video from yoyoRewind, [Important PRO Trick!!] 2.0 Hook [REWIND Yo-Yo Trick Tutorial] YoYoExpert Releases and Restocks
The key to landing a Hook trick is matching the rotational speed of the slack loop with the exact timing of the yoyo’s drop. The yoyo’s trajectory is relatively straightforward—a vertical pop followed by a free fall. The slack loop, obviously, is the much more complex part to control.
My initial understanding was that the loop’s speed depends on a balance between the initial kinetic energy from the TH whip, and the tension created by the NTH pressing down on the string. I used to think the NTH press was the critical factor here: pressing down generates tension and shortens the effective rotating radius, which accelerates the loop’s rotation. Many video including yoyoRewind tutorials emphasize this NTH press, and I believed it too before doing this tracking analysis.
However, after reviewing my own slow-mo footage, I noticed a flaw in my execution. I was carrying over my habits from the 1.5 Hook, pressing down way too much with my NTH. This excessive pull used up too much available string length, leaving my TH without enough slack to form a sufficiently large U-shaped loop to cross my TH pointer and catch the yoyo.
To get a clearer picture of what was actually happening, I used the motion analysis software Kinovea to track the trajectories of both hands frame by frame.
As you can clearly see in the attached GIF, both hands are actually moving in a circular motion. The TH moves faster and draws a noticeably larger circle. This indicates that the tension driving the loop’s acceleration doesn’t just come from the NTH pressing down; the outward pulling motion of the TH as it draws that circle also contributes a significant amount of tension to the loop.
English isn’t my first language, so please excuse any weird phrasing (I used AI to help translate this).
For context, I only started throwing a month ago. I’ve got the 1.0 down, hit Beefhookwith in 2 days about a 20% success rate, then hook 1.5 in 1 day, and now I’m completely stuck on 2.0. Because I’m still relatively new, my analysis could be totally off, I just really want to share my thoughts with the community.
I’d love to hear your thoughts, corrections, or any different perspectives on this!