How to windmill 101

written by George, on October 18, 1997. You can email him at
[email protected]

What's up, new breaker!?
 

I'm an "old breaker", 29 and still crankin' out some moves. I'm going to
explain, as
best I can, the easiest way to learn "windmills".
 

There are several starting positions, but the best to learn with, in my
experience is the following:
(Very important! These are counter-clockwise!)
 

Sit down on the floor with your torso and your RIGHT leg at a 90 degree
angle with your LEFT leg bent at the knee so your left knee points
straight up and your left foot is flat on the floor. Now place your
right palm on the floor to the right of you and slightly behind you and
lean and twist your upper body to the right, going towards the floor
(bending your right arm altogether) to where your right shoulder and
right/front of your face are almost touching the ground. Your right leg
should still be straight, and your left leg bent. Now, a CRUCIAL move,
you are going to "stab" your LEFT elbow into your stomach, between your
navel and your left hip-bone, closer to your hip-bone. This is SO
important, because your left arm is going to support all your weight.
Now, twisting and leaning, stabbing your elbow, put your LEFT palm flat
on the floor with your fingers pointing to your left. At this point you
can visualize how your left arm will support your weight.
 

Next, the one, two, three kick. At this point you should be leaning to
your right, with the frontal part of your upper body ALMOST facing the
floor, and very close to the floor, with yor left arm ready to catch all
your weight. ( Elbow in belly!) O.K. Your LEFT leg, which is still bent,
is going to be kick ONE, your RIGHT leg kick TWO and your LEFT leg kick
THREE. During this sequence, your body weight goes to your left arm. Now
kind of finish turning your lower body over to where you are practically
horizontal to the floor while KICKING your LEFT (bent) leg up into the
sky (about 4 feet or so if you're average size) while pushing off HARD
with your RIGHT foot (your STRAIGHT leg) (LEFT elbow in belly) Kick
two-Kick your RIGHT leg (outstretched) HARD to your RIGHT (your legs
will be OPENING)At this point(in full motion!) you should be facing the
floor with your legs open and your bodyweight on your LEFT arm (elbow in
belly!).
 

Kick THREE-this is where you develop your first bruises!-During kick
three, a lot of things happen at the same time. KICK your LEFT leg HARD
to your RIGHT, going UNDER your right leg. Your legs should still be
open, with your right leg "circling" (imagine your legs are a drawing
compass and your pelvis the pivot) AT THE SAME TIME of this kick, your
entire body needs to roll onto your LEFT side, BUT your left upper body
only should touch the floor (not your hips or legs!)This means, on kick
three, your LEFT shoulder should touch (Hit?) the ground right about
where your LEFT fingers are (I crushed mine several times) Now you
should be rolling onto your back, of course your left arm no l onger
supporting your weight. At this point, I STRONGLY urge you to pull your
legs in and do a BACKSPIN. Many veteran will tell you the same. The
reason being you should be able to do what I've already described with
relative ease before moving on. But when you're ready...
 

O.K. Once you've got the previous down, do the following:
 

After kick THREE, you roll onto your UPPER back and quickly roll over
your RIGHT shoulder to where you are going to face the floor again. At
the same time, though, your RIGHT leg will be KICKING "Backwards and to
your right". Just remember the pivot and the compass thing. As you are
turning to face the floor, quickly STAB your LEFT elbow into your belly,
just as before, because your left hand will have to support you. ( You
know the routine). You are now at the most difficult phase of this deal.
Linking them, when you stab your elbow put all your weight into it. As
your legs come around, you will most likely hit your LEFT foot on the
floor and get pissed because you can't get past there. Never to fear!
Learn by "PAUSING" your windmills. When your left foot hits, just use it
(LEFT FOOT) to push upward and OH!, you're back to KICK ONE with that
push upward! Proceed to kick two and three and so forth, and when you
come around again and your left foot hits the floor, well...do it again!
And keep doing it that way. Trust me, one day you'll shock yourself and
put three together without hitting your left foot on the floor! Once you
get this style down, you can move on to STOP stabbing your elbow. It
might take a while, but you'll get there. I know this is a long post,
but I tried to be as detailed as possible so you guys can learn. To
those that can do windmills already, this might seem like a stupid
explanation, but I know all beginners will appreciate the detail. If
this helps anyone learn, let me know.
 

George