Finding the throw that feels good

[Janis22]

I tried doing a hop in the xstep. It definitely added power and distance to my drive. It looks overall a bit better now?
Should I maintain this kind of xstep hop?

Here is a video of today with this hop:
https://youtu.be/O7eTmpWSOjo

Cheers

 

[RistoS]

I tried doing a hop in the xstep. It definitely added power and distance to my drive. It looks overall a bit better now?

This is probably frustrating to hear, but it's worse than the first videos you posted. You're way out of posture with that huge reachback, and I suspect the hop actually made this early bad habit worse. The disc went further because you strong-armed it harder. I used to kind of look like that with my reachback and I'm thankful I didn't injure myself.

I'll link to a section of this clinic by Ulibarri and Earhart because it's exactly what's happening: https://youtu.be/xtf5JyJ6cf8?t=487

Alternative wording: if the disc goes behind your back foot you're probably out of posture (unless you're Eagle McMahon).

 

[Brychanus]

Hops are abundant (I use and continue to work on one) because they do add "free" power and can make it easier to find the "sling" effect between your CoG and the disc, but I agree w/ Risto that the posture control is more important. The hop helped my get my weight moving forward and down into the plant, but I am still working on posture issues to get all the power led by the CoG to transfer force into the disc. The hop can help you "cheat" past mechanics and will only get you so far without good posture.

You are getting some separation in the swing (good) but trapping much of the weight too far back in the windup (disc going backwards like Risto notes). So I recommend continuing on the posture path and check it again. You're kind of cheating the rear hip hinge and then keeping your weight too far back and reaching too much with the front leg. Hershyzer drill gets at the right shift, and you need to get it whether hopping or not to get good efficiency from the lower body and ground.

BTW, I was encouraged to and do encourage experimenting. Sometimes gains & lessons come from shaking it up. For the high level swing it's important to keep cleaning up the mechanics!

 

[Janis22]

Thanks for the tips. I guess the hop was just adding more momentum into the throw, which also running up very fast would also do. Leading to a maybe further distance but worser form.

So I decided to go towel swinging for about 2 hours today and just concentrate on a clean proper form.
My focus was on two things of which I have videos from.

I worked on my X-step getting weight forward moving:
https://youtu.be/yU-7LrJPTQc


-getting the hips engaged. In this second video my xstep isnt that good but I think my hips are doing better
https://youtu.be/fOiCoAwcU3w

If I get the hips properly setup it kind of feels like I have a rubber band around my legs that wants to snap my upperbody around. I also get this feeling if I just stand wide in throw position and have my knees slightly pointed to eachother.
Is this how its suppose to feel and am I doing it correctly in the video?
Here is also a picture series of the second video so you can see the hips better. Is this correct hips engagement or are they wrong?. *Insert GIF of shakira dancing to my hips dont lie*

 

[sidewinder22]

1. Towels. Not a big fan of towels, especially long ones. The point of the towel is learning late acceleration, towel should be hanging down coming into power pocket, slow, slow, slow into pocket and then whip out forward. Your towel is cracking at the top of the backswing and your shoulders are barely turning back or forth. If you wanted to toss a heavy sledgehammer effortlessly you would turn your shoulders much further back and forth to leverage against your hips.

2. Hop or step balanced like a ballerina and allow the hips to swivel effortlessly. You are leaning way back and getting stuck in wide immoveable horsestance.
https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133543

 

[Janis22]

Thank you Sidewinder for the helpful analysis.
Here is a hopefully an improved x-step:
I cut the rest of the video since throw wasnt so good and I am still working on that part

https://youtu.be/dNcc2viYfw4

Here is also a screenshot, is my cog correct?

Cheers

 

[sidewinder22]

Hard to tell without vid/pic from behind tee. Guessing you are too far over your toes there from behind tee.

 

[Janis22]

Hard to tell without vid/pic from behind tee. Guessing you are too far over your toes there from behind tee.

I just did some field work today and took a video from behind:

https://youtu.be/X208DVURxb0

Here is also another throw from the side view:

https://youtu.be/BpaClQl0lrI

Cheers

 

[sidewinder22]

Yep, CoG too over toes and flat footed.

Note how centered and stacked Paul is with more vertical shins and hip depth.

 

[Janis22]

Yep, CoG too over toes and flat footed.

Note how centered and stacked Paul is with more vertical shins and hip depth.

Ok. But how do I fix this?
Its very hard to think about shifting my center of gravity around. Its not like its a body part .
Also the comparison to paul suprises me because his body type seems quite different to mine(I am quite tall and skinny).

Here is a throw from today. I am mainly thinking stay on my toes with my backleg and try to push off from it.

https://youtu.be/QLZ3R-zW7KQ

 

[sidewinder22]

Stand more upright and run sideways in perpetual x-step for like 100 meters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwy1HNMfhbk&t=200s

 

[Janis22]

Comparing some of eagles throws he also seems to have his cog quite over his toes. My body is way more similar to his than pauls so is this really a big issue or an issue at all?

 

[sidewinder22]

Eagle's rear leg is much more similar to Paul's. Your rear knee is more over toes and turned in/restricted.

 

[Janis22]

So I was playing around on the field today. And I tried holding the disc the whole time at my chest and not even reaching back. My xstep looks better?
Sorry that I dont have a video from behind.

https://youtu.be/a4UkqS7-FTw

 

[sidewinder22]

Looks like you are going uphill instead of downhill.