Simple Weight Shift Exercise

[SocraDeez]

intro
Whoops, the thread title was supposed to be Simple Weight Shift Exercise Super Secret Weight Shift Technique - Do This One Thing to Get Big D! Are you a longtime forum-reader-form-tinkerer who has grown tired of the onslaught of hand-cue debate underpinned by the squabbling of internet form coaches? Well, come on in; the water's fine. Today's subject is footwork.

meat and potatoes
If you've long yearned to nail the disc golf weight shift, try this simple exercise to cop a feel: take whichever leg/foot is the rear one in your disc golf swing, place it in front of you, and turn it 90 degrees so that the toes are pointed out from your body. This foot should now be in front of you and oriented perpendicular to the plant leg foot making an "L" of sorts, and you should be bearing most of your weight on your plant leg (because it is the one most under your center of mass at this point). Now, get off your weight-bearing plant leg by shifting/sinking your weight into the twisted up/preset other foot. You should be irresistibly pulled into a weight shift from the rear leg toward the plant. Voilà - the way your body moved reactively in this exercise is how it feels to move well from rear to plant in the disc golf swing.

outro
From God Shammgod, one of the greatest ball handlers of all-time: "It's all in the footwork! Faster! The hands are an illusion!!!"

 

[Sheep]

 

[Sard0nyx]

Can I get a quick sketch of the foot placement? I'm not really following

 

[HyzerRoc]

When I twist it 180 degrees it just points back at me. Am I misunderstanding something here or are you really meaning 90 degrees?

 

[SocraDeez]

Whoops - yes 90 degrees. Good catch. Will amend post. Here's a sketch. Not sure why the image flipped between image-taking-device and online filehosting site, but crane your neck, I suppose. The general idea is from advanced sprinting theory: most of the "work" of positioning the leg - i.e. "good technique" - takes place in the air prior to the strike. Everything else is reactionary. Also notice how this exercise pulls you off the rear foot into the plant heel-first vs. toe-first and feels pretty lateral, force vector-wise. No forced back thigh rotation/twisting inward. Or at least that's how it works for me. Population of 1 and all that.

 

[jupiterboy]

Dude. I destroyed my knee trying to do this with 180° twist. I'm in the hospital right now.

 

[Sard0nyx]

Whoops - yes 90 degrees. Good catch. Will amend post. Here's a sketch. Not sure why the image flipped between image-taking-device and online filehosting site, but crane your neck, I suppose. The general idea is from advanced sprinting theory: most of the "work" of positioning the leg - i.e. "good technique" - takes place in the air prior to the strike. Everything else is reactionary. Also notice how this exercise pulls you off the rear foot into the plant heel-first vs. toe-first and feels pretty lateral, force vector-wise. No forced back thigh rotation/twisting inward. Or at least that's how it works for me. Population of 1 and all that.

Maybe I'm just dumb, but I'm still not following lol. Maybe cause I'm left handed. But can you add arrows showing target and front of each foot?

Also, is the preset foot moving? I'm trying to picture this but it's not working. Initial weight is the plant foot right? But it doesn't move?

 

[Sewer bill]

Dude. I destroyed my knee trying to do this with 180° twist. I'm in the hospital right now.

No refunds!

 

[jupiterboy]

No refunds!

(I was seriously setting my feet like this and then reading "like an L" and thinking this guy is taking the piss)

 

[Brychanus]

intro
Whoops, the thread title was supposed to be Simple Weight Shift Exercise Super Secret Weight Shift Technique - Do This One Thing to Get Big D! Are you a longtime forum-reader-form-tinkerer who has grown tired of the onslaught of hand-cue debate underpinned by the squabbling of internet form coaches? Well, come on in; the water's fine. Today's subject is footwork.

meat and potatoes
If you've long yearned to nail the disc golf weight shift, try this simple exercise to cop a feel: take whichever leg/foot is the rear one in your disc golf swing, place it in front of you, and turn it 90 degrees so that the toes are pointed out from your body. This foot should now be in front of you and oriented perpendicular to the plant leg foot making an "L" of sorts, and you should be bearing most of your weight on your plant leg (because it is the one most under your center of mass at this point). Now, get off your weight-bearing plant leg by shifting/sinking your weight into the twisted up/preset other foot. You should be irresistibly pulled into a weight shift from the rear leg toward the plant. Voilà - the way your body moved reactively in this exercise is how it feels to move well from rear to plant in the disc golf swing.

outro
From God Shammgod, one of the greatest ball handlers of all-time: "It's all in the footwork! Faster! The hands are an illusion!!!"

I promised you I would stop hitting the "like" button to your posts and make sure my brain actually encodes them, so in solidarity I am just going to share an obligatory Thor meme:



If I am doing your drill described here correctly, the lesson is clear (for my own N=1, of course).

 

[Brychanus]

Maybe I'm just dumb, but I'm still not following lol. Maybe cause I'm left handed. But can you add arrows showing target and front of each foot?

Also, is the preset foot moving? I'm trying to picture this but it's not working. Initial weight is the plant foot right? But it doesn't move?

I thought about this more and realized I could interpret it in more than one way.

Probably faster as a video, but I'll write two versions of what I think he could have meant since it will also help clarify it when he replies. Both of these contain learning value and are probably relevant in terms of what pros/cons they carry. Both are possibly viable if you don't "force" weird actions through the legs. If neither are what he intended, please correct me @SocraDeez.

I usually think about dance footwork diagrams. I show RHBH and LHBH for any persons who struggle with mental rotations:

Option 1:
I initially thought that in the sticky note the "initial weight bearing appendage" and "preset" are the right foot and left foot, respectively, and one interpretation is the following. This one is most similar to Seabas22 "Open to closed" crush the can drill.

1. Stand with weight roughly 50/50 between the feet.
2. Settle your weight onto what functions as your "plant" leg.
3. Put the non-plant/rear/drive foot perpendicular to the plant foot with rear foot heel near but not touching plant foot big toe.
4. Start to release/move/shift your weight to the "rear" leg.
5. Almost immediately after this, the green line represents the "automatic" thing that should happen - your plant leg should swing in deweighted somewhere around ninety degrees to the target (my gait is a little funny but it still gets close enough).
6. Shift completes abruptly as you land on the plant leg.



Option 2:
This one has some exaggerated aspects in common with the internal load/"good" torque that was part of the lengthy discussion in the "Thighmaster" thread. It especially exaggerates the feel for the "shift from behind". The main difference is in the "target" in Step 1 and rear foot orientation in Step 3.
1. Stand with weight roughly 50/50 between the feet. The target is behind you.
2. Settle your weight onto what functions as your "plant" leg.
3. Put the non-plant/rear/drive foot perpendicular to the plant foot with rear foot big toe near but not touching plant foot big toe.
4. Start to release/move/shift your weight to the "rear" leg.
5. Almost immediately after this, the green line represents the "automatic" thing that should happen - your plant leg should swing in deweighted somewhere around ninety degrees to the target (my gait is a little funny but it still gets close enough) - this version emphasizes the rearward "shift from behind".
6. Shift completes abruptly as you land on the plant leg.

 

[jupiterboy]

Yeah, I can put my feet in that first position and just transfer my weight back and forth and stay in balance. It's awkward, but...

 

[Brychanus]

The key is to let your body/center of mass keep drifting forward until you land in the plant.

Just a general observation: some people seem to keep their body mass trapped between their feet rather than "stacking" over each foot athletically in transition almost no matter what they try. I'm not sure if it works so automatically for me because of all the prior other drills I have done.