Whip Basics. The Forum

Ben - way better. Just... slow down even more. Especially in the beginning.

Robert - it's fantastic that you observe so well and tell the others what you see. THat's what I meant, when I said: "You learn by teaching others". I bet that you improve too, that way.

Robby

Ben, I know how you feel. As long as we know that it's a roller coaster ride until
we absolutely get it we can handle it and not get discouraged.

Mine, like you, has taken a couple of days off with the second day of my substandard performance. But we can take heart mi amigo, we are learning and progressing and that's what this challenge is all about.
Thank you for sharing your video Ben.

Ron

Ben, that is better - but Robby's right: try to slow down even more. (I find, with this crack, that if I start slow, but pull the whip forward with ever increasing speed, and then stop my hand with a flick of the wrist immediately past my body - even at my body - it work very well.)

Thanks very much, Robby! I appreciate that very much! (And you're right about my own improvement....)

Robby, Mr. Robert has a keen eye when it comes to breaking down the throw of a whip.
I have learned a lot from those who have contributed their thoughts and observations.

Ron

Thank you very much Robby, Ron and Robert for your advice !!!

I've managed to use less speed and power during the last days of the underhand crack practice but like I posted - today wasn't a good day in terms of whipcracking for me !!!

I have shoot videos during the past days of the 10/10 underhand practice and some of the older videos show better results than todays result.

One of the positive things in terms of whipcracking today was that I've managed to get the whip to crack while doing the opposite horizontal crack more often than usual after the actual 10/10 challenge practice.

I'll keep on focusing on using less force and speed on the underhand crack but despite this drawback I feel that I've devloped a way better feeling for this technique in general because of joining this challenge !!!

All the best
Ben

Ben, my sentiments exactly.
This exercise is helping me tremendously and I am improving.
It's all about baby steps and consistency.
I appreciate all who are participating and observing.
Teaching is learning and learning is teaching.

I did not plan to make a video today but I believe it went fairly well and wanted to share my little success. Still a long way to go.
I will upload it later tonight when Mom's Roku is not being used. It uses the Wifi and keeps buffering if I jam the band width with an upload for about 30 min. or so.
You don't want to interrupt an 85 yr old. and her Roku.

Ron

Here we go with today's video after the 10 minutes of practicing.
It's getting better and it reinforces the need to practice every day not only to learn a crack but to maintain what you have learned.

https://youtu.be/dlAmfcme1LU

Ron

Na gut, meine Damen und Herrn,

Day 6.

Robert, your comments don't bother me.

I am making progress, in that I managed to crack today without giving myself any fresh welts.

I think my use of force is much better. I just wonder if I am bringing my arm up to the right position for the circus crack?

For the underhand crack, still no crack, and I'm trying to get the hang of what you suggested. It surprised me you said I should flick my wrist up right by my thigh, because in Robby's tutorials, as well as Adam Winrich's, they look higher up, with the arm almost level.

That said, I think I have found part of the problem. I might need to hold my hand palm up while I flick, flicking up a fist, which I have been doing.

I discovered this at the acupuncturist's tonight. I brought my whips with me because she said she wanted to see what I was building. After my session I showed her a bit what I was doing right in the consultation room. I didn't have room to have the whip behind me, or do a full crack, but because of the small space I was physically forced to keep everything tighter and I did manage to get a small tiny crack in the room. I imagined that I was a) avoiding the wall, which took very little imagination, and b) flicking something right off the ground in front of me.

Videos, for your viewing pleasure.

Occasionally you'll see me look behind me because the police discovered my hidey-spot where I go and beat the hell out of the air. But they just drove around my truck parked in the lot and then left, so I guess this lot is fair game officially.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoE2Uw7kKdI - Circus Crack (which I always want to call the "Overhead --" or "Overhand Crack")

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLHgIk1EEMo - The Acupuncturist Special

Tristan, thank you for sharing your practice video.
The main thing is to s l o w d o w n . Give yourself pause between attempts and
Don't pull your hand back at the end of the forward travel of your arm. That will most assuredly will bring the whip back at you.

Look at Robby's video again and focus on every thing. How he holds the whip with the knot in the center of the palm of his hand....how he stands .... how he starts the whip... how his wrist comes up at the end of the forward motion...how he follows through.

You are going to get there so don't get discouraged . The crack is not the most important thing it's the form. The crack will happen once you have the form correct.
I have to remind myself of this very thing often.

