I have yoyoed on and off for a long time but haven’t been serious since like 5 years ago. At the time I was learning a lot of hop tricks and focusing on rail combo type stuff. Now I’m trying to learn slack tricks, which i had never really focused on before. Specifically I’m learning this: https://youtu.be/HePbsZnCWeE and the part where you whip the slack over the yoyo (front view at 3:37) is already more than I can handle lol. I’ve been trying for a while and I just end up in weird mounts with no slack to whip. I’m not really making this post to ask for help though, I’m mostly wondering what you guys do when you get stuck. If you take a break, how long do you take? Do you keep trying until you hit it? Do you have any tips for making something “click” mentally?
Switch styles usually like pick up the looper and I put down frustrating tricks to come back to later pretty quick usually now (took me a sec to learn this) it’s usually just not worth it unless the trick is super super sick or has lots of great stuff to lock up! good luck !
So you’d say to give up on a trick for a while until you have learned enough other tricks to make it easier? It hurts to even think about not pushing through lol, but maybe struggling for an hour on one element is a sign that I’m not ready
Yeah 100% like don’t totally forget about it but pushing too hard leads to burn out for me and I don’t like that I like it to feel fresh and fun like take a break and learn something easy but cool and then try later
That’s good to hear. I hate the thought but I’m going to try something a little easier and come back when I’m feeling fresher. Appreciate the input!
When I can’t hit a trick I’ve been trying to learn, I try not to force it. I back off from that trick and only try it a couple of times per day, with no set expectations. During that same time frame I focus on learning other new tricks, or continuing to smooth out old favorites. Usually, at some indeterminate time, I end up hitting that elusive trick, which gets me super excited. I usually land it again much more rapidly, and soon enough I feel confident about landing it most of the time.
Note - There are some tricks that have bedeviled me for a long time, and some that continue to do so. I like the idea that I’ll always have much to learn when it comes to yoyo.
It’s your yoyo’s fault. You should buy a new one. A new yoyo will always be better than any yoyo you have. Unfortunately every time I do this it never seems to help. Then I realize that my new yoyo isn’t new anymore and in fact I need a new yoyo, which will be better.
This has been my method as well, unfortunately I haven’t found much success with it but I’m pretty sure I just need to keep trying. Maybe more expensive will help too
The coolest thing about this as a hobby is that it is the closest thing I’ve ever seen to a truly infinite skill ceiling. While I’m glad that’s the case, it can be a bit frustrating at times
Personally I break a trick down into parts. And then learn each part separately and progress through like part 1 to part 2 to part 3 etc.
So it’s little tricks inside a larger trick - makes it easier for me and not feel as daunted.
I will step away from time to time, but usually for a couple of days and no longer until im rather consistent. But that’s just me
So this trick is definitely hard, I remember watching that tutorial the day it came out and it took me a few months to land it, and you’re at the hardest element!
Some tips:
When you begin to swing the yoyo around, don’t let go with your nonthrowhand fingers too quickly, the yoyo should already be coming around your throwhand when you let go, it’s this action that lets the slack form. If you release too early, you’ll find that your hands tend to spread apart or the yoyo shoots out and you don’t get slack
Note where the yoyo is when he releases the strings from his nonthrowhand, forming the slack, it’s past his throwhand and already coming around.
Next, make sure you actually grab the slack quickly enough, this is the part that tripped me up the longest. You have to very quickly pinch with basically your entire throwhand, effectively gripping the strings in your fist. Once you can get to a point where you effectively have this ‘double fist’ grip and the slack down between your hands (but running over both your fists, before you whip it around), it should get easier.
At this point you just kinda whip the slack over both your hands, pull apart, and catch in the right mount.
Now combine everything.
Damn, I was not expecting an annotated breakdown of the element lol. Thank you so much!! I was ready to quit but I feel a bit more confident about continuing.
my other anecdote is that my first time landing this trick was randomly attempting it after 2 months of not even considering it, and going “huh that was easier than I remember”
goes in line with the other comments of “sometimes you learn other stuff and it makes the things you struggle with easier”
About 4 months into learning, I started a trick that was well above my skill level and ended up getting burned out twice in a row from it. Eventually i figured out that if I touched it once a week, that was just enough to not lose what progress i had made, but with all the rest of my practice time i put it fully out of mind and worked on other things. If you can, see if there’s other tricks that use similar concepts, that make more sense or are a little easier for your hands to manage.
About two months later, I’d learned a lot more, gained more skills, and had kind of pieced together more of the specific cross-arm mount that had been tripping me up. If you keep poking at it from time to time, it’ll eventually make sense, but no use in killing your love for the hobby trying to force it imo.