able to bend the knees and to move up or down your arms which will allow you to change your speed. Practicing that in a wind tunnel should help you a lot.

I love hearing good things! Im glad the AFF system does baby steps to skydiving, cause if I do get unstable and cant fix it the 2 instructors can help. Im hitting the wind tunnel on the fifth, so in the meantime I have started dong 'baby' stretches without straining too much. I hope the wind tunnel goes well, I have a feelings its just gonna be trial and error getting stable. Im gonna have to figure out the coordination with my arms and legs for my lack of arch. but I am working on it, and I actually have my first physical therapy 2marro and this is the main topic for my workouts.

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To stretch your hip flexor muscles, do the yoga pose called "Warrior One."
Emphasis pushing your rear foot backwards and feeling the stretch in the front of your thigh.

I just googled it and got pics and im actually putting my laptop down right now to try it out

[Numatik 0]

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To stretch your hip flexor muscles, do the yoga pose called "Warrior One."
Emphasis pushing your rear foot backwards and feeling the stretch in the front of your thigh.

I definitely feel that stretch. How many reps and for how long? and how many sets do you think for someone as stiff and as my F'ed up body? lol

[riggerrob 558]

Start by warming up leg muscles with walking or bicycling.
When stretching, the challenge is to stretch to the edge of the pain and hold it for 40 seconds (on large muscles).
Stretch both legs the same amount and repeat the stretch three or four times per day.
A good yoga teacher will help you pace yourself. The best yoga teachers tell the class about two - maybe three - variations on each stretch: beginner, intermediate and advanced.
The challenge is to do the beginner stretch for a few weeks, utnil your form is perfect, then slowly try the intermediate version of the pose.
Focus on breathing and good form.
Be patient.

[Numatik 0]

Iv been super busy this week and totally forgot to post!! Super long post, sorry guys

I saw my Physical therapist a few days ago and brought him all the info you guys have helped me out on here educating him a bit about skydiving as well. He told e I need to be very careful with excercises in order not to harm any of my areas with hardware and trauma. He told me to go ahead with the warrior one stretch but he said to to do it very carefully not to over strain my very very stiff muscles. He said with other generic stretching to again be very careful and try to steer away for now to not cause any strain. We started working some excersises with my hips and legs.

Before I do either of these I take two laps around the block to warm up my muscles liike you guys said.
First one I do 3 times a day is lay on my belly on my ottoman part of my couch and for working my right thigh muscle. I lay flat on my belly, place my left leg on the ground next to me and bend my right knee in an angle up and then grab with my right arm and pull in, then as I do so slowly slide my left leg forward on the ground until I feel the stretch. I hold it for a minute, take a short break then do the other side

Second one is a sit on my back on the couch in this position (pic taken by my physical therapist, I didnt get a pic of the first one I talked about but I think I explained it enough to get the basic idea)
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h3/snakenetnetworks/IMG_1100.jpg
basically in this position push with my arms until I feel the stretch, then switch to the other side.

he said to do these for the next week then hes gonna work my hips more and begin my upper and lower back. He thinks even with my fusion he will get 'some' flex but said not very much. He said what you guys also said about my hips, that they will basically help my overall body position tremendously when there loosened up. My timing is kinda off but Im trying to stay on calendar with my AFF, but this Wednesday im hitting the wind tunnel. Then in 2 weeks is my next jump. The only way timing would work in my schedule is this week for the tunnel, I wanted to wait longer to loosen up more but I didnt have time to get it in. Already doing these stretches 3 times a day, laying on my belly with pillows under me working my arch very carefully (and my doc told me to be very careful with this). I actually have already felt a major difference and everything is helping!! GREAT NEWS to me and im gonna keep at it. Thanks so much for your help so far ad im sure more in the future. Im gonna keep my progress updates. Sorry for the super long post, this is like a novel, I write to much

[riggerrob 558]

Good plan.

[Numatik 0]

Wind tunnel went great!!! I was able to hold a steady free fall, only issue i had was floated forward and side to side a bit and had t push away from the wall a couple times. I had to do restore from backup cause my siri wasnt working on my iphone and it deleted my videos and im SOOO fucking mad cause I was gonna keep studying them and post o here. Iv tried everything to get it back but my phone restored from a date a few days befre the tunnel. Huge bummer im super down about it right now.

I went to physical therapy ad have already gotten more flexible, and im still working my hips. My tunnel instructor is a sky diver and told me I can maintain a free fall its just gonna be a bit tougher then I would like it to be. He told me the same thing, I need to keep working my hips to get more flexible. But I am very glad it went well, that is making me feel a lot better. By biggest fear is my first AFF landing, cause I really cant hurt myself or il end up getting pretty hurt and back to the hospital if I mess my back up or other pieces of my body that were damaged too. Im pretty scared of it right now I really hope I can land the canopy successfully. He told me when I jump to wait as long as possible to flare so I don't stall up high and fall down. I really cant have a 10+ foot drop to the ground. Do you guys have any good tips for landing? Im all ears.

