Need advice on "The Flick"

[Bardoon]

I've watched all the videos I can find on it and tried numerous techniques. Maybe there's something someone can help me out with something I haven't seen or heard.

I have a 9 ft. whip and I keep hitting myself in the back, or the back of my head, back of my arm, etc. when performing the forward and side flicks.

I've follow Adam's video on starting with the whip in front and pulling it back and under. I've also following the other videos and tried starting with the whip straight behind me. A few times it wasn't, so perhaps that was causing me to whack myself. I might also be pointing the handle backwards instead of perpindicular from my body and that pulls the whip into me when I pull forward. Could that be the case?

I have no trouble getting the whip to crack when I do get it right on the rare occassions. It's just more often than not I hit myself in the back before I get the whip forward enough to make that hairpin curve.

I'm sorry I can't post a video here of me doing it.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks everyone!

[Shagbd]

First off let me caveat by saying i am a TOTAL Newb...
This week was about the ONE MONTH point for me...
in fact i was asking the same questions not too long ago, but i am going to give credit where credit is due and say that ALL i have learned has been from talking to Lauren and Dan (Thefish)
they have litterally TALKED me thru this stuff.
so maybe i can help since the flick is one I feel i have down pat...

One thing they told me that stuck with me is that you HAVE to keep the whip flowing in a straight line.
Thsi was easy for me to understand since I have studied Anthony Delongis' swordplay and treatise on Destreza rapier swordwork , but thats neither here nor there... the point is the whip has to travel on the same PLAIN in order for the hairpin to throw...
As Lauren told me, imagine your are beside a wall...... you cant help the whip swing OUT.... it has to follow that line all the way....
ALSO another key element is to give the whip time to crack... the longer the whip, the longer the way.
my problem was that i was throwing my hand out and pulling it back as soon as it got out... but the whip is moving behind your hand....... so thow... and wait...

My videos **** and I am such a newb that I hesitate to even give advice at this point because I am still learning, but i do a few flicks in this video if it helps.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2-axb15Ym8

Another thing is about good form and body movement, as Dan said, the art of the whip is a study in CHI... its all about flow... easy, dont overmuscle it... the softer the better the results... the wave starts from YOU and flows thru the whip....

[McFly]

Maybe I'll make and post a video tomorrow??

With the whip starting behind you, and holding the whip up by your shoulder with the butt of the whip facing where you're facing, you'll pull it forward (dragging it), then push it out in front of you, extending your arm in a straight line (not leaning it left or right, like Shagbd said), and at the last second, cocking your wrist forward so that the whip can roll out. Make sure you push the whip all the way out in front of you before you cock your wrist to make the crack.

Drag. Push. Roll.

After you cock your wrist, leave your arm out straight in front of you, with your thumb pointing down the length of the whip. Try not to aim it into the ground!

Also, make sure you have a good stance, with your feet shoulder width apart, both facing forward, and with your knees slightly (or more than slightly, depending on preference) bent. Don't lean forward or backwards, either. You should be comfortable! Most importantly, don't be afraid of the whip, and know that it will do *exactly* what you tell it to do, even if you mean to tell it something else.

Let me know if that helps, or if you'd like me (or even somebody else! I'm sure others can explain it, too) to make a quick video for you.

Shane

[LemonLauren]

When I was first learning the flick, I hit myself constantly too. ) I finally figured out that when I was pulling the whip back to extend it behind me, I was moving the handle just a little bit too far so that it was pointed more behind and diagonally across to the other side of my body, even though it felt like I was stopping it when it was exactly perpendicular to my body. The trick (for me) to learning to not hit myself was to literally turn my neck and glue my eyeballs to the handle of the whip as I extended it back behind my body. So long as I was intently staring at the handle as I swung it, it seemed to behave correctly. Eventually my muscles started to remember that feeling, and I stopped having to watch it every time.

