It’s almost May and that means it’s time to get that string off your finger and onto a counterweight. This month we’re going to try something a little different to hopefully encourage more people to pick up 5A, as well as exposing people to some new 5A tricks to learn. So there should be something here for all skill levels.
If you need some basic information to start:
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Shorten your string! The average 5A string length is between 90-100cm! Shortening your string will make everything easier to keep in line, 5A becomes much easier to control with shorter string. If you want maximum control, keep that string on the shorter end of the spectrum. If you want to slow things down just a bit, keep that string on the upper end of the spectrum. Both are valid, but I’d advise newer players to stay short.
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Every yoyo is a 5A yoyo! You don’t need any specific yoyo to play 5A. In my opinion the best 5A yoyo is the yoyo you’re most comfortable with for 1A. Whatever your 1A preferences are, you’re probably going to find yourself being comfortable with those same yoyos for 5A. I like big diameter yoyos that are narrow and heavy! But other people like small diameter yoyos that are wide and light. There’s no right or wrong yoyo to use for 5A, so just use whatever you like.
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Don’t be afraid to let go! Drops are an inevitable part of 5A. But yoyos are far more durable than you might think. Fear of letting go will make learning tricks and obtaining better control of the yoyo much harder. You might put a few scrapes or a ding on your yoyo, but you’re not going to break them. Yoyos are built to be played, I promise you they can take any 5A abuse you’ll throw at them. If you’re really worried about damage you can go outside and play over grass, and you should be safe from dings.
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Counterweights don’t really matter much! (but at the same time, they do matter). There’s no universally agreed upon “best” weight for a counterweight, or ideal ratio of counterweight weight vs. yoyo weight. The ratio has changed over the years, people used to say the counterweight should be 1/7th the weight of the yoyo, but in the past decade people have leaned more into saying 1/6th the weight of the yoyo is ideal for modern tricks. But the weight of the counterweight just depends on what kinds of 5A tricks you want to do, how long your string is, and your general speed of play. Anything in the 8-12 gram range is going to be universally good, and you should be able to learn anything you want to with any weight/yoyo combination. Just avoid counterweights that have sharp/pointy edges that might hurt you or things around you, or counterweights that have any kind of lip/ridge that could get caught on either the string or your clothing. Dice/cylinders/spheres/polyhedrons are the shapes of 99% of counterweights available for a reason, some people make novelty stuff work, but as a beginner sticking with the basics is preferrable.
If you need a counterweight, you can pick one up from YoyoExpert. All of these will be great options to start with. My personal favorites here are the Candy Dice Pro Original and Candy Dice Pro DK. I like counterweights with grooves because they make changing strings/swapping yoyos more convenient. I find bead counterweights to be a bit of a hassle to string up, but really you
should just buy whichever you think looks the coolest! Products – tagged "counterweight" – YoYoExpert
Now onto the tricks for this week!
For newer players: 360 → 720
This should help you start to understand momentum on the counterweight and how to just catch and release.
For advanced players: Tower to tower
Something a little short but techy to start it off with
