Throwing Thought: Grip, Part 2 (Video)
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Loading ...The forehand grip–I realize now that it was probably a little confusing without at least some pictures to aid. Rather than just inserting pictures, I went one step farther and did the video. So, hope you enjoy!
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2 Responses to “Throwing Thought: Grip, Part 2 (Video)”
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two things: 1) I’ve been reading your stuff for about a month now and it’s helping out a lot. 2) I’ve been working on my forehand grip to get it the way you explain, its feeling really good, but do you find it hurts your fingers or hand to hold the disc that hard? How long did you work on this grip until you felt it was natural for you?
Hi Jacko,
Glad it’s helping. Really glad, in fact.
Yeah, it did take me a fair while to develop. Like I said, I spent a lot of time re-working my throwing and grip over the course of a couple months in Japan, and even then I still had a lot of kinks to work out (it was really only this year–two years later–that I felt comfortable switching grips without using my left hand to make sure the disc was pushed in and secure. Your mileage my vary; my hands are on the smaller side but my fingers are a little long, and I’m sure hand size plays a big role in the idiosyncrasies of people’s throwing mechanics). Keep practicing, and keep thinking. Any grip that lets you hold the disc parallel with your forearm is likely to give you the range of throwing capability you need.
The grip is a bit unorthodox to develop and maintain, for sure. There are times, particularly when I come back to throwing after having been away from the disc for a while, where my fingers (the two under the disc, in fact–they don’t snap, but they do still help hold the disc in place) will hurt a fair bit. If you’re trying to train against that, I’d recommend static stuff–stuff that trains the fingers to stay stable with force, like fingertip pushups. See my post on grip training for a bit more about this.
I think the key is, with time, to find the happy medium. You can really pinch the shit out of the disc, and sometimes you need to (in the wind to keep it from blowing out of your hand, for instance). Other times, if you can figure how to hold it just hard enough, you’ll probably save yourself some stress on the hands. I tend to grip a lot harder when I go to huck, for instance (who doesn’t?). You get stronger with time and practice, but you definitely also get smarter about how to apply that strength, too.