Snap what?

[jenb]

So with all this talk about snap, I have been struggling to snap my wrist, snap my arm, snap the disc, all to little avail. And now it seems like I am starting to get somewhere by basically snapping with my whole body. It's like this sudden explosion of movement of everything right at the moment of release. Does that sound like I might be on the right track? If not, what is it that I should be trying to "snap?"

 

[Triflusal]

 

[New013]

when you achieve snap you feel it in your arm. it's this crazy sudden acceleration as your forearm whips around and the disc goes sailing.

i never really got it until i heard the term "elbow chop." get that elbow out there like you're a ninja turtle and the disc in on your chest and then you'll experience it.

 

[ReinZ_96]

Watch Bradley Walkers snap 2009 videos on YouTube. I'd post thie link but I'm on my iPod and that's just to difficult to do that should clear it up for you

P.S. You guys^^^^^are fast

 

[jenb]

I've seen those videos before and tried to do that stuff. Not much luck with it so far.

 

[megamerican]

... It's like this sudden explosion of movement of everything right at the moment of release. Does that sound like I might be on the right track? If not, what is it that I should be trying to "snap?"

It sounds like you are on the right track. Snap is the acceleration of your arm when its at your sternum to the release of the disk. When you are doing it right all of your weight should be helping you do that and your body will want to naturally turn on your pivot foot.

The video just posted is a good synopsis of what should be happening during the snap.

 

[IronJack]

If you haven't seen this article and the embedded video:

https://www.dgcoursereview.com/dgr/resources/articles/bentelbow2.shtml

To me, that's snap.

 

[Triflusal]

Snap is basically timing of the (passive) closing and active extention of the wrist.

That bent elbow article is a good start too

 

[dodgeball]

jenb, don't feel bad, you're not the only one to be confused by the whole 'snap' concept. From what I've been able to figure out, there are two slightyl varying schools of thought on it. Bradley Walker (from the videos) seems to focus on the forearm as the main lever in slinging the disc out. The snap part of the throw starts when your elbow can't go forward anymore but has to start rotating. The hips and shoulders reinforce this movement and actually initiate the whole movement.

Then on DGR they talk about tendon bounce and focus on the wrist as the main this to focus on. The aim here is to get your wrist to close and open as fast as possible in a sort of whipping motion. There are a couple (more maybe?) articles devoted to this. Watch the videos and read the articles and then tell us what you think snap is...

 

[megamerican]

I've seen those videos before and tried to do that stuff. Not much luck with it so far.

Working on your timing really helps. If you are feeling most of your body accelerating when the disc is at your right peck then you are definitely on the right track. Without a lot of arm strength you probably won't feel any snap without a lot of inertia behind you, which is why timing is so important.

What helped me was watching a lot of slow motion throws of many of the pros to watch when they shift their weight during their x-step and then went to the field and worked on incorporating those lessons from the hit backwards and I've been seeing improvement.

 

[IronJack]

Here's a video that's new to me that I just found on Brad's fb page.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LffYBb1vQjQ

 

[Dan-hyzer]

Hey Jenb,

I had so much confusion about what I thought snap was versus what it actually turned out to be. What helped me was watching the 2010 Lewisville Lead Card video on youtube. The commentary is pretty good and the golf is amazing. After watching it multiple times, I picked up on just how slow they are actually moving as they pull the disc into the hit. Rewatching the better drives on this video, over and over again, had the unconscious effect of imparting the general timing and slower motions of the throws. I also just happened to be working on keeping the disc close to my chest on the pull through. Once I combined the timing/slowness with the disc close to the chest, I started "accidentally" having some monster throws that would go 100' farther than expected. These throws had just the smoothest, easiest, feeling. I could feel a slight bouncy feeling on some throws. I just threw lots of discs and tried to hone in on the feeling of that bounciness. Now I can get a Buzzz 350 with a fixed rear foot and one step with my lead foot as I bring the disc into that hit/bounce. I can't do that every time yet, but I've proven to myself that I'm on the right track.

