Club Obi Wan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkTBjgt9eL4

Hey Everyone!

This is a video of me after about a month of practice with whip cracking. I'm simply demonstrating some of my usual cracks along with a short little combination routine thingy at the end.

The whip I'm using is a 5 foot Kangaroo leather bullwhip made by Nick Ammann.

Please leave a comment and rating and let me know how you think I'm doing. Any tips about technique and stuff like that are especially welcome. Thanks!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkTBjgt9eL4

One month? Pretty good! As you did in the beginning of the video..... well...that was me at one month. But for a beginner you are doing great!
Keep Cracking!
~Fatcatrocky

You've got some pretty cool moves there. I got my whip for Christmas (that's seven months in case you're counting)and can't do a lot of those!

Looking great!

The one thing I would suggest is that you raise your circus cracks up a just a little bit. Right now, you're pulling the whip DOWN slightly into the crack, rather than pushing it straight OUT in front of you. Therefore the crack is happening at about waist height or lower.

Now there's NOTHING wrong with this for when you're doing the multiple cracking combinations you're doing, (By the way: One month? Seriously? Just one month! Good on ya, man!) but when you start to do target cutting, you might have some initial problems, (because your muscle memory is going "circus crack? I can do that!" and not listening to your brain saying "keep the whip pointed OUT not DOWN.") The whip will either pass right underneath the target because it's not extending to its full length in front of you, or if you HIT the target, the whip won't crack because it hasn't yet accelerated to its full speed, (this can also be dangerous to whoever is holding the target, as the whip crack is the RELEASE of most of that energy...which according to mathematicians Goriely and McMillan, can reach a force of up to 50,000 times that of normal gravity! If that energy is transferred to something, say...a human hand...before it dissapates with the crack...well...ouch!)

The way I overcame this is by actually visualizing a target. Pick a point out in front of you, at about shoulder level; knot on a tree, sign, etc. etc. that is well out of range of the whip. Point at that when you crack the whip.

And I do mean "point at it." Rather than letting your arm drop below shoulder height BEFORE the whip crack. Keep that arm out there. The whip is an extension of the arm, and to get it to roll out straight, your arm must roll out straight as well, and to hit a target in front of you, the arm should be extended and parallel to the ground, not angled toward it.

I used to grip my whip with my thumb on "top" of the handle, (in line with the "spine" curve of the whip.) When I'd do target cutting, I'd point at the target with my thumb, (these days, I use the "pivot grip" as it is the same "Tactical V" grip technique used in other martial arts, knife, sword, and tactical handgunning junk I get into. I know our gracious Moderator, Bullwhip Borton, advocates the "Thumb-Pointing" method. They're both greatly effective, and it's just a matter of preference. I honestly think it's easier to LEARN targeting with the "Thumb-Pointing" method, and the only reason I use a pivot grip now is for consistancy across multiple disciplines; the whip makes me a better marksman/swordsman/martial artist, and those other skills make me better with a whip...)

When the whip actually cracks, you should be able to sight down your arm, and your thumb should be pointed at the target. Lower your arm into the follow-through only AFTER the whip has cracked and the target is cut.

I used to teach people to do a circus crack and hold the arm straight out there for a second. Once the whip has cracked, the whip has fully extended, (and if done properly, has extended in a straight line directly from your hand, which if pointed at the target, means that the target has now exploded is a supersonic BANG!)

Thing is, all that happens so fast, that after a little practice it will become one smooth, circular motion.

Now, as I said...There is NOTHING wrong with what you're doing, and in a lot of ways the way you're currently cracking that whip, it's what works BEST for getting loud, sharp cracks out of a shorter whip. But when you get a longer whip, (and you no doubt WILL get a longer whip. We all do...It's inevitable,) that small amount you're pulling down now will become amplified. Just practice pointing AT things. You don't have to have a target stand, or a specific place or anything. Just find a spot and point the whip at it. Do it OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER.

Trust me, it works! I spent the better part of two cold Winters and wet Springs here in Southeast Ohio doing forward flicks at a knot on the wall of the living room in my cabin, (ah, the joys of bachelorhood!) and when I finally emerged into the sun, I was hitting targets with accuracy I'd never had before!

Good choice on the Ammann whip as well. I've handled a bunch of his stuff, from his earliest whips, (which were BEAUTIFUL, even though he'd only every PHYSICALLY handled his own whips,) to more recent pieces of Kangaroo Beauty!

All the best! Keep up the awesome work!

-Dan

The Other Dan as always has put it very succinctly. Nothing to add

LOL the opening is the best part!

In all seriousness though, you're doing fine!

Kyle