Form Check Diary ✅

[Kjimsern]

I'll like SW work on the You were tipping off the rear leg in your first medicine ball toss. The good news is that this is the same posture issue as everything else and you did improve. I want to point out a reminder of what tipping over is. It is keeping your balance over the rear foot and tipping onto the front leg. That's what you did here:

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IMHO I think you should be spending a lot of time with getting these medicine balls correct b/c we already see you trending in the right direction, and I think your body needs a lot of reinforcement that the weighted ball can help with. I will show that you need to keep improving your balance while you do it. Let's look at you, loopghost, and Simon.

You can't "see" balance unless you know what to look for and have done it yourself. It is how your head balances over your feet. I will try to show you again.

Left column: the yellow line is where I think your balance is as you shift into the plant. I think it is no longer on your rear foot, but it is between your feet, so you are throwing more stuck behind your brace than those two guys. The green lines show that Loopghost and Simon have their balance all the way forward at this point. Notice that you are still tipping a bit off your rear foot because you left some of your balance behind.

Right column: the yellow line is your balance again. Notice in the orange line that your head didn't make it over top of your front foot because your balance was trapped. Notice also that Loopghost and Simon's rear foot is weightless and their heels are more toward the target, whereas your rear foot spun out with the toes ahead of the heels.

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IMO this is still one of the best balance drills ever made because it gets at the fundamental issue. It's the same thing in dance, and the same thing in the backhand. I know you've seen this before, but you fundamentally need to be doing this in your throw as you move from the drive step to the plant. Revisit it often for now. Show us if you are uncertain what I'm trying to get you to do.


For your medicine ball tosses, I would rather see you exaggerate the tilt when you land forward.
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You should end up more like this as you release to exaggerate the balance and the correct side bend. Right now you have barely any (too little) side bend. If you add more to your move you will probably feel the ball accelerate faster and more effortlessly.
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Last, your knee throws. Good news, I'm starting to see your spine relax more toward neutral. Keep working on that:

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The tosses themselves need more of what I mentioned above. It may help you to adjust where you are throwing. Sit in the same position. I don't mind your "normal backswing" and that did look a bit better than either your kneeling throw or the first ball toss. Look at the red lines here, which are your shoulders and the trajectory the ball took. You are still not in braced tilt (like above), and your shoulders come flat "over the top." The green lines are closer to where your shoulders should end up, and where the ball should go (I'm not being exact - notice camera angle is different than the next picture). You want to look much more like Sadlowski. This will feel like your whole body is propelling the ball more "away" from you, and more "up" relative to the ground. Keep working on it, this is battling years of muscle memory!

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Almost everyone struggles with this and I don't think many people fully understand it... Hang in there!

Am i getting somwhere here?

I will work on the drill and watch that video you showed me until i pull it off and understand it.

 

[Brychanus]

Literally just try to copy him exactly. Keep your shoulders more facing the camera. Let your rear leg come all the way in until it is touching the leg you are standing on.


This is the same move, but SW is counterbalancing his throwing arm with his rear leg behind him (knees close together).

 

[Kjimsern]

Literally just try to copy him exactly. Keep your shoulders more facing the camera. Let your rear leg come all the way in until it is touching the leg you are standing on.
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This is the same move, but SW is counterbalancing his throwing arm with his rear leg behind him (knees close together).
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Alright here is a few more attempts from today, if i do this it feels like i have to swing upwards.

How can i throw flat or straight like this, feels impossible in my head.

Either way i will keep going at it, just have to make sure im actually doing this drill correctly.

I tried a few throws focusing on it also, curious to hear if its done correctly now.