On the circus crack, finish the arm movement at 6:00 not 3:00 or 4:00. and again slow down. You're getting there. Watch the video over and over and while watching it follow his movements with your own arm and body with just a handle / stick in your hand.
Be a mirror of the video and what Robby does on it. Then go out and practice with the actual whip.
This might help.

Ron

Which crack are you talking about? If you are talking about the Circus Crack, I honestly don't know what you mean by slowing down. I don't know how much slower I can go.

Tristan, I am speaking for any crack you might be practicing at any given time.
Start out by going through the motion of the crack very slow with out thinking about the crack at all. Like slow motion. Then increase the level of speed until the whip is off the ground. That is where you mirror the form of the crack.
David once told me to try to make the softest, quietest crack you can.
When you can do that you have a good foundation to practice with.

Also pause between throws. Make the crack.... maybe count slowly to 5 and do another.
Let the whip's thong carry the energy and not your muscle. It's about controlled energy and form.

Ron

Today's practice this morning was a nice one.
However, I seem to have reached a plateau.
It's not getting worse, but it's not getting noticeably better either like it was.
But I know..... feel that it is better.

Ron

Step it up. If you feel it can't get better, then keep practicing the underhand, finishing it out with the circus, or try a different whip. If you can make the crack with any whip, then you can try a combination

Jessie, tomorrow I am going to do 5 min. with the 6.5 footer and 5 min. with the 8.5 footer and see if the same level is there. I could use the 8 footer that Einar made but it's so stiff that it might be counter productive.

Ron

There's an interesting thing: The longer the whip, the different the swing--at least for me. I guess I am a little on the shorter side, so with a long whip, I naturally have to kind of "pull back" right at the very end, when I underhand flick. Watch what happens as you compensate for the different lengths and styles. Pay attention to the way your body compensates. It's kind of neat-o

No video today for day 7. It was already dark out when I got around to practicing.

I slowed my cracks down, at least with the circus crack. I was surprised about how much it helped. For one thing it was more comfortable, and for another you can feel the roll of the whip going, so you almost always know exactly if a crack is going to happen and when. I had never experienced that before. It was like the whip came alive.

The underhand crack is still frustrating me though. I feel like I'm trying to crack a board. I have no idea what I'm doing, and it'a already day 7. Nothing feels right.

Hi participants !

Yesterdays practice went a little better than my practice two days ago and I hope that this will continue on todays practice !!!



@ Ron May:

Your latest video shows some very good improvement Ron - you are using very little force and your movement while cracking the whip is very relaxed - congratulations !!!

@ Jessie Edwards:

I've also experienced that the length of the whip has a huge influence on the swing.
The idea that you've mentioned (using differnt whips with different lengths) is fantastic to develop a better understanding for a certain technique - thank you for sharing this idea Jessie !!!

@ Tristan Foy:

Tristan, I've noticed that you are sometimes pulling your head to the left side in order to avoid getting hit by the thong when you are doing the underhand crack. It's important that you controll the action of the whip and that you don't "allow" the whip to controll the movement of your body. Don't get me wrong - if you sense that you will hit yourself in the head if you don't move it out of the way then move it out of the way - but your goal should be to do this crack without moving your head to the side.
A good way to achive this is folloing the advice that Ron has given you - slowing everything down to "slow motion" and then adding more speed little by litte while paing close attention to where the thong travels in order to controll that action.

All the best
Ben

Ben, I'm glad that you had a good practice. It can't help but continue well.
Each day's we all are getting better. That's the importance of this exercise. To consistently
practice is to consistently improve.

Ron

Tristan, the underhand flick is just damned hard. It really is. It took me a long time before I figured it out and I am just now, barely, getting so I can make it work on the left--occasionally. Its just a hard crack. Ron, are we getting close to day 10? Maybe a break would be good and we can move on to the next crack for a while. Sometimes, a person can work too hard on something. Maybe we should leave the flick soon and move on? Ron is the boss of this thread, so its up to him.

I'll have to look at the video again, but I think its the sidearm crack next? I love this one, because I constantly smack myself in the arse with it. Practicing it will be like getting punished every day. Yay meeee. :/ Heh. No really, I hate that one. :/ I guess this is why I need to practice, yeah??

Jessie, I think you are right. We can always come back to the underhand crack.
Find out for sure which one is next. Is the side arm crack the same as the horizontal ?
In the Vol.I sample I believe the horizontal crack is next on the list.

I have tried this one and it was not pretty at all. I hit my back, arse, and legs and that was just one attempt.
*note to self, use a nerf whip*

If any one of them need practice it's this one. I too dislike it and it's only because I do it poorly and there is pain involved.


Ron