New To Poi? ASK ME ANYTHING!!!

 Written by: nvandervink


So I had just gotten into Poi, actually a friend at camp had introduced me to it and referred me to this website. Anyway he started out just buying a pair of fire poi, and training on those. Is this the way to go. I mean I've had no experience spinning, but should i buy a pair of fire poi and just practice with them unlit to get comfortable with the weight and using a chain instead of sock.

When I first started I bought into the logic of "always practice with your fire poi so you get used to it when you spin fire."

But I don't think that anymore. Well, not completely.

I think you should LEARN with the poi that will teach you the quickest. I think that sock poi are EXTREMELY helpful at helping you learn new moves. They don't tangle, they don't hurt when they hit you, they're easy on the fingers, there are some moves that are MUCH easier to learn on them (like isolations for me). I also like tennis ball poi because of how they wrap.

I would recommend learning on sock or tennis ball poi (or something fuzzy and fun to keep you inspired.)

Then, BEFORE you are ready to spin fire, start using your fire chains to get used to them. You might find the transition a bit tricky, but I think it's easier than learning the moves with them directly.

I find the lessons on this site to be very helpful for the early stuff. Especially when you're learning the basic moves.

Hope that helps.

 Written by: UnderControlOrFailure


Nope, heavy are best to learn with.
They spin slower and need less force/ effort/ energy to keep them going

There isnt a difference between heavy and light poi.. at the end of the day, its still a weight on a string.

Hrmm... two sentences that disagree with each other and I disagree with them both.

I think heavy poi are easier at first, but then it depends what you want to do with them. I think it's harder to shift from heavy to light than vice versa.

If you pick any moderate weight you'll be fine. If your main goal is to firespin, then you probably want to go with some weight at or below that. I know the poi I practice with are always lighter than firepoi soaked in fuel.

The real answer is: try different set ups, pick one that works for you. There may not be a 'right' answer but there may be 'right' setups for each individual.

 Written by: Imbalance


No clue how a 3bt butterfly or even thread the needle would work... even split time I can't see it being 3 beats.. maybe there's some kind of isolation or cross in there i'm not thinking about..

Hi Imbalance!

Feel free to ask if you don't understand what I'm trying to say, it's probably because my brain's a bit muddled and not because there's anything wrong with yours...

Right... so, if you do a normal 2 bt thread the needle, you do the beats in time with moving your hands, so, say your hands move forwards/backwards at the same time as you give your poi the impulse to go up/down (depending which way you prefer doing your ttn...).

For the 3 beat, you have to change that. As you said, there's some arm-crossing involved. I'm breaking it down like this for the forwards ttn (as seen here http://www.homeofpoi.com/lessons_all/teach/3_15_24_82 but 3bt):

Right hand, beat 1: right arm stretched and over left hand, left hand just pulling back
Left hand, beat 1: as left hand comes out under right arm on the left side
Right hand, beat 2: right arm still stretched, left hand just coming up over the right arm
Left hand, beat 2: left arm stretched and over right hand, right hand just pulling back
Right hand, beat 3: as right hand comes out under left arm on the right side
Left hand, beat 3: left arm still stretched, right hand just coming up over the left arm.

PS: It really helps to count the beats loud at the beginning, took me ages to stop confusing myself and falling back into the normal ttn