Simple Weight Shift Exercise

[SocraDeez]

intro
Whoops, the thread title was supposed to be Simple Weight Shift Exercise Super Secret Weight Shift Technique - Do This One Thing to Get Big D! Are you a longtime forum-reader-form-tinkerer who has grown tired of the onslaught of hand-cue debate underpinned by the squabbling of internet form coaches? Well, come on in; the water's fine. Today's subject is footwork.

meat and potatoes
If you've long yearned to nail the disc golf weight shift, try this simple exercise to cop a feel: take whichever leg/foot is the rear one in your disc golf swing, place it in front of you, and turn it 90 degrees so that the toes are pointed out from your body. This foot should now be in front of you and oriented perpendicular to the plant leg foot making an "L" of sorts, and you should be bearing most of your weight on your plant leg (because it is the one most under your center of mass at this point). Now, get off your weight-bearing plant leg by shifting/sinking your weight into the twisted up/preset other foot. You should be irresistibly pulled into a weight shift from the rear leg toward the plant. Voilà - the way your body moved reactively in this exercise is how it feels to move well from rear to plant in the disc golf swing.

outro
From God Shammgod, one of the greatest ball handlers of all-time: "It's all in the footwork! Faster! The hands are an illusion!!!"

 

[Sheep]

 

[Sard0nyx]

Can I get a quick sketch of the foot placement? I'm not really following

 

[HyzerRoc]

When I twist it 180 degrees it just points back at me. Am I misunderstanding something here or are you really meaning 90 degrees?

 

[SocraDeez]

Whoops - yes 90 degrees. Good catch. Will amend post. Here's a sketch. Not sure why the image flipped between image-taking-device and online filehosting site, but crane your neck, I suppose. The general idea is from advanced sprinting theory: most of the "work" of positioning the leg - i.e. "good technique" - takes place in the air prior to the strike. Everything else is reactionary. Also notice how this exercise pulls you off the rear foot into the plant heel-first vs. toe-first and feels pretty lateral, force vector-wise. No forced back thigh rotation/twisting inward. Or at least that's how it works for me. Population of 1 and all that.

 

[jupiterboy]

Dude. I destroyed my knee trying to do this with 180° twist. I'm in the hospital right now.

 

[Sard0nyx]

Whoops - yes 90 degrees. Good catch. Will amend post. Here's a sketch. Not sure why the image flipped between image-taking-device and online filehosting site, but crane your neck, I suppose. The general idea is from advanced sprinting theory: most of the "work" of positioning the leg - i.e. "good technique" - takes place in the air prior to the strike. Everything else is reactionary. Also notice how this exercise pulls you off the rear foot into the plant heel-first vs. toe-first and feels pretty lateral, force vector-wise. No forced back thigh rotation/twisting inward. Or at least that's how it works for me. Population of 1 and all that.

Maybe I'm just dumb, but I'm still not following lol. Maybe cause I'm left handed. But can you add arrows showing target and front of each foot?

Also, is the preset foot moving? I'm trying to picture this but it's not working. Initial weight is the plant foot right? But it doesn't move?

 

[Sewer bill]

Dude. I destroyed my knee trying to do this with 180° twist. I'm in the hospital right now.

No refunds!

 

[jupiterboy]

No refunds!

(I was seriously setting my feet like this and then reading "like an L" and thinking this guy is taking the piss)

 

[Brychanus]

intro
Whoops, the thread title was supposed to be Simple Weight Shift Exercise Super Secret Weight Shift Technique - Do This One Thing to Get Big D! Are you a longtime forum-reader-form-tinkerer who has grown tired of the onslaught of hand-cue debate underpinned by the squabbling of internet form coaches? Well, come on in; the water's fine. Today's subject is footwork.

meat and potatoes
If you've long yearned to nail the disc golf weight shift, try this simple exercise to cop a feel: take whichever leg/foot is the rear one in your disc golf swing, place it in front of you, and turn it 90 degrees so that the toes are pointed out from your body. This foot should now be in front of you and oriented perpendicular to the plant leg foot making an "L" of sorts, and you should be bearing most of your weight on your plant leg (because it is the one most under your center of mass at this point). Now, get off your weight-bearing plant leg by shifting/sinking your weight into the twisted up/preset other foot. You should be irresistibly pulled into a weight shift from the rear leg toward the plant. Voilà - the way your body moved reactively in this exercise is how it feels to move well from rear to plant in the disc golf swing.

outro
From God Shammgod, one of the greatest ball handlers of all-time: "It's all in the footwork! Faster! The hands are an illusion!!!"

I promised you I would stop hitting the "like" button to your posts and make sure my brain actually encodes them, so in solidarity I am just going to share an obligatory Thor meme:



If I am doing your drill described here correctly, the lesson is clear (for my own N=1, of course).

