asymmetry - the proof is in the pictures (long)

[The111 1]

This post is sort of me thinking out loud about my flight issues... if anyone wants to comment feel free (free coaching for me!). It may be a long post. :)

I want to correct any bad habits I have now before I get them too ingrained in me. I haven't received any formal coaching since my first jump nor have I seen pictures of myself until now. I've done 70 jumps... lots of solos and 2-3 ways. At the beginning I was really struggling with a "built-in turn" (to the right) and when I pointed my toes the left foot would be stopped by the suit tension while the right one was still loose. I knew that was some sort of asymmetry and somehow I worked it out. After a couple dozen jumps I could fly straight and relative to other people (a slot) but I was always worried that I possibly had fixed one assymetry by stacking another one on top of it so that they cancelled each other out (Jari had warned me of newbies doing this). I was now feeling the suit tension equally on both legs when I pointed my toes, but still had one funny problem, that still happens every once in a while even now. When I max out or am tired sometimes I feel the pressure under my right leg/foot get very small and it feels like the leg just wants to totally fall down and under the left leg, as if my legs are trying to initiate a barrel roll.

I think maybe now I can explain that. After this weekend I got the opportunity to see many pictures of myself from above. There were quite a few where I was pretty close to symmetrical, like the one I picked for my avatar. The only thing that looked asymmetrical on the good ones was my hands, because I keep my left hand tilted in more because of the alti. But there were also several where there was an obvious assymetry in my lower body. Attached is a picture with 10 "bad" body positions and 1 "good" (?) one. On the "bad" ones, it kind of makes sense why I sometimes feel the feeling I described above where it feels like my right leg wants to tuck/fold under. It is clear that the right foot is too close to what should be the center of the wing... it is not out away from my body's "centerline" as much as the left. There are 3 possibilities I can come up with as to what I am doing wrong:

1) Twisted hips (about axis from head to toe) - problem at hip/waist joint
2) Tilted hips (about axis through belly button) - problem at hip/waist joint
3) Right leg is simply not spread out as much as left leg - problem at joint between thigh and pelvis, whatever the hell you call that joint :)

(picture drawn to show difference between 2 & 3... I can't draw 1)
If I had to guess I think it is number 3. I have a tendency to overanalyze things so I hope nobody out there is laughing. :) I know flying comes really natural to some, but others have small problems like this, and it's amazing how many little degrees of control we do have over our body. I am trying to learn "total body awareness" which will help in other forms of skydiving too. It's funny, if I lie down on my bed, close my eyes, and assume my best position, when I open my eyes and look I am pretty damn symmetrical. But in the air I can't always *feel* exactly what my right foot (or some other various extremity/joint) is doing and I end up slightly assymetrical I think. I do know that I can see both my feet and hands while flying by dropping my head slightly... so this weekend I think I will actually try to take a look at them while I'm flying and see what they're doing. I expect that when I get that feeling that my right legs is about to fold under, if I looked down I would see my right foot way too close to the center instead of spread out like the left one. I was told by a freefly coach not to depend on seeing my body parts... to learn to fly them by feeling alone. But I figure I have eyes so why not use them? At least in the beginning to learn to associate feeling with position... and make good habits.

Final note: to make matters more confusing, a lot of the pictures that I considered "bad"... I am slightly to the left of my slot so it's possible I'm just trying to slide right into my slot. But that body position does sort of correspond with the funny thing I feel even when I'm doing solos and feel like something is wrong.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[riggerrob 643]

Yes, this reminds me of my first few wing suit flights, when I was trying to "force" the suit around the sky.
As soon as I remembered to breath, relax and center my hips, the suit flew much better.

[Tonto 1]

I think what you're doing is hugely positive, and will help your skydiving. I think you're also forgetting that we live in a dynamic form, and the pictures are useless unless you KNOW you were trying to fly a straight path at the time.

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[LouDiamond 1]

I have to agree with tonto. You're trying to fly a slot in those photos and your body position isn't going to always be perfect as you manuever into position and maintain realativity with others.

From what I saw of your flying in Sebastian, it looked pretty good. Next time I am down there get with me and we can do some one on ones.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[The111 1]

Thanks for the replies!

I see what both you guys are saying, and I agree. But what struck me as uncanny was that out of the 60 or so pictures I have, I am either in a pretty good position, or in what I called the "bad" position with my feet offset to the left. And anytime I've ever felt problems on solos it feels like my right foot is too far to the center (offset to the left of where it should be). I did not see one picture of the 60 where the "foot offset" was in the *opposite* direction (right leg spread further than left).

So while I agree that the pictures don't tell too much since I was not flying a solo straight line, I think they tell me that I have a slight bias towards assymetry in one direction, which is good to know and sort of what I expected. This is going to sound crazy but it makes sense to me because the left side of my body has always been dominant and the right side has always been weak.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

Personally, Matt, it doesn't matter what you look like so long as you can fly your slot. You did well this weekend.

[The111 1]

It's not so much about looks as it is efficiency... I think if you fly with two asymmetries that cancel each other out you are flying inefficient. For example if you cannot get your legs centered to fly straight so you overcompensate with one arm... you may be able to go straight, maneuver, and fly a slot, but you are basically flying TWO built in turns in opposite directions to go straight. Jari told me this is common in newbies and that I should combat it by learning to be aware of every body part...

www.WingsuitPhotos.com