Acrobatics

ok, so i read the Lessons Sent in by Viewers part of this page, and i'm trying to do that butterfly where the woman goes in between her legs and then rolls over keeping the butterfly going. i can get the bfly between my legs, but i cannot roll without using my hand cuz i'm afraid of breaking my neck. anybody else tried this one yet?

I haven't tried that particular trick yet, but I can do a summersault without using my hands. Just make sure your chin is tucked to your chest, and your shoulders will hit the ground first. It's one of the first things they teach you in a judo class. They used to make us do that from a dive, which used to scare the bejesus out of me until I got good at it. Just practice with your hands in position to catch yourself if you need to, but try it without actually using them. I bet you'll find that your head and neck don't even touch the ground...

hey,

when rolling without using your hands, its best not to try to roll directly down the line of your spine....

If you can, try to learn to Roll first on one shoulder then to the opposite hip.

If you do this, you will be putting less strain on your neck.

I've got several years of experience teaching gymnastics floor work, where the emphasis is on symetry, ie you roll down the line of your spine. I've also got several years experience teaching martial arts, and while it isnt judo, we have a judo component in all our gradings. We teach Rolling from shoulder to opposite hip, and I find that when attempting a roll with a weapon (or poi in this case) it is much less of a strain to do it from shoulder to hip.

Your milage may vary.

With the butterfly rollout move tho, it may be neccessary for you to have a symetrical rollout, and so all I can say is, put your legs waaay apart and lean over as close as you can to the ground before rolling, thereby reducing the impact / risk of strain.

Good luck.

Josh

Hey Tekkno...
I would be that girl from the move post.
I don't roll over onto one shoulder because I have wrapped the poi around my leg doing so...I have yoga, dance and gymnastic histories so it makes it easier. While doing the poi behind my butt I tend to bend wayyyyy over so that my head is nearly touching the ground. Then all I do is tuck my chin into my chest and roll gently out of it. There is no slammin down so there is no pressure on the neck or spine and it is a normal flow to the move.
Anything else I can do to help, let me know.

------------------
Pele
Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir...

speaking of acrobatics,

last night my girlfriend got very close to doing a one handed cartwheel while twirling two poi in the other hand.

can anyone else do this trick? If so, could you describe how you do it?

Josh

see nevisoul (AKA Thomas Johansson), he can do a one handed cartwheel while doing an orbital. it's unreal!!!

holy crap, talk about a thread bump...

Holy crap, massive bump! And I can do that orbital cartwheel. I need to work on my cartwheel though, particularly getting my feet more up. But it's not really as hard as it looks, you just have to be able to cartwheel.