Looking for some tips

[Triton]

Hey guys, I've been playing going on 2 years and decided it was time to put a video out to get some advice, so I had a friend take a video of me throwing and was wandering if I could get some critiques if possible. I know there's some things I might need to change just by looking at the video, so I figured it would probably be best to put the video here for some of you to look at and maybe give me some advice on what all I might need to do to improve my form... I was throwing down hill on this one so I'm not sure if this exactly represents how I would throw if throwing flat, but I thought if anything this can be a good start, and maybe I'll get another video on here if necessary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgvRXMvm ... r_embedded

[Star Shark]

More reach back. Get your shoulders and hips turned away from the target. Keep your left hand off the disc, it will just cause distractions and flaws in your form.

[Triton]

Thanks shark... Yeah, It definitely helps seeing a video of myself.. It looks like i might not be getting my weight quite over my plant foot either... I also noticed that my plant foot seems to be jumping after it plants when it turns. Is that normal, or a result of something I shouldn't be doing?

[JR]

Try to land on just the balls of your feet in the first and x steps and in the plant step you absolutely positively need to keep the little toe in the air as the foot touches the ground. You should land on the toe and roll to the heel on the corner of the bottom of the sole and side of the sole. That slows down your pivot making you hop, robbing distance and worst of all eating away at your joints, tendons and muscles from the excess twisting. Which comes from too much sole to ground contact. You aren't bad but it could be better and as this is a lifetime sport your ankles, knees, hip joint and back won't bother you as much or as early as they would if you pivot freely.

You had all the hallmarks of an anhyzer except your arm plane broke higher in the follow through and the pivot was short. In part because you miss out on hip twist and shoulder turn so that you lack rotational momentum. Once you add those too flat footed steps are gonna twist your legs even more. So taking care of that should be your number one concern.

This a control shot form and you could increase accuracy by planting the right foot pointed less than 90 degrees away from the target. For all out distance x step both legs need to point 180 away from the target and the plan is also 180 away. Shoulder line for open holes 180 away and wide open desperation shots as much more than 180 as you can. Or 360 steps.

[emiller3]

It looks like you are missing most of the benefits of the first portion of the throw, the inward pull. A good inward pull will consist of: getting your shoulders perpendicular to the target line during reach back, starting the arm forward by opening the shoulders back to parallel with the target line, and guiding the disc with a passive arm close and into the chest during the forward pull. THEN you start to throw. I would imagine you'd get a pretty quick increase in distance by working on the inward pull. Search for the Snap 2009 thread and watch the videos in the first post to get an idea about the inward pull.

Your weight forward seems fine to me, but again, you don't have much of a weight shift since you don't reach back very far.

[Triton]

Thanks a lot for the tips JR and emiller3. It looks like there's definitely a number of things for me to focus on with my form. I'll plan on working on my form starting at my feet and then moving on other issues from the ground up, focusing on 1 or 2 things at a time and then maybe I'll post another video in a month or 2 and see what everything looks like from there and see where I need to go from there.. Does that sound like a good plan?

[JR]

Yup. But don't set the timing of the second video in stone by calendar. Skills are what counts not how fast you get them. Who knows how fast you'll learn and how much practice time you'll get. Results come when they come. Work is usually mandatory.

[emiller3]

If your goal is to get incrementally better without totally ruining your game during the proccess, then that's probably the right plan. What we're providing is the necessary body positionings and timing to get snap...but we aren't really teaching you how to get snap. If you don't luck into getting snap in the process, you'll likely cap out at ~420' with decent accuracy if you really develop your form well.

If you don't mind some sacrifice while you're learning, then I would recommend reading the Super Secret Technique and Snap 2009 threads and start with those drills to learn how to re-invent your throw with snap. It will be more painful of a process but the ceiling is higher for both accuracy and distance. Plus you will be able to self-diagnose a lot more.

[Triton]

Yup. But don't set the timing of the second video in stone by calendar. Skills are what counts not how fast you get them. Who knows how fast you'll learn and how much practice time you'll get. Results come when they come. Work is usually mandatory.

I agree and totally understand that. I guess my intention with the timeline was to keep my progress goal oriented, and setting for my self somewhat of a timeline, whether it is achieved or not, generally helps me to stay focused on my goals and achieve them with better efficiency.


I have just watched the snap 2009 videos and they make a lot of sense. When I have more time I will read more into the thread as well as the Super Secret Technique thread. I am ready to get out there and get it all fixed right now, but I know it's gonna take some time to get the form correct and gain the knowledge I need. Piece by piece I plan on getting everything working the way it should be.. Thanks again for your willingness to help lead me into the right direction in my game.

