mostlynorwegian
Tosser with plastic
- Joined
- May 25, 2017
- Messages
- 566
Try just going out, and having fun throwing discs. Try doing literally just that. Play casually with zero expectations.I am looking to start a conversation about fatigue and overload. Mostly mental but also physical.
Brief disc golf bio: near 20 years playing fairly seriously with breaks from competitive play. about 6 or 7 years ago (around 30yo) I peaked at 970 and maintained a 960s average with minimal practice or playing. As soon as I tried to jump in and play more things started slipping. Backhand distance has always been a strength, at the time there was only a handful of guys in CO that I wasn't keeping up with off the tee. Putting has always been a weak point to an all out a struggle.
I am 37yo, 6'2 170-180lbs, naturally athletic and throwing comes easily to me. Self awareness is minimal, I have never been good at understanding form or what I do right/wrong. That lack of understanding has made coming back from injury (mild shoulder issues, broken hand, some hip issues, lots of knee issues) tough.
I have always tuned my form through drills. Field work or putter rounds generally. Playing putters only for a few weeks is my go to reset button.
I have been working at coming back from a pretty significant mental breakdown followed by injuries over the last few years. I feel I have continued building my skillsets but my mental game has made near zero improvement. I understand better physical health and nutrition should be an easy step toward improving both mental and physical endurance. I am fairly healthy but have plenty of room for improvement there as well. I do not tend to take myself or game too seriously, or have too high of expectations. Possibly to a point it's become a fault. Focus is still terribly difficult, especially late in a tourney round.
While I do not take much too seriously, it is quite humbling and border line humiliating to be scoring worse than I used to with 6 discs and less than a years experience despite having a better skillset and 20 years experience and knowledge.
I am at a loss of where to start to make and maintain actual improvements. I have tried to attack my putting yips that have plagued me for nearly 5 years. Lots of practice and developing a putt with fewer variables. I feel like I make improvements in my putting and generally then find myself back at the bottom. IE this weekend having a physical/mental block where on my final 5 of 60 tourney holes on a weekend I genuinely could not let go of the disc and was missing 30+ degrees right regardless of how much I was trying to put on the disc. Definitely a mental block as much as a physical one. From what I can tell is I have not gotten my lower body timing to be as natural as it once was and that's led to rounding and timing issues. That coupled with the mental block of not trusting my hand to function as its supposed to (lingering from post rehab grip issues). Overall hand strength despite injury, I have always had decent grip strength, and being an electrician makes sure I maintain it (was able to pull over 80psi on a dynamometer by the end of rehab, about on par with my left. I believe I have continued to regain strength in my right). In events like this weekend I have found my hand feeling significantly weaker and range and ease of motion in my my ring/pinky were limited.
My thoughts:
Continue to improve diet, especially leading up to long weekends.
Re-incorporate a little more cardio into my life again.
Continue pushing though the mental stresses of daily life in hopes to have more available bandwidth. This includes continuing therapy
Possibly take a break from competitive play for a few years so I can come back with a fresh mindset and not continue to re-enforce negative mental habits.
Possibly find mobility exercises to increase hand flexibility and endurance.
Overshare on DGCR in hopes for some nuggets of wisdom.
As well. Get your body looked at. Physical therapy might really help you. Because this statement kind of sticks out. "---- naturally athletic and throwing comes easily to me. Self awareness is minimal, I have never been good at understanding form or what I do right/wrong. That lack of understanding has made coming back from injury (mild shoulder issues, broken hand, some hip issues, lots of knee issues) tough.."
Listen to us older farts who complain. It will only get worse from here on in if that's how you wish to go about it, and you are actively lying to yourself if you say that you are naturally athletic while also lacking self awareness. That isn't necessarily athletic. That's just a work ethic. Have you ever tried something to just fail? And you are there just for the process? Because, that's where learning happens.
There are also literally arm loads of videos about form.
Disc golf, while mildly athletic. More from a hiking stand point than anything else. IS NOT A SPORT WHICH NEEDS OR EVEN REQUIRES RAW STRENGTH. It requires balance, flexibility, and being limber a whole lot more than any kind of actual strength. Note the number of string beans that you could blow over with an industrial fan that can out-throw you with 1% power. So, your shoulder injury is likely just you PLOWING into getting distance. Work ethic is great. But, it's also extremely over-rated because it disallows simplification and enjoying process.