Thoughts.

So, how you grip the disc is important. However, as with just about anything in sports, it is not enough just to know how to do it right. You must possess the requisite athleticism to execute–knowledge alone can only take you so far.

So how do you train your grip to be stronger? I actually don’t do a ton of grip training anymore–I’m at a good baseline level, though I imagine a bit more training would help with my forehand hucking in particular–but when I did do grip training, I considered a few things when I planned my grip workouts:

There are different kinds of grip strength.
Pinch: Between individual fingers and your thumb.
Crush: Between your fingers and your palm (the “standard” grip when you think about grip–think handshake)
Support: Not a gripping motion, but the ability to maintain one’s grip (think holding on to a heavy bag full of groceries by the handle)

It’s my opinion that the first and the last are the most important for ultimate. The former is particularly important for catching (think about it–attacking the disc, you should be using your thumb underneath/on top to go with your other fingers), while the latter comes into play more for throwing and transferring power from your hips to the disc. Crush grip really has little relevance to ultimate, and it is not something you need to emphasize in your training (though you should still include it for completeness’ sake from time to time).

So, how do you train pinch and support grip? By gripping, of course!

The easiest way is simply to find a gripper or a grip machine at your local gym. these lend themselves fairly easily to a variety of gripping motions–really think about using your thumb–when I talk about support grip, it’s essentially support pinch grip. Start with a relatively manageable amount of force/weight, doing sets in the upper end of the rep range (think 20 reps), and work down to doing a few reps with higher weight, for reps and for time held closed. Pinching and then holding (whether you pinch with one, two, three, or four fingers simultaneously with your thumb is your prerogative–I prefer two fingers, with middle and pointer, as I think they are the ones that do the brunt of the catching work) allows you to work both types of grip simultaneously.

Another exercise I’ve done for supporting grip is holding plates. Grab a 5 or 10 lb plate and simply hold it with four fingers flush on top and the thumb on bottom (or vice versa). Hold for time. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Other options for grip training:
-Sand/Rice gripping. I’ve never done this myself, but others have.
-Fingertip pushups. I used to do these with regularity. But consider the range of motion in which you’re training your grip by doing these (see below). If you can get to the point where you can do them just on your thumbs or on three fingers (thumb+pointer/middle), you’re on the right track.

More conventional thought says doing things like farmer’s walks and deadlifts are good ways to train grip, and this is true–but it’s not as specific to ultimate (often training primarily crush grip, and in a range of motion unseen in ultimate). I do think, however, that learning to use the hook grip, with your thumb under your fingers, will emphasize strength of the thumb more and will carry over to your grip in ultimate though (to at least some extent).

Another thing to consider is that grip strength is highly specific to the range trained. I can do grip training for climbing, working on gripping at the outermost edges of my hand’s extension (think a hold several inches thick, so there’s a lot of space between your fingers and thumb), but, despite possessing phenomenal strength on the wall, have little to spare when gripping a disc with very little separation between fingers and thumb.

I couldn’t tell you what the exact range for the specificity of the training effect is, but the more you can work your grip in the range you’ll be using in-game (ie, closer together), the more you’ll find the results carry over to throwing and catching in game. That’s not to say you should avoid training grip at the edges of your range–to the contrary, a balanced program necessitates it–but pick your focus wisely.

Finally, grip strength fatigues easily, and recovers slowly. If you’re some kind of superhuman, perhaps you can train grip every day and continue to see improvement. For me, a good grip workout would actually leave me worse off for at least the day following. Some of my best throwing has come after taking a couple days off from throwing and grip training–my hands can recover fully, enabling more confident, sure throws. Keep this in mind when planning your training. Grip training is, primarily, a secondary focus for workouts, so I usually save it for the end of workouts where I won’t have to worry about a fatigued grip affecting my other lifts.

You’ll be surprised what a big difference this can make, though you might not notice the gradual improvement over time.

Convincing: Practice in front of a mirror. Seriously. Practice, and then do a little mental separation of yourself from your action–see yourself as the mark on yourself. Do you respond to that motion? What are the factors that force you to respond to a thrower when you’re on the mark? Step? Shoulder motion? Some facial or other dispositional cue? Is it the disc leaving the hand? (Probably too late, if that’s the case). When do you KNOW that the throw is coming, and how can you recreate those cues with your fakes? Try doing your regular throwing motion and holstering it. How late can you stop your throw? Envision an on-field situation, a dump cut or a juke you didn’t anticipate–can you withhold your commitment to throw in time?

