FREEFLY TIPS

[OzoneJunkie 0]

2003 DEC 17 : Solo Routines

In case I haven't stated their importance enough, I'll say it again. Solos. Critical to development as a freeflyer. Busting out a new trick on an N-way, without having practiced it first on some solo jumps can be risky. But risk aside, it can be a waste of freefall time for both (or all) of you if you know you're only gonna flail your first few attempts.

Anyway, my first year of freeflying I spent a lot of time doing solo headdown jumps, where I'd do different routines. One of my favorites went like:

- Both hands in front
- Right hand in front
- Left hand in front
- Right hand in (across my chest) *
- Left hand in (across my chest)

* - this, if I recall correctly, Mike Vail referred to as "Wounded Clown". Basically, your left arm is out in a normal headdown position, your right arm is completely in (out of the airstream). You need to push your right leg out to the side more than your left leg, to balance this position. These type of positions may not be so "useful" in normal day-to-day freeflying - but they're good for teaching you how to balance a position.

I would hold each of these positions for about 3 to 10 seconds. Initially, before I was comfortable with some of them (single hand in front) - I would put a hand out quickly, and then recover. As I've mentioned before - there's definitely something to "just doing it" - making yourself try something, and allowing your body to naturally seek out the balance. The whole "baby learning to walk" thang. After I learned to hold the position, then, within the exercise/routine - I'd hold that position for the 3 to 10 seconds.

For sitflying, I find useful:

- Grab right foot with left hand *
- Grab left foot with right hand
- Put right hand in front
- Put left hand in front

* when grabbing a foot with your hand, you often need to push the non-grabbed foot down, almost as if in a stand.

One more headdown one:

- Tap feet together
- Grab right foot with left hand (left arm/hand goes behind your body)
- Grab left foot with right hand

Before the actual jump, I'd visualize the jump during the ride to altitude, so I didn't forget what I was doing in freefall. Visualize not only the particular items/order in the list, but what you're planning to do with your body.

I think that as soon as you have a position (sitfly/headdown/whatever) down enough that you're fairly comfortable, you should immediately start challenging yourself in that position, by trying things that you know are going to make you unstable. This really helps avoid plateaus in the learning process.

PS: Glad to help, Nick. Hope you have a quick recovery.

[hookitt 0]

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* - this, if I recall correctly, Mike Vail referred to as "Wounded Clown".

You recall correctly.

Nice tips Oz

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[WrongWay 0]

I'd kinda like to request a freefly tip of the day today.

Let's talk about fall rates while flying headdown.

How much should legs be used to control this, and how much should arms be used for it? You always see people flying with their arms all the way out, I'm assuming for fall rate, but if your arms are used for fall rate then it takes away your ability to do docks, etc. So any ideas you could throw in here, OJ?

Wrong Way
D #27371 Mal Manera Rodriguez Cajun Chicken Ø Hellfish #451
The wiser wolf prevails.

[koz2000 1]

Legs should be the major factor in speed control. Relaxing also helps tremendously. The more you "grab" at the air the faster you'll tend to fall. The only time you should use arms in a headdown is when trying to do a slowdown after diving onto a formation. (then going back to a normal body position). Some of the more well know FF coaches would make students fly in a "praying" position to show complete use of legs.

______________________________________________
- Does this small canopy make my balls look big? - J. Hayes -

[OzoneJunkie 0]

Yeah, koz sums it up pretty nicely. I agree - if you try to push against the relative wind to try to "hold yourself up" you tend to just fall faster. Relaxing does seem to help. Don't ask me why

Also, I think that learning to fly daffy can help, but, I think flying straddle position with legs very wide is a bit better. Depends on what you're doing. Docking on a slow sitflyer, I tend to use a bit of a daffy position, because I'm balancing out my body from the dock anyway.

As I've mentioned in the past, using a very baggy suit can actually make you fall faster - since you're fighting the suit to open your legs wider. When I switched to a slimmer suit a few years ago, at first I was worried that my fallrate would be too fast (I'm 200lbs. w/o gear). But in reality, I'd say my fallrate didn't get faster, it stayed about the same. And when I needed to slow down, it was easier.

