Convenient Disc Golf Warmup Routine | How I Went From 500ft to 700ft Pt.3

[Nick481]

This will be the last of my initial S&C focused tutorial series, wanted to post it up here ASAP!

By no means is it the end-all-be-all of warmup routines or the only warmup exercises that anyone should consider, but a lot of these were hard learned through getting my fragile/injury-prone body to hold up to high-level sprinting and backhand throws. I hope it's helpful for some of you y'all

 

[HyzerRoc]

A bit bummed that there is no flexibility/mobility video coming.

When you say that you do this before going out to the field, what are the tradeoffs depending on the time between these two? For example when I bike to the course in 20 minutes, I guess I can still reap the benefits of the warm-up, but when I take the train and just sit there for 50 minutes, I guess the muscles are gonna be cold by the time I arrive.

 

[Nick481]

A bit bummed that there is no flexibility/mobility video coming.

When you say that you do this before going out to the field, what are the tradeoffs depending on the time between these two? For example when I bike to the course in 20 minutes, I guess I can still reap the benefits of the warm-up, but when I take the train and just sit there for 50 minutes, I guess the muscles are gonna be cold by the time I arrive.

I might still make a flexibility video, but luckily this warmup has a lot of flexibility value (especially for dynamic flexibility) and should be a good starting point for that.

Great question about the timing and logistics - I think you will still benefit in both cases by doing the warmup at home before either the bike or train. If you stay warm temperature-wise during the train ride, you will be ok to just re-do a couple of exercises at the field (can do the arm swings and trunk rotations again) before throwing. Sprinters are known to sit around for upwards of 20+ minutes between reps and usually a quick jog and some high knees is enough to get things working again. Hope that helps

 

[HyzerRoc]

Yeah that helps, thank you. Guess I just gotta take some thick clothes for the ride.

My understanding of dynamic stretches/warmup is that it is just good for a session but does not reap long-term increases in flexibility. Am I wrong here?

The whole concept of warming up at home is completely new to me. I thought it was necessary to do it directly at the course and shortly before starting to play. But doing it at home is definitely more convenient with the equipment one would have available.

When playing a 2 round tournament would you recommend doing another round of warumup for the second round after the break? I guess everything is cooled down during that time, but going through the whole thing also seems a bit too long for the 1 hour break tournaments have.

 

[Nick481]

Yeah that helps, thank you. Guess I just gotta take some thick clothes for the ride.

My understanding of dynamic stretches/warmup is that it is just good for a session but does not reap long-term increases in flexibility. Am I wrong here?

The whole concept of warming up at home is completely new to me. I thought it was necessary to do it directly at the course and shortly before starting to play. But doing it at home is definitely more convenient with the equipment one would have available.

When playing a 2 round tournament would you recommend doing another round of warumup for the second round after the break? I guess everything is cooled down during that time, but going through the whole thing also seems a bit too long for the 1 hour break tournaments have.

Good call on the warm clothing!

Fortunately, dynamic stretches (even done during warmups) are super effective for long-term flexibility increases since we are moving our joints and muscle-tendon units through 100%+ of their static range of motion while controlling motion with the muscles themselves. Even better when we can kill 2 birds with 1 stone by having our flexibility work also happen during our warmup.

I should mention that if there is a huge time gap (around 30 mins or more) between home and the course, doing the warmup at the course in theory will be a little more optimal. But, if it makes the difference between having access to a full warmup routine and not having access, I'd still much rather get the full warmup done at home so that I can get all of the short and long term benefits from it.

For the 1 hour break between rounds - I completely agree with you that the full warmup will be excessively fatiguing and overkill to do then. Sprinters have similar situations with indoor meet 60m heats and finals, and what tends to work best is to get the body moving a little bit (walk for a couple of minutes) and then do about 3 of the biggest most important moves (probably the arm swings, trunk rotations, and ankle/knee hulas).

 

[Brychanus]

Good call on the warm clothing!

Fortunately, dynamic stretches (even done during warmups) are super effective for long-term flexibility increases since we are moving our joints and muscle-tendon units through 100%+ of their static range of motion while controlling motion with the muscles themselves. Even better when we can kill 2 birds with 1 stone by having our flexibility work also happen during our warmup.

I should mention that if there is a huge time gap (around 30 mins or more) between home and the course, doing the warmup at the course in theory will be a little more optimal. But, if it makes the difference between having access to a full warmup routine and not having access, I'd still much rather get the full warmup done at home so that I can get all of the short and long term benefits from it.

For the 1 hour break between rounds - I completely agree with you that the full warmup will be excessively fatiguing and overkill to do then. Sprinters have similar situations with indoor meet 60m heats and finals, and what tends to work best is to get the body moving a little bit (walk for a couple of minutes) and then do about 3 of the biggest most important moves (probably the arm swings, trunk rotations, and ankle/knee hulas).

I struggled immensely this winter, especially in keeping my legs limber and moving well, and just wanted to say that I appreciate your contributions.

One specific thing I underestimated was the benefit of wearing just enough layers that I was slightly sweating. I didn't really put any intention into it before, but when the weather is cold this made a big difference for me.

Also like the warmup advice w/some of the specific scenarios you shared here.

