Hi, i’m practicing grinding today and got Finger grind , Palm grind and throw hand grind down but i can’t do the thumb grind . Can you guys me with it ??
And also does the ONE yoyo inner rim is hard for me to put my thumb on ?
Yeah, some yoyos are a bit tricky to do thumb grinds with if they’re not specifically designed for it. It’s easiest with a throw that has a lip and it’s possible with a yoyo with a flat inner rim if you tilt the yoyo a bit.
I don’t have my ONE anymore to check but assuming it’s got a flat inner rim, I have two tips:
- be gentle when you’re moving your thumb into the rim. Should just get your thumb in and not poke the yoyo.
- cushion the drop of the yoyo by bringing your throwhand (or whichever thumb you’re using) down slightly when your thumb hits the rim.
Hope that helps!
Yuki
well , i’m looking at the ONE right now and the width of the rim is about 1cm so i would guess it’ll be hard to do it :-?
1cm is plenty if it’s a flat rim. It’s not going to work if the rim is sloped no matter how wide it is. I’m amazed you’ve gotten this far with a ONE! Maybe it’s time to upgrade to something that’s a better match for your ability.
Yuki
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well , i’m practicing 7 hour/day , 7day/week so i’m not suprise if your amazed ^^ , and i was thinking to making a switch to Dark Magic II because i love that yoyo and also because it has nice wide gap and with 2 rim on each side and a with a long and stable “Sleeper” .
Just a word of advice on the DM2. It’s great but to do thumb grinds, you’ll have to remove the plastic caps and it looks a bit ugly (in my opinion) with the caps off.
Yuki
Nah , i don’t care . you should see my ONE , i removed the cap on two side ^^ . but with the DM2 , i guess i’ll just remove the YYJ side , that way i could save the DM2 side ^^
You can do a thumb grind with the caps on, it just makes it a bit harder.
I learned on a Duncan drifter. I first started by doing a trapeze and inserting my thumb. After i got comfortable doing that every time I moved on to step two. I would do a finger grind and then insert mythumb and then move my finger away. Then i started popping the YoYo up from a sleeper onto a finger grind to thumb. Eventually I just started popping the YoYo from a sleeper to a thumb and now I’m able to do a thumb grind from any swinging location. Example :coming out of double or nothing most do a ferris wheel out, as the YoYo comes all the way out and is swinging back to my throw hand for what appears to be a trapeze brother, i let the YoYo hang and do thumb grind. Let the YoYo turn around 180 and drop continuing front style. Have fun.
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I can do it just fine on my genesis, I would recommend getting a yo-yo without hub stacks or removing yours if that is possible
just find a yoyo that you can progress with faster instead of practicing so long. It will make it easier. Go to the help section and people will point you in the right direction if you explain if you like over sized vs smaller yoyos, wider or less wide gaps, price, good for thumb grinds etc… GL
Well , the DM2 , Speeder , Genesis, Supernova are the kind of yoyo that i like . Big , heavy and can be good on practicing grinding :), plus is made out of metal
enter your thumb in the rim gently try not to touch the inside of the yoyo or it will slow down the spin dramatically. using a yoyo glove might help get more spin,a nice strong throw might help too
I suggest the maverick or dm2 if you are looking for reasonably priced yoyos. they also have some depth to them which is perfect for thumb grinding. Throw a breakaway into a trapeze then begin to grind 
hope I have helped.
I first learned to thumb grind on a DV888, it has extremely wide rims but the finish makes it hard to keep on, I simply threw it angles a little so that my thumb would slide into it until I got the hang of it