Fixing early pullthrough

[loki993]

ok, so my throw has issues and I'm trying to work through them. One of my big issues I think is starting the pull early. I think i'm my haste to throw I begin my pull through while I'm still on my back foot. I'm sure this causes all kinds of things to happen to include, nose angle issues, high release and things like that.

Is there something I can do or a drill I can work on that can help me work on pulling through later. I'm sure this is at least one of my causes of power loss.....

 

[A rod]

I think I posted the turn and throw drill for you on another post you made. Start facing 180 away from your throwing target, turn and throw. But, dont accelerate your arm until you're made visual contact with your target.

 

[chain_ape7]

I have some of the same issues and read a great trick on another forum.
Put your hands by down by your side (without a disc) and set your feet apart and turn your hips away from your target direction, then throw your hips forward towards your target. Your arms will whip forward as your shoulders follow your hips. Feel your legs and hips rotate forward and get the timing down. I try to do this during warm-ups during field work. It helps me to get the feel of clearing my hips before the pull through and it connects my lower body to the upper. Don't pull from the reach back - start the pull as or after your hips clear and get some "lag" between the lower half of your body and the upper. My 2 cents...hope it helps man. I've spent the last year learning how to throw 350-375' and as mentioned by many others, I'm now going to work on how to throw 30' !!

 

[loki993]

I think I posted the turn and throw drill for you on another post you made. Start facing 180 away from your throwing target, turn and throw. But, dont accelerate your arm until you're made visual contact with your target.

I think you may have too and I've tried that a few times, I should work on it more. My problems it seems I practice something then move on to something else or go play and get annoyed because I'm not throwing well and revert. Then I don't go back to practicing what I was working on before. I need to find something that works and stick with it.

I have some of the same issues and read a great trick on another forum.
Put your hands by down by your side (without a disc) and set your feet apart and turn your hips away from your target direction, then throw your hips forward towards your target. Your arms will whip forward as your shoulders follow your hips. Feel your legs and hips rotate forward and get the timing down. I try to do this during warm-ups during field work. It helps me to get the feel of clearing my hips before the pull through and it connects my lower body to the upper. Don't pull from the reach back - start the pull as or after your hips clear and get some "lag" between the lower half of your body and the upper. My 2 cents...hope it helps man. I've spent the last year learning how to throw 350-375' and as mentioned by many others, I'm now going to work on how to throw 30' !!

See for me its the total opposite, I'm actually not half bad at short approach shots my distance off the tee is just embarrassing for the most part...well not to that extreme but I can't hit 300 with any consistency and I think if I was honest with myself my average is right around 250. I feel like even with bad form I should be able to hit 300 easily so Im trying to find the major form flaw that I have.

 

[jenb]

The late pull through really clicked for me after a Feldberg and Leviska clinic where they demonstrated, for backhand, looking directly down at the ground during the pull, pulling directly beneath the nose, and releasing with the head still in that same position. The head doesn't rotate up and around until the rotation of the off hand shoulder forces it to during the follow through.

 

[chain_ape7]

You'll get it man. Use your lower body more and let your arm and shoulder generate the final whip at the "hit". I was just an amazing grip lock artist when I started to learn a backhand last winter! Trying too hard and using too much arm at the wrong moment.
Go to a park and just work on pushing off the back leg, throwing the hips forward as you plant the front leg and don't pull until you clear the hips. You will feel a couple just freakin RIP and SNAP out of your hand and go......hmmm that's what it feels like! Generate that lag between your lower body and upper. Good luck!

 

[sidewinder22]

You have to feel more weight on the front leg before you swing.

 

[Dan Ensor]

One footed throws

Stand on your lead foot, bring the disc in front of you, take your reachback, throw the disc.

 

[wildwing]

Started working on this myself after sidewinder pointed this out on my swing. I was able to do it a couple of nights ago. I basically thought of leaning into the shot after the full reachback/backswing before the pull. I don't know if this lead to messing up other parts of my swing but it looked better when I took a video of myself from the rear.

