Hilariously Bad Backhand Form, Please Advise

[Brychanus]

I think this might be too much words/thinking for what I need right now, but I will try to parse it and put it on context before moving on to asking what I think I need in this moment.



Does this mean that if one does have "athletic legs", then one does not need to think about bracing because it "just happens" as I mentioned on one side of the spectrum? And if one does not have "athletic legs", then either one "cannot" brace or one would need to force it (and potentially open themselves up to jerky movement/injury) or somewhere in between those two things?



(This does not require comment but FWIW I've been following your training plan at the gym - it's been fun! And doing lots of jumping back and forth and up and down and "teaching" my brain that my ankles/knees can handle it.)



In my mind I was trying to get closer to the full sequence of movement here, at least in a "door frame drill throw" type of way, to try to avoid over-isolating. But if it doesn't seem like that was the case, then mission not accomplished.

Moving forward to "what I need now" is, I think, just as straightforward as possible - is what I'm doing in the video/what I described myself doing in the video, a thought/action that I should continue with, or should I discard it because it's not helpful/dangerous/etc? Is it closer or further from where I need to be headed than before? (I find it hard to believe it could be further because 3 posts ago I had a video where I'm clearly throwing off of my back foot/front toes with no brace at all - but I'm not the expert here.)

(And maybe that's not what I need now - feel free to let me know if you think that's the case.)

My fault. By undercomplicate I mean don't parse all the words. Do/feel.

Try his hopping crush the can. You will only be able to do it correctly if you do it with "athletic resistance" as you land. Otherwise you are collapsing in the brace and venting power.

 

[ninjabq]

Hitting the can accurately... not as easy at it seems.

(A few iterations including some obviously bad, some better, + blooper, + two standstills at the end)

 

[Brychanus]

1. Stand closer to the can.
2. As you land on it, resist the ground with the leg (looking like you're getting there, will be easier coming right down on top of it in balance).

 

[ninjabq]

1. Stand closer to the can.
2. As you land on it, resist the ground with the leg (looking like you're getting there, will be easier coming right down on top of it in balance).

I'll have to spend some time this weekend, uhh... acquiring cans.

 

[ninjabq]

Workouts: I won't take two legged lifts away from you if you like them, but neuromuscularly/balance wise/supporting muscle wise I strongly suggest some one/split legged/lunge walking lunges in each direction etc. I had trouble sticking with it too at first and eventually just went "all in" and scrapped my old workout routine in favor of my DG specific one, mileage varies.

I've been doing your workout "all in" (still in phase 1) for about 6 weeks now, twice a week. I may have already mentioned that I do the Nick Krush warm up routine, then your workout l, then royal coil/Pratt/ride the bull, weighted and unweighted.

As I get into that and continue to do some other drilling in the field and playing rounds, I'm really starting to understand the importance of building this athletic one-legged balanced/strength foundation. It's like, no amount of drilling will help if my body isn't ready to "accept" the brace. If I had already had this foundation, bracing would come more easily when adding any degree of momentum. But since I didn't (and still don't really - just now getting close to 2 minute holds on the iso lunges), it was almost impossible for me to "feel" the right thing doing anything beyond a small weight shift. But as I improve the foundation, adding a little more gusto to the weight shift results in a more natural brace, even without much "brace-specific" disc golf drilling.

Side note: I finally beat my buddy in a round for the first time in a while, and really it all came down to just making every single putt from 15 feet and in (plus a few more outside of that which would've been a total crapshoot before the practice basket). I also went even on the front half of my local course for the first time ever, and that came down to the putting and not trying to rip every drive off the tee. I'm still gonna put an inordinate amount of time into improving my distance though

 

[Brychanus]

I've been doing your workout "all in" (still in phase 1) for about 6 weeks now, twice a week. I may have already mentioned that I do the Nick Krush warm up routine, then your workout l, then royal coil/Pratt/ride the bull, weighted and unweighted.

As I get into that and continue to do some other drilling in the field and playing rounds, I'm really starting to understand the importance of building this athletic one-legged balanced/strength foundation. It's like, no amount of drilling will help if my body isn't ready to "accept" the brace. If I had already had this foundation, bracing would come more easily when adding any degree of momentum. But since I didn't (and still don't really - just now getting close to 2 minute holds on the iso lunges), it was almost impossible for me to "feel" the right thing doing anything beyond a small weight shift. But as I improve the foundation, adding a little more gusto to the weight shift results in a more natural brace, even without much "brace-specific" disc golf drilling.

Side note: I finally beat my buddy in a round for the first time in a while, and really it all came down to just making every single putt from 15 feet and in (plus a few more outside of that which would've been a total crapshoot before the practice basket). I also went even on the front half of my local course for the first time ever, and that came down to the putting and not trying to rip every drive off the tee. I'm still gonna put an inordinate amount of time into improving my distance though

Nice!

And I do want to say something publicly in case there are lurkers: I don't question the idea that the brace process should really be a fluid, smooth, safe, and combination of stopping & redirecting force. It should be very much an "organic" and not forced movement. People are literally now breaking their pelvises and lower spines now trying to copy certain bracing styles with neither the body conditioning nor control to do it safely. I am not touching that with a ten foot pole myself.

I do think in any case however there is simply a degree of baseline coordination and athleticism you need to brace well and safely, and I am personally very sensitized to it having started on the weak & pathology end of the spectrum. I think for anyone not used to the "athletic" part involved in bracing, it's just plain good sense to help your body handle the neuromuscular and muscular parts of the move.

Now on the flip side, you can definitely emphasize too much training of the body and miss the points that (1) bracing and your body also improve just by drilling and throwing and (2) if you turn it into just a weightlifting exercise- guess what, you will probably start to trap your center between your feet to stabilize against the weight whether you like it or not. So don't go so far you make it counterproductive.

Thus, in the long term I only do 1-2 days of intensive leg training involving weights per week (Mondays at minimum & this is when I do the most challenging leg work because I probably won't play a round for a couple days after that) and the rest of my time is on throwing (with one or two days of upper body bodyweight and resistance band exercises). I am on a 3 day break right now and then just doing a casual round tomorrow AM because I put my legs through a ton on Sunday and Monday - listen to your body.

For a "weekend warrior" like myself, this strategy is working well for me so far.

I also learned alot from Joonas Merela about how he schedules volume for pros in the offseason and he uses a lot of evidence-based techniques that were interesting - but if you ain't doing DG as a full time gig, doing what you are doing now is much, much better than nothing.