So that's what worked for me... hope it might help you a little also, perhaps. Everyone else seems to have lots of good advice too! ) Good luck!

[Shagbd]

OOOH!
is this the thread where we show off SCARS? )

[Bardoon]

OOOH!
is this the thread where we show off SCARS? )

Hahaha! Wouldn't that be a sight?

Thank you all for the advice. McFly, if you could do a video, I'd greatly appreciate it. The flick to me is one of the simplest moves to do, but can take a while to master it fully.

Thanks again everyone for the advice, I'm actually going to print this out and bring it out with me next time I can get a whip-cracking practice in (which would be RIGHT NOW if it wasn't thunderstorming and raining outside).

[TurnerME]

I've watched all the videos I can find on it and tried numerous techniques. ...

I've follow Adam's video on starting with the whip in front and pulling it back and under.

It sounds like you have watched it, but this video from Adam is the best explanation/demo of "The Flick" that I have found.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od7JBEIQj7M

[Indiana Venkman]

I love these kinds of threads, great stuff. I hope this isn't a hijack but could someone explain the underhand flick as well? I really am having a hard time getting that one. And yes, I too have been hitting myself in the back and te back of the head with the side and over hand flicks, but less and less every day.

[techrtr]

First off let me caveat by saying i am a TOTAL Newb...
This week was about the ONE MONTH point for me...
in fact i was asking the same questions not too long ago, but i am going to give credit where credit is due and say that ALL i have learned has been from talking to Lauren and Dan (Thefish)
they have litterally TALKED me thru this stuff.
so maybe i can help since the flick is one I feel i have down pat...

One thing they told me that stuck with me is that you HAVE to keep the whip flowing in a straight line.
Thsi was easy for me to understand since I have studied Anthony Delongis' swordplay and treatise on Destreza rapier swordwork , but thats neither here nor there... the point is the whip has to travel on the same PLAIN in order for the hairpin to throw...
As Lauren told me, imagine your are beside a wall...... you cant help the whip swing OUT.... it has to follow that line all the way....
ALSO another key element is to give the whip time to crack... the longer the whip, the longer the way.
my problem was that i was throwing my hand out and pulling it back as soon as it got out... but the whip is moving behind your hand....... so thow... and wait...

My videos **** and I am such a newb that I hesitate to even give advice at this point because I am still learning, but i do a few flicks in this video if it helps.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2-axb15Ym8

Another thing is about good form and body movement, as Dan said, the art of the whip is a study in CHI... its all about flow... easy, dont overmuscle it... the softer the better the results... the wave starts from YOU and flows thru the whip....

Wow, if I can do what you're doing after a month, I'll be pretty proud of myself.

[McFly]

Thank you all for the advice. McFly, if you could do a video, I'd greatly appreciate it. The flick to me is one of the simplest moves to do, but can take a while to master it fully.

I'll see what I can do for ya, buddy!

Shane

[IndyFan89]

I can't seem to get get it down either.

[thefish]

I had this problem with a flick for a long time myself.

What I found was...and here we go again...keeping the whip moving in a VERY straight plane is the key to learning to control the whip, (I swear, if I had a nickel for every time I said that when talking about whip cracking...I'm like Tony "It's All Technique!" Little except...well, taller...and I don't have a pony-tail anymore, and I'm not on steroids....nor on speed....And I don't wear polo shirts with spandex shorts....I don't wear spandex at all actually, and I'm not blonde....OK...So I'm nothing like Tony Little...And I'm thankful for that...)

One thing that helps is keeping the whip fairly close to your body. That of course runs the risk of hitting yourself and then it's a self-perpetuating cycle with this problem. You throw the whip out of proper alignment, so you end up hitting yourself, which makes you gunshy, and so you continue to throw the whip out of proper alignment, which makes you hit yourself more. Catch 22, (or at least it was for me.)

Don't think of this move as being like a "Slashing" attack, like loop-based circus and overhead cracks are. Think of this as being a thrust. You're going to "Push" the whip at the target, not cast it like a fishing line.