 

[Brychanus]

Maybe I'm just dumb, but I'm still not following lol. Maybe cause I'm left handed. But can you add arrows showing target and front of each foot?

Also, is the preset foot moving? I'm trying to picture this but it's not working. Initial weight is the plant foot right? But it doesn't move?

I thought about this more and realized I could interpret it in more than one way.

Probably faster as a video, but I'll write two versions of what I think he could have meant since it will also help clarify it when he replies. Both of these contain learning value and are probably relevant in terms of what pros/cons they carry. Both are possibly viable if you don't "force" weird actions through the legs. If neither are what he intended, please correct me @SocraDeez.

I usually think about dance footwork diagrams. I show RHBH and LHBH for any persons who struggle with mental rotations:

Option 1:
I initially thought that in the sticky note the "initial weight bearing appendage" and "preset" are the right foot and left foot, respectively, and one interpretation is the following. This one is most similar to Seabas22 "Open to closed" crush the can drill.

1. Stand with weight roughly 50/50 between the feet.
2. Settle your weight onto what functions as your "plant" leg.
3. Put the non-plant/rear/drive foot perpendicular to the plant foot with rear foot heel near but not touching plant foot big toe.
4. Start to release/move/shift your weight to the "rear" leg.
5. Almost immediately after this, the green line represents the "automatic" thing that should happen - your plant leg should swing in deweighted somewhere around ninety degrees to the target (my gait is a little funny but it still gets close enough).
6. Shift completes abruptly as you land on the plant leg.



Option 2:
This one has some exaggerated aspects in common with the internal load/"good" torque that was part of the lengthy discussion in the "Thighmaster" thread. It especially exaggerates the feel for the "shift from behind". The main difference is in the "target" in Step 1 and rear foot orientation in Step 3.
1. Stand with weight roughly 50/50 between the feet. The target is behind you.
2. Settle your weight onto what functions as your "plant" leg.
3. Put the non-plant/rear/drive foot perpendicular to the plant foot with rear foot big toe near but not touching plant foot big toe.
4. Start to release/move/shift your weight to the "rear" leg.
5. Almost immediately after this, the green line represents the "automatic" thing that should happen - your plant leg should swing in deweighted somewhere around ninety degrees to the target (my gait is a little funny but it still gets close enough) - this version emphasizes the rearward "shift from behind".
6. Shift completes abruptly as you land on the plant leg.

 

[jupiterboy]

Yeah, I can put my feet in that first position and just transfer my weight back and forth and stay in balance. It's awkward, but...

 

[Brychanus]

The key is to let your body/center of mass keep drifting forward until you land in the plant.

Just a general observation: some people seem to keep their body mass trapped between their feet rather than "stacking" over each foot athletically in transition almost no matter what they try. I'm not sure if it works so automatically for me because of all the prior other drills I have done.

 

[GeezerGolfDFW]

This drill looks painful and harmful to the knees. What is the purpose?

 

[SocraDeez]

quote recap

Option 1:
I initially thought that in the sticky note the "initial weight bearing appendage" and "preset" are the right foot and left foot, respectively, and one interpretation is the following. This one is most similar to Seabas22 "Open to closed" crush the can drill.

1. Stand with weight roughly 50/50 between the feet.
2. Settle your weight onto what functions as your "plant" leg.
3. Put the non-plant/rear/drive foot perpendicular to the plant foot with rear foot heel near but not touching plant foot big toe.
4. Start to release/move/shift your weight to the "rear" leg.
5. Almost immediately after this, the green line represents the "automatic" thing that should happen - your plant leg should swing in deweighted somewhere around ninety degrees to the target (my gait is a little funny but it still gets close enough).
6. Shift completes abruptly as you land on the plant leg.
View attachment 344193

Option 1 intended; very impressed with the illustration; you have internalized/articulated/transcended the point of the original post; big gold star.

This drill looks painful and harmful to the knees. What is the purpose?

Not at all. Though, I don't know what it's like to have geezer legs. Incidentally/topically, I suffered my first ever lower-lower-leg injury last week while making a contested catch (in Crocs) over my dog. Just a sprained ankle; I'll be fine. Mainly amazed that I had managed to avoid any such leg injuries despite a youth spent throwing rocks at one another. Mainly sympathetic for all those who have endured any such leg injuries. So, please be careful and remember this somewhat-youthful, non-injury-prone-leg bias when reading things I write.

the purpose

Weight-shift from one appendage to another is at least one part a reactive thing. We can twist our leg up in the air (rotational direction of twisting is outward from body), then apply weight/pressure/ground contact to that appendage, and, because of anatomy developed/selected over millions of years, our weight will bounce/shift toward the other appendage. Humans are really good at performing this feat in the forward walking motion. Amateur disc golfers are really bad at harnessing this energy during the x-step of the disc golf throw.

