The 10/10 Challenge

[Sir Roger Tuson]

That is soooo funny. But there are people who amazingly will listen to someone like him.

Ben, as Robert says, I think you do need to relax. I notice you're bringing your arm back behind you in one motion each time you crack. Try and think about the finish point rather than the 'throw'. Aim to finish with the handle pointing straight downwards. The thong will roll out of its on accord. I agree with the 'use a stick/handle with no thong' practice method - just go through the motion a few times before you pick up your whip.

[Ben Varsek]

@ Alexander Müller:

I agree with you - he did find something that makes him happy and thats perfectly fine on it's own but I think that if beeing happy was the only factor why he is doing this then he wouldn't be charging 150€ for a group lesson and call himself master. The price of 150€ is the charge that every single participant of the group has to pay - in other words if he's got a group of 10 people than he would get paid 1500€ a lesson for teaching these bad techniques - I consider this ripping people off simply because these people don't know better.
Let's say I was interested in learning how to crack a whip, I didn't know anything about it and I went to this "master" to get started.
I would certainly feel fooled as soon as I started to learn more about proper whipcracking techniqes - in other words - this kind of behavior is bad for the reputation of the sport we all love so much in general.

A good counter example are Robby and Ben Hughes - both don't call themself master because their actions and their skills speak for themselves:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-RwODXvB9Y


@ Roger Tuson:

Thank you very much for your advise !!!
I've been practicing with a stick instead of a whip yesterday because of my cold and I will continue to do that even when my cold will be gone (before cracking with a whip) to develop a muscle memory for the right motions !!!

All the best
Ben

[Guest]

Ben, I seriously doubt that those lessons really take place to be honest.

Said that, I searched for his name. And what makes me even more worried is that he says he is "active" in the BDSM community. I'm cringing. There is so much harm that can be done there, with people (masters...) not knowing what they do. Especially with whips and peoples trust.

[Ben Varsek]

@ Alexander Müller:

I've been talking with Robby about "Snake" and unfortunatly these lessons do take place.
The fact that he is teaching people from the BDSM community is indeed very dangerous for those who are involved !!!

All the best
Ben

[Ron May]

I did my challenge this morning and I do believe I am making progress.
My left side still looks spastic and stiff, but I think it's getting there.
It's still flying out some but I do believe eventually it will become second nature.

Ron

[Guest]

There are some more people practising:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/whipcra ... 970230778/

[Jessie Edwards]

I don't care about other people practicing. I care about you practicing.

[Guest]

Jessie, sorry for getting off-topic in your thread, won't happen again.

[Jessie Edwards]

Look at your PM's please, Alex.

Ron, that sounds good. Our next video will be due soon. When I was at my sister's, we cracked a bit. She got a lesson, though she does not listen well. If you get a person that refuses to even try to do as you do, stand behind then and take the whip while they are holding it too. Then go through the motions as if you were doing it, slowly. You will see this in WB 5.

It helps if your student listens, of course. Mine happened to be so afraid of hitting herself, she could not get herself to bring the whip up over her shoulder, rather, she wanted to flick it up from the ground. Guess what happened? The end came up and snapped her clean in the mouth.

[Ron May]

I went ahead and made a video this morning.
My elbows are flying all over the place and I hit the roof overhang at least once and the drain spout extension a couple of times. You would think that they would learn to get out of the way. Stupid inanimate objects.

But over all I think it's getting better. I need a lot more practice that's for sure.
I need to bring the whip up with a lot more velocity so it doesn't die and loose momentum at the top. (mostly on the left side.) That little hump in the ground behind me is not helping much either. I need to find a flatter spot in the yard to practice in.

https://youtu.be/DHxSRH3bdmY

Ron

[Ron May]

I "gave a lesson" (translate sort of showed) the girl I am making the pink 6 footer and it was difficult. Like your sister she wanted to bring the whip up and straight down.
It was only dumb luck that she did not hit her self.
I finally got her to understand the clock face part and she got a little better.
I steered her to Robby's videos and told her to invest in them if she really wanted to learn the correct form and how to crack a whip smoothly and correctly.

I had not thought of standing behind while showing her.

Ron

[Ben Varsek]

Jessie, I'm sorry to hear that your sister hit herself on the mouth !!!
Having respect for the whip is important but beeing scared is counter productive when cracking a whip (as well as not following instructions - but I assume that happened because she was scared in the first place) - I hope your sister didn't hurt or injure herself badly !!!

Ron, when you bring your whip up the handle of your whip seems to be moving to the 9 o'clock position instead of staying at the 12 o'clock position (Jessie, you also seem to be doing this). You also seem to bring you arm back further than to the 6 o'clock position after the crack (Roger Tuson has pointed out that I'm making the same mistake). I wish I was as relaxed as you are when cracking a whip and you have a very smooth style of cracking (awesome !!!) !!!
I'm also very impressed how good you can crack the whip with your left hand - great job Ron !!!

Since I'm lefthanded I need to practice more on the right side. I did practice with my right hand during the 10/10 challenge (video's comming soon) but I haven't paid attention to the importance of improoving on my righthanded whipcracking in the past months.
I've followed the advice that all of you have given me (thank all of you very much !!!) but since I've been practicing with a stick during the last two day's I'll have to apply these "new" movements to "real whip cracking" !!!

All the best
Ben

[Ben Varsek]

Here is a video from day three of the 10/10 challenge where I'm doing the circus crack with my right hand. I did also film myself doing the circus crack with a stick at home but I don't think it's worth watching.

http://vid1098.photobucket.com/albums/g ... te7qty.mp4


All the best
Ben

[Ron May]

Ben, for it being your off hand that is looking so much better.

I have some technical challenge which I am going to follow myself.
Try and smile.

Have you ever noticed when a lot of people show videos of their practice that hardly any one smiles. It's soooooo serious.
If you have to be serious make it a serious smile..... yes?

So, smile every one. It's fun right?

[Robert Gage]

Ron, I too have trouble smiling when practising. I think that's an important point!

[Ben Varsek]

You'll see me smiling on my next video Ron - thak's for your advise !!!

All the best
Ben

[Ron May]

I did the practice today and tried to keep my arms closer to my side so I don't look like a albatross hatch-ling trying to get off the ground. For the most part it sort of worked.
Also keeping in mind not to take the angle of the handle too much past the 12:00 position like Ben pointed out.

Ron

[Roy Partin]

Ron, I have never thought about smiling while cracking. Your right though, it's something that nobody does.
Ben your cracking looks great. One thing to try is to relax your grip. If your tense in your hand then you are probably tense in other areas. One of Robby's qualities is that his whole body is relaxed. Only have enough grip to keep the whip from flying out of your hand. The heel knot should be able to move like a ball and socket joint.

[Ron May]

Thank you so much for your input Roy.
That is really good advise.
You can tell in my videos that my right hand is much more relaxed than my left hand.
I will try to remember that.

Ron

[Robert Gage]

Roy, feeling the heel knot moving in my hand as a ball and socket joint is what really started me doing serious cracking about forty years ago (as opposed to enthusiastic but 'unscientific' cracking).