trainings and performances

gym training on friday left me really sore for a few days, was simply just backtucking over and over again into the foam pit before trying on the ground. I need to be more conscious about jumping up straight with my heels on the ground so that I dont end up throwing my knees forward and losing power. apparently I started getting the feel at bazgym but I keep reverting to my old ways on cheer mats for some reason, perhaps I'm just afraid cos I'm not used to the new feeling yet.

was quite happy with president star charity performance, felt that the stunts were hit very cleanly so I didnt have to end up using a lot of energy to fight stunts. and tried pstunt heel stretch and scorpion with biyi for the first time and it felt quite good. the photos taken also looked quite impressive even though its basically just a lib for me hahaha.

macs performance was quite fun and a bit confusing too cause it was finalised at the very last minute. was quite happy as my lib went up very comfortably even without warm up before that, think I'm slowly getting used to stunting without having to warm up stunts prior to that. dropped my single take extension with biyi early for the final stunt though, acks.

was doing a lot of btosses during training on tuesday and I'm quite sure I've gotten the feel for btosses already, to the extent that it feels quite relaxing and second nature for almost all the tosses. I'm slowly enjoying watching flyers do their elements in the air instead of fearing injuries like last time. 7 cupies at the end was still not stable, ochi had to help me support my wrist, have to keep gymming to get more strength.

weekend performances

was involved in the BT55 celebrations and *scape opening on saturday and sunday respectively, and we had to wait for a really really long time on both days before getting to perform.

really glad that the pstunt+pyramid segment for the BT55 performance went well but for some reason my shoulderstand with chengyee went up a bit late. felt that what eric said was very true, no one will be interested in the reason why stunts do not go up, all they will remember is that something went wrong. and that particular incident stood out like a sore thumb (at least to me) when we were looking at the video recording after that. surely getting the shoulderstand eventually would be better than not going up at all but this is no consolation, not too sure what I could have done to ensure a higher hit rate.

wasnt supposed to be a involved for the *scape opening but went early instead just to support and to play, in the end gary and I were btossing alan and it was really fun for some reason. the baskets were really really high and alan has amazing body control, just that the landing were a bit heavy cos I think he's not too used to cradling. its the first time I've seen someone do an arabian kickout (??) anyway.

since we had so much time before the performances, we diy-ed as usual. managed to hit my left cupie for the first time with perle, and at the same time stabilising my right. I'm able to hit my right cupie fairly consistently already, but I'm still a little perplex how some of the cupies seem to slip out of my hand. perle said that she doesnt feel like the platform's tilted or she's tipping, perhaps will get someone to take a look and get some pointers soon.

started trying toss to ex with closed legs to try to get the feeling for toss cupies, its still a lot of work in progress hahaha!

trainings

went to the gym on wednesday and did some light exercises as I was a little tired.

bench press: 1x8 (40kg), 1x8 (50kg), 3x8 (60kg)

wrist: 3x10 (15kg)

shoulder press: 3x8 (40kg)

snatch: 1x8 (35kg), 2x8 (40kg)

leg press: single leg 3x8 (full rack)

calf raises: 3x30 (both legs), 3x30 (single leg)

went for diy on thursday and my cupie feels much much better already, I'm slowly getting used to the feel of the stunt and can even fight to keep up some of the cupies. ochi says that I'm not stepping forward to use my entire core to support the weight which means I'm just using my shoulder strength to take the weight, shall work on that later during diy. injured my left knee when huishan landed on it, its much better already thankfully.

did nearly 70 toss throws on saturday at the start of training which resulted in my thighs hurting for the rest of the session and even today. didnt know that we had to do so many initially so I really used most of my strength on the first set of 15, had to grit my way through the rest of the sets. it was fun doing shoulder stands once again for pyramids, its really becoming my comfort zone, but I'm not too sure if I'll get to be shoulder stand for long anyway, think I'm a bit too tall. quite confident of my toss to shoulder stands already.

got back my feeling for btosses, really hope that I dont lose it once again. I just have to remind myself not to wait for the flyer's weight to start sinking in before throwing, the trick is just to follow the timing and move up. did a few btosses with xuewei, she really trusts the bases a lot to catch her, and despite not btossing for nearly 2 years, she's still pretty good at it. huishan was trying her layout and got the first half of the stunt, the landing is a bit awkward which resulted in bruises and scratches, acks.

