What does good hip action FEEL like???

[RocHucker]

I've been trying for weeks now to get my hips involved in my throw in a productive way, but all that I have to show for it so far is a sore right knee (RHBH). I've posted a video of my throw up on the form analysis section ("slow mo: trying to break 400ft...") and gotten lots of great feedback and videos from the gurus on here, but something just isn't clicking.

I've always learn these types of things best from analogies, so I figured that I'd crowdsource to see if any of yours resonate with me. So, those of you who can crush the disc and know what good hip action feels like, care to share how it feels?

I'm looking for things like "imagine sitting in a chair with it's back facing the target", or "squash a bug under the ball of your left foot", or "your right hip freezes in space and becomes a hinge after you plant your right foot". Ive already read plenty of "crush the can" in different threads on here and i totally believe it's valid, but for some frustrating reason that mental image just isn't working for me. When i lean into that heel to crush the can my right knee won't let my hips turn (even in slow motion practice throws), so i keep subconsciously planting that front foot too open out of fear of torquing my knee again. I'm hoping that the reason for that bad can crush is a problem somewhere else that can be fixed with one of your mental pictures.

 

[RocHucker]

P.s. the mental pictures i gave were just example of the type of language i had in mind, i don't know if any of them are actually correct or incorrect.

Another example: I've started to think of the throw as more sideways relative to my body (with rotation to the front being purely follow through) rather than forward

 

[sidewinder22]

Good hip action feels like effortless balance.

Squash the bug is a terrible metaphor. The foot/feet should not spin. If you are sitting in a swivel chair, you don't spin your feet to turn the chair. If your feet spin, the chair doesn't turn(hips/weight spin out). You change the pressure on the feet, so you can roll your feet to turn the chair, and/or you can move the pressure to the toes pushing the heels up and in the direction of the chair turn. At the absolute furthest you turn the chair without your feet moving/spinning, both your tip toes should be on the ground still and pushing the heels down the turn/line. As you swivel the chair back and forth you should also notice that the leading knee goes up relative and the rear knee goes down as the foot and shin angles change to drive forward/turn.

Now to pivot on the front heel in the chair you can still move the rear foot the same way as above with the toes on the ground pushing the heel up and forward. Now with the front heel on the ground the pressure rolls around the bottom of the heel with the toes airborne. The foot/heel is not spinning per say, it's pivoting as the contact pressure remains the same, it's just changing/rolling where the pressure is along different parts of the heel, like a wheel rolling.

You shouldn't be leaning in the heel to crush the can. You should be falling upright onto your heel and catching yourself/weight from behind you.

 

[MichaelWebster]

like warm apple pie?

 

[sisyphus]

What does good hip action feel like?

 

[roggenb3]

Sw22, what you just said makes more sense to me than any other crush the can thing I've read. I'm in the same boat as the OP. When I think about crushing the can, it just doesn't click and I feel like I'm gnna tear my knee apart.

 

[wreckreation]

Someone needs to get Will Ferrell I mean Shawn Clement into disc golf.

 

[rampazzo]

I'm going to second the sw22 comment about the feel of effortless balance. There are zero throws in common between my 10 farthest and the 10 where I felt like I was throwing the hardest. Good hip action isn't worth a damn in isolation, it is important because it bridges the powerhouse that is the lower body with the delivery mechanism that is the upper body. When it works perfectly the result is smooth and you don't feel any tugging anywhere (except maybe the disc away from your fingers) the disc just flies really far.

 

[Stardoggy]

Isn't there just a pill I could take or something, to make this all work?

 

[rampazzo]

Isn't there just a pill I could take or something, to make this all work?

There is. It is called practice and the downside is that it is most effective when taken regularly for months or even years. Many players are never able to perform to their fullest without continued application for the duration of their careers. It is rumored that most if not all professional players have been taking this pill for years and continue to take it in large doses throughout their entire careers.

 

[riltim]

I was out yesterday trying to incorporate what I learned from the door frame & crush the can drills. When it went right I was pushing my buzzz's ~30' past my normal distance with what felt like very little effort.

I was having a real tough time holding on to my disc though. It wasn't coming out early but it seemed like my arm was moving faster than I was used and I had trouble keeping my thumb pressure applied. Is this normal progression and something I need to work on or am I doing something way off?

 

[sidewinder22]

I was out yesterday trying to incorporate what I learned from the door frame & crush the can drills. When it went right I was pushing my buzzz's ~30' past my normal distance with what felt like very little effort.

I was having a real tough time holding on to my disc though. It wasn't coming out early but it seemed like my arm was moving faster than I was used and I had trouble keeping my thumb pressure applied. Is this normal progression and something I need to work on or am I doing something way off?

https://www.dgcoursereview.com/dgr/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=24903

 

[Dan Ensor]

To me, it feels like the base of my throw is moving forward while moving toward the target line.

 

[takman]

Like warm apple pie.