They are one of the most challenging tricks
in all the poi world and today we’re going
to break them down!
Drex here from DrexFactor.com and today we’re
talking about isolations--aaah!
Isolations are an absolute pain--there are
no shortcuts to getting them, just time and
energy invested.
But at the very least, I’m going to show
you what I think are the best drills for getting
them down, cleaning them up, and getting them
ready for an audience!
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Before we dive in, I just want to take a moment
to give a shout out to the friends of the
channel.
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Isolations are one of those poi moves that
just pack a huge amount of wow power.
Even muggles who’ve never seen poi spinning
before think that these look absolutely amazing.
Whether in buzzsaw plane or wall plane, there’s
something about the way the poi heads follow
your hands that seems to absolutely defy gravity.
So we’re going to start this off with the
no-BS statement that isolations are hard.
You’re going to have to train for months
to get them down and clean.
I’m not saying this to intimidate you--I’m
saying this to set expectations appropriately.
You won’t get isolations just from watching
this video, because nobody can.
Make practicing these a regular fixture of
your training and watch your progress over
time.
Now with all that said, I know 3 really solid
drills for getting isolations down.
Let’s take a look at each one1
Drill number 1: The Greg
I first learned this drill from Greg Maldonado
when he came through DC teaching workshops
with the Vulcan Crew way back in 2008.
I don’t think he invented this drill but
he’s definitely the person I most associate
with it.
The idea is to train your hands one-by-one
by using the opposite arm like a set of training
wheels.
Start off by sticking that opposite arm out
in front of you like you’re going to block
a karate chop and dangle your poi directly
behind it.
Touch the tether to that blocking arm and
try to swing both your hand and poi forward
around the forearm, keeping the tether in
contact with the arm and your poi head across
from your hand.
This basically trains your arm to feel out
the point at which the momentum and drag of
the poi head are balanced out so they stay
in a kind of equilibrium.
There are a couple things that are likely
to go wrong the first few times you try this.
You may find that the poi swings completely
out and away from you, losing contact with
your forearm in the process.
If that happens, it means you put too much
momentum on the poi and need to dial down
the amount of energy you’re putting into
it.
On the other hand, you may find that you get
the tether wrapped around your arm as the
poi just sits there like a lump.
In this case, it means you’re putting too
little momentum into the poi and need to dial
it up a bit to get the isolation going.
Do this drill both with the poi spinning forward
as well as reverse and make sure to do it
with both hands as well.
Greg told us all that this is the drill he
wished someone had taught him when he first
started learning isolations and I am thrilled
that I learned it from him so early on.
Write “isolate” down in the comments if
you’re going to give this one a try!
Drill number 2: Use tape
Human beings are nothing if not visual creatures
and having visual aids is a huge help to us
learning many if not most things.
This drill creates a really simple visual
aid to try and get your isolations cleaner
in wall or wheel plane.
Take a piece of tape and wrap it around the
midpoint of your poi tether.
Now try to spin your poi in isolation and
focus on keeping that tape a point frozen
in space.
This is really helpful if you have a mirror
to practice in front of and check your work.
Try to make that tape just hover in midair
as your poi head and hand spin around it.
Simple, but effective!
Drill number 3: The Alien Jon
When I got to the point where I was practicing
wall plane isolations with both hands, I got
an invaluable tip from my friend Alien Jon.
Jon suggested thinking about there being four
quadrants around my body and to practice performing
wall plane isolations in each of them.
Think of there being a clockwise isolation
with your right hand in front, a clockwise
isolation with your left hand in front, a
counter-clockwise isolation with your right
hand in front, and a clockwise isolation with
your left hand in front.
So basically this means that you turn your
body around in a circle, giving each hand
a turn in front and in each direction of spin.
Work to get 10 stable isolations in each quadrant
around your body so you can move seamlessly
between them all.
Cool, so those are my 3 best drills for getting
your isolations down and getting them clean.
Again, these are going to take time to learn.
Don’t give up.
Can’t get enough isolations?
Check out my brand new isolations course on
my learning site at learn.drexfactor.com.
I cover every drill I know for learning isolations
as well as both basic and advanced uses for
this type of trick and transition tools for
getting in and out of them.
Everything you ever wanted to know about isolations
and were afraid to ask!
What drills did you use to learn isolations?
Let me know down in the comments.
And also be sure to let me know what kinds
of tricks you’d like to see me tackle in
future videos.
Before I send you guys off I just want to
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Thanks for watching and have a good one!
Peace.
