How to throw a yoyo.

First of all, this is not a joke.
I’ve been wondering if I should write this guide… some of you may think it’s weird because “duh, of course I can throw a yoyo”, but after seeing how people do it, I think why not.
If you think you are too good to read this, then please don’t.
Here is the thing, I’m not talking about if you can throw straight or powerful, it’s about if you can do it without looking too… sluggish.

What you will (possibly) get if you follow this guide:
-Preventing injuries.
-Ability to throw more effectively.
-Understanding simple physics going on when throwing.
-Reducing “throw vibe”.

Lets start.
[The Basics]
Try this, take a random unresponsive yoyo, throw it down, then bind.
Now, throw it down, but as it reaches the middle of the string immediately tug it back to your hand.
Easy enough?
This will be the basic of this entire guide. Make sure you can do it on every yoyo you have (or some if you had massive collection).

[Soft Landing]
Okay, now lets do something a bit more tricky. This time throw a hard breakaway, touch the yoyo to slow it down a bit, then bind. You will notice that upon throwing, at the end of the string the yoyo will “drop”, sometimes violently especially if you had string centering bearing which tend to amplify this drop. This possibly be the source of mid finger injuries for most new players, as they tend to throw as hard as they could.
Here is the trick, throw it with power ONLY when the string is still grabbing the response, once it reaches the “drop zone” stop increasing the spin, instead try to cushion the yoyo making it drop as soft as possible. If it’s too difficult thinking that way, just imagine that the string wrapping around the bearing is so thin it will break easily.
If you have looping yoyos, learn to do “cushioned” around the world.

[Polishing Up]
Now you already know how to soft landing, that’s all there is to it. At this point try different yoyos with different weight distribution, try to throw hard, try to throw easy. Solid yoyos (with more rim weight/wider gap) tend to unroll the string longer, throw them less quickly but with more power. Floaty yoyos (with middle weight/narrower gap) tend to unroll the string quicker therefore throw with quick movement.

Notice the difference.

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Also, as you get more experienced you tend to just feel when a yoyo is going to jump back at you.

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That drop is about 1/3 of the way down the string, at which the string length is “wasted” in a sense that you don’t get any more power out of it. This is the “clunk” that you feel on the throw and it can be more or less noticeable depending on weight distribution, gap width, and grippiness of the response.

This is actually very useful information

Good job with the info. This might sound really weird but I call the drop (in specially hard drops) “powdered throws” just cuz they remind of a yoyo hitting something like sand. Don’t ask me why.

You forgot step 1: Get off your computer.

You lost me at step one. I got a perfectly good sandwich stuck in the disc drive.

Flat bearings reduce this effect, one reason to love them.

Lol I completely missed that.

I don’tthink anyone is “too good” to read this . Good job :slight_smile:

Thanks, as a matter of fact not everyone wants to appreciate what I’m doing though, I’ve seen some who only have bad things to say, so I feel the need to put that line…
Glad this forum is really positive and friendly.

Shouldn’t string type/thickness be factored into this as well? There’s a pretty huge difference between say Kitty Fat and TS A1

Yes, thick string basically have similar effect to narrower gap, and vice versa.