 

[A rod]

I know exactly what you mean. Its hard to keep focus on improving when you change something up. Its kind of 1 step back 2 steps forward. I used to practice that turn and throw drill indoors with a stocking cap for a disc and throwing at the light switch plate during the winter. Must have thrown that beanie into the wall hundreds of times but now its just muscle memory at the course.

What the others posted is good, I like the idea of making your upper body slightly lag behind your lower body motions. Push off your back foots toes to get your torso turning, while at reach back, then once your chest is coming around to face the front, THEN you start the pull.

Stand perpendicular to a closed door and reach across your body to put your throwing hand on the handle. Keep your hand there, and feel the push off your back foot to point your torso 90° to the right. That is roughly where you want to get before bringing the throwing arms elbow forward. You should be able to feel the tension being built in your core. Slightly bending forward will accentuate the tension.

 

[Jouni]

I'm struggling with the same issue, even though I'm throwing only from standstill in order to minimize the variables, and Bradley Walker's closed shoulder drill has helped somewhat as I try to focus on keeping my right shoulder rigid. But then it feels quite hard to transfer weight forward. For a while Dave Feldberg video tip #1 (on vimeo) helped but I could get these two drills work together. Either I use my hips more and lose the rigid shoulder and the pivot of the disc, or I throw mostly with arm...

The biggest problem caused by this is not the distance (although I rarely hit 300' mark), but issue is that when I do this, everything turns to right.

 

[wildwing]

I know exactly what you mean. Its hard to keep focus on improving when you change something up. Its kind of 1 step back 2 steps forward. I used to practice that turn and throw drill indoors with a stocking cap for a disc and throwing at the light switch plate during the winter. Must have thrown that beanie into the wall hundreds of times but now its just muscle memory at the course.

What the others posted is good, I like the idea of making your upper body slightly lag behind your lower body motions. Push off your back foots toes to get your torso turning, while at reach back, then once your chest is coming around to face the front, THEN you start the pull.

Stand perpendicular to a closed door and reach across your body to put your throwing hand on the handle. Keep your hand there, and feel the push off your back foot to point your torso 90° to the right. That is roughly where you want to get before bringing the throwing arms elbow forward. You should be able to feel the tension being built in your core. Slightly bending forward will accentuate the tension.

It's even harder to focus when you have to deal with a weak left leg. Just came off ACL surgery and my left leg is giving me issues with simply going down stairs. I'm hoping that playing with it will help speed up getting my strength back.

 

[A rod]

It's even harder to focus when you have to deal with a weak left leg. Just came off ACL surgery and my left leg is giving me issues with simply going down stairs. I'm hoping that playing with it will help speed up getting my strength back.

That sounds pretty rough man, take it easy on that knee. Working through hundreds of reps of throws definitely puts some strain on your lower body, even with good form, and even more without.

I think part of the problem is as a player trying to develop good technique and gain distance, there are so many things that you're told that you need to do, and some are just much more important than others. Its hard to know which motions to emphasize, and which are less important.

Going from a slow walk in the x step to fast is a good example. Most people just need to learn to go through the motions very slow and only the last half second of the throw is fast.

The other is grip, make sure your fingers are pulling the rim into your palm, and NOT just squeezing the flight plate between your index and thumb.

Also, if you're not understanding hip timing, watch some slow mo drives. The key is to not focus on the hips but rather watch the knees. The hips can't move without some pressure from the back foot which ultimately has to go through the knee before the hip moves.

 

[chain_ape7]

I remember a video of someone doing an interview with Paige Pierce and they asked her how she could throw so far and only being like 100lbs. (never overestimate the weight of a woman!!)
Any way she said she grew up playing with her Dad and his buddies and it was always about how far you could throw. She said she generates so much power by focusing real hard on pushing off her back leg. It kind of ties into building lower body momentum and linking it to the upper body. There is some good slow mo video on YouTube of Paige on the tee pad and she has excellent lag between her lower body and upper. I only hope I can learn to throw that far and accurate in the coming years!

 

[rphancock1]

I was exactly where you are about 6 months ago.. Obviously others with more experience may have better insights, but I'll tell you what steps I went through as I improved (although the main step was spending hundreds of hours throwing) from throwing around 275 to now throwing 350, all from a standstill, no x step, runup, single step or anything. That's important for me, because the main thing I realized is that I had to SLOW DOWN the first 90% of the swing.

