If you\u2019ve ever seen competitors or high level athletes in our sport train for something, you\u2019ll see there is a real sharp focus and unshakeable drive to train it well. Whether it\u2019s the athletes at Operation VK walking their approaches on those bigway formations, or Matt Fry leading a team on 200-way attempts, the top athletes in our sport are taking advantage of training time. Not everyone has poor self talk but those who do can be totally deflated by it. I\u2019ve seen someone\u2019s agony of the story they\u2019ve told about their flying, their capability, or them as a human based on their flying totally destroy a day of coaching. Once every mistake becomes evidence that you\u2019re not good enough, it gets harder to use the feedback. If you\u2019re a good flyer..great. If you\u2019re a bad flyer\u2026get more reps in. If you\u2019re a good human, it\u2019s not because you\u2019re a good flyer. If you\u2019re a bad human, it\u2019s not because you\u2019re a bad flyer. Don\u2019t be that person at 10,000 feet who asks \u201cHow do you do a layout?\u201d I tell a lot of people \u201cGuess what, that\u2019s not unique!\u201d Something about a mistake they\u2019re making being the 1,000th time I\u2019ve seen it, that it isn\u2019t unique, to me, frees them from personalizing it. In the beginning of belly angle flying, people stay on their knees and tumble out the door. In the beginning of back flying people\u2019s lower legs tend to be offline, on exits they extend too soon and end up vertical with that desperate swimming arm motion. I could list so many other things most people do in the beginning when learning to angle fly, freeflly, learn dynamic lines, etc. The thing is, it\u2019s just not unique. We\u2019ve all been walking, running, crawling, jumping, swimming, etc. on the Earth since we were babies. So, introducing a whole new set of systems of movements, while also in the midst of essentially a hurricane of wind, tends to bring out some similar interpretations in people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The agony over a new angle flyer not nailing an exit should be immediately pushed aside as \u201cYep, seen it. It\u2019s common. Here\u2019s what\u2019s happening.\u201d If you can truly buy into the idea that you\u2019re just not that unique in how you\u2019re learning, that\u2019ll help you stop personalizing things and start looking harder at what to do instead. You\u2019re spending precious tokens on the agony and personalization when what\u2019ll help you faster is focusing on doing the thing. Listen to the cues of your coach, study your videos and the videos of flyers who do it exceptionally well. Then keep repping it out. It\u2019s that easy.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s fairly common to see people walking a jump half-present, sort of just following the walk but not really walking the jump. The set up to walk a jump isn\u2019t some kind of performative act. It\u2019s a true moment in your training where you get to walk it like you want to fly it; your focal point, how close to the leader you\u2019re committing to, how you\u2019ll approach, how you\u2019ll fly the moves, how fast and hard you\u2019ll track away on breakoff, how you\u2019ll head switch to continue to clear your airspace for deployment. The walk, and it\u2019s part in your training, in your day and in your progression is something meant to hold weight in it. The top athletes use it. Bring this into your practice and walk those jumps 100% present, with fire, like you want to fly it.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/629838331_10161874932351277_1298999302993839457_n-683x1024.jpg\")
Photo by Raymond Adams<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\nConvincingly Poor Self Talk\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
When you show up to train and do hard stuff, you have to allow yourself to be exposed in not being perfect. (Spoiler alert: nobody is perfect in flying). You\u2019ve got to be humble, have humility, be comfortable sucking at something so that you can learn how to be good at something, and not allow yourself to weave all of that into your identity.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\nRoadblock: Nat Asking Questions<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s time on the ground. There\u2019s time on the walk. There\u2019s anytime before the jump to go over the details. Some jump plans are rushed. But, keep asking. Let the conversation be on the ground as thorough as it needs to be. Keep the conversation going if you still have questions. The feeling of someone asking that question at 10k can totally zap the group of any confidence.
When you\u2019re pushing your skills in new ways with dynamic moves or whether you\u2019re just simply hammering the fundamentals, it\u2019s all the same: ask questions. Get clear. A lot of what shows up on the ground, shows up in the sky. If you\u2019re unsure, insecure, confused on the ground most likely that\u2019ll be the case in the sky. So, ask. Chances are your coach has had a lot of people stuck on that same move in the past. Flying is hard. It\u2019s not uncommon to need to walk things through and tlak things through several times. What isn\u2019t great is a jump that turns into chaos because someone didn\u2019t want to ask an important question.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Texas-WVS-State-Record-ALL-126-1024x683.jpg\")
Body Flight Mistakes<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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