Hey Reader,

We made it to part 3 of Flare with Flair! This is where we get to use the flare to actually go upside down, which is the super cool and badass thing that we’re all working towards.

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Before we get to that, lets go over the bullet points from parts 1 and 2:

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In Part 1, we talked about the Big Circle:

In Part 2, we talked about turning the pelvis in the Big Circle

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And how that relates to the leg pathway of the flare.

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And now we get to talk about the Slingshot. Yay!

What's the Slingshot?

If you’ve watched Apollo 13, or are familiar with science fiction, you might have heard about the Orbital Slingshot.

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Basically, this is when a spacecraft uses the gravity and orbital motion of a planet or moon to change its velocity and trajectory. This can be used to both speed up and slow down the spacecraft, but for the purposes of our analogy, we’re talking about speeding up.

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To speed up, the spacecraft enters the orbit of the celestial body in question, and gets dragged along by its gravity causing it to speed up. When it leaves the orbit, the increase in speed kind of “throws” it forward, like a slingshot.

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You can observe a similar sort of thing when I throw things on top of my spinning pottery wheel.

The speed of the wheel throws the thing off the wheel. The faster the wheel spins, the more speed it gets.

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When we apply this analogy to our flares, the spin is the planet or the pottery wheel, and we are the spacecraft or the random shit I’m throwing onto the pottery wheel.

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Except that we’re not projectiles being thrown through space.

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And we’re going to use the “throw” to help us create a moment of weightlessness, and then use that moment to help us invert.

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You might have noticed when practicing the Big Circle that as you move from the side to the front of your circle that there’s a moment when you start speeding up and kind of get pulled forward and across that front part of the circle.

Can you see the moment of acceleration as I move from the side to the front? That’s the Slingshot!

When you are approaching that position, you're on the side with your pelvis turned in. The legs are in a scissor shape with the front leg flexed at the hip and the back leg in extension.

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When you’re just circling, the front is where you switch from hips facing in in one direction, to hips facing in the other direction.

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When you add in keeping the legs apart, this front switch becomes a straddle. You have to lift your extended leg up and straddle in order to make the switch. That’s what allows you to switch legs when you switch the hips.

To use the flare to fully invert, that back leg has to lift with a little more force, and you have to do it at the right time.

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As you enter the moment of acceleration, the back leg drives up into the straddle. You “catch” the acceleration and it helps to propel you up, kind of like a slingshot!

Ta-da!

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The slingshot is going to get you much of the way there, but there is some straight arm inverting action that has to happen as the pelvis lifts. But there’s an element of timing there as well.

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You don’t start pushing down with your arms until your hips are already lifting. The slingshot propels the pelvis up, and the arms catch it while it’s lifting to finish the inversion.

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All of your other inverting technique applies here as well: don’t throw your head back, get your feet as high as you can before you flex your spine. Finish your inversion by stacking your pelvis over your shoulders.

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But if you’re utilizing your momentum, this should be a way to invert with straight arms even if you can’t straight arm invert more statically.

Here’s one more thought about working with momentum and dynamic skills in general:

There is only so much that coaching can teach you. Ultimately, one of the most important parts of mastering dynamic skills is “feel”, and that’s something that can’t be taught.

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It can only be experienced.

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I can tell you what it feels like to me, but I can’t tell you how it feels for you, and I can’t tell you how to feel it.

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You have to figure out how all of these things feel for yourself. And that takes a lot of practice and repetition.

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A LOT of repetition.

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And as you practice over and over and over again, whether it’s spinning, or beats, or whatever, you’re going to start recognizing the weightless moments, your opportunities for building power, and how you can work WITH your momentum instead of fighting it or trying to control it.

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Dynamic skills are a partnership between you, the momentum, and your apparatus. You have to accept and understand that you will never be 100% in control of what’s happening, and the more you fight that, the more you try to muscle your way through, or take charge, the longer it’s going to take you to master it.

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Do you have more questions about flares? Or dynamic skills in general? Or SOMETHING ELSE?

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Let me know what they are, I’ll answer them!

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Love,

Lauren