One thing that helped me a LOT in terms of keeping the whip straight on forward flicks was to actually stand near a wall. About 2.5-3 foot away will do it. And don't let the whip hit the wall. Keep the whip parallel to the wall and perpendicular to the ground throughout the whole motion, from "load to throw to crack to follow-thru.) Once you get a feel for it, move away from the wall.

If you don't have a structure to do this near, then use a sidewalk with a yard beside it. STAND on the sidewalk, with your the foot on your dominant hand side near the edge by the grass. Let the whip drag through the grass, but keep it off the concrete. Just about anywhere there's a relatively straight line to guide off of. Racquetball and basketball courts, buildings, patterns in carpet, edges of sidewalks, even those furrows you get in a newly mowed yard, (though watch that. Didn't Crystal Gayle sing "Don't It Make My Whitehide Fall Green?" Maybe not.)

That will build the muscle memory and the feel for it. Then, throwing a sidearm or a diagonal flick or a backhand or underhand or whatever will be INCREDIBLY simple. Start linear, get the basics, and then start working on non-linear..

All the best, and happy cracking!

-Dan

[McFly]

TheFish gives good tips!!

I went out and made one of those little videos today, and here it is!
I had to cut some stuff out because I have a weird habit of being very longwinded (camera shyness?). Anyway, I'm no professional, but I hope this video shows you something that'll make something "click" for you, and help you pick up this move. Also, I did a few overhead cracks at the end, just for fun because that's one of my favorite cracks to do, and also kind of to show how mine is different from Adam's.

Here ya go!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XfAgsJ0VmE

Shane

[Bardoon]

Shane!!! Thank you so much!!! Your video mentioned something that I didn't see (probably didn't pay attention to it enough) and hear mentioned in a lot of the flick videos I've seen before.

The DRAG! I was more so pulling my whip's thong fully into the air when I would do the flick instead of letting it drag along the ground. I will definitely be trying that! I would right now but once again, it's raining outside. But that drag seems extremely critical and that's probably why I kept hitting myself because I was pulling the whip off the ground!

I did practice some this weekend and did some slow forward flicks that went a long well. I concentrated more on just getting getting that curve to crack and it worked out well. But yes, I was whacking myself again.

One thing I have NOT seen a video concentrate on is the underhand flick. If you ever go outside and decide to do another, I'd greatly appreciate that!

Oh and I don't mind you or anyone else being long-winded, I feel it's better to put MORE information out there than leave so much open to assumption. By just mentioning how you break down the flick, I may have caught why I was messing up and hitting myself so much!

Thank you so much once again Shane! Oh and thank you to you too TheFish!!!! I'll certainly try keeping my back to something as well for muscle memory.

[McFly]

Wow! I'm VERY glad that it helped you. I really like making those videos, (I think it's good for me, too!) and it makes it even better when others appreciate them, too!

Yeah, try it with the dragging. IMO, the forward flick is probably one of the most gentle cracks you can do. It's very relaxed and slow, you want to keep it very simple, and let the whip do all the work. Like Anthony Delongis says, "The whip wants to crack on its own!" It's made to crack - you just have to show it how to get there.

Shane

[hollywood1340]

An important sidenote on this is the less you use, the less you have to control. Important IMO for safety. IF something goes wrong you can stop, fix it, and move on.

[Bardoon]

SHANE!

The DRAG was certainly the "Lost Ark" I was looking for....to use Indy terms.

We had a beautiful day out and I just got back in from practicing and the drag was the KEY! Once I allowed the whip to drag instead of trying to pull it into the air, I had the flick DOWN! Front and Sidearm and the loud crack at the end said it all!

Thank you SOOOO much!

Now to work on my underarm, that one I need practice on. And I'm working on my Figure-8 (I've had a few lucky ones where it came out perfect) before I'll move onto the Tasmanian Cutback.