"The Method" by Brian Weissman

[Brychanus]

Making the rounds on Reddit:

 

[HyzerRoc]

I almost wanted to post this one as well but decided against it because not sure what good can come out of it. But im glad you posted it instead.

The guys form looks like he does the right movements with his lower body, then hammers his upper body around as fast as he can, making sure nothing gets transfered up his kinetic chain.

Going through the videos im not sure what he wants to teach. But I will believe that strong arming can get discs to 400 feet, I have tried it myself.

 

[Brychanus]

I almost wanted to post this one as well but decided against it because not sure what good can come out of it. But im glad you posted it instead.

I think it is important to entertain differences in presentation and promote awareness of ideas even if or especially when they differ from my own. I am also willing to "take the hit" for any such post given my role in co-crafting Fundamentals.

I have specific thoughts about his mechanics (including differences in the lower body from top-level motion) but I'll withhold them for now to avoid Brychanusing all over the place. I will be curious to see what happens with radar readings and throws in the real world.

 

[HyzerRoc]

Normally I would also take the position that a coach should not be judged on their form but rather on the merit of what they teach but in this case I think form is fair game as the videos read as - I can throw hard with my form, therefore I know how to teach. It is like the slingshot where he throws real hard at the start of every video to prove a point.

I also think it is good to discuss other/all approaches to form. If slingshot and spin&throw was never discussed on here I would not have been wary of it.

I also have no idea what he actually teaches except for a loose grip and being loose. It is hard to get anything out of his videos.

Lastly im interested in better-educated judgements about his form. So much of it looks really good and it looks like he does the right movements but then just yanks his upper body around as hard as he can. I also had a local pro tell me to yank my upper body around as hard as I can and nothing good came of it even though I was happy to take his advice and try it out.

edit: it is also they guy who co-founded Path of Exile so thats pretty cool even though it has nothing to do with discgolf

 

[Tinkles]

Curious to see what he's got

 

[419HondaGuy]

I know Trebuchet references him in some of his videos, I believe he helped him understand key concepts among other things if I am not mistaken.

 

[Sheep]

I slept on it a bit here.

This image I've attached is... Interesting.
Im not sure how people attach things inline in here, so .. Whatever.

Anyways. we know this is bad for sure.

But if you watch his swing, he gets a nice load and coil, he's coming in for a good brace. and then his upper body and hips turn, his arm collapses and he hugs himself.
His offarm you can tell he at one point REALLY struggled with it based on how contorted he's having to hold it in place vs it moving more naturally.

And honestly, he's litterally just yeeting the disc.

My issue with what he's going to try and teach people here is that a lot of people are going to get hurt trying this method.

He never gets to the pocket. he just collapses and rotates really hard.

Now, is this a method of throwing?
Yes. Rebecca Cox and a lot of the ladies ALL throw like this.
A lot of new players also throw like this as well.


Then I played with my buddies son Luke the other day. And.. that dude. throws FAAAR.
So I watched his form. And was surprised to see that he collapses in shoulder also.
But not like this, more like some of the pro's do. He collapses to the trail arm then somehow gets it back in time but he never really deep pockets the disc, but he somehow gets the disc out in front of himself in time well enough.
Kind of hard to explain I guess, because he's not collapsing like this guy is. but Luke also throws 550+

But he's not pocketing hard like a lot of the rest of us are. And he doesn't really throw hard hard, you can tell he's ramping his energy up, but he doesn't look like he's over expending himself.

Makes me wonder sometimes if a slight collapse on a good rotated swing where you try and push to the pocket and out at the same time can create an explosive hit without actually over taxing your shoulder from being collapsed.


But, back on task for "the method."

This is honestly "spin and throw"
There is nothing new to this "method" he's teaching.

I applaud him for trying to do things. but 16 part series...?
I watched one of the 3 or 4 minute clips and was like "oh great, we got another coach T."

Though, I do think based on the reading that he does have some info in there somewhere to help others.

But this collapsed shoulder spinny method of throwing. it's bad mmmkay.
This is how I blew my shoulder out twice when I started disc golfing.
Doing dumb stuff like this trying to throw far.
And I did. I threw 400-420 when I was newer to golf. But I kept injuring my shoulder which was already in bad shape years before I played disc golf.

 

[Kennets]

Left a comment on Reddit, I'm not sold on this project so far:

Haven't had time to go in depth with the form in the videos, but there's definitely some stuff going on that doesn't seems suitable for the average thrower. A completely collapsed shoulder with an EXTREME rotation/yeet in the end. He might not feel any strain, but some people would absolutely fuck up their shoulder throwing like that.

