Are you a beginner who is not advancing as fast as you’d like and find yourself learning extremely slow and getting frustrated to the point of quitting but you can’t so you keep pushing and see little signs of hope here and there? For example: I can land a trapeze 1 out of 20 times but I keep trying. I’ve been practicing looping for weeks and sometimes I can throw 4 sad loops but I keep trying…for hours and hours every day. I whack myself in the shoulders and head but keep pushing. Do you ever think, “why can’t I DO THIS!” Yeah, me too! PM me if this sounds like you. I know how you feel! Let’s support and encourage each other because we all know…quitting is not an option!
I have been doing 2a for like 5-6 years, and I still struggle with looping.
Also it took me about a month to learn how to bind.
Don’t worry, yoyoing is not supposed to be easy, otherwise everyone can do it. Just take your time and enjoy while you’re at it.
Watch till the end ;D www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgh8E04bqCg
I heard looping is one of the hardest things to do. Looping is what first made me buy a yoyo a year ago so I want to totally tackle that and get it down. I will too! Tutorials make binds seem so easy. The endless struggle will make the success even sweeter. Thanks for replying. I know it’s not supposed to be easy. Co-workers saw me a month after I started and told me I should be doing a lot of tricks by now. Hahaha.
You need to recalibrate your head.
First of all; it’s not the amount of practice. It is the quality of practice.
For example; you can spend 12 hours a day looking at still shots of Karate movements. But that will do nothing to actually teach you the precise balance and coordinated power necessary to complete the sequences. <> Karate is obviously not yoyoing but all things ‘practiced’ follow a similar learning process.
Unless you are a ‘natural’ at picking up various Skills; most likely you are in the majority of people that have to learn more slowly and effectively.
Effective learning and practicing for ‘hours and hours’ a day, are two entirely different things.
…If you practice yoyo tricks, minus the Magical coordination that ‘naturals’ have; your failure rate(at trapezes for example) will/can be high enough to frustrate and possibly depress you. You are so determined to succeed that you force yourself to practice for hours! It is possible you will learn. But it is more probable you will just reinforce bad habits which can often be hard to ‘unlearn’.
For example; developed a Bad Golf Swing. “For Sale… Slightly used set of Golf clubs”.
I am giving examples other than yoyo playing because most things learned have similar pitfalls.
You gave a cryptic message in your post. Quitting is not an option( you said).
To consider quitting enough to mention it is very telling. To me it means you are not far from quitting. And probably out of frustration from ‘too much practice and not enough results’.
Some people completely get wrapped up in a Mission to be Zack Gormley Junior and forget that the primary appeal of throwing yoyos is suppose to be ‘having fun and relaxing’. Yoyoing is not Olympic level Gymnastics.
People mainly pick up yoyos to have fun… Not to force feed yourself a bucket of frustration.
Any skills are learned in increments. And positive results aren’t automatic just from practicing for hours and hours per day. Relentlessly practicing with poor techniques; only reinforce bad habits. Bad habits result in continued failure. Continued failure results in frustration. And once your negative mental block sets in; your chance at progress is doomed.
I am posting a link to a site that talks about ‘amounts of practice’ to get better. It is using Musical Instruments as the example. But actually applies to ‘most things practiced’. It is a long article but is Totally worth reading to get the proper perspective on effective learning.
Before I post up the link I will tell you what I have personally applied over the years in learning anything. Practice about 30 minutes at a time. With yoyos; if you are practicing Trapeze and missing and missing; just switch to another move. Some people say you have to learn all yoyo tricks in a certain order. But there is no Strict Mandatory order. Just go to the Learn section of this Board and fiddle around with any tricks or trick segments in a level that suits you.
Realize that in the process of attempting to learn; you are developing coordination. As you develop your eye/hand timing; things will feel more intuitive and flow better. As you develop flow; your mind will relax and your movements will start coming together.
Spending hours forcing yourself to get results is counterproductive. Your mind gets negative, your muscles get tight and you just get Burned out😳
With the correct mindset; throwing yoyos can be rewarding on many levels. It is a hobby, a pastime, a fun activity(either alone or with friends) a relaxing distraction from daily problems, etc.
Approaching yoing with unrealistic goals of forcing yourself to learn tricks; is a perfect recipe for Failure.
Anyway, here’s the link>
How Many Hours a Day Should You Practice? | Bulletproof Musician
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I’ve always found that slow and steady wins the race. I try to learn 1 trick a day, or at least 1 element of a trick a day. I try to incorporate past tricks and elements into combos that flow well. Its about having fun. If you aren’t having fun or are getting frustrated, slow down.
Break tricks up into pieces and go slow. I really appreciate the analogy of yoyo to learning an instrument. Precision > Speed.
Hey guys, thanks for the replies. It’s all good. Thanks for the great advice. I never considered quitting and practicing only correct form throws is what I already do. Better to have a small arsenal of properly done tricks than messy throws. I practice for a TOTAL of hours over the day. 15 minutes here and there and when I get something right three times in a row I take a break. Again, all of your advice is great. Thank you.
I find this happens to me all the time. Looking at others, I just hit the one year mark, but I am nowhere near as good as other people who have been doing it for a year. It took me awhile to learn looping, but I set it down to just do more 1A, but when I picked it back up, it was just easier. I think clearing your mind and taking it with a open and happy mind makes learning much easier. Currently I am trying to learn Boingy Boingy and Pop N’ Fresh.
Listen to yoyodoc, he speaks the truth
I came from yoyoing in the 90s when I didn’t even know how to hit a trapeze let alone a side throw. I took a break (a long one) and picked back up 2010 or so when it seemed that the trapeze just clicked. It actually was not until last summer that I actually figured out how to throw a proper and clean breakaway, and improved my form of the side throw.
I try not to set myself any crazy unrealistic goals. It is nice to say that “I’m going to have this 1 trick down by the end of the week” and focus on working on that trick and perfecting the form. I had where I was learning Ladder Escape. The first couple days I wasn’t having it at all, and was beginning to develop a dislike for it. I set it aside, and just messed with what I knew.
The next day I picked back up where I left off and somehow it just clicked, one of those “Aha! moments.” Fortunately that was the hardest part of the trick and the rest was all coasting downhill from there. I took the trick, broke it down in single steps and focused on a few at a time.
In the end, yoyoing to me isn’t a race, it’s a means of expressing creativity and relaxation. When I first attended a yoyo contest as a spectator, my brother was telling me that I’m going to be schooled by a bunch of 12 year olds. My response was “Yea, so…I’m here for my enjoyment, not to try and prove myself to anyone.” Just take the time, enjoy the ride. If you rush through your tricks, your trick execution is going to come off very sloppy.
Yoyoing is also a good stress reliever for me, especially 2016 where I faced a couple deaths and recent loss of a job (company went under). Whether if I was grinding my way through a new trick to learn or just repeating the stuff I already know and just linking a bunch of things together, it got me to tune out the outside world.