Question relative to Viking's solo drills

[Beachbum 0]

I'm a low timer also, and being rather skinny and JUST starting to learn to use weights, have been doing mainly solos. The suggestion was made for him to work on making his turns in place (the belly button concept). I've had people tell me the same thing, but nobody has been able to tell me ... just how do you judge as to whether or not you are doing so if you don't have someone in the air with you to give you a reference point?

[billvon 2,400]

It's very tough - you simply can't see your motion without a fixed point to judge, and the ground is too far away. One way is to see how quickly you turn. The fastest turns happen with coordinated leg and arm turns with the center of rotation near your center. Try practicing both ways - do just leg turns, keeping your head in one place, then arm turns, keeping your knees in place. When you combine them, emphasize legs over arms, and you should be doing something like a turn in place.
Once you start jumping with someone it becomes a lot easier. Transition from a star to a cat, and if your buddy is good at falling down the pipe, you'll have to do a center point turn to put your legs in his hands.
-bill von

[Beachbum 0]

I guess I need to start thinking about my turns again! During AFF, the JM's told me that I'd reach a point where I just thought about turning, and I'd do so .. well ... that happened pretty quickly for me, and I haven't thought about the mechanics of the turns since. I can whip them, but to be honest, couldn't tell you exactly how I'm accomplishing them. Gives me something to work on ... thanks!