 

[sidewinder22]

1. Either start in wider stance or stride into wider stance.
2. Try to keep knees more stacked inside feet like slalom.

 

[Brychanus]

Reminds me of the Aimee hinge video you showed me a while back. around 4:32:

 

[Kjimsern]

Hey my dude-

Agree it's better to centralize.
1. We talked a little about your strides & shortening X-step. Though I want to mention that generally extended spine and anterior pelvic tilt moving it off the drive leg makes it harder to get that ideal sudden and compact shift because of the way the leverage changes in the hip sockets. It also makes it harder for the lower part of the spine to swing back and forth a bit like walking naturally.

You've heard this before so I'll ask a bit more about the bigger context: what have you tried recently to relax that/have a more neutral spine? Are you doing anything outside your throws and drills in the gym?

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2. I have another mechanical pt. that might help your shift but it will be easier if we talk about the above first. I think you need to address the APT first but maybe with a new strategy.

How is the spine looking now?

Ive been working on this and of course the tilt balance drills.

When i throw anhyzer throws, will the spine be more flexed then or should it be relaxed also?

 

[Brychanus]

That's trending better to me. Reminds me of Tamm a bit.

Keep things simple, stay relaxed. Breathe.

I can tell based on where your arm is that it is not yet moving with your posture completely, but I think you can keep working on that with the kneeling drill. Look at that Aimee drill and also try it with a pole or short bar from your knees. We are trying to get your whole move to work more like Sadlowski on his knees. It is a matter of repetitions, not perfection the first try.

Anhyzer: You will hear different answers. IMHO they all have their place. I would say however you should still throw with a "neutral" spine, and you can change your angle with your whole posture. Like Simon below.*

Keep in mind that in high-power anhyzers many pros are actually using gravity to assist their move, which is why their hand and disc are still lower than their shoulder at the release point. Their posture is still "swinging on hyzer." I would use Simon's posture as a reference because it is impeccable, and Gibson tends to have a little bit of spine extension and has sometimes complained about back pain. But they are still using their overall body posture to control the swing plane.

*I had the idea that the longer you are, the less this applies. But even the mega-long Gannon Buhr is doing a more subtle but still clear version of the "anhyzer on hyzer" at long distances . He is carrying through the momentum still getting gravity into his anhyzers by shifting into the tilted axis and "swinging upward nose down."

I tend to put the most stock in videos where the pros are explicitly asked to throw a shot. This is Gannon Buhr throwing on "anhyzer" (when asked to throw 500+). It's a shallow hyzer at release. For most people I've studied this effect is the most pronounced on the longest distance anhyzers.

 

[Kjimsern]

What «feeling» am i looking for when planting my second last step. Am i sitting down more before plant?

Here is rasmus and it seems like he does that, i feel like this will make my spine relax more also.

 

[Brychanus]

Should feel a little more like sitting than you do now, I think yes.

Then you should be in good posture coming into that step such that you are still getting off that foot relatively quick.

 

[Kjimsern]

Should feel a little more like sitting than you do now, I think yes.

Then you should be in good posture coming into that step such that you are still getting off that foot relatively quick.

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If i sit down more then this during x step, i end upp shifting more from heels then insteep of feet.

Is this enough sitting down and how does it look?

P.S dont mind the upperbody action im just testing to sit down more.

 

[Brychanus]

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If i sit down more then this during x step, i end upp shifting more from heels then insteep of feet.

Is this enough sitting down and how does it look?

P.S dont mind the upperbody action im just testing to sit down more.

That looks like it's trending a little better to me. If you stay a little taller heading into the X-step and then do what you are doing there, it might keep improving.

See if you can be a little taller like Tamm before "sitting into it" in the X-step.

You can also try copying Kyle Berkshire's move here - he's basically doing the same thing in his golf swing.

 

[Kjimsern]

That looks like it's trending a little better to me. If you stay a little taller heading into the X-step and then do what you are doing there, it might keep improving.

See if you can be a little taller like Tamm before "sitting into it" in the X-step.

You can also try copying Kyle Berkshire's move here - he's basically doing the same thing in his golf swing.

Alright, this was hard. And dont mind my girlfriend pink socks that im using.