zhiliang challenged me to get my toss to extension by july during thursday's diy session so I started trying just that during saturday's pstunting with biyi. really happy that I managed to throw to a comfortable extension (without pressing up) towards the last few throws. tried toss to hands pop down toss to hands a few times too. thanks biyi once again for your patience and willingness to keep trying until we can hit stunts.

weekend training + selections

its fast becoming a trend of me coming to office on monday with my mind refreshed but my body aching all over due to weekend trainings haha. we had selections on saturday and I'm quite glad that I made it even though I'm still very raw at many places, really appreciate vincent's effort for frantically writing down all the pointers during the tryouts. it's the first time I've been put through the paces and its a really interesting experience.

lost my feel for btosses after coming back from japan, apparently I reverted to my old habit of sinking too much. it was a little frustrating but I should be able to get that feeling back after a few more practice, it really is hard to unlearn something that I have been executing for nearly a whole year already.

saw my pstunts video for the first time too, and my right biased problem is really apparent. also discovered certain things about myself that I did not know previously, like squatting quite a lot pressing up to libs and cupies (probably due to my lack of arm and shoulder strength), and shuffling around a lot which seem to make the whole stunt very unstable. not too sure how to correct these problems yet but will ask and learn.

gym on sunday was super fun but tiring as usual, and I finally manage to do a straight round off after quite some time. used to be able to do it but for some reason it just got worse and worse. my backtuck on the springy ground felt really good too and I even managed to land standing for a few of my tucks. isaac and weihoe asked me to do on harder ground after that to get used to a jump with less height. shall attempt a robt next gym training if everything goes well, looking forward to it already.

on a side note, I was super glad this morning when I woke up with no pains in my ankles and knees. don't really want to go through the entire experience again, it was really kind of scary.

weekend trainings

was pretty exhausted after weekend training this week, partially due to my flu/cough which I have yet to fully recover from. went to see a doctor today to get some antibiotics today, hopefully it will get better before going off to japan.

did more basics on sat and I finally got the hang for btosses. felt much more relaxing and the heights of the tosses seem to be generally higher than those previously. quite happy the jayson is starting to get the hang of the btosses too, when he finally gets it I'm quite sure the btosses with him will be super high considering his height advantage (>8cm taller than me). realised that it can be quite enjoyable when flyers do their elements cleanly in the air and cradle properly, must have done more than 50 tosses on sat without even realising it.

managed to hit a cupie with perle too, which is my fifth time hitting it and the first time succeeding with someone else besides huishan. hahaha I'm pretty sure huishan compensates quite a lot to ensure the cupie stays up so I was pleasantly surprised when I hit it with perle. being a bit more conscious bout dropping my shoulders before going into libs/cupies and it sure works quite well. really need to get well soon so that I can start gymming and improve my left side.

gymnastics was really exhausting on sunday, and most of those who were there were already soaked through after doing the warmup+strengthening exercises. could barely last halfway through most of the strengthening exercises, think it might be useful for me to start doing those everyday to train up my legs are core.

starting to perfect my standing backtuck, apparently I havent been jumping to my max before going into the tuck, which results in my calves being slightly bent and me landing in front of my takeoff spot. looking at a faraway point and delaying my tuck to the highest point feels much better as I can open and almost land standing straight. need to improve on my tuck tightness though, looks like I'm doing a backpike instead of a backtuck now.

played around a little and managed to get the hang for a front tuck too thanx to chris simin and jasmine, I'll probably do that for recreation for the time being considering the most important thing to get now will be my robt.

coach taught me some of the exercises I can do to straighten my round off, and one of the most important one is to get a very stable handstand. he said that once my round off is consistently straight, it will be easy for me to add elements after the round offs. I'll be doing the backhandspring exercises in the meantime too to slowly get it, will need it anyway if I want to do a 3-pass eventually.

on a side note, wearing contacts during training really makes a huge lot of difference.

another sprained finger

managed to stabilise our assisted full up by quite a lot yesterday, its slowly feeling more smooth and its relaxing to hit this stunt already. catching the flyer's turn early really is the key to getting this stunt right, even the 540 we tried subsequently didn't feel too much different. tried a heel stretch retake to another heel stretch and surprisingly manage to hit it within 2 tries, I'm really starting to like group stunts even more, the variety of stunts that are possible is quite mind-boggling.

