Topic: I'm having trouble landing kongs.

[CyanideSoda]

(Sorry if it's the wrong spot please point me to the right one.)

Ok guys so i'm having trouble landing my kongs. I can get my ass up,  i can dive out, i can plant my hands, i can tuck my legs back, i can get over, but i then i land on my knees/shins. Does anyone else have this trouble? Does anyone know a way to prevent it?

[Brian Belida]

Ouch, not a good spot to be landing :p
Are you landing on your knees / shins on the object, rail, or wall? Or on the ground?

I know you said you can get over but I thought I'd check so I can answer the right question :]

[kaos]

Try konging something higher.  If you posted a vid of your attempts, then we could really help you.

[Flippusmn]

Or do this.
When you  you stretch out making it hard to tuck your legs real quickly to land on your feet, in order to fix this try this simple moderation.

First, when you jump forward you stretch your body out. After you reach full extension tuck your legs in the air (like your about to do a hand stand before you extend your legs and your not all the way up or vertical). Basically dive and tuck really close.

Next, when you put your hands down or even when they are almost touching the object your feet and legs should be tucked in and your head should be angled closer to the ground than the sky. This gives you more power with your upper body to whip your legs under faster. When your hands touch you whip your head up including your upper torso and push up and farward with your arms.

Next,  you also have to whip your legs forward so your knees are tucked on your stomach instead of behind you.

Finally, after you have giving the push of your whole body to basically whiplash you backwards, you must lean back and and stick your legs out in front of your body. You must also nearly have your legs straight or slightly bent. When you lean back it should feel as if you are going to land on your butt but the momentum from your speed when your legs are planted you should be pushed up vertical.

If you do this right and as hard as you can you should be able to do an intire backflip from pushing backwards so hard, or at least land on your stomach close to a whole flip so don't push as hard as you can because it will hurt. Just  figure out how much force you should need.
One more thing make sure you keep your legs close together when you dive, this is not necessary but you will go mush further.

Ill post the video in a bit, if you don't see the link it isn't there yet OK.


Heres a video of me last year, or maybe this summer don't remember. lol
BTW: it's 12 feet from the leg of the chair to the opposing edge of the box therefore making it a 12 foot long object being 3 1/2 feet tall. Yey I did it I did it.
http://s10.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1Q3J3C4VNBMUQ2NSNY7RBP1680

[CyanideSoda]

I'm landing on the ground.

I'm not able to kong anything higher. What i'm konging is about bellybutton high and that's as high as i can get.

Thanks for the help Flippusim i'm getting alot closer to landing correctly. I did land on my butt twice but besides that i'm doing alot better now.

[CyanideSoda]

Ok now i'm starting to ge tthe landing down but i don't feel like i'm really diving. I feel like i'm doing a flying monkey, because my legs are tucked up almost the whole time. Is this right?

[Flippusmn]

It's close, all you got to do is dive and straighten out and when you think your about to touch the object tuck up with your feet and toes pointing up and your knees at the ground while your head is looking at the ground. Thats when you tuck not when you jump. Try to make a video of yourself and I'll help you much more but after you understand this you should get the hang of them very quickly OK.

[CyanideSoda]

I'll make a video as soon as someone gets home so they can tape me.  So let me get this right, i tuck around the time my arms hit?

[Flippusmn]

Yes basically or just before. Watch my video and you'll see when exactly you should tuck.  Slow it down and stop it to get a closer look at when I put my legs up and all that jazz. Look at it in steps.

[kaos]

Don't get too caught up on doing specific movements, like a kong, the correct way.  Just practise flowing through your environment.  You may end up finding a way of moving that is most efficient for your body.  A long stretched out dive through the air may look cool, but it is not necessarily the most efficient mode of movement.

[Flippusmn]

Yes but I was trying to tell him how to do a Kong only because thats what he said and if you dive on a Kong you will be able to improve and do bigger and bigger things. I was just telling him how to do the best and most efficient way to Kong.

[CyanideSoda]

Like flip said, it's important i learn how to land a kong so i can use them.

[kaos]

I didn't mean to dispute anyone's advice.  I just do not think that, collectively, we have found all the most efficient ways of moving.  I think the human body is capable of things that we haven't grasped yet.  Thats why I encourage people to try to find new ways to move.  I meant no disrespect. 