Basic starting position is standing 90degrees, shoulders in line with my trajectory.

First realization: rather than reach across my body with my throwing arm, turn hips and shoulders almost 180 degrees from target, almost facing backwards, weight slightly over rear foot, but still balanced. Front foot has heel up.

Second realization: still pulling with arm too early, so loosen muscles and grip to where I'm only using enough muscle to hold my arm in position. VERY LOOSE. Exaggerate the looseness to get a feel for letting your front foot heel drop, shifting the weight to center heading forwards simultaneously turning hips and consequently shoulders back to 90 degrees in line with your desired throwing line.

Third: I was spraying the disc all over, because I didn't know when to start pulling and pinching the grip tight, and I was pulling my head back, which made my body follow, and mostly I pulled them right (rhbh). I started keeping my head down, and making sure I SAW the disc passing very close to my chest, below the pec muscles. This was a big step. It made me pause with my hips and shoulders in line with my trajectory, and helped me learn how to load the tension as the disc passes the right pec..

Fourth: from that position, pushing with my rear foot against a bent and braced front leg, the hips open towards the target, and get out of the way, or assist the rapid shoulder opening that goes with pulling the disc from the power pocket forward. I don't actively pull with my arm until the disc is passing the right pec.

At this point I was throwing a consistent 330 from a standstill, but felt there was still something big I was missing..

Fifth: Nose down and grip timing. This is where I am now.. When I focus on keeping my wrist down in the handshake position and pinching hard, assuming all of the rest has worked, I'll get them out past 350 now on a low golf line.

This was all while reading everything I could find by Blake T, Bradley, etc, so go to the source and read for yourself and go try it out. I'm still a beginner, and don't make any claims to expertise, but thought I'd relate the developments I've been experiencing. I certainly don't intend this to be a recipie for a good throw, just what had been working for me.

 

[loki993]

I practiced a little and its helped a bit, no more distance really but I can tell its different. I am definitely strong arming so I'm not getting much if anything from my body. This is likely why my distance is stuck.

Here is the thing though when I actually use my body and just basically let my arm follow the motion doesn't feel controlled at all. I suppose that will come in time though.

I've also read a lot that seems contradictory and my own experience seems contradictory. It seems some say keep the hips and shoulders closed and clear your arm before you open up. Others seem to say open completely as your throwing and this would be more in line with just about every other athletic motion out there. When I throw with everything closed the disc seems to behave more like it should but I don't get distance. I think maybe its just a matter of timing though with the opening of the body.

When I look at the video of the pros now though I can see the lag now, their body if in full turn while the disc is still nearly at the top of the reachback, this has to be where the power comes from.

 

[loki993]

Little more work today, I'm still coming through a bit early but its better. I think now I need to work on getting my shoulders forward because I shift my hips but my shoulders are still back..I need to work on moving everything forward

 

[knettles]

This may sound kinda dumb, but what really worked for me was simply slowing down my run up. I just make sure my plant foot lands where it should before starting the pull through. A slow 1, x-step, plant instead of a fast 1, 2, x-step, plant.

 

[loki993]

It doesn't I actually do that sometimes.....

I thinking I need to start concentrating on pushing off with my left foot.....basically plant.....shift hips......push left foot...THEN pullthrough.....

 

[chain_ape7]

Exactly right man.....push off the left leg, throw your hip forward and feel your abs contract and transfer the weight to the front leg. Once the hips clear your shoulders will follow automatically. THEN pull and snap. One thing I can say that has also helped with distance ~ pivot on the front heel and follow through the hit. When you finish a throw well your left hip and elbow should be pointed toward the target. It's like a good baseball swing or throwing a good punch. Hit through and past the target.
Man, once you feel that....you will break into a huge grin and try obsessively to repeat that motion!
Keep at it and good luck!!
Don't obsess over just distance. Accuracy, and a consistent, repeatable throw that you trust are more important. It's not how far you throw it's how few.