As impact tops, we understand the importance of being safe when we play. At the same time, we also believe in looking good when we play.
These two goals aren’t mutually exclusive. In fact, they’re very much aligned, because “looking good” isn’t a subjective matter to us. It’s how we present ourselves when we possess the technical skills, are fully in control of ourselves and our toys, and feel comfortable and confident in our role as tops.
Well, guess what? The only way to get to this state is through consistent practice. And that’s what this section is all about. These next five pages will show you the fundamental techniques to wield finger floggers with both substance and style:
- Getting Started
- Practice Goals
- One-Handed Drills
- Two-Handed Drills
- Florentine Weaves
Each set of skills I teach builds on the previous set. As such, I recommend that you go through the sections in order and nail down one move before moving onto the next. This will help you avoid picking up sloppy habits along the way. Then again, I’m not the boss of you, so go ahead and learn in whatever way works best for you.
All of the tutorials on this site are free. My goal is to give you the resources you need to learn on your own. And then if you want personalized help, you can contact me for a private lesson or follow us on Instagram to find out when I’ll be teaching a workshop.
Here’s our moderately NSFW highlight reel again, if you want to get a sense of what I mean by flogging with both “substance and style.”
Blending Kink and Flow Arts
If you’re familiar with poi spinning, you may have noticed that we draw a lot of our technique from this particular flow art. If you’d like to take a similar path, DrexFactor is the leading resource on the internet for learning poi. I suggest starting with his tutorials.
Learning Florentine
Everybody who picks up a flogger seems to look to Florentine as the gold standard. If this is you … yes, yes, I have Florentine videos on here, and we’ll get to those in a later section. I prefer to start by laying the foundation to get you to Florentine, because most tutorials don’t actually do that. And then this foundation will serve as your take-off point to go far beyond Florentine.
Ultimately, keep in mind that my goal in teaching you the fundamentals is to help you look good and play safely.
Terminology
Okay! From this point on is where I start to get technical. If you’re just looking to learn a few new flogging moves, you don’t necessarily need to know all the vocabulary. Just remember that if you want to move beyond basic Florentine at some point, it will be helpful to understand the fundamental movements. Having a shared vocabulary also makes it easier to understand how to practice and put together the moves I teach.
When referring to flogging moves, I use the names of their original poi moves. So for instance, Florentine is really just the two-beat weave or the three-beat weave. Beyond that, we also incorporate poi buzzsaws and corkscrews as some of our more common moves.
I also use poi terminology to refer to the direction I’m spinning the floggers:
- Together-Same
- Split-Same
- Together-Opposite
- Split-Opposite
Together-same: both floggers strike at the same time, both move in the same direction.
Split-same: the two floggers alternate strikes, both move in the same direction.
Together-opposite*: both floggers strike at the same time, but move in opposite directions.
Split-opposite*: the two floggers alternate strikes, and also move in opposite directions.
Learning the different combinations will allow you to deliver a wide array of sensations to your bottom. Practicing the different combinations will help you develop the control needed to deliver these moves safely.
*Note: Depending on your angle of impact, together-opposite when flogging may actually be closer to split-opposite in poi, and vice versa. You don’t have to worry about this, though, unless you’re getting into the mechanics minutiae of poi versus flogging. I’m only leaving this footnote here in case an experienced poi spinner is reading this.
