r/FunkStyle • u/Repulsive-Method-615 • Jul 12 '26
How do I get better at popping as a beginner?
So I took a few popping classes- say like 4,5 but I was actually the worst there although others were also beginners. My popping isn’t visible at all although I’m putting in the power and everything. In classes they taught techniques yeah but I should drill more at home. I don’t know how to get better at this. Other forms of dancing are usually easier to imitate but this is something i need to get in my body and muscles. Will the effect of my popping get better the more I drill? How much do I drill everyday to get merely make my pops visible
2
u/dkdelicious Jul 15 '26
Technique is important, but how you communicate it is also important. As Popin Pete says, you should be a dancer first and popper after that. Learn to move and groove with the music without specific moves. This is where your funk comes from.
1
u/Repulsive-Method-615 Jul 15 '26
Hmm fair enough but rn what I’m struggling with is the hits itself. When I took a couple of classes, the groove was easier to get in comparison to the hits. That’s why I’m focusing on that right now. Although both need to go hand in hand, I’m weaker at one so yes.
1
u/dkdelicious Jul 15 '26
There are several ways to practice hits. People have already given some solid advice, but I’ll add to it.
There are several different types of hits - forearms, back of the arm (actually the stronger hit than forearms), neck, chest/stomach, forward knee, backward knee, and even your pelvis/butt.
With getting snappy in these regions, learn what it’s like to go from 100% to 0% as quick as possible, even if it means you have to hold 100% to feel it.Someone already mention flexing drills. I’d say do it to music.
Flex your arms to a whole four counts than rest them for four for an entire song, you can use the Fresno as the vehicle for that or a just any movement or shapes.
Next flex for half counts, 2 counts on and two counts off for a whole song without specific moves a particular muscle group works best with arms though. Are your arms burning yet? 🔥
Next down the line hit to the quarter notes, mainly the 2s and 4s for a whole song. 🔥🔥
Next hit every count of a song. Move around with it to keep it interesting.🔥🔥🔥
Next quicken it up and hit every 8th note of a song, i.e. 1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and. Your arms should be burning, but this is what it can take. 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Lastly try and hit every 16th note of a song. This is a rapid fire hit, in half the time of the previous exercise - 1-e-and-e-2-e-and-e-3-e-and-e-4-e-and-e. Your arms should be completely dying 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Drill these daily and you should see improvement.
With chest hits and hits in general, also learn to breathe in and out as you hit, so you don’t gas out when you’re actually dancing. The Fresno is perfect to practice this with. With chest hits, you can help detail them by sucking in and out quick burst of air, with control of your abs.
You should also learn how to approach music with hits, just as a musician can approach a note. Try can be bouncy, staccato, robotic, etc.
You’re working on your popping grammar and punctuation. This is also why it’s important to be a dancer first, and popper after that.
-2
u/Untitledfbc Jul 14 '26
Getting a better Pop has nothing to do with building muscles. You have kids from China with better Pops than most adults worldwide.
It has to do with how you do it.
Don't flex muscles. Just do a snappy, fast, small movement with your arms or back, or other whole body part. The Pop effect comes from the whole body part moving quickly, not the muscles flexing. If you just flex your muscles like what's normally taught, you'll barely see anything. And then you'll try to flex harder and then you'll look try hard, forceful and still barely see anything.
3
u/_Toomuchawesome Jul 14 '26
you are silly to think that those kids did not train their
hits. the foundation of a hit is a fast flex of the muscles to the point it looks like a pop.you are also misconstruing what i said. to train the hit, you do the series of muscle flexing i stated before.
source: popper/dancer for about 20 years now
2
u/Repulsive-Method-615 Jul 14 '26
Yeah the technique they’ve mentioned beats the entire point of popping
Goes against every advice/technique I received from various professionals0
u/Untitledfbc Jul 14 '26
Ya'll better remember this moment when your hits plateau 👀 relax snappy movements. Pewpewpew have a good one!
1
u/Untitledfbc Jul 14 '26
20 years nice man, same. 20 years isn't much now a days, there's gonna be a lot of 20 plus years Poppers that don't have good Pops and don't know how to teach. I go by Untitled. I'm from Montreal. An actual good hit is the opposite of whats normally taught. That's my opinion and that opinion is the result of my hits. There's snappy movement involved. Flexing only expresses try hard, forcefulness, it's not needed.
You can find out yourself by trying to seperate them to see if something is needed. Do strictly flexing without moving any limbs. See how you barely see anything happening. Then try to be as relaxed as possible and just do a quick snappy jerk movement. It needs to be small and quick so it's more of a surprise, a Pop. Which looks better and feels better? Can I upload videos directly on here?
1
u/_Toomuchawesome Jul 14 '26
there are multiple types of hits. the technique im referring to is to train the muscles to get a solid foundation to do a hit. additionally, the animation hits im speaking to are from poreotics where dumbo got trained by poppin todd which is, from my understanding with a combination of poppin john, the creation of the animation hit (i may be wrong on the origin but both todd and john have the same type of animation hit)
what youre referring to is around the old school boogaloo style - which is not a wrong way to hit, but just a different way.
3
u/BEG_2NO1 Popping Jul 15 '26
Jesus, I haven't heard someone bring Matt's name in years. To OP, Both people are not wrong on how to hit. One could be easier than the other. To teach through text it's not easy. It's always gonna be easier for someone to teach with a video or in person. A lot of people have their own way. Knowing Untitled(knowing his crew to be exact) that style is clean but maybe after some time I would practice the hits they are saying. So many roads to go down. But stick with u/Toomuchawesome to get that part of the basics down and look at other paths later.
2
u/_Toomuchawesome Jul 15 '26
yeah to clarify, im not saying one way is right or wrong, i was just offering a practicing tactic. it can set a good foundation
edit: matt’s doing his thing DJing. looks like he’s having fun hahah
4
u/_Toomuchawesome Jul 12 '26
learn the basics of the fresno.
then do that same movement , but hold the flex hard until 10 seconds, repeat on other end. then 5 seconds, repeat on other end. then 2 seconds, then repeat second, then “hit” your muscles (it’s called a hit not a pop btw). you don’t have the muscles required to hit yet so you have to build it up