Why We Brace

Some things are just easier to explain with some video, but I wanted to get this down. I wrote the following during a longer conversation on DGCR (where I post as HyzerUniBomber). If you want to skip all the words, the video is down below!

I think that the single biggest issue for the Beato drill is that with no step and no arm, most people look at you like you're insane when you say "Put the disc here and throw it."

It's like a bar trick or something.

And the trick - the way Beto does it in the video, is that you have to actuate the torsion in your hips and spine by dragging your back foot to get your hips to twist your spine.

The way that I promote using the drill, is more like this: do the drill slowly, not anywhere near as hard as you can. It's how I was able to discover the feeling of late acceleration by slowly moving the disc into the right pec, which requires you to allow your wrist to stay loose enough to bend in order to keep the hand on the outside. 

From that position, the elbow smack/ hand smack out front extension should let you hit 200-250' with basically no hips, no backswing, no real arm muscle involvement. 

It's just the collapsing and then un-folding of the levers and hinges that make up our arm/wrist/grip.

Just based on distance, that part of the system accounts for at least 50% - 65% of the force.

Adding in a way to increase rotational force around your vertical axis - at least the way I've come at it, is not by dragging my back foot to actuate my hips, but by more of a ball golf back foot - that rolls into the back instep from the ball of the back foot. SW22's video is the definition of this, you will see a crease in your pants pocket as you create the torque. It's more controlled for me than dragging a foot to kick off the hips.

The bracing of the plant foot, timed with guiding to the right pec - that should add force into the elbow smack and also load your wrist. From that position, the hammer pound should be so forceful that you can't hold the disc.

You should be able to do all of this as slowly as you want, and add in various amount of pressure to the system to add distance.

So it was with all this on my mind, that I started to shoot off some suggestions for some form requests that have been coming in. And I saw the same issues that I started trying to overcome earlier this summer. Failing to brace in a useful way - specifically in a way that would add some load to this elbow extension / hand on the outside.

A big part of why the loose wrist slams towards the forearm in the first image above, is because we are bracing our weight against the plant foot as we guide into the right pec.

So that's when the idea hit me to try to show and explain the fundamental reason that we're attempting to brace in a way that helps the overall throw. So I made the video below.

This video isn't just a response to "beginner requests", but one that I see showing up in guys who can throw 400-425'. The reality is that in disc golf, you can get pretty good results and still be doing the following:

1. Leaving usable force on the table, that can add more distance or make shorter distances easier to hit.
2. Putting more force than is required into the system which screws up accuracy.
3. Generating the forces for your shots the hard way which can injure you.
4. Using disc stability in order to compensate for coming over the top of your disc.

Soooo, enough with the text - let's go to the tape.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwfhLRvPKVs

And if you're still not bored by this post, here's me throwing some kinda strange high hyzers with putters in a parking lot. Last shot I caught myself coming off the back foot kinda strange after the weight shift. 270-290'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igDU-JnU_aw