still trying to get the right feel for my btoss with gary, hopefully I'll remember to stop sinking down and just move faster. huishan really seems to take a long time to fall when when we manage to hit the basket right. sprained my right middle finger during one of the btoss backtucks after ramming my entire hand into gary, acks shall just keep pulling it till it feels okay again.

my popping in for cupie feels more natural already but somehow I still can't seem to hold the stunt up, not too sure if its my inability to fight or my delay in catching the flyer's cg, but it feels like the stunt is beyond saving by the time I try to stabilise, hmmm. tried lo hi tick tock another time and it feels much better with a more stable lib. changed my lowering and it is already a non-issue, just need to be able to catch the shoe more quickly I reckon.

need to recover from my flu and cough soon, really limits my strength and stamina.

lots more to learn

went for wildcards training on saturday to take a look at how they conduct their usual trainings and to learn new techniques and stunts. I must admit that it was really an eye-opening experience. have always been hearing/watching youtube videos of some of their players doing stunts and finally getting to learn first hand from these guys was truly valuable.

started off doing backspotting for elevator pop twist before moving on to assisted full up+retake. the assisted full up part feels very similar to a 360. tried the retake part a few times but I still cant seem to get the repositioning of my hands, do understand the basic idea behind it so its just more practice. this stunt isnt too complex, but it really involves a lot of control.

got to do btosses with gary after that and he taught me yet another method. apparently it was what the kentucky cheerleaders taught them the other time and it feels very powerful especially when I catch the timing properly and use all the strength from my legs. this method seems to remove the strain on my knees and ankle which I felt constantly last time when using the close-legged method.

I must admit that my impression of gary has changed a lot since the first time I saw him glare at the pstunts spotters during cheerobics 2009. he's actually a very approachable person who's very willing to teach and explain the finer intricacies of stunts repeatedly. ahaha and at the end of the day, he's another one who's trying to slack as much as he can. i'll really want to emulate his tossing strength and power, he really makes it look so effortless!

relearnt my lib during pstunting sesson at the end of training, they do actually have a fairly structured pstunting training programme which seems quite beneficial judging from the stability and locking tightness of the bases and flyers in general. i think it was joline who noticed that I was taking a long time to move my left hand into the final leap position, and simply changing this really made the stunt almost totally stable. zhiliang also taught me how to use my entire core to control the stunt should the flyer's cg start wandering.

tried a bit of lib hi lo tick tock after that, i have no idea why isaac just started teaching me that instead of asking me to try a cupie which seemed more logical. I seemed to have some problems lowering the flyer into the low position, which was due to my elbows' positions (haha I only realised this much later on the way home). I'm quite looking forward to trying this stunt again for some unexplained reasons haha. my toss to ex is getting better too!

got chided a few times for unnecessary loading/cushioning by various people who all emphasised that its important for flyers to do their own things properly so that the stunts can be executed properly. really havent seen things from this point of view as I've always thought that doing a bit more to help flyers/bases is a good thing, but come to think about it, compensating unnecessarily for them will just hinder their learning progress. this seems to reiterate what the nbu cheerleaders were saying the other time, when everyone does their part properly, stunts will go up much more easily and effortlessly.

really learnt a lot in this short 5 hr session and would really like to thank everyone who gave me the opportunities to try, and helped me with pointers+advice. looking forward to magnum's training later on.

back tuck

had a short session doing btoss ytd, and was really glad doing the bare basics once again. we did straight tosses for almost 2 hours, and I tried both types of grips for the basket after being very used to grabbing my left wrist with my right hand. it's been some time doing backloading for btoss too and I can really feel myself using strength during the toss unlike last time when its mostly just loading the flyer into the basket. my left little finger feels very sprained though after getting kicked during one bad landing, its swelling a little today even after i iced ytd.

tried a few standing backtucks after that, sont said that I should keep both feet flat on the ground during the initial jump as he observed that I was jumping on tipped toes resulting in my landing slightly in front of my initial starting point. my jump seems slightly higher now though it doesn't feel that way, guess I have to get used to this new feeling haha. its back to the crash mats again to learn when to prepare for my landing as I'm overtucking pretty consistently now.