How much do you throw a day? How do you practice?

[upNdown]

I'm mostly curious how much people throw every day. I'm relatively new and probably only play half an hour a day on average (I'm still too embarrassed to throw in public...) Since I spend a lot of time at  university I don't have a ton of free time at home to play.

Also, If people take a specific approach to practicing or just kind of go at it.
Personally, if its complicated I'll practice the individual parts then the trick as a whole till I can do it.
I tend to set a goal, depending on the trick or move, like three times in a row before I let myself quit.

[sirnaq_MN42]

I'm yoyoing for at least 6 hours a day but probably only 3 of those are hard core purposeful practice.

[TheRyanFace]

I probably go 3 hours +/- 2 hours a day.  I'll often just throw when I'm watching TV or thinking about stuff (my job requires lots of thought haha).

Um, when I first started out (last summer), I made an effort to learn a trick a day, sometimes two days (since I don't work during the summer, I had the time to do so).

Now that I'm better than I was before, I kind of just practice smooth transitions between mounts and stuff -- just trying to see what I can do from each mount and making simple combos.  Nowadays, I can't do a trick a day/week like I did because of time constraints and trick difficulty (I probably spent one month, on and off, trying to land Spirit Bomb once).  After a few weeks, I do, however, light a fire under my bum and say, "okay, you've been messing around for long enough.  Time for a new trick."

But I am finding that that "messing around" wasn't useless because my execution on the tricks I have learned just gets smoother and smoother (i.e. making that jump between landing a trick for the first time, landing it 1 time out of 20, 1 time out of 10, and finally mastering it).

Stick with it, buddy!  Basically, what I'm yapping about is that just because you're not learning a new trick, it doesn't mean you're not improving! 

[stookie]

But I am finding that that "messing around" wasn't useless because my execution on the tricks I have learned just gets smoother and smoother (i.e. making that jump between landing a trick for the first time, landing it 1 time out of 20, 1 time out of 10, and finally mastering it).
 

This is what keeps me coming back for the most part. About once a week I really get serious about learning a new trick, but usually I'm just listening to music and trying to do smoother or more interesting variations on the tricks I know. In my opinion, you can't "do" a trick until you can get in and out of that trick reliably from multiple mounts or other tricks. This kind of practice also leads me to a lot of creativity and trying out brand new combos or tricks, many of which don't work, but here and there one will stick.

As for time, usually an hour or two a day when I get home from work in the evening

[Studio42]

Recently, not enough. Long story is that my kids are "off track" in March, and it's been non-stop yelling and screaming, while the phone has been ringing and I've struggled to keep clients due to the incessant yelling and screaming. Many projects have gotten delayed due to the constant disruption. Couple that with other garbage in my life, and I'm lucky to throw at all.

I'm typically up at midnight and throwing to unwind while watching Craig Furgusson or something on the History or Discovery Channel. But even at those late hours I'm dealing with constant crap. I'd like a solid 30 minutes, but I'm lucky to get 10 minutes.

Since the kids go back to school Tuesday, things may calm down a bit.

[Big Mike]

Preparing for NER was generally ~2 hours a day, but I think that'll be dropping to ~30 minutes now. Especially since I'm getting bombed with exams this week.

[FNG]

Probably between 1 and 2 hours a day sounds reasonable. Sometimes more, sometimes less.

[Haru_Ray]

Depends on the time of year.
I compete in The Challenge every year and about 3 months prior, I practice a quite bit of time.
Otherwise I try to innovate and conceptualize new things for possibly 2 hours daily.
As of recent, I am starting to pick up the pace again as contest time comes near.

[hadoq]

it depends, but I try to throw at least 2 to 3 hours a day. More like 6+ hours while preparing for contests but I might change it since I got a tendinitis before EYYC.

I have sessions

if I do it watching a video, I usually just play around, getting used to the motion of the tricks I made earlier on

if I do it listening to music, I try and create tricks

if outside on my own, it's a little bit of both
if outside with friends, we brainstorm together to help each other out on our tricks.

[Ghost8982]

About 4 to 6 hours monday thru saturday. About 8 hours on sunday. I own a kiosk at the Mall. I have a simulator and I entertain while they are waiting for their ride. Plus it pulls people in and then I can talk to them about the simulator and sometimes yoyos and it helps bring awareness to the world of yoyos. I think I direct people to yoyoexpert.com at least 20 to 30 times a day. I also teach tricks on the side while customers are waiting up front. Got a small group of guys that come by ever so often. Hand out a few strings and make some friends.

[Formula]

I usually play about 2-3 hours a day, some days I don't find the time, some days I can't put it down.  I like the feeling of actually learning a new trick, but sometimes I don't want to search for a new trick video or something, I just want to yoyo. 

[YoYoMaster107]

I usually play about thirty minutes a day, and that's spent smoothing out my tricks, but I'm probably going to start playing more because it's spring break!

[Preinfalk]

I usually play anywhere from 5 min to 40min a day. Mainly when I'm waiting for my dog to come back inside. Saturdays though, I yoyo for at least 4hrs

[upNdown]

I probably go 3 hours +/- 2 hours a day.  I'll often just throw when I'm watching TV or thinking about stuff (my job requires lots of thought haha).

Um, when I first started out (last summer), I made an effort to learn a trick a day, sometimes two days (since I don't work during the summer, I had the time to do so).

Now that I'm better than I was before, I kind of just practice smooth transitions between mounts and stuff -- just trying to see what I can do from each mount and making simple combos.  Nowadays, I can't do a trick a day/week like I did because of time constraints and trick difficulty (I probably spent one month, on and off, trying to land Spirit Bomb once).  After a few weeks, I do, however, light a fire under my bum and say, "okay, you've been messing around for long enough.  Time for a new trick."

But I am finding that that "messing around" wasn't useless because my execution on the tricks I have learned just gets smoother and smoother (i.e. making that jump between landing a trick for the first time, landing it 1 time out of 20, 1 time out of 10, and finally mastering it).

Stick with it, buddy!  Basically, what I'm yapping about is that just because you're not learning a new trick, it doesn't mean you're not improving! 

Wow a trick a day is a lot! Thats awesome. I wish I had the time and determination to do that.
I usually end up messing around and I agree it still helps but I do get bored after a while. At my level I can see noticeable improvement over all if I throw for like an hour or more straight (but thats rare), which is very encouraging, but I like to make myself learn new stuff after a while too.

Black hops is to me what sprite bomb was to you. Its just kicking my @$$. But it is nice to always have something to be working on even when I'm only screwing around. I don't need to look up tutorials anymore I can just practice it.

I think I need to bump up my playing time if I want to really improve. Everyone plays so much more than I do, and I guess thats what it takes.
It certainly helps to talk about yo-yoing on these forums, I don't really know anyone in person who throws.

[upNdown]

I usually play about thirty minutes a day, and that's spent smoothing out my tricks, but I'm probably going to start playing more because it's spring break!

heck yeah spring break! I just got off mine and was able to learn figure 8, sort of got the double reps figure 8, and started learning chopstick hops.