First form review: plateau from injury

[gedge2]

Looking forward to some feedback on my current form!

A little background: I have been playing seriously for 3 years. In my initial form, I struggled with a sway/lean backwards during the backswing and a horse-stance finish. I worked hard on getting my weight more centered and closing off my front foot/hip and progressed up to 380' average max with my wraiths and a couple of 420' pops when I got good snap.

About 6 months ago, I was tweaking things with posture and elbow angle in the forward swing to try to get over the 400' barrier. I ended up developing a nasty case of tennis elbow that kept me from throwing for about 4-5 months. I am currently re-building my form to try and get cleaner and protect my elbow.

I got a tripod and started filming slow-mo and noticed that in trying to keep my weight centered, I had developed a pretty nasty dip with the front shoulder that resulted in my hand rising up above my elbow significantly in the initiation of the forward swing. I believe the compensations required to get the nose down from this motion was probably the root cause of my elbow injury. I'm working on shifting from behind and hershyzer right now to help the elbow dip, but I seem to be stuck. I'm getting about 350' on my max throws right now after rebuilding up some distance.

Current goals: protect my elbow with cleaner form. Side bonus: If i could crack 400', that would be super cool as its been a goal of mine for the last 3 years.

Side view: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zjh8_E2Sfk

Down the line (I can't get this not to format as a "short"): https://www.youtube.com/shorts/oJbbyZo9UMM

Sorry for the weird lighting in my garage! Thanks in advance!

 

[sidewinder22]

You are collapsing your body into your swing path/west/left tee side. Need to maintain posture inside your feet and clear back away toward east/right out of the way of the swing like Olympic Hammer Throw.

https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=139973
https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133543

 

[RistoS]

You are collapsing your body into your swing path/west/left tee side.

Could you alternatively think of this as trying to force a more neutral release against what looks to be a natural hyzer plane, or would the balance be considered as collapsed regardless? I can tell he's not shifting from behind, and from the side he looks relatively centered up to where issues start.

 

[gedge2]

Wow. Awesome feedback. I have never focused on the east/west components of the weight shift. It seems really obvious now that you point it out.

2 follow up questions: I struggle with grip locks as my big miss. As I work on clearing my weight more to the east, do I need to be more intentional with emphasizing point my elbow/release point out to the west? Or is it more of a subconscious effect of a proper transfer? I feel like if I got into the posture Paul is in, I would roll everything over

Also, do you think my stagger is ok? I've always had more of a linear plant than say Simon or Eric Oakley. I'm wondering if trying to force a stagger is causing some of the leaning forward?

Thanks for the reply!

 

[sidewinder22]

Could you alternatively think of this as trying to force a more neutral release against what looks to be a natural hyzer plane, or would the balance be considered as collapsed regardless? I can tell he's not shifting from behind, and from the side he looks relatively centered up to where issues start.

Still should be tilted inside braced posture for hyzer like Steve.

 

[sidewinder22]

Wow. Awesome feedback. I have never focused on the east/west components of the weight shift. It seems really obvious now that you point it out.

2 follow up questions: I struggle with grip locks as my big miss. As I work on clearing my weight more to the east, do I need to be more intentional with emphasizing point my elbow/release point out to the west? Or is it more of a subconscious effect of a proper transfer? I feel like if I got into the posture Paul is in, I would roll everything over

Also, do you think my stagger is ok? I've always had more of a linear plant than say Simon or Eric Oakley. I'm wondering if trying to force a stagger is causing some of the leaning forward?

Thanks for the reply!

1. Need to figure out how to effortlessly release the hammer/disc straight. You can see how much more closed Paul's shoulders are to target in the power pocket while your shoulders/chest is already open.

2. It's not so much the amount of stagger, but it's how you lose forward leverage falling over toes on your rear leg losing buttwipe pressure/hogan power move. Elephant Walk drill is moving into large east/west stagger, but there is no north/south momentum to get stuck between. You need to find the diagonal between the NSEW directions while maintaining inside posture and leverage.

 

[gedge2]

Update: I've been working hard on SW22's feedback related to being more stacked over my plant. Feel like the video is looking better on that specific item and my posture is feeling more balanced. My elbow is feeling much less sore/strained after throwing which is also a bonus.

On the downside, I feel like I'm getting zero "snap" on the disc. Played in my local A-tier this weekend and it was rough. Felt like I was flinging my arm like a wet newspaper. Only reliably getting about 315 on drivers right now.

What I see on video: Still don't like how narrow my stagger is. In trying to "shift from behind" it seem like i'm drifting back east on the teepad slightly as I rotate back. Feel like i'm missing something on the weight shift still. My plant leg is also still collapsed leading to that "leaky" front knee look from the rear view. I also look like i'm tipping forward in the initiation of the through swing which may be leading to my arm "popping up" under my chin?

Clips below. Any feedback is greatly appreciated! Warning: the slow motion setting is resulting in a weird buzzing on the DTL video. Volume down!

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_SLe1qI_dgY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urfMDn41EmQ

 

[sidewinder22]

I wouldn't worry much about the stagger. Focus on your posture and leverage. Your spine is in extension and you are pulling thru too straight, instead of engaging your core and swinging/hammering the arm/disc outward.

https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=132910

There is no real need for slow motion.

Not sure what you are doing with the rear arm move and it's too late after hips moved forward. Try keeping arm bent and elbow the hips forward going into the plant. It doesn't need to be an aggressive sudden move, should be more subtle relaxed and fluid. The way you took your arm back I thought you were going to do the full swim move going over your head, but instead you reversed back which is a much harder motion to do once you have gone that far.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mpp7ZFLHK90#t=9m40s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HssJQD1rRo&t=4m

You are going into anterior pelvic tilt or S-posture sticking your butt out and balance/CoG too far over your rear toes, instead of keeping your core engaged tucking navel toward belt buckle and shifting your balance/CoG back toward rear heel to press the butt back against the wall.

1. Posture. Looks like you are still in anterior pelvic tilt/spine extended. Apparently people who are into Olympic lifting struggle with this as it's basically the opposite of creating power in lifting motion vs rotational/athletic motion.

2. Swing Sequence. Your sequence looks like how Patrick Cantlay broke his back. In slow motion drill note I'm turned all the way back and stay turned back while shifting forward. You are trying to complete your backswing too late and creating more unnecessary torque on the body with things moving in opposite directions.

 

[gedge2]

Thanks SW.

Started experimenting with these changes yesterday. Working on the pelvic tilt, it felt very tall and upright compared to my previous swing. It will take me some time to figure out throwing hyzer from that angle without "poking my butt out" i.e anterior tilt. Should it feel somewhat slouched over in the shoulders on a hyzer?

Also working on hammering out to the hit, I've read on here before about "resisting collapse" of the arm. I tried yesterday feeling like I was almost trying to throw with a straight arm, but the force of the centered rotation was forming the pocket and it felt more snappy coming out. Is this the correct "swing thought" to chase for hammering out? I'm assuming you don't want to actively delay rotation to achieve the hammer outward?

Thanks again!