Today’s entry includes a video.
Threw this video together on a whim. The trick is to sit cross-legged on the line and then rest your hands on your knees. I have by no means mastered it, I just wanted to get something up on the blog since it has been so long!
Keep at it!
Today’s post includes a video below.
Expanding on my thoughts about the “double-bight” line locker, I have modified the method I use to attach the fixed-end of my Slackline to a tree. Thinking about how this works, I was able to eliminate the water knot and replace it with a double-bight line locker
This method has one advantage, and one disadvantage as compared to using a traditional water-knotted anchor.
Advantage: there is no knot in the line. In general, knots tend to weaken the anchor. I am not sure how much, and I know the weakness is reduced if you use a third strand of webbing to beef up the knot. (See here)
Disadvantage: There is only one level of webbing going around the tree. With a traditional water-knotted anchor, the anchor is doubled around the tree. This puts less stress on the anchor itself. However, for shorter lines (< 100 ft), I am not sure how much of an issue this is. Here is a photo of a fixed anchor some guys made (red line) to secure a 70′ Slackline. It uses only one wrap around the tree (similar to my method) but uses a knot (which my method eliminates).
Below is a photo and link to a short video (1 min) describing what I’ve done.
I consider this an extension to my series on Anchors.
Today’s post includes a video below.
We found a Slackline park near our house (15 min drive away). This is a small bit of grassy park that has posts set up specifically for Slacklining. Below you see some of the posts. There are three groups of posts setup for 20′, 50′, and 80′ Slacklines.
I showed up today around 1p, and setup my rig between one of the 20′ posts and one of the 50′ posts. I chose these two because I wanted to try a longer distance than the 20’ers, but the ground between the 50’ers was not so good. Using two odd posts this way gave me something in the neighborhood of 35 to 40 feet of walkable Slackline.
It was a bit tricky getting things tightened, but I managed to at least get things tight enough to walk. The line was too high for me to jump-start, but I was able to get up fairly easily by sitting on the line and doing a regular start. There was decent amount of wind, which made the line oscillate at a high frequency, but it was an easy adjustment. The wind also made it difficult to walk because it tended to blow me around. There are no trees to block the wind (or to provide shade). It was fun though! I noticed one of my chain links was acting strange and sitting cock-eyed on the webbing, so I removed the two chain links and went back to the Rap Rings.
Had fun for about an hour, and made the video below; which I sped up to last 30 secs. Kinda fun! Sorry there is no music, PhotoBucket thinks I’m trying to use copyrighted material, ugh!
If you are interested, this park is located here.
Today’s entry includes videos below.
Basically, I am trying to do the things shown in this video.
On the weekend, I was able to do the pose shown at 0:45 in the video above.
Over the past few weeks, I have been learning to sit on the line (shown at 5:00 in the above linked video). Today, I made my own video of sitting on the line. This is very hard on the butt, and it takes time to condition the butt enough to be able to sit for much more than 2 or 3 seconds!
My wife walked 14 steps today, and I am trying to learn to do a king’s-kneel on the line. I’ve also tried jumping up and spinning 180 degrees, but took a bad fall so I might put that off for a few weeks.
What about you? Have you tried this sport yet?
Today’s entry includes a video below.
I had an interesting experience in beginning Slackline. I headed to my buddy Luke’s house (he’s maybe 45) to let him have a go at Slacklining. He’s an avid hockey player, and wanted to test out his balance skills on the line. At first I thought I might set up the line and fifteen minutes later I would tear it down due to lack of interest. But nope! Luke was all in from the first moment he put his foot on the line. He had to learn to control the shaking of his leg, and then to balance on one foot, but he did it! We spent at least a couple of hours, maybe three before lunch. After about an hour or so, he could stand on the line without anyone’s help.
His daughter (13 yrs old) took to the line rather quickly. She didn’t have as much of the shakes to get past, and she was walking on her own after an hour or so. Another daughter (11) also caught on quickly, I think she had done it once or twice before. A neighbor friend (also 11 or so) joined in, and we had a full-on party going!