League tonight should be interesting tonight as I work on my footwork and reach-back lol.

[Aaron_D]

The biggest thing I see that you really should work on first is the timing of the pull. Your plant and pull happen almost at the same time. You need to plant your foot *then* pull. The other big thing is acceleration. Be looser and slower at the apex of the reach back and let your weight shift start the motion forward. Dont start the pull until well after youve planted and are already shifting your weight from back to front. Your orientation is a little weird looking to me as well. You look a little too squared up to the target line. Make sure you are pointing your right butt cheek at your target at your full reachback and eject the disc a little more out to the right of your right pec.

On the plus side youre getting good weight shifting from back to front and your pivot is wicked!

Start be slowing everything down and fixing your plant pull timing. I bet that would fix a bunch of stuff and increase your effort to distance ratio by quite a bit.

[Triton]

The biggest thing I see that you really should work on first is the timing of the pull. Your plant and pull happen almost at the same time. You need to plant your foot *then* pull. The other big thing is acceleration. Be looser and slower at the apex of the reach back and let your weight shift start the motion forward. Dont start the pull until well after youve planted and are already shifting your weight from back to front. Your orientation is a little weird looking to me as well. You look a little too squared up to the target line. Make sure you are pointing your right butt cheek at your target at your full reachback and eject the disc a little more out to the right of your right pec.

On the plus side youre getting good weight shifting from back to front and your pivot is wicked!

Start be slowing everything down and fixing your plant pull timing. I bet that would fix a bunch of stuff and increase your effort to distance ratio by quite a bit.

Thanks Aaron. I got a chance to play some Thursday and decided to focus on turning my plant foot away from the target more and landing more on the ball of my foot, as well as my reach-back. I think my hips have opened up a lot more because of it. My reach-back is now looking a lot better and my shoulders are opened more as well...

I played half a round practicing those few things before league and it took a little bit to get use to as I tried to break myself off of the muscle memory of my old form. I decided to go ahead and play league with the form I had been practicing and I noticed a considerable difference in my effort to distance ratio, and my knees and back felt much better after playing than they usually feel from the other form. On one of the longer holes where I'm able to open up on distance I threw a drive that was probably about 75-80 feet longer than I usually throw which shocked me because I didn't feel like I was even throwing as hard as I normally do on that hole. I just focused on the reach-back and plant foot placement.

I think next I'm gonna focus on the timing of the pull after I plant and really feel my body pulling my arm up to my chest before I start pulling with the arm. I am very pleased with the results just from what I've changed so far and I can't wait to see how my form will continue to develop as I work on everything gradually..

Thanks a lot for all the tips so far everyone. My form is starting to come together gradually thanks to the advice you guys have given me so far.

[Triton]

If you don't mind some sacrifice while you're learning, then I would recommend reading the Super Secret Technique and Snap 2009 threads and start with those drills to learn how to re-invent your throw with snap. It will be more painful of a process but the ceiling is higher for both accuracy and distance. Plus you will be able to self-diagnose a lot more.

Ok, so I have watched the snap 2009 videos and read a little bit into the posts made in the thread and I have also watched the Super Secret Technique videos and have started to practice the drills as well as read into the thread a little as of yesterday.

I have a question though because there seems to be a little bit of a conflict for me. My original plan was to work on my form from the ground up and get my form where it needs to be, but I noticed while reading in the Super Secret Technique that there is an emphasis on working from the hit back.

Should I stop where I'm at on focusing on my form from the ground up and go ahead and start working on the hit to get the feel of the hit and work back from there or continue on my plan from the ground up?

Thanks for your input.

[JR]

I might be a minority but in my experience having fundamental flaws can easily hamper learning finer details and enforce new bad habits and lead astray. That is why i'd first have a solid foundation first and then switch over to working from the hit back. That is getting snap.

Once you've smoothed your throw per the tips you've given so far it's time to develop snap. With luck that's quite soon.

[Triton]

That's sort of what I was thinking.. I know it seems a little counter intuitive to build a form,, then tear it down, but I do think it would be better in my case to get my form together first, even if I have to ultimately change it some to fit into the newly established "hit" that I will need to feel.. I feel that things are moving pretty well with my form so far, so it may not be too long. The only problem is that it's been raining about every stinking day here lol, so I haven't been able to get too much quality time in the field. I do think that having a better established form will help me work better from the hit back once I get to that point.. Thanks again for the advice.

[Pwingles]

footwork looks solid

youre not reaching back enough to let your hips and shoulders be a factor

your pull-through is high

keep the disc flat with a good grip