So practice and throw discs and maybe throw 100 throws the same way and see if "accidentally" stumble upon something. If you don't feel anything, make a small change, and repeat. I'd recommend just using that fixed rear foot and one step into it. That seems to be the easiest way for me to get that snap. I can get it standing still but it seems harder to get the timing right.

Good luck!

DH

 

[ptld2001]

I also have a question on snap. I've been working on the hammer pounds and things, since I know I have almost no spin on my disc. I can sort of get it to work, but whenever it "works", my disc goes at least 20 or 30 degrees to the right of where I'm aiming. I tried to figure out why, and realized that when I release my disc, like the hammer pound, my wrist is bent about 20 degrees to the right of straight. It's no surprise that my disc is going to the right. I looked at the hammer pound exercise, and realized that the wrist is also bent back in that. So, I'm obviously missing something extremely fundamental. Should my wrist not bend to the right, or is there something you're supposed to do to avoid the disc's going to the right like that?

 

[Lithicon]

No, that's correct. You want te wrist extension, you need it for good snap. What the problem is your timing is off, you're pulling too early. So it's got your hit point off, when you get your timing correct it will fix it. This could be caused by pulling too far away from your chest, or just simply starting before you get into the power zone. But, it's nothing else wrong. Fix that and you'll see a nice boost in distance too if you've got the wrist extension already.

 

[Uncle Dougie]

You also might want to try aiming a little more straight or even left a bit. When you get that good snap all that momentum will want to force that disc out to the right anyways. I had to learn this with my two main drivers. Once I figured it out i started to park my drives consistantly.

 

[Cook26]

You also might want to try aiming a little more straight or even left a bit. When you get that good snap all that momentum will want to force that disc out to the right anyways. I had to learn this with my two main drivers. Once I figured it out i started to park my drives consistantly.

I had the same problem. Once I started snapping the disc and getting more power, the discs were all going right. I was averaging 350-375' but always about 30 feet to the right. Since I am not really releasing the disc (it is popping out on its own), I couldn't really change the release point.

I adjusted my body positioning to account for the release of the disc going right. I started going right-to-left in my x-step aiming to the left of the basket. I am still inconsistent with it, but when done correctly it works and the disc goes straight for the basket.

 

[ptld2001]

No, that's correct. You want te wrist extension, you need it for good snap. What the problem is your timing is off, you're pulling too early. So it's got your hit point off, when you get your timing correct it will fix it. This could be caused by pulling too far away from your chest, or just simply starting before you get into the power zone. But, it's nothing else wrong. Fix that and you'll see a nice boost in distance too if you've got the wrist extension already.

So, let me see if I understand this... I have a known problem with starting my pull early, as well as pulling too far from my chest, so from that perspective, you've got it exactly. I didn't realize that was causing the pull to the right though. So, if I pull later and closer to the chest, does that mean that I'd release earlier, such that my wrist is straight at that point, and then the wrist still follows through to end up at the 20 degree angle to the right? Otherwise, I just don't understand how the disc won't go in the direction of the final wrist angle, which would be towards the right.

 

[scoopa]

With correct timing your wrist will be open with the thumb pointing at your target.

 

[Lithicon]

No, he was correct. His wrist will still bend past his target. Thumb straight is wrist neutral, that's not wrist extension. When you change those things it makes the arm come through straighter and the wrist extension pops the disc out. Because of the direction change in the wrist and forearm.

 

[Dudly]

So with all this talk about snap, I have been struggling to snap my wrist, snap my arm, snap the disc, all to little avail. And now it seems like I am starting to get somewhere by basically snapping with my whole body. It's like this sudden explosion of movement of everything right at the moment of release. Does that sound like I might be on the right track? If not, what is it that I should be trying to "snap?"

Be careful with you're elbow while practicing the "snap." I gave myself a mild case of tendinitis and had to take a month off from dg from working on this too much.

My error was focusing on the "snap" and not paying enough attention to correct follow through to ensure that I wasn't over extending my elbow.