[skybytch 259]

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Do you guys have any good tips for landing?

What were you taught in the ground school? Honestly, that's the only input you need to be listening to when it comes to canopy control right now.

Waiting as long as possible to flare could have you plowing into the ground, which can be fairly uncomfortable. If you've done the FJC already, you should know how to salvage flaring too high. Most student canopies are big and slow and detuned - it is VERY unlikely that one will stall on you (if you don't have unusually long arms).

Not to be a downer, but if you "really" can't get hurt, skydiving may not be the sport for you right now.

[Numatik 0]

In ground school they primarily explained how to try and save a malfunctioned canopy, and which circumstance to try and repair before cutting away. for landing she primarily explained the downwind leg, base leg and final approach landing against the wind. As far as canopy control she explained how to turn. And how to flare, and she made a strong point stating flaring high can lead to stalling. She even walked with us up some stairs to look down to 'see how far you will fall if you flare to high' . I am just trying to get every point and educate myself as much as possible to have the safest free fall. In my first fjc they didn't mention stalling at all, just proper body position, COA, when to pull and to pull up your legs when landing. With that said what do I do in the event of stalling prematurely?

[skybytch 259]

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. With that said what do I do in the event of stalling prematurely?

What to do if you flare early should have been covered. Before you jump again, please ask your instructor(s) to explain.

Pulling up your legs for landing is a tandem thing. You do NOT want to do that on solo jumps. You want to plan to do a PLF - you did learn PLF's, yes?

[popsjumper 2]

Your pic...if your arms were in the proper position I would say I've seen much, much worse.

It will be harder to get the hang of stability at first but, meh, you'll get it.

Funny thing is that we beat students up on arch! Arch! ARCH! and them promptly teach fall rate control that will have you reducing that arch.


Yes, stability is just a matter of balancing wind resistance all around your body with arm and leg position. With experience, you can fly stable while touching your toes.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[Numatik 0]

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. With that said what do I do in the event of stalling prematurely?

What to do if you flare early should have been covered. Before you jump again, please ask your instructor(s) to explain.

Pulling up your legs for landing is a tandem thing. You do NOT want to do that on solo jumps. You want to plan to do a PLF - you did learn PLF's, yes?

I know abut the legs, I was just stating what my instructor taught me early on, My teacher said to land standing up or a short run is gold, but if you cant do that plan to PLF. My coach had us do like 20 practice PLFs over and over until she thought we had it right. No fun at all but long term will pay off in case I have any problems coming down

[popsjumper 2]

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my instructor taught me early on, My teacher said to land standing up or a short run is gold, but if you cant do that plan to PLF. ...

Some of us teach a little differently....plan on doing a PLF and only stand up or run-out if you can.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[Numatik 0]

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my instructor taught me early on, My teacher said to land standing up or a short run is gold, but if you cant do that plan to PLF. ...

Some of us teach a little differently....plan on doing a PLF and only stand up or run-out if you can.

I like hearing from many different people how they do things too, not just the person I had that day. I hope I can come in smoothly and not have to PLF lol I just want to do everything in the best of my control to come in nice and easy. After this first solo jump I hope it gets easier!

[Numatik 0]

Skybytch!!! Sunday my jump is at noon (or so they say it is lol) I always get there early, one of my best friends is doing his first AFF too. We're both nervous but for good reason, it's the landing were scared of. Iv been prepped and did ground school but that first one is a little spooky . Wanna go on Sunday? I'd also like to meet your husband too. Its always good to meet the cool locals!

[Numatik 0]

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[Numatik 0]

Skydive went well, but I did still have some problems with my arch in free fall. It has gotten significantly better, but I need to keep working at it. Did all my practice throws, AA was excellent, COA was excellent, responded to my instructors signs, and pulled on time without needing a signal. When the canopy opened it twisted up, I was able to kick around with my feet and untwisted it. After that canopy was perfect, I was able to control it with no issues, but I did wondered out of the holding zone a few times. came 1000 feet I made by may to start the base leg, then 600, then 300 and I landed the canopy. I flared 4 feet to high, which is still wonderful in my book. Had a great time with the jump. Waiting for the money to come back which will be about a month, then I am going to continue to be persistent with the physical therapy. Here is a short video my fiance' took of the landing :)

http://s60.photobucket.com/albums/h3/snakenetnetworks/Skydive/?action=view¤t=DSCN4636.mp4