The throw seems extremely "violent" compared to other coaches throwing the same distance (Andrew, John etc). Seems like it's based of athleticism rather than "low effort/good mechanics" distance.

For the videos I've seen so far: I get a high pitched car salesman vibes (Trent vibes). Loads of fancy words, anecdotes that makes no sense whatsoever (the rambling about the bow were too much) and lastly : there were next to NO fucking content in the videos. Just rambling about stuff that has been covered before, with no direct way to sort it out, other than comments about "the method 2.0 coming soon".

I'm SO sceptical of this project. Seems like the social media team is great with this one and there's some sort of financial thing coming in the future. Even though he says there isn't, I have my doubt.

To the OP - come join discgolfcoursereview if you ever feel like having in-depth discussions with people that are great at the biomechanics of disc golf.

I'll wait for the "omg, method 2.0 is THE way" and I might eat my words, who knows..

Good luck to the OP.

 

[Sheep]

For the videos I've seen so far: I get a high pitched car salesman vibes (Trent vibes).

Oh thank god I wasn't the only one.

I'm SO sceptical of this project. Seems like the social media team is great with this one and there's some sort of financial thing coming in the future. Even though he says there isn't, I have my doubt.

He's building hype like a salesman.
for his 16 part series.

And he's approaching it with the Magic Pill / Secret Sauce method to grab viewers.

The goal is to make youtube money and pull a sponsor if he can.


Speaking of sponsors. I have decided that I'm just gonna hardcore rep Levi/Pound from now on despite him not being a sponsor.

 

[Kennets]

Oh thank god I wasn't the only one.



He's building hype like a salesman.
for his 16 part series.

And he's approaching it with the Magic Pill / Secret Sauce method to grab viewers.

The goal is to make youtube money and pull a sponsor if he can.


Speaking of sponsors. I have decided that I'm just gonna hardcore rep Levi/Pound from now on despite him not being a sponsor.

Did you see his grip videos yet? You're gonna love it buddy!

 

[Sheep]

Did you see his grip videos yet? You're gonna love it buddy!

I think that was the one I clicked on, and it was SOOOO cringe that I turned it off. I'm not gonna sit and watch 3 minutes of it.
But I skipped in a bit and started watching.
And... I got car salesman vibes so hard...

And its just some dude in like a 110 degree shed sweating and out of breath.
And I'm just like "yep, Coach T jr"

What was it he said. "if you're not tired from throwing a disc, your'e doing it wrong."

Would be fun to have him play like we did the other day.

36 holes and an average of 5 or 6 drives per hole.
Come on bro. Show us that form. =)

 

[ChrisWoj]

I think that was the one I clicked on, and it was SOOOO cringe that I turned it off. I'm not gonna sit and watch 3 minutes of it.
But I skipped in a bit and started watching.
And... I got car salesman vibes so hard...

And its just some dude in like a 110 degree shed sweating and out of breath.
And I'm just like "yep, Coach T jr"

What was it he said. "if you're not tired from throwing a disc, your'e doing it wrong."

Would be fun to have him play like we did the other day.

36 holes and an average of 5 or 6 drives per hole.
Come on bro. Show us that form. =)

I watched the grip video. Literally 3:50 just to say grip it loose.

The entire thing is a commercial, period. It is presented as a commercial, the one piece of information is given out like a little gift to try to draw you in to watch more or subscribe or buy his product or whatever... and it is simply bad information.

Why would I want to watch more?

 

[Sheep]

I watched the grip video. Literally 3:50 just to say grip it loose.

The entire thing is a commercial, period. It is presented as a commercial, the one piece of information is given out like a little gift to try to draw you in to watch more or subscribe or buy his product or whatever... and it is simply bad information.

Why would I want to watch more?

Just keep watching, I'll tell you the absolute secret coming up.

But did you know that in 1948, the germans were flooding to the united states.
This is how we got Whamo frisbee's in 1972. And if you really want to know how that correlates to your grip, just hold in there, I'm going to cover that coming up.

So in 1319, during the spanish invasion of Iraq, steven spielberg was writing a book called the "dark tower" and these warrior women were using these magical plates to destroy their enemies. And their grip was really important, and coming up i'll tell you how to grip it like the amazing women of spielbergs book so they were able to behead and dominate their enemies, just like you're giong to dominate your distance potential while throwing your arm out with this grip were gonna talk about.

