Simulating the arch, on the ground..

[360daysofsun 0]

I was reading through some of the past posts, and did find this mentioned. Perfecting the arch on the ground always seems to be a challenge. If you're on your belly, how do you factor out gravity. Well, I was at a friends house, and it just so happens he was getting rid of a bunch of his wifes stuff (he wouldn't admit it was his...). Anyway, there was one of those big exercise balls you see on TV. I layed on the thing belly first, and spun around on my back... Wala, it felt a lot like the perfect arch..

I talked him out of it, and now use it to stretch. If you put the thing in you livingroom, put your legs under the couch, and hold something in your hands, you can simulate the forces of freefall. It takes a few seconds to get stable (from rolling off), and figure out where to place your backside (near your hips), but once you get it, it's a great way to make gravity work in your favor... I now close my eyes, and have my wife rotate me around. With practice, you can use your legs and arms to stabalize you.. What does that sound like??? If one leg is lower than the other, you feel it.

Just a though for those looking for some extra practice at home.

Todd .... "Life, figure it out."

[op5e 0]

I read someone post the same advice a few days back. I am definatly considering getting one of these, however I do have a lack of space at my place.

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1483942;#1483942

[IvanPeters 0]

No, I don't see it. I don't think balancing on your back is anything like freefall. Having gravity pull your arms and legs back is not going to help develop the muscle memory needed to push your hips forward. To do that you need to actually push your hips forward.

Ivan

[davehartley 0]

When I was struggling to hold syability on 10 second delays I came up with the idea of practising in the swimming pool.Using the step handle at the deep end I had a pretty good mock up for a seated islander exit.Trick is to exhale fully before 'exit' so that you can 'freefall' to the bottem checking your body position as you go. I got some pretty funny looks from the swimmers as I repeated the exercise around30 times in an attempt to build up muscle memory, but it really worked. After being stuck on 10's for about seven jumps I tried this, and went straight through to tracking in succesive jumps. This is probably not much use to AFF students who get the luxury of in flite osteopaths to correct their position, but I would reccomend it to any RAPS students having stability problems in early freefall. Safety tip. Only attempt this if you can swim.

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Better drowned than duffers. If not duffers, won't drown.

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[veter_ 0]

Simple: float on the water and practice arch as much as you want.

[davehartley 0]

Ye, but you know you are doing it right if your belly touche down whilst your knees thighs and chest are all clear of the bottem. The 'flight' down is much like the real thing as well, 45 degrees at first and then it levels out, and stays level to the bottem. The 'launch from the side is also a good simulation of the seated exit

Better drowned than duffers. If not duffers, won't drown.