faster and powerful shots

[dreams]

hi. anyone can give advice and insights on how to throw powerful and fast shots?

Any training method to develop it?

[Robert]

You need to work out more....

[Matty P]

if the roids arn't working for ya, work on technique.
get someone who's been plaing polo for a while to watch you throw and tell you what you can do to make it a better shot. Nobody can really tell you much unless they acctually see you throw. Search "throwing" in forums, there was a big thread a while ago all about technique. You should get a few ideas from that.

[LJH#3]

theres probably some good stuff in the book that duncan was selling a while ago, but im not sure. n e way

the way we were taught to get technique the best was to start from throwing just with your wrist and work your way up to doing a full throw.

so like, just from your wrist and getting as much power as you can you of that.

then just up to like or elbow, and then shoulder, and whole body.

key things are to follow-through through the ball (not around or under etc), use good body rotation adn lots of wrist aswell (which are often the forgotten points of throwing) and make sure u keep your elbow high, approx shoulder height is about right.

and best way to get more power is just to keep throwing. get against a wall and throw. while ur at it try and get your accuracy as best you can aswell. weights may be an option but that said being strong doesnt neccesarily make you a good thrower

[Robert]

My technique is to use the upper part of my body in a twisting motion. If I am shooting right handed I would twist my body in a clockwise direction and spin back to normal position, my trowing arm would be reached out, elbow slightly cocked, following the movement of my body. Once the ball has been released, I would follow through to reduce risk of injury.

Power and distance is not the be-all and end all of shooting, actuarcy is the objective, no point in being able to blast a ball at 100kmh or from your own goal line if you can't hit the target.

The best thing is pratice, pratice, pratice. Work on you aim and then start appling more power / speed to the shot.

[LJH#3]

no point in being able to hit the target if the ball is so slow it can be blocked everytime...

[Robert]

Agreed, but if you are like me when I first started playing polo, fairly hard shot, but couldn't hit the side of a barn, you soon learn the need for accuracy. This will also help for long passes, chucking a long ball away from your goal to ease some pressure etc.. and of course, shooting at a well defended goal.

[wayne]

Get a ball, through it at a wall. Again and again. I do it until the campus security turn up and move me on. It's bloody antisocial but it is the best way. You can use a squash court but it is very loud, and you might get a few frowns from the actual squash players. If you want a quick fix then use a basketball for one of these sessions; you'll be able to throw a polo ball a bloody mile afterwards but be warned, it's a great way of picking up a shoulder injury and it's a bit of a con, because the effect is very short lived, and your accuracy may dip a bit. Neil Edmonds from GP has a good throw and I think it is helped by his tremendous grip on the ball - usually this is down to how big your hands are, but I think Neil does a lot of rock climbing (sorry if I've invented this Neil). I'm not sure about weights - Neil Parker throws the ball as hard as anyone, and Erwin, and neither of them are power lifters; personally I think they're a waste of time; technique, technique, technique.

[lee knight]

hi. anyone can give advice and insights on how to throw powerful and fast shots?

Any training method to develop it?

dont forget to train shoulder and back muscles as to much throwing can damage tendons almost like an rsi injury and with some specific weight training you can tone muscles to support the shoulder and hopefully prevent injury. :)

[mike1982]

as you pull back to throw the muscles stretch and like a rubber band have an elastic potential - plyometrics are fast exercises to aimed at maximising that strength at the initiation of the throw

use of Theraband or theratube or some other resistance band is good for and you can use a throwing action unlike just lifting weights. you closest physio should have some of this stuff - pull it tight and let it pull your arm back slowly but once you reach the end of extension pull it forwards fast try and maintain a correct technique through the motion. you need a coach or mate for that part

[Emma J H]

with the technique, i got taught to wind up like a baseball player (ie twist your body like the others have said above, lift your knee, or rail as the case may be in polo!) and follow through like one as well.

when i throw my hand ends up in the water on the other side of my boat.. you don't want your arm to stop dead in front of you cos its going from eg. 30km/hour to 0km/hour in the space of the length of your arm, which puts tremendous pressure on your joints!! :eek: following through across your body gives your arm more time and distance to slow down.

I was also taught that the body has a series of "springs" that need to be released in the right order. eg, you wind up your torso, shoulder, elbow, wrist, and you want to release each spring in that order... you won't have an effective throw if you release your shoulder before your torso for example. it sounds silly, but slow the throw down into a series of stages where you release each part of your body in the correct order. even do it in front of a mirror or get someone to watch to make sure your not letting a "spring" go to early.

:wavey:

[Anton Holmes]

I'm not sure about weights - Neil Parker throws the ball as hard as anyone, and Erwin, and neither of them are power lifters; personally I think they're a waste of time; technique, technique, technique.

This is 100% correct. If you have a good technique you'll be able to throw the ball just as far and as fast as all those guys that are doing heaps of weights to strengthen their tricepts and chest. But you'll make it look like throwing the ball is effortless, and it will be!! Another thing to note is that the elasticity in your muscles is going to add power, which you will lose by doing heaps of weights and tightening up your muscles (Stretch a lot to keep them loose and elastic)

The part of the action that tends to create the most power for me is the wrist flick at the end. You can add power to this by getting a bal, and standing about 30cm away from a wall just use your wrist, and only your wrist (if you have trouble stopping using your whole arm, hold your forearm in place with your left hand), and flick the ball at the wall (and hopefully catch it again) until your forearm is burning with lactic acid build up, and then swap hands and do it with your left(or non dominant hand).

Once you're happy about the power you are getting from this little flick, you can go on to move your forearm as well and bring your tricept in to the equation. Again stand quite close to the wall, and really concentrate on an explosive flick from your wrist, just add some momentum by extending your arm slightly before the flick.

After you have this to a level you are happy with (and this step is more to get correct technique than building strength and power in your tricepts) Bring your elbow back to level with your shoulder and, standing a little further back again, lead your arm forward with your elbow, then as it comes forward (about 45 - 60 degrees) start the previous action of extending your arm.

The next step is to start with your elbow further back and twist your body so that your peck is tightened. And allow the muscle to bring your arm forward much like a sling shot, and then go into the previous steps.

This should give you a pretty good basis to work towards increasing the power from your shots.

Once you have this action down nice and smooth you should look at doing some weights to assist in more power.

Hope this helps you out a little bit.

Take care.

Anton.

[LJH#3]

i think in short, what most people that seem to know what they are saying are saying, is break up your throwing action into each section. get each section correct, time each section of your throwing action to flow as it should. and practise practise practise. which is essentially what i said at the start. but oh well.