Varying fall rate

[lawrocket 3]

Hi all:

I recently did a coached jump (good ole Shark! I'm glad I didn't scare him TOO much) wherein the object was to vary the fall rate.

I did relatively well with the speeding up the fall, but I didn't do as well with slowing the fall rate. One thing I did was exactly what he told me not to do (look up to him). I've spent some time working on it, but I think I've worked out Shark's suggestion.

I was wondering if there are any other exercises that I could practie that would help me with this issue. I want to reinforce what Mark told me, but still have other things to help me out.

Regards:

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[btucker 0]

Slow fall was something I struggled with until recently, and yes I used to look up as well!

What finally got through to me was be aggressive – you really have to tense up and work hard to resist the relative air to decelerate.

Three techniques have be taught to me:
1)arms. One coach said to me “like catching money”.
2)Legs. Extend legs and turn boosters in.
3)Torso. You need to dearch. One coach made me practice this on the floor, when you have a good dearch your tummy does not touch the ground - perhaps use to build muscle memory.



Blues Benno

[BikerBabe 0]

This is very hard to explain over the internet, but here's a shot.

First off, if you go low, turn sideways to the formation. That way you can still see it without craning your neck and arching more.

your arms, to be quite honest, don't matter as much as your hips and your legs. think about what has more surface area.

The biggest thing is to de-arch through your hips. many people I work on this with de-arch just fine in their chest and upper torso (they've been taught to hug the ball), but do nothing with their hips. You should be able to feel yourself pressing your lower spine into your container.

When you do that, your knees will naturally drop a bit...that's OK. Actually, it might help you de-arch more if you think about dropping both knees down while driving your lower back upward. The added benefit of this is better awareness of your legs and learning how to fly using them. Basically, if you can do a good slow fall dropping your knees, you can do turns and sideslides using your legs, as well. It's the exact same motion, except only using one leg or the other.

I wish I had a picture to show you...

Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

[Albatross 0]

I like the explanations so far. Bottom line is make more area to catch air. THink of a bowl. In a normal arch the sides are high and the center is low. To slow fall flip the bowl over get your hips up, press out and down with your arms and elbows, and turn you feet out to expose the sides of your booties or feet.
Practice on the ground by being in an arch and then lifting your hips up to be only on your knees and elbows.

Chris

[ixlr82 7]

Quote

What finally got through to me was be aggressive – you really have to tense up and work hard to resist the relative air to decelerate.

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I'm still working on this. All the advice is great, but you have to be super aggressive. Pissed off aggressive! I WILL...GO...URRRGH...BACK UP.
Whew.

__________________________________________

[BikerBabe 0]

hrrrmmmm, actually, I partially disagree with this. Yes, you have to change your body position in an agressive manner to the degree that it changes your fall rate, but I've also found that everything (even slow-fall) comes easier when I'm relaxed, calm, and emotionless.

The best skydives are emotionless, calm skydives. Pissed off=tensed up=not relaxed=harder to do anything.

Now, note that "emotionless" does NOT equal "not thinking". How much emotion does answering the following cause you to have: 15+37 = ?

Not much, I bet. Who cares, right? Maybe when you were in 2nd grade it might have caused you some emotion, but now...nothing. But your brain still used an analytical process to solve the problem (even if it's only memory recall). See what I mean?

This is another reason why I love the tunnel so much, and why it's a great tool for new skydivers. The whole big EMOTION (fear) is taken away, so you can be calm when practicing flying.

Like anything, the fear factor will go away as you get more experience, so don't expect that to come right away. However, one thing you can do is try to lower your "give-a-shit" factor on the freefall/flying skills portion of the skydive. You don't HAVE to get it right every single time. Hell, people with 15,000 jumps, world champions, will tell you that there will never be a "perfect" skydive, so why not lower that factor a notch and see how you do.

Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

[rehmwa 2]

I learned something great in tunnel camp about slowing down. But only if you are using booties (like all good relative workers should).

First, hugging the ball is not very effective. It still emphasizes the upper body and leaves you blind. If you are wearing booties, over half your surface area is from the hips down - why not take advantage of it???

From a regular mantis body position: Get your legs all the way out and turn your feet out, snap those booties taut - cup air at your hips, too. Get your arms out in front of you and turn them palm down (like the old time superman television show).

Here's where the oldtimers are going to cry "foul". They are wrong.

Since your legs are out, you would normally drive forward - counter this by lifting your head (and upper torso) to slip air forward past your face - this will counter your legs being out so you don't just go into a funny (superman-style) forward motion (the legs would normally drive you forward). It seems counter intuitive, but slipping air past your chin is more than compensated by all the lift you get with your leg/booties.

Best way to learn this is to go up with someone as base and try each body part separately. First, just extend your arms forward - note the lift. Then, just cup the hips - note the lift. Then, extend your leg/booties back (straight) into the air and counter the forward motion by lifting the torso a little higher - note the BIG lift. Finally, mix and match these.

Frankly, I was most effective sticking one leg straight back, dropping the other knee to help stabilize forward motion, extend arms forward and cupping shoulders - but still keeping my head/chin up high and spilling air. But that was because someone taught me the beach ball method about 15 years ago and it was hard to keep my torso as high as it needed to be. Both legs straight would have been better but I just didn't feel right slipping that much air with my upper body - my bias, I'm sure it would have helped.

Last week I coached a 85 women with the build of a toothpick. She wasn't wearing weights. It was work, but I'm normally around 124 MPH on 4-way, this one was in the 90's.

It works. Nothing like professional coaching. I learned a ton (NSL camp).

Good luck - the beach ball is ok, but there's a better way.

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[blazetailman 0]

I agree with a lot of what is said. Some really long replys too.

Sorry I can't write that much, I just want to say that a change in the surface area will change your fall rate.

Some suggestions were dearching and the beach ball method which was the way were taught from year to year, but this method does not change the surface area as much as the tunnel technique of turning the body into a long flat board by streatching your arms and legs straight out.

Maximum surface area. Takes some practice just like any other technique.

Give it a try

Cheers

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