[CyanideSoda]

So it's ok if i don't do the kong just the way everyone else does? It just seems to me that if my kongs are to different then it would be bad.

[kaos]

There is never any thing bad about being different...in movement or any other aspect of life.  Just get the basics down and then try and achieve efficiency and fluidity.  You may end up showing us a thing or two.

Now that I've read Flippusmn's post more carefully, I would caution against whiplashing yourself, and leaning back.  "Whiplash" sounds very harsh.  It ought to feel smooth when you complete the kong.  Also, I'm not sure about the leaning back.  I think if you made an effort to lean back mid-air, it would throw off your balance.

Flippusmn, let me know if I misinterpreted.  Perhaps it was just the wrong choice of words.

Peace

[CyanideSoda]

Yeah i was worried about losing my balance at first. But once i did it i was ok. But yes whiplash is harsh, i'm trying to avoid it as much as possible.

[Flippusmn]

There is never any thing bad about being different...in movement or any other aspect of life.  Just get the basics down and then try and achieve efficiency and fluidity.  You may end up showing us a thing or two.

Now that I've read Flippusmn's post more carefully, I would caution against whiplashing yourself, and leaning back.  "Whiplash" sounds very harsh.  It ought to feel smooth when you complete the Kong.  Also, I'm not sure about the leaning back.  I think if you made an effort to lean back mid-air, it would throw off your balance.

Flippusmn, let me know if I misinterpreted.  Perhaps it was just the wrong choice of words.

Peace

Yeah you missinterpreted what I meant. I just meant that it would give him more reverse momentum to get his feet down or back under. It was a bad use of words but I couldn't think of another word for pushing your legs under really fast you know what I mean. I was jut saying that you may get a little too much whip or push and land on your back. It also depends on how different you are being because if you do it too different it may not even be a Kong (just as an example)
Now you could do a Kong to a backflip which would make whiplash a perfect word to use. I wouldn't try that for a couple years though Cyanide. You can really get hurt with those unless you have proper supervision or experience trust me.

BTW: It's been said that efficiency makes fluidity unless your a machine. "The Aviator".

Any questions or comments ask here. lol I actually like constructive criticism.

[Bachelarius]

My tip to you is use your arms and really jump with them, then throw them behind you and flick your wrists.

This should give you the necessary rotation you need


About the dive, that comes with practice. The way the dive works is you jump and then before[/i] you reach the peak of the arc you jump again, so you use the legs and the arms to give you two jumps and help one another give you both height and exit distance, instead of canceling one another out. Staying untucked during the dive is generally going to be more efficient as bringing your legs in as you start to push with your arms gives you a little bit of extra forwards momentum. You should really not be thinking about when to tuck though, let your body find it's won way, just concentrate on the obstacle and then the point where you plan to land.

Last tip is to try to learn one footed take offs as soon as possible (try them up a flight of stairs or just dive-belly flop onto a bed, then try to vault onto the bed to get a feel for it.) They help a lot with the dive part of the vault and with general speed and are closer to regular running than 2 footed takeoffs.

[Flippusmn]

thats pretty good but one thing is that you should NOT flick your wrists and concentrate more on pushing with your hands, another reason is because (I have done this) is if you try to flick your wrists you could actually land too much on your fingers and brake them. Why would you even take the risk if it isn't even really necessary, most of the force if from the shift in your momentum and bodyweight not the hands but the arms are what shifts the momentum so you must put your hands down anyways.  About the finger thing, it seems weird but it can happen trust me , and if you think I tend to bluer words and you have trouble with understanding my post it isn't your fault, I just have trouble wording things but I sure can do a mad mad Kong! lol.

[Bachelarius]

Oh sorry, I didn't make that part clear. Of course you use your arms and you land your hands flat on the wall. As you are leaveing contact though, you flick your wrists back. This tells your arms to fly back and gets you to do it throughout the whole vault. Of course you never keep your whole weight on your fingers, that's plain idiocy

One thing I forgot to say (I think) Don't lose speed. If you are running into it, you need to do the vault at the same speed at least. It is what gets you good exit distance.