Grip Pressure/Arm Speed

[fanter]

There's a correlation here, right? I just watched the newest Innova "Dave's Tips" video again and it occurred to me that there has to be some relationship between the two. Too strong of a grip will disallow a proper rip of the disc from the hand right? And intense arm speed (also the acceleration of the disc) with a weak grip causes a slip, yeah?

How does a person find the balance? I don't think this is an issue I have. I do keep a very strong grip on my discs with forward thumb pressure to keep the nose down. It does, however, seem like important information.

[garublador]

I don't think that you can grip too strong if your timing is right. However, I do think you can grip too strong at the wrong time and make getting good timing really difficult.

The advice I've been given is to grip fairly loosely to get the feel of the timing and then work on incorporating a stronger grip at the right time to maximize D.

[JR]

So far my quest has gone like this: I took up to 1200 pictures per second video of myself throwing and noticed that my thumb slipped off of the disc before the disc pivoted fully from the palm to the thumb lock with the disc ripping out at around 16-17.30 o'clock on the rim of the disc. I tried different grip strengths and starting points of the thumb to index finger pinch. At the moment my best results come from automation. I don't go as far as Cale Leiviska in the pre throw routine i'm closer to Nate Doss. We make sure that the grip is as loose as possible without dropping the disc -just tighter than that initially. The longer i maintain that looseness with a hefty late acceleration the farther i throw. I attribute this to maximally loose muscles for as long as possible creating the least amount of internal resistance in the arm muscles leading to maximum acceleration and speed at the rip or slightly beyond it.

It is a matter of finger muscle power addition to be able to pinch hard enough to allow the disc to pivot fully, timing and repetition. Proper timing is probably personal according to how fast and strong you are. The timing can change with power and muscle speed changes so one needs to check this from time to time. It ain't easy to vary timing and pinch power repeatably with small steps. That is another reason to practice these in a field and dedicating the time to practice to checking these things out.

The best automated pinches have occurred when the thumb and index finger outer joints touch the disc at about 5 o'clock and they leave a deep intendation from the rim to wing corner to the index finger. In the finger print area. These throws have more snap and the flight is straighter and longer than my usual throws. This means that i have room to improve.

My tip is to find out how long you can stay maximally loose prior to clamping down the finger pinch of doom with both the index finger and the thumb. Bradley Walker augments the index finger with the middle finger but that may create more drag and make it more difficult to pivot the disc as far as the index finger and thumb only pinch can.

[fanter]

I'm not sure I understand what you said about the "deep indentation." Aside from that, though, I think I understand most of what you're saying.

I wonder now if I can achieve the same grip strength with a "finger pinch of doom" that I do when I consciously clamp down on my disc before I throw. I mean...activating that finger pinch QUICKLY seems like achieving full pinch power could become an issue.

[JR]

Speed of the onset of the finger pinch done consciously will take practice. Automatic pinch has come late for me at times so it may be harder to train for at least i'm not perfect with it. I think learning a conscious pinch is good to have as a backup for the days when the automatic pinch is off. I think many athletes in many sports experience slumps because they rely on automated stuff and on days or periods when they are off their performance plummets. The problem in competition with wages on the line is that you do need the extra bit of power that automation gives in sports where raw power is needed. Luckily in DG you can throw accurately and fairly far even with a learned conscious finger pinch.

I have had flat spots in my index finger in the sides and on the finger print. I've also had the disc cut into the finger print area across it leaving about 1/20" deep line. That line is created by the bottom of the disc being pinched so hard and also from the created momentum digging into my flesh. It's a pain that at my power level and after some conditioning is nice to take. It's like fuck that felt good err... ouch it hurts but it means that the throw was GREAT!!! Hell yeah fly baby fly be free

I've heard that normally humans can employ 1/6 of their muscle power consciously to protect the body from injury while leaving safety margin for situations where injury would occur from not having enough power to spare. So it would seem based on that logic that an unconscious automated pinch would be stronger. The best rare conscious pinches i've made have felt and looked flight line wise and landed about as far as good automated pinches. I wish i can develop a 100 % automated pinch that is late and powerful enough. The disc should rotate until the fingers are at just short of the rip maybe one hour on the clock. That late for me has meant too late and weak pinches at times.

[JHern]

I remember the first time I told my wife to grip loose and pinch hard suddenly only at the very end, and she threw her disc over 250' for the first time.

[Craig]

I remember the first time I told my wife to grip loose and pinch hard suddenly only at the very end, and she threw her disc over 250' for the first time.

When I first read that, I thought it was some sort of cheesy inuendo ... and I'm still not entirely sure it isn't.

[Jeronimo]

That's what she said