Get in front of the mirror! Start thinking! Take a good, long look at yourself and take a scalpel to your abilities. Dissect out the cancerous, work around the vital spots, and clean the rough areas.

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!

This is hard to describe, so I’m going to try to insert some video to clarify (this is via a youtube embed). If this works decently I’ll try doing it some more going forward!

When I talk about arm action, I’m referring to the path your arm leads the frisbee on. Strive to take the frisbee on a straight path when you release it, rather than an arcing path.

Use all of your fingers when you grip a forehand!

The same concept of keeping the disc flat with your forearm also applies to backhand and, really, all other throws as well. Really build an awareness of how you’re holding the disc.

I forget where I read it first (again, you can probably find it here somewhere), but one thing I’ve been recommending to people I’ve been teaching, especially people trying to throw with touch, is to throw off of one foot.

Relax and throw.

Hopefully this gives you a good idea.

So many novice throwers use primarily their arm, or throw from their hip. Both sap throwing power. Relax your arm (but not the grip), and load the scapula when you’re hucking forehands.

The force that results from this loading should flow fairly easily from your torso/shoulder to the disc if you’re keeping your arm relaxed. From your biceps to your forearm, nothing should be tightening up until your snap your wrist to release the disc.

Next time you’re watching somebody with really good forehand hucks, watch their shoulder. I can almost guarantee you that if they throw with any power or authority they load their shoulder to some extent.

I’ve yet to determine whether “loading the scapula” is appropriate for backhands. But it most definitely helps for forehands. Pull your shoulder blade in when you wind up, and just let the natural stretch-shortening cycle pull your arm through the throwing motion.

This is more or less the compilation of all the useful ultimate-related links I’ve read.

I did a lot more blog reading last year and especially the year before that, which is when I came across most of these–that was the golden age of ultimate blogging, when nothing was recorded yet (outside of UT & T, which was not comprehensive) so what was put down was often the most authoritative info out there. Nowadays everybody’s run out of ideas and all you get is hype and tourney recaps.

Without further ado, here’s the list. This is culled from a blitz I sent to the mens’ team last spring:

the main compilation of ultimate bloggerdom

UPA rules blog (this is where I get all those “actually…11th edition says…”s from):

Jim Parinella’s blog (former DoG player, co-writer of Ultimate Techninques and Tactics–one of the best and brightest ultimate has seen)
highlights from his blog:

• this describes VERY well my cutting philosophy (MUST READ)
• more on cutting (MUST READ. Take these bits of cutting advice and really, reallly think about them. See yourself setting up in various situations. This WILL make you a better cutter)
• ideas for hucking practice
• simple thoughts can make a big difference
• players make plays
• drills to try alone/with a friend
• decision-making
• conflict resolution (hi Lamar)

Idris Nolan’s blog (former Jam player…thought to be one of the better/best handlers in club ultimate)
lots of good stuff to see here, too:

• on hucking (2nd is a MUST READ)
• >learn by watching
• defense in the air
• IO flick/breaking the mark, hammers/blades, throwing in general(the four-finger flick has your pointer and middle against the rim and holds the bottom of the rim with the ring and pinkie) (MUST READ)
• making secondary cuts (again, this describes my cutting philosophy very well)
• field sense and throws to space

Ultimate player on Training
just a few highlights this time. Start at the beginning of this blog and scan through if you have time and interest in different training styles (check out the stuff on tabata intervals):

• on crossfit (where I get a ton of training info from), “what is fitness?”
• hip flexor streching and a better vertical

Ultimate Strategy/Coaching blog

• broad progression for throwing a forehand

Occasionally entertaining, but not often useful

And then there’s RSD. some useful discussions (but do more research yourself, there’s TONS of gems to find):

• Ben Wiggins on throwing, esp hucking(UPDATED–missing RSD link has been redirected to a collection of Wiggins Writing)
• hammers
• laying out
• pulling
• scroll up for a bit on good forehand throwing

That caps it off. Sorry if the formating isn’t the most user-friendly to read.
-Mackey

PS For aspiring avid blog readers, check out feed readers at google reader or bloglines. Also give technorati.com a look for searching purposes.

I’ll do more explanatory posts on some things later (cutting, how I teach throwing), but all of what you’ll hear here stems in large part from what I’ve read above.