Help me understand shifting weight from behind

[Discusted]

So I'm pretty certain that my lack of distance (I throw 250' max on a stand still) is due to not shifting enough weight from my back foot to my plant foot before starting the hip rotation portion of my throw. My throw seems to be 100% hip rotation with no weight shifting involved.

So I'm going to work on weight shift and timing it to transition into my hip rotation and see if I can't get that distance I want.

My question is I don't quite get the action of shifting from back to plant foot. I know the weight should be felt on my instep of my back foot. But to initiate the weight transfer what muscles are used? It seems like to transfer that weight any number of leg muscle groups can be used. For example, I could use my calf muscles and gas pedal my foot into the ground to initiate the weight transfer. I could also load with my knee bent and unbend it which would engage my glutes. Or I could use my like a side kick motion and use the muscles on the inside of my leg or hip to move the lips laterally.

I guess my question is when initiating the weight shift from back to plant foot, what leg muscles are being used to get that push off the instep?

 

[slowplastic]

The way it felt for me when it changed, is that you are leveraging your WEIGHT forward, not pushing a rotation.

It felt to me like I was moving my lower spine onto my plant leg. If your spine is straight/balanced, move your lower spine or middle of pelvis onto the plant leg. This will move everything above it in balance as well. Spine can be tilted of course, but no hunch.

If you leverage your spine in balance, there will be some mass on either side of it to both rotate and counter the throw. If you are just thinking about hip rotation, you are likely pushing your back hip around your plant leg.

Do you think about what leg muscles you use while walking? That is about moving your body mass forward. In a throw I kind of feel my whole back leg through thigh and calf, but I focus on leaving off the rear instep. Don't think about toe push or rotation or anything, think about move the spine/mass to the front leg.

 

[gradus]

Sidewinder likes to post this video. It helped me a lot.

https://youtu.be/0CSHqnYNijw

 

[Discusted]

The way it felt for me when it changed, is that you are leveraging your WEIGHT forward, not pushing a rotation.

It felt to me like I was moving my lower spine onto my plant leg. If your spine is straight/balanced, move your lower spine or middle of pelvis onto the plant leg. This will move everything above it in balance as well. Spine can be tilted of course, but no hunch.

If you leverage your spine in balance, there will be some mass on either side of it to both rotate and counter the throw. If you are just thinking about hip rotation, you are likely pushing your back hip around your plant leg.

Do you think about what leg muscles you use while walking? That is about moving your body mass forward. In a throw I kind of feel my whole back leg through thigh and calf, but I focus on leaving off the rear instep. Don't think about toe push or rotation or anything, think about move the spine/mass to the front leg.

Hmm okay I get what you are saying. The simple motion of moving your spine over top of the rear foot to the front foot does shift weight. And it's a simple enough action to execute. Can you clarify a bit on timing that motion with the reachback, pull through, and eventual hip rotation?

So spine over rear foot: Reachback at its peak?
Spine over front foot: Still with arm reached back or should I be in pocket power now or what?

 

[slowplastic]

Hmm okay I get what you are saying. The simple motion of moving your spine over top of the rear foot to the front foot does shift weight. And it's a simple enough action to execute. Can you clarify a bit on timing that motion with the reachback, pull through, and eventual hip rotation?

So spine over rear foot: Reachback at its peak?
Spine over front foot: Still with arm reached back or should I be in pocket power now or what?

During the reachback you are kind of transitioning the spine to land on the front foot. You are also at deepest reachback/backswing as your front toes are touching down and are about to land on the heel.

In the door frame drill you can feel how you are at maximum load into the rear hip as you are about to go heel-down. This is the instant when your weight will leave the rear instep and land on the front foot. The backswing is initiated with the spine on the rear leg and the hips turning the upper body and shoulder/arm back.

The whole forward swing will be on the front leg, that's why the one leg drill works so well. Once you add the weight transfer from the rear leg the front leg has to be a little farther in front of your body in space to dynamically balance you on top of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvGudQYfjD8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mpp7ZFLHK90

 

[Discusted]

I must thank SlowPlastic for the advice! So was in the field today and really focused on you were saying, in that it feels like you are moving your lower spine from rear foot to front foot. So I was just rocking my lower spine/pelvis from one leg to the other during my stand still, then on the rock backwards I'd do my normal reachback, on the rock forward I feel my butt moving towards the target, my heel planting downwards, then RIPPPPPP. I'm happy to report I was able to get a couple of my shots past the 250' barrier today. Not by much though, I was hitting some around 270'. Most of my shots were still going about their usual distance but it felt like they were getting there with a lot less effort.

Now that I got a feel for the weight shift, how to I impart more distance from here. Is it speeding up that weight shift forward?

 

[slowplastic]

Same or better distance at lower effort is great. Give it a few more sessions, and the time between to sink in, for it to be muscle memory and you'll gain some distance each time.

It's not necessarily speeding up the weight shift, but it's making it more sudden at the end. You don't need to push crazy hard, it's more the load being smooth and late, until you are about to land down on the front foot/heel. Extending the backswing and making sure you are in balance.

At 270' standstill there can be a lot of things, so video will be your best bet to pinpoint what the next stage is. But I wouldn't be surprised for the distance to creep up over a few sessions as long as you don't overdo it. Just be smooth, it doesn't take tons of effort/strength to get over 300' with a fairway driver if you are efficient and in balance.

 

[Discusted]

Same or better distance at lower effort is great. Give it a few more sessions, and the time between to sink in, for it to be muscle memory and you'll gain some distance each time.

It's not necessarily speeding up the weight shift, but it's making it more sudden at the end. You don't need to push crazy hard, it's more the load being smooth and late, until you are about to land down on the front foot/heel. Extending the backswing and making sure you are in balance.

At 270' standstill there can be a lot of things, so video will be your best bet to pinpoint what the next stage is. But I wouldn't be surprised for the distance to creep up over a few sessions as long as you don't overdo it. Just be smooth, it doesn't take tons of effort/strength to get over 300' with a fairway driver if you are efficient and in balance.

Sounds good. I'll take what I learned in the field today and continue working on it. Hopefully I can continue upping the distance since until now I've never really thrown with weight shift. Look forward to more progress. If I get stuck though, I'm asking you questions!