And Yeah, 400 feet, were gonna get you there with this magic grip technology while you throw your ass off and show your friend "you can crush" only 50 to 100 feet behind their effortless throws. But to get there ,they had to learn this magical grip technique which were going to get into soon, but first, lets take a look at tiger woods and how he's able to grip the club so effortlessly when he smashes.

 

[timothy42b]

I watched all the videos. The rubber band two - argh. Not a single scientifically correct statement. Not one. My head still hurts. And no that's not how you shoot a bow.

But I don't think he's a car salesman, I think he's a True Believer. And it's not impossible that his series will help some people, if he sets up a logical progression of things to practice with good detail.

I have a thought about the loose grip thing (which he contradicts in the second rubber band video, by the way, where he says grip it hard from the reachback.) and his violent upper body whip. He hasn't measured anything but he's pretty sure about his hand speed etc. His dry swings do look pretty fast. They also look pretty close to his body - no radius to that arc.

The thing is, disc speed is linear velocity, which is angular speed times radius. I think it might be possible to collapse a loose arm into a short radius from wherever the center of the arc is, and get an insanely fast rotation with no disc speed. Or, maybe he's right and it does translate into disc speed. You'd have to measure. Like lifting off and nuking from orbit, "it's the only way to be sure."

 

[Sheep]

But I don't think he's a car salesman, I think he's a True Believer. And it's not impossible that his series will help some people, if he sets up a logical progression of things to practice with good detail.

I think that Trent truly believes what he's teaching also.

I have a thought about the loose grip thing (which he contradicts in the second rubber band video, by the way, where he says grip it hard from the reachback.) and his violent upper body whip. He hasn't measured anything but he's pretty sure about his hand speed etc. His dry swings do look pretty fast. They also look pretty close to his body - no radius to that arc.

I think if you want flow you need to learn to bite down while coming into the pocket.

I throw hardest when I'm being casual and really relaxed on the grip and letting my body focus on gripping it vs me trying to grip it. the harder we try and bite with our hand, the more our arm tenses up.

 

[Nick Pacific]

Makes me wonder sometimes if a slight collapse on a good rotated swing where you try and push to the pocket and out at the same time can create an explosive hit without actually over taxing your shoulder from being collapsed.

If you're fast and athletic, brace well and have quick arm speed, I'd say absolutely.

 

[Sheep]

Oh goodness. this chain in the comments... is sooo good.

He can't throw outside, cause weather is bad. but according to his data, he can throw envy's over 400 feet.

Uhhh. Do envy's go 400 feet?
Yes, but you have to have a controlled 500+ power throw.

 

[acrosley]

I appreciate everyone else sitting through his spiel - seems like it can be summed up as grip loose and brace well, and then throw as hard as you can?

He's clearly excited and I'm glad he wants to put in the time and effort to share his revelation. That comment thread Sheep posted above me should be mandatory reading before you watch all his videos. I'd genuinely like to see how his method translates to the course.

 

[Sheep]

I appreciate everyone else sitting through his spiel - seems like it can be summed up as grip loose and brace well, and then throw as hard as you can?

He's clearly excited and I'm glad he wants to put in the time and effort to share his revelation. That comment thread Sheep posted above me should be mandatory reading before you watch all his videos. I'd genuinely like to see how his method translates to the course.

That's not the part that should scare you.

Trebuchet disc golf, who I respect, he's a good form guy. he's... supporting this guy. And actively supports and defends him in the thread.

I'm all for people learning, even if I sound like a gatekeeper.
Because I'm a gatekeeper in the sense of "learn something before you speak publicly"

Anyways. teb defending him is a bit confusing to me when this form is really really bad and going to get people hurt.
Just collapsed pocket throwing in general is really bad.
It's just injuries waiting to happen.

 

[Kennets]

So. I've just watched his "biomechanical leverage" and "standstill" videos he just put up.. aaand.

Those videos should've been his "teasing" videos. They actually brought something to the table.

I've had a little chat with him on reddit and even though it all seems a little too "fishy", he actually seems like a decent bloke.

My reddit comment still reflects my thought on the post itself, but I actually "liked" his two latest videos, compared to the others.

It might not be stuff that we didn't know and I might not like all of the stuff presented in the way he does, but it's a decent fucking video!

In the future, I won't be a keyboard warrior and dish out shit talk all the time