To improve, I just throw a lot. I figure I’ll keep getting better the more I do it and I like doing it so it’s a win/win. Whenever I feel my routine is getting stale, I’ll learn a new trick or two.
A specific thing I do to help improve my precision and flow is to make sure I use a less forgiving yoyo every so often, so I don’t start getting sloppy.
Lots of Adderall. Joking, drugs are bad (for real, it’s poison if you’re not prescribed it)
Traded damn near all of my unresponsives for responsives, that should get my responsive game better, lol.
The biggest thing that’s held me back in yoing (and a LOT of other things throughout my life)…is I internalize my failures.
“I can’t do something, therefor I suck >:(.”
I’ve never quite figured this one out. I don’t know how to not care when I can’t get something.
I go from being all hyped up and excited…to trying something and not being able to get it…to trying over and over and over only to continue not getting it…into getting upset with myself and internalizing this as a sign that I just suck…and this negative attitude just builds on itself and gets even more amplified when I see other people getting what I can’t get and feeling like I’m falling more and more behind.
And at some point…I give up.
I haven’t really thrown for like 2 years now. I linger around and will pick up a throw once in a great while…and I’m amazed at how much of what I have learned has been retained given the fact I don’t practice consistently anymore…but it’s hard as heck to keep enthusiastic when I continuously beat myself with a baseball bat…
I’m the same way with a lot of things I’ve jumped into over the years…I don’t know that it’s even possible for me to break this mindset trap I fall into time and time again. I feel like it’s just hardwired into me.
/end ramble
We are SOOO hard on ourselves for no reason. Doing this with hobbies is a bad thing.
When I´m trying to progress, I use always the same yoyo (flashback). I want to achieve a point where this yoyo becomes second nature. To inspire me I also watch Yuki Nishisako’s routines. To avoid getting bored of this particular yoyo I intend to buy the same yoyo in different colors. Although using always the same color presents some advantage - if your eyes get used to a certain color pattern in movement, they react faster. I think that is why we see many pros in contests take with them multiples of the same color.
i play every day.
that’s really it.
and that alone takes care of the “improving” part (at a semi-glacial pace which is good enough for me). so the trick is not “how do i improve?” but “how do i keep WANTING to throw every day, for decades?” what i’ve found for that one is, ironically, to play for myself without hanging anything on whether or not i improve. just keep leaning in fun directions, guided more by whimsy than any extrinsic standard.
There speaks a man who has never put together a stage routine haha 
It serves no purpose to beat yourself up, and call yourself a failure.
But I would say critiquing yourself is necessary for improvement.
Im finding myself in a similar boat, what im trying to do is find a few smaller elements to build on stuff i know, and then a couple harder tricks, and then work on each one but only for a few minutes a session or day (when i get annoyed with one, i stop and work on the other ones.) And then a few minutes on tricks i know but try to combo in diferent ways. This way i don’t dwell too much on harder new stuff and enjoy time each day on stuff im landing. At least I think its helping me, placebo maybe?
I find I am simply so gifted I dont ding my yoyos, nor do I bruise my inflated ego!!
Practice over carpet, grass or a yoga matt. I prefer to ding my yoyos on tables,walls,office furniture etc, its much more rewarding that way.
You prefer shorter strings do you not? I would have thought that alone should help not to get dings?
To be honest I dont improve much , we started at the same time and I am so far behind you its night and day.
Trick-a-Week on yye… I’ve been at it for 3 years now. Best thing for your practice. Come join us!
Well - it’s probably ok if you start off with a 95% fail rate re: facing your own 95% failure rate re: learning a yoyo tricks.
It took me twenty years to learn the stupid UFO trick. I started yoyoing in the 90s as a middle schooler fueled by Coca Cola branded yoyos in Hong Kong where I lived then stopped until the late aughts when I picked it up again nostalgically when my roommate scored a bunch of old school Hyper Russell fixed axles off of eBay that were the descendents of the yoyos I used to use. After messing with it for the first time in along time, I got it.
Fast forward to now rediscovering yoyos again during the pandemic, I finally figured out shooting the moon, which also super perplexed me both prior times I was playing semi regularly.
Through most of my life the best expansions in skills I have made at anything (yoyoing, cooking, sports, surgery) are setting some goals for direction and then present, observant practice that may not actually be that directed in the moment other than just paying attention to what I am doing and what happens and then trying it again and seeing what happens. Failure is info rather than an inherent quality of you.
Of course, sometimes your brain or heart gets full and you don’t need any more “info” for a while. So breaks are inherent in the process.
It’s not been easy for me; I still suck at sucking a lot of the time and rage with impatience frequently.
Ultimately there is no way but through unless you’re ok with stopping and doing something else.
One cool book to check out even if you don’t play tennis is The Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallwey — it’s helped get into a more healthy flow state (aka, in the zone) more often and work with my failures instead of burying myself in emotional wreckage.
The progress you’ve been displaying in your Instagram videos has been impressive to behold. I like that you’re not only acquiring new tricks, but also developing killer flow.
Thank you very much.
I just want to agree and say that @LX_Emergency , you consistently bring the heat in your videos and your progress is mad impressive.
I usually buy more yo-yos and tell myself it’s going to help me learn new tricks. So far it’s really improved my collection.
I love this post lol
honestly bro get a yoga mat or a work mat to stand on. not only will you never ding a yoyo again. if you get a dark colored one you can see the string better too and your knees/back will thank you!
specific yoyos that i use as my daily carries and don’t care too much if they get a ding or 2. i try to only daily ones they are a hard aluminum like one drop. but trust me the mat or rug will help with that issue a lot.
as far as getting better… i just throw. i pick a couple elements and one hard trick to learn and just only work on those for almost 3 weeks or longer until its muscle memory. then it makes similar tricks or elements that much easier to learn. also spending time playing with yoyos that arent just V shaped unresponsives will help smooth out your tricks.
Thank you all for the well minded tips. I did buy a carpet and that helps. But i also taught myself to play less sloppy and that helped too.
I’ve also grown over my fear/apprehension of buying new throws…i currently own around 50 or so.
I still just practise every day and learn new tricks at least a couple of times a week.
And what i enjoy in this thread most of all is people who share their personal philosophy/outlook when it comes to throwing. Thanks for all the answers so far.