professional player tie-in

All human locomotion is torqued. Professional players are really good at translating torqued movement into the more linear throw vector. Here's James Proctor's first step at the Sweden Open. Part of the trick for amateur players is to make the third step more like the first step, which is hard because now that leg is behind instead of in front. But it needs to bear/bounce your weight in the same manner that it did during the first step. I'd wager that a lot of amateur players are both turning/propelling themselves down the tee pad with the wrong leg. For RHBH, your left leg should be doing more work than the right to turn your body/move your weight toward the target. Your net lateral movement is to the right; therefore, the left leg should be the prime mover to travel that direction.

 

[Sheep]

I'm going to throw in my half a penny here, (sorry, inflation got me down)

I've never understood the stand facing the target before moving at the target to turn yourself into the sideways slide.

Why not start as a shuffle?


I watch a lot of newer players fall victim to this as well, because its basically face the target, step step, ass at target, walk backwards, throw poorly.

While if they started with a shuffle from the start, that would be less likely to happen.

 

[itlnstln]

I'm going to throw in my half a penny here, (sorry, inflation got me down)

I've never understood the stand facing the target before moving at the target to turn yourself into the sideways slide.

Why not start as a shuffle?


I watch a lot of newer players fall victim to this as well, because its basically face the target, step step, ass at target, walk backwards, throw poorly.

While if they started with a shuffle from the start, that would be less likely to happen.

+1 to this. I start sideways like Corey Ellis. The whole facing-the-target thing seems inefficient and another way where there's an opportunity to get off-line in the initial pivot. You're finding your line faced up, then you rotate 90 degrees, re-find the line, and adjust your footwork.

Watch a quarterback throw (or a baseball player). They're sideways to their target in their setup. Not sure how we got to facing the target in DG. Whatever works, works. It has always seemed a bit strange to me, though

 

[Brychanus]

This drill looks painful and harmful to the knees. What is the purpose?

Unfortunately like any drill concept it only works as well as you do it...

As a sufferer of bilateral knee issues myself, I would suggest that if you do this incorrectly (via twisting or forcing unnatural actions) it can injure you, just like any other footwork pattern.

If you take the "Option 1" stride pattern and make it function otherwise exactly like walking to achieve the goal, you have learned why advanced dancers aren't routinely blowing out their knees and just demystified all the weight shift jargon on DGCR!

I'm going to throw in my half a penny here, (sorry, inflation got me down)

I've never understood the stand facing the target before moving at the target to turn yourself into the sideways slide.

Why not start as a shuffle?


I watch a lot of newer players fall victim to this as well, because its basically face the target, step step, ass at target, walk backwards, throw poorly.

While if they started with a shuffle from the start, that would be less likely to happen.

lol at inflation joke

+1 to this. I start sideways like Corey Ellis. The whole facing-the-target thing seems inefficient and another way where there's an opportunity to get off-line in the initial pivot. You're finding your line faced up, then you rotate 90 degrees, re-find the line, and adjust your footwork.

Watch a quarterback throw (or a baseball player). They're sideways to their target in their setup. Not sure how we got to facing the target in DG. Whatever works, works. It has always seemed a bit strange to me, though

Just FWIW from N=1 plus some broader observations:

1. I used to suffer the stated issue.
2. I also have used the Corey Ellis setup and agree with everything you both said. I also find it works very well with a shuffle hop.
3. For recent mechanical learning, I switched back to slightly open to target and closing off in the approach because it can help emphasize the transition to build up rear side torque in the backswing/reachback, but that only works in the context of the GG-like footwork and shift of mass I've been working on. That is also one of the key points of SocraDeez' little "Option 1 drill" above. Overall, however, as that lesson is sinking in, I find it more reliable to square off more to the target more like Ellis to reduce variability (for now). What I just wrote also was not working before other mechanics were in place. Curious about what other people think or have experienced.

 

[Nick Carroll]

I think everyone starting by facing the target is just because everyone else is doing it. We see other do it, so we do it. What changed the paradigm for me was watching Corey Ellis play. I quickly became enamored with that 3-step walk-up, which is essentially just the cross-step. That actually helped me learn it, because prior to that, I was clumsily trying to do the walk-up or run-up that everyone else was doing. From 2018 to 2020 I was a standstill-only disc golfer. Just lacked the coordination to add motion. I just want to say, I recommend the Corey Ellis walk-up to anyone working on their cross-step, and I primarily still do that today for most drives.

 

[disc-golf-neil]

here's another one: get ya boi to grab your belt and try to pull you over your brace and if your brace fails to stop that from happening, you have to take 1 slap to the face then switch sides.