A dimestop looks like you hit "pause" on a video. The stop is instantaneous. Swing a weight so it gains momentum. Then stop the weight. The weight should go from full speed to stop, without gradual deceleration: ![[Dimestop - Instant stop.png]] Dimestops are the same, except you're stopping your bodyweight. The goal of training is to become: - **Explosive** - The deceleration should be as sudden as possible - **Efficient** - Minimize unnecessary muscle exertion - This is needed to start/stop rapidly (e.g. for [[Strobing]]) - This also helps with [[Don't warp the underlying motion when applying textures]] * **Precise** - The stop should land exactly on the desired destination ### Train to efficiently exert your muscles Develop *explosiveness and efficiency first*. Precision will follow. To do so: * Move a body part, with as much relaxation as possible. Relaxing minimizes "friction", so the part slides at a smooth, consistent speed * Imagine the exact opposite motion[^1] (e.g. a reverse fly cancels out a chest fly), and do it suddenly When doing the opposite motion, commit to exploding in one instant, and evaluate: * Did you gradually decelerate? If so, use more force * Did you rebound in the opposite direction? If so, use less force ![[Dimestop - Overshoot.png]] Note: we are sensing our body momentum, in order to *proactively* brake with the right force. We are not *reactively* controlling our limb to land on a spot. [^2] If you use the wrong force, allow the imperfection to play out - you can always correct it in the next repetition. This gives the cleanest feedback on how much force to use in the initial braking burst. *Observe your muscle tension* as you stop ([[Learning is capped by how clearly execution error is observed]]). Try to achieve equally clean stops with less effort. Notice, and let go of excess tension: ![[Dimestop - fighting your own muscles.png]] If your stops look like "hits", you're probably using excess tension ([[Stationary muscle contractions are opposing muscles cancelling each other out]]). Training improves our baseline precision under low-effort. ### Clenching increases precision Clenching the body makes stops cleaner (especially tightening your core), but there's a limit to how much you can clench: ![[Dimestop - Body control efficiency.png]] Clenching is useful to play various [[Animation]] characters. E.g. I hold: * 20~40% tension when doing a [[Robot Mannequin]] character * 50~70% tension when doing a [[Robot]] character * 80+% tension when vibrating [^1]: [shortaflip's underrated dimestop video tutorial from 2010](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0Assf7SmmE) [^2]: In Control Theory, it'd be like "Feedforward control", as opposed to "Feedback control"