Tip of the Week

Turning your hips is the secret of throwing farther, because
a well-timed hip turn will allow you to put your whole body
into the throw. I asked Steve Brinster, who tosses about
500 feet without being physically enormous, how he does it.
He said one thing to try is pointing your left heel (for righthanders)
toward the target on the second step of your
three-step X-step run-up. This puts your back to the target.
By unleashing his hips in this manner, Steve is able to
connect the ample strength of his legs to the rotation of his
torso, which in turn increases his arm speed. The same
basic technique can also be applied to a standstill drive.
Once you get over the awkwardness of doing something
new, you can begin to refine your new mechanics by
concentrating on being smooth. Smoothness always equals
greater power. How many times have we seen some stud
huck a BOMB and someone, as if on cue, will say, “Wow, it
looks as if you didn’t even throw that!” Real power is
always smooth. Keeping this in mind, try to eliminate all
unnecessary movements in your windup. People have
strange and awkward ways of expressing exertion, and
many of these head jerks, knee bends, and hippity hops
serve only to inhibit smoothness and hence power.