For your entertainment: my 4CBD video

[Nick1974]

Inspired by Mohammed's video clips I have decided to film some of my own practice sessions, and share with the tribe.

For your entertainment, here's a video clip of me performing a very shaky 4 corner balance drill.

Hopefully it will give you some perspective to your own practice, and give you something to compare your own performance against.

If nothing else, it should give you good laugh. :)

http://s31.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=08LEF207YPWN00DGFGTDCCJZWN

[Dan Chomycia]

Nick,

Your FCBD looks a lot like mine after my bad week! :oops:

Where are doing it though?
The garage or the dungeon?

[KD Jones]

Did you have to bounce an interior decorator this week, Coach?

That's how my 4cbd looks when my family is helping me stand up. On my own, it's really wierd.

Nick, in all seriousness, I think it's really cool that you posted this. Your idea that it will give folks an idea of what other folks are working on is right on. With this community being accepted as a tribe, I think it's important to retain the idea of "practicing together" somehow. If we were all in the same physical session, we'd all see everything everyone else does. That's what happens when people study together. People like you who step up and post without needing to feel "perfect," move us one step closer to being a real classroom.

Keep it up. The guts and work are good from the get-go, and being able to see other's progress (rather than just their chosen "end points") will be of benefit to everyone.

Blessings. Thank you. Stay challenged.

[Nick1974]

Nick,

Your FCBD looks a lot like mine after my bad week! :oops:


:lol: and that was a good week for me. :lol:


KD,
thanks for your comments. They sum up my thoughts exactly. I thought it was time to show some 'imperfect practice' that was taking place by 'ordinary folks in the trenches'.

[Coach Flanagan]

Nick, Respect. You provided yourself as an example for "imperfect practice" not in spite of, but because of your own perceived deficits. Thanks for putting yourself out there.

Though, I noticed your balance is only shaking at the transitional movements and for a few seconds after getting into each position. My suggestion, before you do your 4CBD for the normal length of time you tend to it for, try 3 rounds with 3 seconds in each position. Do this for 3 weeks and then get back to me. I hope this will work out great for you.

[Dave O]

...I thought it was time to show some 'imperfect practice' that was taking place by 'ordinary folks in the trenches'.

Nick,

Thanks for posting the demo. I have a quick question for you. Where you focused and practicing up to your current ability while doing the demo? If so, I would not say your practice is "imperfect." I would say that it was quality practice at you current level, and quality practice leads on to the next increment of your progress.

Does that make sense or is it just semantics?

Cheers,

[Connie Brown]

Nick this is great. Love the scenery too.

One question: when you rate the RT for the 4CBD, what do you rate it on?

[Scott Sonnon]

Nick, good solid practice, amigo. :D Keep going!

[Nick1974]

Sean,
I'll give that a shot. 3 rounds each session, holding each position for 3 seconds, maybe adding more seconds every few sessions. The lack of balance isn't a 'balance problem' per say, its superfluous tension pulling me off balance.

Dave,
yes that was performed at my current level of ability and I have worked up to it, but, some days are better than others.

Connie,
Good question. To be honest I hadn't thought about it. Now I will. When putting leg to front and rear planes RPT would be 8, RPD would be 2. When going to the side planes RPT would be about 3 and RPD would be about 5. My legs just 'don't want to go there'. Tension in the hips is holding them back and it is painful too (notice the grimace on my face). Now that you've got me thinking about it, I should 'choke back' on my attempts to get the leg high to the side, and keep the RPT>8 and RPD<3. I will need to keep the leg low. I was getting ahead of myself in that particular session and trying to force progress. I was guilty of not adhering to the CST principles. :roll: . Thanks for alerting me to that!

Coach,
thanks for the encouragement, I will definitely keep going.

Thanks to all - great to get some feedback on one's practice, and some fresh perspective. :)

[Connie Brown]

Nick, I'm laughing here. I was just curious and now you accidentally made me sound like a brilliant practitioner of the Socratic method (wild peals of laughter)

I've been back and forth on what I rate for the RT. Started with height, then went for how wobbly, then I noticed the relationship between height and wobbly. Meanwhile still had those wildly variable days. sometimes good, sometimes bad. Then I started to watch how relaxed I was while doing it.

Right now I think of it as "effortless balance" and it's a combination of both height and wobbly. So, effortless balance at a low level is one thing, but effortless balance at a high level is another. I should probably call it efficiently effective balance.

And it still varies. Things that make you go, hmmmm.