After lunch, we set the line up again so that his wife could try it. She also did well, without so much of the shakes that other folks (like me) had to deal with.
This was a short line, maybe 26 or 27 feet, so it was easy to get the line really tight and bouncy. This made for easier walking, and the girls were having fun with duels to see who could knock the other person off the line.
Everyone enjoyed the line, and it was a beauty day in the park!
I practiced doing a jump-start and was able to land a few throughout the afternoon. After heading home, my wife and I set up the line for her to practice. I made a few more attempts at jump-start and made the following video of one of them.
I am totally impressed that people can learn to slackline in one day, given enough time on the line! I think my friend might invest in a line, his family surely enjoyed it today!
Today’s entry includes a video below.
Today was another gorgeous day spent slacklining in the sun!
Spent about 1 to 1.5 hours practicing with my wife. Was able to do repeat turn-arounds on the line. Below is a short (30s) video of one turn-around. I practiced turning to the left and to the right. Turning to the left has been easier for me and, after some focused practice today, I am getting the hang of turns to the right. Although this sport looks hard, and it is a bit of a challenge to learn, I am very impressed with how far we’ve come, and that we see progress everyday.
Today’s entry includes video below.
This is the second entry in the series on slackline anchors. (click here for Part 1)
The Part 2 video below describes three types of anchor setups for the adjustment end of a slackline (the part where you tighten it).
Now, get out there and start slacking!!
Inspiration for this idea is taken from Adam’s “Strength of 3 men…” video on NWSlackline.
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Today’s entry includes a video link below.
We spent about an hour or two with the slackline set up in the backyard on Friday afternoon. Then about another hour or so on Saturday. My wife was able to take four steps on Saturday! She is improving, although not as fast as she’d like. She took today (Sunday) off from slacking, to use the day to prepare for a 10K tomorrow.
I set up the line and walked this afternoon. This was the first time I set it up by myself. Usually, it takes two of us to pull the line tight enough so that I am not on the ground. This time, the line was as high as my inseam. I found the line to be a bit more loose, and took a bit to get used to it again.
After getting used to the line and walking a bit, I started trying to turn around on the line. I can now walk most of the line in one direction, so I figured it would be a good time to start learning to turn around. This video shows various methods of turning. I use a version of Adam’s shown first in the video. I step backwards and spin as I shift my weight to my back foot.
It’s been two weeks since Mother’s Day, and I am now learning to turn around. I was able to do it successfully, although not very pretty, about 3 or 4 times. It takes some chance, and some getting used to the art of spinning your weight around without losing balance, but this is yet another milestone in my trek to be proficient. I hope you folks see this as encouragement.
Today’s entry includes a video below.
Today, I decided to add a video about Slackline setup. This is part one in a two part series on anchors. We discuss the anchor at the fixed end of the line (the end without the pulleys/tightening system).
Here is the short (2 min) video:
More Info:
Want to learn more about making anchor slings and water knots? Click here.
Want to learn more about Rap Rings? Click here.
Want to learn how to setup a basic primitive Slackline? Click here.
(again, thanks to Adam over at NWSlackline for these great instructional articles)
Today’s entry includes a video below.
After a couple rest days, we tackled the line wholeheartedly today. We set up the line, and started getting back into the sport. At first, it seemed we had gone backwards in terms of our ability. The line was shaky, and legs were weak. But we were persistent, and spent about one hour taking turns on the line. My wife made real progress today, as she got to take her first step (twice!). As for me, I pushed and pushed, and finally was able to walk most of the length of our 33 foot line. Ahh, determination. It took me about a minute and a half to make the complete trek, but I’ve compressed it down into a 23 second video (see below)
Today marks the 14th day that I have been practicing to walk a Slackline. I hope this provides some encouragement to those who are considering this sport. It is great exercise, and the learning curve doesn’t seem to be as long as one might expect (certainly not as long as I would have thought!). Get to it!!
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Mile High Slacker 