[Bboy Blessed]

Hola peeps...... This is Blest1 basically making a thread where anyone can post some practice tips for EVERYONE (not just the noobies) to use to make their "sessioning" more efficient...... I know I havent been really active lately but school has been a biznatch over the past cuple of months...... Im making this for basically noobs who have no idea what they should practice or HOW they should practice but if you have any practice tips in general to share with the rest of bboy.org....... Feel free too...... Now on with the thread =)

Moves to begin with (for beginners)
Well if you're just beginning to start on your bboy adventures (Ik Im lame), then I would suggest on the following moves

3 step
6 step
12 step
basic toprock
Cicis
Handstand
BabyFreeze


You can find guides for these moves in Ringer's Guide, which is basically a compilation of all guides and has most of the moves you'll want to learn as you continue to bboy. There are also guides in the "moves guides" forum of bboy.org and you can ask questions about a specific move there if you need to.

Practice Tips From Me and Other Bboys Who Will Soon Share Tips

Blest1:
Well this is basically how I practice......

Conditions

1. I think its always important to practice to slow music and calm music...... I really don't prefer that hype stuff..... So basically I'm saying for starters,Create and environment that suits YOU personally to practice in.... Remember that you wont be able to do this at a jam when you are battling.... But when I practice I like to be comfortable.... So shit, I make sure I am

2. I suppose this goes along with tip number one, but usually I set a time limit to practice. However,if your body doesn't want to or if you too tired.... Dont..... Simple enough..... Practicing should always be fun. I practice hard but practicing should never be something that you feel you have to do.....

Practicing Moves

3. Im using a whole tip on this one, but I think its really important..... When you practice.....Whether you are practicing Power, Blow ups, or Footwork, it's important not to forget your old moves when working on new ones.

4. Lets see...... Im basically going to tell you how I practice Footwork, Power and Blows ups:

A. Footwork

Well..... Personally, I believe footwork is one of the hardest things to practice because it's so hard to do something that someone has never done before. When I start to practice new techs, I basically practice the tech first for approximately 3-7 minutes to get a feel for it. Then, I combine it with a basic 6-step so I can get a feel of how the tech flows into basic footwork. This lets me know if I need to slow down, speed up, or if/how I should change the position of my body when I add the particular tech into a set. Sometimes, I just practice each footwork move individually. For example, a 6 step six times, 3 step six times, 12 step six times, shuffles six times, etc. I guess its just so I can keep all of my moves polished and so I can retain the old moves I have. You can also combine hand movements while doing footwork, but I dont think Im qualified to write tips for that since I still have a ways to go myself.

B. Power

Geeze lu fuckin weeze...... Where do I start..... Power is a bitch to practice for me because it's basically just repititive practice until you get it right.... I don't have much advice on this, actually fuck it, I have none so if you want to be a powerhead and are looking for advice, just dont look here

C. Blow ups

Geeze lu fuckin weeze again...... Blow ups..... I actually do have some tips on practicing these. Well for starters, the basic blow ups are, air chairs, 1 handed variations and shit, forearm freezes and shit, and elbow freezes and shit. What is realli important to make sure you get the "WOW" factor, is to

1.Transition into blow ups properly. When you think about it, if someone takes all day to transition into these, then you wouldn't be like "OH SHIT", you would just be like "ok.... wtf was that". Transitioning to these is just as important as transitioning into everything else

2. Be able to hold it for 2-5 seconds. Once again, if you can only hold a blow up for .5 seconds, then you realli shouldnt be doing them when you battle.Being able to hold a blow up for 3 seconds vs. .5 seconds is a HUGE difference

3. Transitioning out of a blow up properly. Having a set be smooth all the way is uber important, so being able to transition out of a set smoothly is important as well. Getting up from your blow up smoothly is not less important than anything else I have mentioned. You should be able to A. Transition into another blow up from your blow up, or transition to footwork from your blow up, Or B. Just being able to stand up from your blow up and not crash

Now that we have that covered, Ima share how to practice blow ups in 4 steps (My method anyways). 1st decide what kind you want to practice. Example- A piked 1 handed handstand. So now that I have that goal, I would secondly have to practice a normal 1 handed handstand before I move up to a more advanced move which makes since. Once I have the 1 handed handstand, I would thirdly begin to practice a piked version. When I'm able to execute this freeze and hold it for 3-5 seconds each time, it is now time to commence to the 4th step- being able to incorporate the freeze into a set so we can make it a blow up. This takes time to figure out, but when you finally get it right and the set runs smoothly, your sets will look more advanced

5. Now when it comes to practicing moves, I usually try to organize my practices into categories. For example, I practice footwork one session, power and blow ups the next, both footwork and power after that, and then the 4th day I work on my sets and try to combine any improvements on my power or footwork into my sets. If you only practice 4 days a week, then I suppose this works perfectly. Even if you practice 5 days a week like I do, then you can use this and just repeat the cycle. Another issue that comes into practicing is, how long per session should I practice. Well, this all depends on A. How good you want to be and B. How much time do you ACTUALLY HAVE to devote to practice. Finding a mixture between these two is the key to becoming better while still keeping up with other activities like school, work or family. For example- If you want to be realli good as hell and your on a tight schedule, a good hour or hour and a half is good 5 times a week. On the other hand if you have time out the ass and you dont have much dedication, then prolly 45 min 2-3 times a week should satisfy ur lazy bitch ass (Jk).


