First video critique - Footwork and transferring power

[JR]

Youtube channels mfranssila and channel lcgm8 especially seven drives with Avery Jenkins are a start for vids. lcgm8 has drive comparisons in slo mo in Tali Open 2009 and 2011 plus check put the goodies in the Scandinavian Open 2010. Check out Paige Pierce in President's Cup 2011.

Using feather light steps with each of them landing only on the balls of the feet (unless the final step is toe to heel to toe) should help with the rear heel being off of the ground. That may need more muscle tension in the plant of the x step in the calf. Sound funny feather light and more tension but it is doable. The lightness comes from gliding smooth motions not so much jerking accelerations and hopping up high and crashing down hard. The legs should glide low parallel to the ground for lightness of steps and the rhythm of the steps is a major part in form. Timing and stuff.

Beginning of understanding athletic position roughly according to David Feldberg: Stand with feet parallel on a line from the basket and jump up and turn 90 degrees to face the basket. The position you're at should be athletic position. But more suitable for putting than driving. Any athletic position should be balanced. It shouldn't be easy to push you to fall.

Stopping the arm drill: Standing back to the wall throwing arm raised to shoulder height moving to a corner to allow the wrist to move freely start making super low powered throws. Elbow braces are good to use. The wall will stop your arm and the momentum, will snap your wrist to hyper spin position from momentum. If you stop the wrist abruptly with muscle power before reaching maximum extension (never do that as it can ruin your tendons for life and have you in agony for the rest of your life) the disc will continue with the momentum. If you pinch long enough=HAAAAARD! the disc will pivot fully. Increasing speed and spin. A round house shoulder socket driven non stopping motion won't achieve that lightning fast (faster than muscles can provide) wrist snap.

Not leaning toward the back of the tee will drop the nose dramatically. Standing up helps with getting the nose down but a little forward leaning can be a good thing for low ceiling shots and learning to keep the nose down. Pushing the thumb as far forward as possible will reduce grip strength but with enough power applied until the rip can push the nose forward. Just before the rip pushing down of the wrist can help too and that may need a lot of muscle power. Working out.

If you have a flexible and fluidly moving neck the head may not hurt the throw. As long as your hips move left enough in the reach back and right enough at the rip and very far in the follow through. From the hips up you should resemble a clockwise turned cork screw with max powered throws. Check out how far Markus Källström twists the hips to the right at high power levels.

Shoulder positions. The drill above and rereading about the pause.

[seabas22]

This helps visualize athletic positioning during the hit JR and I talking about, especially where Feldy says pulling hips and shoulder into a line and not being in a backward position. You will also notice how low the disc is when he does this. Reachback loose! So you can load the hips and shoulder and wrist coming into the hit. Dropping the throwing shoulder into the backswing helps keep it loose, so the shoulder is just hinged and the backswing should feel effortless.



These two vids should help clear your backswing effortlessly and getting your weight forward at the hit. When you do get your weight forward a lower pull line is more natural.

[zj1002]

Feldbergs form really is one of the best at transferring power from back to front. The pre-throw swing that he does will allow you to shift your weight back and when you pull through everything is lined up to transfer forward. I have been working on altering my pre-throw motion so that it properly sets my body. His pendulum motion doesn't work for me, but by experimenting with it I really got a feel for what proper weight shift is. It isn't just a style thing, it is all timing and body alignment. The way he described it as the NCDGC clinic was that he moves his body into the disc. His swing motion is actually created by him moving his body, and letting the arm/disc lag behind. If you try to actively swing your arm it will result in early releases that shank way left

[seabas22]

Feldbergs form really is one of the best at transferring power from back to front. The pre-throw swing that he does will allow you to shift your weight back and when you pull through everything is lined up to transfer forward. I have been working on altering my pre-throw motion so that it properly sets my body. His pendulum motion doesn't work for me, but by experimenting with it I really got a feel for what proper weight shift is. It isn't just a style thing, it is all timing and body alignment. The way he described it as the NCDGC clinic was that he moves his body into the disc. His swing motion is actually created by him moving his body, and letting the arm/disc lag behind. If you try to actively swing your arm it will result in early releases that shank way left

Yeah it's funny I ended up with Feldy's pre-swing motion from analyzing Matthew Blakely's form and applying that and they look quite different. I noticed how the disc stays stationary from the pre-swing into the backswing and its the body that moves around the disc. Dropping the disc down on the backswing just became natural to keep my arm loose or taut for the lag and staying on my toes. Max reachback is when my body begins to pull the disc back forward on the plant from its stationary pre-swing position. This helped my throw in so many ways. I think it really makes the throw a lot more compact, accurate, and powerful.

[zj1002]

Yeah I had trouble applying it at first. I have more of a "swedish style". I tend to get over the disc and leverage it with my back shoulder. This was causing my front shoulder to pop up in the air despite being nose down. I am still working on it, but once you understand that your body needs to move around the disc and get a feel for the weight shift going back->middle->front it all starts to click

[Mike C]

Bend your knees and get your weight forward. You're standing too straight up and rigid and it's preventing proper weight transfer at the end of the x-step.

[JR]

Bend your knees and get your weight forward. You're standing too straight up and rigid and it's preventing proper weight transfer at the end of the x-step.

The harder you push forward and possibly rotationally to the right with knees moving left to right the easier it is to move weight forward and turn toward the target at the moment of the rip. The left leg needs to be explosive in the acceleration yet smooth in the motions. Many people try to jump forward and up and not rotate much at all. This is not two legged height jumping so don't make that mistake please. Straight kneed person can't push with anything else than the ankle and butt muscles and that's straight from the butt as a form. The knee is the key. It has to bend before you push the leg, thus the knee, straight. That makes a world of difference in turning toward the target each time. That raises repeatability a lot. And makes everything move faster creating more speed on the disc. If you hold on long enough it will also add spin on the disc.