Before you even attempt to learn air tracks, you should know what you're in for. This is one of the hardest and most dangerous moves you'll ever learn. First, be prepared to experience a great deal of pain. You're going to land on your head, shoulder, chest, back and hip many times. Second, you have to overcome the fear that comes with spinning in the air. If you've ever tried a back flip, you know what I mean. Third, you won't master it any time soon. You might get a single air track pretty quickly, but be prepared to spend the rest of breaking career mastering it. Last but not least, good windmills are absolutely necessary for good coordination, since an air track is basically a windmill in the air. You don't necessarily have to have combos with windmills, but you should be able to do them with ease, and also without hands, so that your abdominal and waist muscles are strong enough to give you the whip you need. But windmill combos do help, of course.
Another thing: there is an infinite number of ways to do this move. I'm going to tell you my way and several others. You can use any of these tactics, or come up with your own way that might be easier for you. And I strongly suggest that you practice this move on the softest surface possible, such as a mat or your front lawn. These instructions are for someone going counter-clockwise. If your moves go clockwise, just reverse the instructions.
Start as if you're going to do windmills (standing or kneeling), and make sure your body's angle stays between horizontal and about 45 degrees. Don't ever let your body get vertical (you'll land on your head). Put your right hand down first, then your left hand, while your legs do a windmill motion. Your left leg is going to kick up behind you first, then your right leg, and then your left leg is going to kick around and over your right leg in a circular motion. Your legs are split at all times. Just as your left leg swings over the right, you let go of the ground with your right hand, while your left hand stays put for a few micro seconds more. It's important to look over your right shoulder because you have to be able to see the ground after you let go and before you land.
During these microseconds, kick your right leg under your left leg (remember, your left leg kicked over your right leg first) and wait on your left hand until your body spins as far as it possibly can, then let go of the ground with your left hand. If that seemed too complicated, then simply visualize the motions of a windmill, only your body is about two feet above the ground, and remember to let go of the ground one hand at a time, first with the right and then with the left. You are now airborne, but only for another few microseconds. After you let go with your left hand and are in the air, try to "catch" the ground with your right hand first and then your left hand in rapid succession, and try to keep your legs moving in a windmill motion (and make sure you can see the ground).
Right here is where it gets dangerous. If you don't whip your legs hard enough, or you don't catch the g round quick enough, or both, you are going to land on your shoulder, hip, head, or all three. If you don't catch the ground at all, you'll land on your chest and maybe your face. If you overspin, you'll land flat on your back, knocking the wind out of you, or worse, you'll land on your hip and cause long term damage. However, if you do everything right and you keep a continuous motion with your legs, and if you catch the ground immediately after you let go, then you should spin right into windmills (your foot or feet may hit the floor though, which is why you should spin at an angle instead of horizontally).
It's perfectly alright to land on your hands and feet at first, but the goal is to go into windmills out of it. Just pretend you're going to start a windmill from standing up, but you do a windmill in the air on the way down to the floor. Here's another (much easier) way: instead of launching off one hand at a time, push off with both hands and land on both hands, while using the same lower body technique. Or you can do a drilled air track: push off with both hands, and instead of swinging your legs like a windmill, close them and spin as fast as you can. With this technique, it's possible to do more than one spin (1.5-2).
One more way: using momentum, swing into a cricket/handglide position and use the same lower body technique described above. I suggest you try these techniques before going on to the technique I described in the preceding paragraph, as they're all much easier, and don't require as much practice. You just push and spin (and pray). Remember, always visualize! Before you even try air tracks, imagine what it looks like based on these instructions, and imagine yourself doing each little part of the move, when and how to swing your legs, when to let go and when to catch. Imagine how every part of the move feels, how it feels to be airborne for an instant, and imagine yourself seeing the ground just before you catch. Your body can't do it if your mind can't do it first. |