 

[Nick481]

I struggled immensely this winter, especially in keeping my legs limber and moving well, and just wanted to say that I appreciate your contributions.

One specific thing I underestimated was the benefit of wearing just enough layers that I was slightly sweating. I didn't really put any intention into it before, but when the weather is cold this made a big difference for me.

Also like the warmup advice w/some of the specific scenarios you shared here.

It really is shocking how big of a difference the body temperature can make, haha.

Glad to hear you liked it! I'm happy if it can help anyone with injury prevention and performance and I should have more updated body care routines and workouts coming before too long.

 

[HyzerRoc]

Wanted to share some experiences after taking this to the course a couple of times.

I really like the idea of doing warmup and strength exercises that reinforce good form.

The knee hulas are nice for coordination, as are the trunk rotations and the swings. I especially like how the last two get me swinging a bit, the trunk rotations remind me of the twirly bird drill by Overthrow but with a focus on hips instead of the arms.

The straight elbow pullaparts coupled with the one armed db rows made it easier to feel my scapula during my throw. Before it felt more like I am using just my arm in the shoulder socket, now it feels like I pull the disc more with my whole shoulder and scapula when swinging.

I havent noticed much from what you call spine-centering habits but maybe it will kick in with a bit more practice as im sure im not doing the cable trunk rotations right yet.

 

[Nick481]

Wanted to share some experiences after taking this to the course a couple of times.

I really like the idea of doing warmup and strength exercises that reinforce good form.

The knee hulas are nice for coordination, as are the trunk rotations and the swings. I especially like how the last two get me swinging a bit, the trunk rotations remind me of the twirly bird drill by Overthrow but with a focus on hips instead of the arms.

The straight elbow pullaparts coupled with the one armed db rows made it easier to feel my scapula during my throw. Before it felt more like I am using just my arm in the shoulder socket, now it feels like I pull the disc more with my whole shoulder and scapula when swinging.

I havent noticed much from what you call spine-centering habits but maybe it will kick in with a bit more practice as im sure im not doing the cable trunk rotations right yet.

That's awesome to hear it worked out for you! Really cool that you already felt some joint movement patterns and could relate it to disc golf.

The spine centering is probably different for everyone, but worst case it will at least allow you to feel the "opposing shoulder blade pull" cue and can apply it down the road if you have some spine centering issues creep into your form.

-Nick

 

[disc-golf-neil]

@Nick481 do you have any aerodynamic evidence / knowledge to support the ideal nose angle info (-4) that goes around or to support that even lower could be beneficial?

I just played with the tech disc sim and compared 0 nose to -4 and with tweaking launch angle and disc turn to create full flights for both without changing speed or spin, I couldn't get the -4 to go further, it was similar distance. Perhaps it's not accurate enough. Anecdotally, and some limited tech disc data shows GG throws well beyond -4 in sometimes in distance lines and with unusually high spin and can get more distance than usual with lower arm speed.

 

[Nick481]

@Nick481 do you have any aerodynamic evidence / knowledge to support the ideal nose angle info (-4) that goes around or to support that even lower could be beneficial?

I just played with the tech disc sim and compared 0 nose to -4 and with tweaking launch angle and disc turn to create full flights for both without changing speed or spin, I couldn't get the -4 to go further, it was similar distance. Perhaps it's not accurate enough. Anecdotally, and some limited tech disc data shows GG throws well beyond -4 in sometimes in distance lines and with unusually high spin and can get more distance than usual with lower arm speed.

It's more of empirical evidence driven by tech disc data and field results that led me to that, and I need to be careful with how dogmatically I state an ideal angle number because I'm also suspicious that more enegative nose angles (like GG) may produce better results in certain situations.

From what I understand, tech disc is using some kind of distance calculation using either regression equations or a numerical, iterative flight simulator that is physics-based. They did an incredible job with it, but it's a bit of a chicken before the egg issue, and is hard to measure real flights and all of the associated data (spin, nose, etc) if throwing a non-tech disc to compare it against.

For example, I think on high, flip-up hyzer bombs, super negative nose angles greatly enhance distance. I threw -7 deg (measured with photogrammetry) last week on one, and got it out to 510ft which was further than my usual. I think the low nose helped stave off the stalling, high AoA phase that happens as the disc falls back into fade (descent rate increases).

For distance lines, I've noticed that anything below 0 degrees doesn't help as much, because as the disc goes into it's extreme turn and anhyzer tilt, the velocity vector shifts to the right and then the angle of attack greatly decreases (effective nose angle becomes negative). Still playing around with that though! I think it comes down to a million factors and people like GG naturally figured out what's optimal for their individual throwing style.

 

[RowingBoats]

I threw -7 deg (measured with photogrammetry)

I am extremely curious how you were able to determine this accurately. Can you elaborate?!

 

[Nick481]

I am extremely curious how you were able to determine this accurately. Can you elaborate?!

I use a side camera to measure my speeds, I can also draw a vector through the disc's COM across two frames to get flight path angle, and then use a protractor to measure the nose angle in relation to the flight path angle. I use an open source software called "Tracker" that allows the drawing and measurements on the video.

 

[Nick481]

If I could afford a pocket radar I wouldn't have to deal with the pain of photogrammetry to get my speeds