Form Check

Unfortunately, I have had very little time over the past couple months to work on form work. I had my large tournament of the year and multiple variations that got in the way.

I definitely have the same issues as before but here is my up to date form.

Also, after playing in the big tournament, I have realized that distance gain isnt super important. Obviously I would like to get up to around 450 consistently, but accuracy is killing me. I cant for the life of my get a accurate shot from 150 and out. Its gotten so bad that I have considered scrapping my right hand and starting over with my left hand (I messed around with some throws and got a bolt 300, sapphire 275)



 
Your head/upper spine is tipping over instead of shifting the lower body underneath.




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Thanks for pointing that out, ill work on the drill tomorrow and send a video of me doing it. Could I use a disc or does it need to be a hammer?
 
Youtube dude. Whatever video player this is sucks.
 

Even if that didnt fix it, I am currently also trying to fix the reachback and follow through, as well as keeping my head down and not pulling it up. Thats the leading causer for accuracy loss I think.
 
This is me after a couple hours today. Hopefully it's better form after some adjustments. 🤞



 
This is me after a couple hours today. Hopefully it's better form after some adjustments. 🤞




I'd still like us to see you do the drills and work on it more than a couple times before jumping straight into the X. Most coaches I know (in any sport) all point out that learners do themselves the worst disservice when they go off tweaking this that and the other thing on their own trying to learn from too many sources before the first thing is well-established. If you learn via drills, you need to treat them like motor training moves, which can take a while!

Your rear knee never crosses behind your front knee in transition and your pump looks a bit out of sync early. The pump should be anchored by your front foot and feel like it helps "swing" your rear leg in behind your front knee in transition (works the same way in walking, just taken sideways for X-step).

Watch how Eagle takes his pump relaxed from his body doing what I described above.



Right now your move is closer to a "side shuffle hop" like Kristin Tattar or Isaac Robinson. Obviously that move can work at a high level but it isn't quite as mechanically efficient as a good X step - based on your vids I see no reason you can't develop that. Read starting third paragraph here:

Kristin Tattar's mechanics Post in thread 'Kristin Tattar's mechanics'

Ride the bull and the skaters with a hammer will help with the issues above because they help with sync and how the entire body should move in transition (usually doesn't work the first or second time, but over a few weeks after you are doing the move correctly). Hammers help in part because they give the body much clearer leverage to work with, and if you screw the move up it feels awful more quickly (be careful!)
 
I'd still like us to see you do the drills and work on it more than a couple times before jumping straight into the X. Most coaches I know (in any sport) all point out that learners do themselves the worst disservice when they go off tweaking this that and the other thing on their own trying to learn from too many sources before the first thing is well-established. If you learn via drills, you need to treat them like motor training moves, which can take a while!

Your rear knee never crosses behind your front knee in transition and your pump looks a bit out of sync early. The pump should be anchored by your front foot and feel like it helps "swing" your rear leg in behind your front knee in transition (works the same way in walking, just taken sideways for X-step).

Watch how Eagle takes his pump relaxed from his body doing what I described above.



Right now your move is closer to a "side shuffle hop" like Kristin Tattar or Isaac Robinson. Obviously that move can work at a high level but it isn't quite as mechanically efficient as a good X step - based on your vids I see no reason you can't develop that. Read starting third paragraph here:

Kristin Tattar's mechanics Post in thread 'Kristin Tattar's mechanics'

Ride the bull and the skaters with a hammer will help with the issues above because they help with sync and how the entire body should move in transition (usually doesn't work the first or second time, but over a few weeks after you are doing the move correctly). Hammers help in part because they give the body much clearer leverage to work with, and if you screw the move up it feels awful more quickly (be careful!)

I can see why its bad for me to do that and probably frustrating for you guys that are trying to help me.

Are there any videos out there that talk about the differences? I understand it briefly, but I fee like if I really understand it, it will be easier for me to fix. I could be crazy but maybe it will.
 
Are there any videos out there describing and showing the differences between the shuffle and step? Im still confused on that part
 
Probably best is to watch video of Kristin Tattar or Isaac Robinson (side shuffle hoppers) vs. someone like Paige Pierce or Paul McBeth (X-step/hoppers).

The first two do not cross their knees over = "side shuffle hop"

The second two do cross their knees over = "X-step or X-hop"

Section 3.4. "The X-step/hop and its alternatives" in the "Fundamentals" link in my signature describes these more, and some theoretical tradeoffs.

I might get the motivation to do a quick video on the differences, but that will get you started :)

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Thank you very much. That makes sense and I can see that now. Ill try and do my research so I fully understand it and can get to work on fixing it with you.

Also, you totally should make a video on it. It would probably benefit a lot of people.
 
I have heard that a pro pull is really good at getting reps in and its great because it strengthens the tendons and muscles. Is there a proper way to use it or to get into the proper form positions with it?
 
I have heard that a pro pull is really good at getting reps in and its great because it strengthens the tendons and muscles. Is there a proper way to use it or to get into the proper form positions with it?
I'm curious what others think, but my 2 cents:

My main issue with the pro pull specifically (or I guess anchored resistance bands in general) is that people end up trying to move way too flat, which (1) reinforces flat kinetics/inefficiencies and (2) makes it hard to target the right motion and body sequence because you need it to be close enough to the actual throw to optimally help.

I personally have changed my training to use resistance tubes and bands for conditioning parts of the chain, and try to make my resistance tube postures as close as possible to what I've learned about swing mechanics around here. By the way, this isn't just speculation - my sports physical therapist gave me a program specialized for BH direction I still use, and I can tell you my throwing has benefitted. I do these moving in both directions. They have gotten better as time with drill moves from sidewinder has improved my weight shifting.

E.g., lumberjack swings with resistance tubes and similar tend to be better for accessing the tilted axis for swings, and more optimally load the oblique sling systems for coiling. Look up "low to high" and "high to low" lumberjack swings. Maybe of the youtube videos out there actually can have fairly poor posture in general or for disc golf, so beware. You want to make sure that your feet and body are still shifting just like a golfer or baseball batter, just in the lumberjack swings. This guy describes them ok but you need to make sure your weight is shifting from rear foot in backswing to front foot in the swing - for disc golf, never get "stuck" on both feet at once:





I personally think it is really important to pair resistance tubes with actually throwing weighted objects and levers. You need to combine the smooth resistance and body training of resistance tubes with the kinetics of actually moving your full body mass and releasing and leveraging stuff out there. Doing one without the other is less likely to succeed (in my own experience). You can work on the same posture issues in both of them - it just adjusts a little bit for whether or not you are leveraging out/throwing the object.

SW had a nice post about using weighted objects to train the fundamental kinetics, and then you can add velocity going to lighter weights.

I do a lot of training with sledgehammers and max weight Comets right now to help my body get the body training, balance, and kinetics, which is transferring better and better to somewhat lighter drivers over time.
 
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