Off arm theory

[stratedge]

Hey guys,

My next form project is making better use of my off arm (left arm throwing RHBH). I have a bad habit of letting my off arm creep away from my torso for balance, which is basically counter productive to accelerating my rotation speed.



There's ample video evidence of where my arm should be at various stages of the throw; with Paul and Will, it seems to be drawn tight into the torso which makes perfect sense (e.g. figure skater). But my question is, what is this supposed to feel like?

Is the off arm

1. just getting out of the way (tight to body but no momentum role)?
2. driving momentum into the torso/hips?
3. used to counter rotate against the right arm (aka 'swimming')?
4. other?

The "swimming" one is something I read somewhere before, and is subtle but seems to drive the left arm/shoulder down and slightly back as the right powers forward. With Paul/Will it seems fairly stationary, but driving it backwards seems pronounced with Drew Gibson:



Looking really really closely, the commonality seems to be to draw it forward prior to the pull through, and use it as an anchor to rotate the shoulders against?

Any insights into what the off arm should be trying to accomplish and feel like are greatly appreciated. TIA.

 

[Casey 1988]

What I do is a loose 90 Degree angle about and keep more stationary during the throw so the arm ends up into the ribs/side. I do not have extra swinging with driving hand after the release of the disc, or I end up with Shoulder pain at the end of a round due to a bad throwing shoulder injury at my work, not to mention always since beginning of playing in mid 2003 some grip release issues to where the disc is about 30-45 degrees off from normal. I can't help with the second part to the question but I can help with the first part of what to do right up to release.

 

[sidewinder22]

There's ample video evidence of where my arm should be at various stages of the throw; with Paul and Will, it seems to be drawn tight into the torso which makes perfect sense (e.g. figure skater). But my question is, what is this supposed to feel like?

Is the off arm

1. just getting out of the way (tight to body but no momentum role)?
2. driving momentum into the torso/hips?
3. used to counter rotate against the right arm (aka 'swimming')?
4. other?

The "swimming" one is something I read somewhere before, and is subtle but seems to drive the left arm/shoulder down and slightly back as the right powers forward. With Paul/Will it seems fairly stationary, but driving it backwards seems pronounced with Drew Gibson:

Looking really really closely, the commonality seems to be to draw it forward prior to the pull through, and use it as an anchor to rotate the shoulders against?

Any insights into what the off arm should be trying to accomplish and feel like are greatly appreciated. TIA.

Easier to FEEL it in a pool since water resistance helps expose leverage leaks - hence the swim move.

It's all about leveraging yourself/swing/disc forward to the target. Increasing rotation is a byproduct of the arm coming into center, but not really the intention. The rear arm also stops/slows rotation, gives it a twitch or wave sent through the shoulders to whip the lead arm/disc out. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
[dramatization]


If the rear arm/shoulder has any slack, the swing will collapse and blow back into arm/shoulder, so the rear arm is reactive, instead of being active and firming up/anchoring the rear side/center to the front leg to blow the swing through the hit.

When the rear arm moves in closer to center, the swing center moves out away from the neck closer to the rear shoulder, so the lead shoulder makes a longer swing arc forward, as opposed to a purely rotational arc which would move the rear shoulder back away from target and lose leverage/create slack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04BGqmuaT8g&t=4m11s