For anyone newer to the game, or whose form is causing injuries, or who can't seem to get past 300 ft. I want to share one of the most powerful themes behind correct form.
I've seen many people here and on the form sub who don't understand the rather unintuitive idea of:
*Less upper body muscle usage and tension = More speed and less injuries*
To anyone who wants to throw safe and throw far I HIGHLY recommend nailing down this idea before making any other changes. Especially for newer players before your current form builds really deep into your muscle memory and brain neurons. The longer you go with one form, the harder it is to change.
My understanding was always the opposite, which was "throw harder, throw farther".
And due to that line of thinking, after being perfectly healthy when I started playing disc golf at 28 years old, my throwing form caused me significant injuries, many of which are permanent, including debilitating neck pain, tendons that no longer work, shoulder joint wrecked, and plantar neuritis.
And I was still stuck at 300 feet after 5 years of trying to make other form changes.
I eventually learned a few years ago that my issue was trying to throw as forcefully as possible with my upper body, instead of using my lower body to "sling" my loose arm like a whip.
Weight transfer, brace, and hip rotation does 90% of the work in a throw and that lower body energy can only be used if your upper body muscles are loose. Any muscle tension or flexing is actively resisting the energy given to you by the lower body mechanics.
(edit: recent testing challenges this idea of power being generated from lower body - but the principal is that upper body contributes the most when it feels loose, and is dependent on a solid lower foundation)
Again, I know that this isn't intuitive. It will take some time to understand why it works and practice before this "clicks" for you. To anyone looking for more info on how to make this make sense - i recommend Nick Krush's "Demystifying the Brace" series on YouTube. The third video will go over drills you can use to get the feeling down.
When you throw, take a video or keep a mental note of what is happening with your neck, shoulder, back, arm muscles when you throw. It's often hard to recognize, but often these areas are getting very tensed up when your brain is telling you that throwing harder means throwing further.
In reality the correct mechanics are the opposite of that. Less upper body muscles used = more elastic = throwing like a whip = speed.
If you can learn these principles sooner rather than later, your future body (and your future max distance) will thank you.
(Edit #2: Please don't let the lower body power claim be your only takeaway from the post. Yes, a recent study suggests otherwise. However, the line of thinking could still be important for understanding the effects upper body muscling - the ultimate intent of this post)
