Distance throwing is a highly complex skill. The entire body is in action and must work in concert, feet set up the hips, hips move the arm, torso follows and pushes the hips, arm catches up, hips power through, torso/arm/hips finish. It’s really not a simple mechanical operation.

We do our best to simplify things here at Pawsitive Vybe and we have come up with a 4 step process for distance mechanics:

Reach & Step

Step 1 is Reach & Step. You stand 90 degrees to the target with your throwing hand closes to the target. Step backwards with your throwing side foot (right foot for right handers) in front of your left foot. This will feel very awkward and you should feel all coiled up. It is important to reach back as far as you can here.

This position closes the hips entirely and will be the center point of our X step or crow hop, if you’re familiar with those terms. We’re taking the essence of the X step or crow hop concept and starting there. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a crow hop is the thing a baseball outfielder does before throwing the ball, and an X step is the disc sport equivalent. You can google the terms and check them out.

Cha

We are pretty much just replicating our Hip Isolation Drill here except we’re adding a bit of scale in terms of movement and power and we’re starting with our hips entirely closed to the target. It is critical that you hold back with your arms and upper body and the “Cha” concept remains intact. Stepping forward or letting the hands come forward will cost you power as your hips, arms and torso will not be functioning in concert.

The Cha is the starting point of opening our hips. It’s designed to just open enough to get some momentum to the body and arm so that when we really activate the hips the arm has a running start and all of our power can be applied to accelerating the arm instead of wasting energy getting it moving.

Half Way

Here’s where we start to throw the discs. The hips are opening a bit more (rotating clockwise – popping quick! – for right handers) and the hand is about in the center of your body speeding towards the target. The disc should remain in the track or channel, with the rim opposite your hand pointing down and away from you.

Finish, Bottom Out & Release

The hips finish their rotation and the arm bottoms out towards the target and you release. The rest is follow through. That’s it. 4 simple steps.

Moving Positions

One thing that is important to keep in mind is that these are athletic positions and they are representations of movement. A common mistake, especially for dancers and unconfident athletes is to treat these positions as static. They are not poses, or rock solid positions, they are approximations of movement and should be thought of as such. This drill should look rather choppy and broken up when done instead of smooth and graceful.

Avoid the Dreaded 23

Something that gets many people in trouble is when two and three happen together. The Cha becomes a step, the hips slide forward and you wind up too far forward for your hips, torso and arms to work in concert. Essentially you wind up locking up your hips at the finish of your toss.

The finish of the throw has the hips and torso accelerating the arm to maximum velocity. The moment of release happens when your arm can’t go any further forward. If your hips and your torso is not working together you are getting a half opened christmas present and are cheating yourself of all the hard work you have done to this point.

By getting a solid separation between 2 and three it is far less likely that your hips will slide forward and lock your hips. It also provides the proper sequence for the hips to really drive the throw.

Moving On

Once you build a little muscle memory on these 4 steps you can move on to the next drill, the PVybe Two Step.

About Ron Watson

An accomplished dog trainer, dog sport coach and dog behavior expert, Ron Watson of PVybe spends every minute he can collaborating with dog lovers all over the world.

Specializing in canine performance, learning theory and behavior, Ron along with the fabulous Apryl Lea, run real world and online seminars as well as personal training, clinics, and Hangouts.

He lives to talk dogs, so go ahead and ask Ron a question via our contact page, Facebook or on Google+.

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