context: been flying fpv for about a year, mostly freestyle on a 5inch running betaflight, i can do basic stuff like split-s, power loops, that kind of thing but my throttle management is really inconsistent. some days i feel locked in and other days im porpoising all over the place and overcorrecting constantly. i dont think its a tune issue because the quad flies fine otherwise, i just think my left hand is lazy or something.

i started doing hover drills in my backyard like just holding a steady altitude over a fixed point for as long as possible without touching anything and it definitely exposed how bad my throttle inputs are. curious if theres other specific exercises people do to build that muscle memory. ive seen some stuff about figure 8s and nose-in hovering but not sure whats actually worth the time vs just going out and bashing

honest answer is the simulator is underrated for exactly this. not saying go fly sim forever but like 20 minutes in velocidrone or liftoff doing nothing but slow controlled altitude changes in a big open space before you go fly for real, you'd be surprised how much it translates. the problem with just bashing is you develop sloppy habits because youre focused on not crashing, not on the quality of individual inputs.

for actual drills though ? try flying slow figure 8s low to the ground keeping the same height throughout the whole pattern, no more than a foot or two off the ground. its boring but it forces your throttle to compensate for all the bank angle changes and you cant cheat by just going higher. also worth doing the hover drill but with your eyes on a fixed point on the horizon instead of watching the drone directly, forces you to trust your inputs instead of reacting visually

porpoising is almost always a rates issue combined with throttle expo if you ask me, not necessarily just muscle memory. what does your throttle mid look like and are you running any curve on it? i ran linear throttle for the longest time thinking it was the right way and switching to a slight curve made my low-throttle precision way more manageable. could be worth checking before you spend weeks drilling something that a small tune adjustment would fix faster