Finally, realize that there is a point where you can only fly so slow, and sometimes that's not gonna be slow enough. What can I say - go on a diet :P

[hookitt 0]

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You always see people flying with their arms all the way out, I'm assuming for fall rate, but if your arms are used for fall rate then it takes away your ability to do docks, etc

I thought I mentioned putting on a larger suit

Some people fly arms all the way out any way. It's limiting, but that's all part of learning. Independant arm and leg movement comes with time and practice and doing drills (ie: freeflying tips equals drill dives). There is only so much the legs can do though. If they are maxed out, then all ya got left is the arms. At that point I borrow a "Phat Boy" suit.

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[WrongWay 0]

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I thought I mentioned putting on a larger suit

Hahaha, nah I didn't wanna start this thread cuz of me, I got some help with my slowing down problem a while back, now I can go MEGA SLOW if I want to (yay!!!) but I found that the fall rate thing seems to be a big issue with a lot of people on their head, as it definitely was for me!!

BTW, completely off subject, why is it that all of the really experienced (PRO) freeflyers such as the Flyboyz starting to wear tighter suits now? I remember hearing that there was some kind of performance reason, but can't remember what it was. Any thoughts???

Wrong Way
D #27371 Mal Manera Rodriguez Cajun Chicken Ø Hellfish #451
The wiser wolf prevails.

[hookitt 0]

More speed equals more power, which equals less input needed to move. "High performance" is a good way to look at it. also less drag allows ease of movement. Look at a good 4 way RW team. They add lots of weight to go fast for more precision.

I prefer a faster tighter suit. Partially because it's just easier to fly with it and the other is you don't have to fight the extra fabric.

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[skygod7777 0]

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I prefer a faster tighter suit. Partially because it's just easier to fly with it and the other is you don't have to fight the extra fabric.

yea and then us fat kids can stay up with you guys if you wear a tighter suit and we still wear out larger suits

later

[hookitt 0]

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yea and then us fat kids can stay up with you guys if you wear a tighter suit and we still wear out larger suits

HAHAHA... tis true tis true. I promise if you and I ever get to jump together, I won't make you go slow

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[skygod7777 0]

Quote

HAHAHA... tis true tis true. I promise if you and I ever get to jump together, I won't make you go slow

i can go slow, but damn it's hard. my little short legs can only get so much out there to fall slow enough.

now in a sit, i kinda like the challenge to fall as slow as i can, i love flyin all tweeked out to fall slow.

later

[bigfritz 0]

Awesome tips! I'm defnitely going to try all those hand/foot/chest touches on my next visit to the DZ this week.
I have one question about legs while flying headdown. I'm gonna use this pic from the Womens' Vertical World Record Pics thread as an example:
http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=19347;

In that picture her right leg is way back and her left leg is a little bit off to the side, yet she is falling straight down. Do you think she was just kinda moving around a bit while the picture was taken and her momentum kept her going straight down, or is there a reason why her legs can be off balance to eachother and she's still falling straight down?

I'm still new to moving around next to people. I'm still a beginner so usually when I'm freeflying with somebody it's just right side by side falling straight down without any radical movements.

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Freefly, baby.

[OzoneJunkie 0]

She's flying "daffy" in that picture (as opposed to "straddle"). Daffy is still a "balanced" position, even though, at first thought, it might seem unbalanced. But in the same way that staddle is balanced left and right, daffy is balanced front and back. Daffy is sort of like a sideways straddle, legwise, if you can imagine it.

Daffy is good to be able to do - it tends to particularly useful for single handed docks - check the tip on taking single-handed headdown docks. It's basically a much less pronounced (legwise) daffy position.

[bigfritz 0]

Ah, I see. Cool!

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Freefly, baby.

[JayFitz164 0]

Thank you for the tips. They are greatly appreciated. Are you or Adam going to be doing any coaching this year or will your focus mainly on training jumps?

[OzoneJunkie 0]

Hey, sup Jay,

Adam and I have discussed having a more serious season this year - in the sense of doing more training jumps (and, for me, this means being at the DZ more) - but I know Adam is pretty willing to do coach jumps, especially on days that I'm not there.

[WrongWay 0]

Speaking of the daffy postition......

I've always wondered how people do the "half daffy" thing, where they're obviously flying daffy but not with their legs directly in front and back of them.

Is this actually slower than a straight daffy, or is it just personal preference??

Wrong Way
D #27371 Mal Manera Rodriguez Cajun Chicken Ø Hellfish #451
The wiser wolf prevails.