It kinda turns into some ballerina dance move, does this look fine?

If this seems ok i will combine this with the sit down move and we can see if i pull it off together in one go.

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[Brychanus]

Now try to come off the rear foot instep rather than the rear heel.

 

[Kjimsern]

Now try to come off the rear foot instep rather than the rear heel.

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what do you think, better?

Any adjustements?

I will try some throws during field work, just wanna make sure i attack this correctly.

 

[Brychanus]

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what do you think, better?

Any adjustements?

I will try some throws during field work, just wanna make sure i attack this correctly.

Trending better again. Still need to get you a bit of that tilt in the reachback like double dragon. Now try:

1) hang throwing shoulder a bit lower than off arm shoulder in reachback and

2) let the reachback go slightly more "up" relative to the ground, slightly more like double dragon. It should bring your body with it a bit and make you feel a bit more light or "weightless" at the peak of your backswing.

 

[Kjimsern]

Trending better again. Still need to get you a bit of that tilt in the reachback like double dragon. Now try:

1) hang throwing shoulder a bit lower than off arm shoulder in reachback and

2) let the reachback go slightly more "up" relative to the ground, slightly more like double dragon. It should bring your body with it a bit and make you feel a bit more light or "weightless" at the peak of your backswing.

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Ive done alot of double dragon in the past, how is this looking?

 

[Brychanus]

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Ive done alot of double dragon in the past, how is this looking?

A little better. Remember how we talked about "sitting" a little more on the rear leg in transition? Now add that again.

 

[Kjimsern]

A little better. Remember how we talked about "sitting" a little more on the rear leg in transition? Now add that again.

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This is the max i can sit while doing sidebend witouth getting to much on the heel instead of insteep.

Its starting to be alot of things to rememmber now.

How would you priotize what to work on forward one thing at the time.


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And do you think we have enough time to tinker with this before season starts in 1 month?

 

[Brychanus]

Yes, if you are doing more than one swing thought in your head at a time, it is almost always too much.

If you are starting to get into competition mode, I wouldn't do much more chasing tweaks and do more of what is working.

I think that last video there is visually looking better to me.

To focus you: I think if you continue to focus on "sitting" more comfortably and coming off the rear instep, it might make the rest easier to adjust over time. I am choosing that because it is the one thing I see you struggling with each time, so if you focus there it may get easier to develop the balance as you continue to drill and throw.

I would continue to drill Double Dragon to keep reinforcing the tilt and balance each way. Just use it as part of your warmup routine. Make sure you are doing it as long as possible and as directly toward and back away from the target as possible. Your body wants to resist it so it's just a time and repetition thing at some level.

 

[Kjimsern]

Yes, if you are doing more than one swing thought in your head at a time, it is almost always too much.

If you are starting to get into competition mode, I wouldn't do much more chasing tweaks and do more of what is working.

I think that last video there is visually looking better to me.

To focus you: I think if you continue to focus on "sitting" more comfortably and coming off the rear instep, it might make the rest easier to adjust over time. I am choosing that because it is the one thing I see you struggling with each time, so if you focus there it may get easier to develop the balance as you continue to drill and throw.

I would continue to drill Double Dragon to keep reinforcing the tilt and balance each way. Just use it as part of your warmup routine. Make sure you are doing it as long as possible and as directly toward and back away from the target as possible. Your body wants to resist it so it's just a time and repetition thing at some level.

This sounds like a good plan, something i can do throughout the year until season is over.

Few questions.

1. easier to sit down if i go «taller» during x-step? ( like tamm)

2. i should never leverage my weight off my heel during x step and always of the insteep of my foot and like a iceskater?

3. to emphazize the sitting down combined with moving wheight from insteep of rear foot i can do buttwipe to get more feel for it? ( or just try to sit down more and thats it?)

If you can help me with this, i should be fine until the season is over.

Thanks alot for the help.