Practice Reminders

6. Another thing to make sure when you practice, is that your actually practicing. I mean if you do some shit for like 5 minutes and then take a 15 minute break, that's not realli classified as an intense practice. It's important to take a 1-2 minute break from time to time, but by the time you're done practicing, you should be tired (assuming your practices are 1-1.5 hours long).

7. Short and simple tip..... Keep yourself hydrated by drinking water, gatorade, powerade or some shit. Just dont drink soda!

8. Dont get distracted by other shit in your environment when you practice..... Keep focus

9. Have fun..... Once again, practicing is not a chore.

Music to practice to

Some music to practice to.... Not many tracks but hey you can download em and they're all good songs..... Thank Mr. Alphatrion for these

Bboy.org breaks database - AlphaTrion's Playlist

Music submitted by Kai

Kai's Submitted Page


Critiques

I notice a lot of times...... People post vids of themselves and say "Any advice on my blah blah".....If you look at the video, often times you'll find what you need to work on by yourself. I mean if you think your 6 step is sloppy, then more than likely it is, just as simple as that. I would say taping some of ur practices is beneficial so you can examine what you are doing wrong. You are your best critic when it comes to anything..... Unless your just one of them peeps who ass kisses themselves




Well..... All I can think of for now..... So now its time for me to practice!! Sike.... But yeah if you have any critiques or anything you need clarified, then just ask.This is how I PERSONALLY practice, so you might not agree with my methods. If the mods wanna put anything in here then just edit it in. If non mods wanna add any tips they personally use, then they just post it up and I'll edit in. Another thing is try not to be like "You noob why do you practice like that" if someone practices differently than you do...... That it for now peeps.... Hope it helps.... Submit your tips

Peace

Blest1. Kaozkingz

[bboyjimmay]

Very nice.. Thanks a bunch! This will definitely help incoming bboys.

[Streetmonk]

one question, if you dont know any bboys in your area is it fine to practice yourself? because lots of guys here say they session with other bboys but my area has none i know of (none i know of rite now cause i just got into bboying couple days ago)

[Bboy Blessed]

Yeah..... Its ok to practice by yourself but its better to have a friend teach you just so you can have a more through explanation of the move as opposed to a video where it cant take you step by step like a real person can...... I also find that it helps me stay more focused because I have less distractions

Peace

[Streetmonk]

so you believe its fine but havin a friend helps u get a more detailed explanation on how to do a move?

[k1ng]

if you're learning or just starting out, having people from your own scene teach you foundation is practically essential. i mean, you can figure it out on your own, but truly, the best way to start is from bboys themselves.

[BboyPaNCiT]

Sticky worthy.

[Bboy Blessed]

Bump for those who want to contribute more tips


Peace

[Bboy-J.v]

Sticky!!!
nice work bro.

[Bboy Blessed]

Well..... Ima go ahead n sticky this...... If someone doesnt want it stickied..... Then shit I'll just take it down...... But I think it helps beginners get a sense of direction to practice..... Here it goes


Peace

[BBOY.STALL]

Propppz

[k4i]

def very nice blessed. and i like the music addition, that's def something that i think a lotta beginners need, soemthing other than what they hear in Red Bull BC One lol.
(i think there was another thread in the DJ forum perhaps that had a huge huge list of tracks if you wanted to throw that in for future ref. can't download the tracks but at least they'll be there)

.:`~EDIT~`:. this was the forum page i was talking about

[mTcKrewMT]

thanks
this really helped>

[flying_steps]

i can barely practise everyday of the week so yer hw the heck can i fit in all of the moves to practise of different days?
k nt now cos im injured but yer past n future

[Bboy Blessed]

To flying steps, I would say assuming that you only have 3 days to practice out of the week, to practice footwork/tops on one day, power/blow ups on another day and sets on the third day for like 45 minutes to and hour session.

I never practice only two hours outta the week but assuming you only have 2 days outta that, then you could practice footwork and blow ups on one day and power and tops another day while making up sets during one of these practices for like 45 minutes to an hour

However, if you can dedicate 20-30 minutes a day to bboying for 4-5 days outta the week, I would say it would be a better thing to do then to just practice 2 days for an hour because this way your muscles should at least become comfortable with the moves. Like for example, if I was trying to lose weight. Which would be better: Working out 20-30 min a day for 4 days a week while eating a balanced diet or Working out 2 days for an hour while eating the same thing? If you were to do the same thing, your muscles would get a decent work out while showing some steadily improvement. So in conclusion, if you distribute your practice throughout the week even, you wont improve at a rapid rate but nevertheless, you still will improve

Hope this helps?


Peacee