[skysaintj 0]

Hi Guys...

I'm quite new in the sport and really dig the fact that we can all share tips and advice and stuff ..it realy makes one improve soo much faster.THANX !

One thing i wanna know is what exercises or tips/training i can do ? because i started flying on my head and used to have lazy legs...if've kanda sorted that out but i tend to fly on my back when things go a bit wrong...i've seen the footage and it seems that because my shoulders are to open and thus my arms are straight and are also flying more behind me and then i drive to much forward and tend to speedup a bit to...where should you have your shoulders and arms speaking in a neutral kinda position where you can work from(dock etc..)

If it's something else that might cause this pls let me know what i should look for or concentrate on..

All the best

If at first, the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it

[skysaintj 0]

Hi Guys...

I'm quite new in the sport and really dig the fact that we can all share tips and advice and stuff ..it realy makes one improve soo much faster.THANX !

One thing i wanna know is what exercises or tips/training i can do ? because i started flying on my head and used to have lazy legs...if've kanda sorted that out but i tend to fly on my back when things go a bit wrong...i've seen the footage and it seems that because my shoulders are to open and thus my arms are straight and are also flying more behind me and then i drive to much forward and tend to speedup a bit to...where should you have your shoulders and arms speaking in a neutral kinda position where you can work from(dock etc..)

If it's something else that might cause this pls let me know what i should look for or concentrate on..

All the best

If at first, the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it

[OzoneJunkie 0]

2 things I'd suggest. First off, (re)-read the tip about doing the pendulum exercise. It will hopefully teach you more about the dynamics of flying headdown, position-wise, as opposed to being in a singular, static position.

Secondly, train your muscle memory. In a mirror, practice standing straight up, with arms down at the sides, and legs closed. Then open up your arms in a "better" position than what you think you're doing headdown. Open your legs to a desired position.

Then spend some solos doing this same thing in the air. Often, I find that exagerating a correction is a good way to enforce a fix - in other words, try specifically bringing your arms very far forward, and making sure your shoulders are even and square. You don't want to "lock-in" this new position, but basically teach yourself to become aware of specific body parts while in freefall. It doesn't mean that you should always be thinking about each body part all the time. But, I do find myself doing quick little analysees at times to monitor myself, especially if I detect something wrong.

gl - hope this helps...

[skysaintj 0]

If at first, the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it

[oldbastard 0]

Wow... all sounds kinda complicated to me... back in my day... me and my boys did all that fancy headdown only we called it lawndart flying... course we never practiced on the ground - standing on our heads and all that nonsense... hell... we'd find a good ten or thirteen pound bowling ball and attach a couple ropes that we'd superglue into the finger holes... (fill it up real good).... then we'd find an old ragged out container that didn't have any canopies in it and wear it under our rigs... then we'd clip dem ropes from the bowling ball to the extra d-rings under our rigs..of course we'd have a couple quick releases on the ropes... hell you'd open the door and your buddy would hold the ball... we'd get into position in the door give a nod our buddies would chuck that damn ball out... hell it'd jerk you clean out head down and arms and legs flappin every which way behind ya!!! Then all you had to do it reach up snap dem quick releases open and then you could hold it another second or two before floppin back to your belly so'n you could pull... of course i'm not suggesting any of you pups out there try it... but it's one hell of a ride!!!

[stuffit 0]

A buddy of mine that I have been flying with has a real problem with not arching when he is flying on his head. This causes him to have his arms behind him and his chest out. I keep telling him to keep his hands where he can see them; not necessarily right in front of him but where he can see them out of the corner of his eye. Another drill to try is to do a solo and fly on your head with your arms crossed, each hand on the opposite elbow. This will help to get you away from flying with lazy legs and will hopefully get your shoulders and arms more neutral.

[dreamsville 0]

After much trying, I finally in the last few weeks am able to fly stably and fly in and take a tensionless dock. I used to think all the time about the right body position and analyze it to death. It drove me nuts and held me back, perhaps. Then one day I looked at my partner as we left the plane unlinked and just headed for him and stopped. No thought about body position, just following him and his fall rate. I guess it's a progression.
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I don't drink during the day, so I don't know what it is about this airline. I keep falling out the door of the plane.

Harry, FB #4143

[linebckr83 3]

Bump




Let's hear some more, and perhaps newer tips!

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