Do you need to throw your body into the break?

the420trooper

the420trooper

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I've been working on my break for years, and got to the point where I was throwing every bit of my body into the break shot, with mixed results.

After receiving a tip from a friend, I've begun keeping my lower body still, lost the ballerina kick, and just using my arm to break...with MUCH better results, and more consistency.

I know a lot of the top players use the "body break", but I wonder if it's really the best way to go, in terms of control and consistency...

Thoughts?
 
This is one shot that I have above average control and get great spread on the balls without having to launch my body into it. For some reason my forward stroke is naturally pretty powerful (maybe from pitching for years). Watching some people (not all), I get the feeling they are actually posturing to look good instead of trying to improve their break.
 
the420trooper said:
I've been working on my break for years, and got to the point where I was throwing every bit of my body into the break shot, with mixed results.

After receiving a tip from a friend, I've begun keeping my lower body still, lost the ballerina kick, and just using my arm to break...with MUCH better results, and more consistency.

I know a lot of the top players use the "body break", but I wonder if it's really the best way to go, in terms of control and consistency...

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
My thought is that no matter what you do it HAS to be consistently repeatable. Not everyone can break like Fransisco but he can do it the same way everytime. So imo, you find out what works for YOU the best and stick with that.

BVal <-----does not have a ballerina kick. :)
 
Good post 420....my break is horrific....was thinking about this morning.....I'm headed your direction....I'm going to start breaking with more control....use my playing cue and hit the balls no harder than I would a nice firm shot during a normal rack....

Methinks you are onto something...
 
break shot

I would say it would depend on a lot of things, like table, cloth, balls, and break cue. You don't always have to put your back into a break to get good results, just hit the rack solid
 
Trick is sinking one ball on the Break, where you hit the Rack is more important than power of andre the giant. IMHO.
 
Danny Basavich Scares Me

When he puts his body into it, you can see his fat jiggle from his knees to his neck.
 
Breaking

I feel this is the most important shot in the game.I spent two years straight perfecting mine and still constanly critique it.There are many different styles no doubt.The most important thing I feel is being able to link the whole shot together at once instantly from the waist straight through to the perfect impact point consistently.Power is useless without control.Busta and Archer have great breaks to study in slo mo also SVB is a great text book break with control.I love the Bob avatar bro 4:20 365.:thumbup:
 
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Throw your body into the break -No.

Fully extending your body and stroke on the follow through - Yes, but only if you do it correctly.

Also, never sacrifice accuracy for power.
 
I break my best when the tip is hitting the center of the cue ball and the cue ball is hitting the center of the one-ball.

I have to cut down a little on power to do it, and putting my body into it doesn't help.
 
???

great post:thumbup:

I'm having trouble leaving whitey in the middle of the table after breaking(8ball) about half the time I'm picking it up off the floor.:banghead:
 
the420trooper said:
I've been working on my break for years, and got to the point where I was throwing every bit of my body into the break shot, with mixed results.

After receiving a tip from a friend, I've begun keeping my lower body still, lost the ballerina kick, and just using my arm to break...with MUCH better results, and more consistency.

I know a lot of the top players use the "body break", but I wonder if it's really the best way to go, in terms of control and consistency...

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I don't think the body movement you see with top breakers is "throwing their bodies into it"; I think they just stand up some during the shot stroke so their arm straightens and their shoulder muscles come into play. Watch some slomo videos of them with this in mind and see what you think.

pj
chgo
 
I used to throw my whole body into the break shot and Nick Varner saw me doing it and asked why I did that. I told him I wanted as much power as possible. He told me to just use my arm and to concentrate on moving the cue forward as FAST as I could and still have control of the shot. So I changed my thought from POWER to SPEED. My break improved immensely. Then I was told to hold the cue loosely on the break shot and not hold the cue hard. I was told that 'gripping' the cue would slow my arm down and hurt my speed. Again, the break shot improved. Don't know if this is good advice for anyone else, but it sure helped me.
 
A controlled, accurate, and consistent break is almost always better than a wild power break. Your goal is to control the cue ball.

Steve
 
I recently went back to throwing my body into the break with new mechanics, which has greatly improved the consistency of my break. It's still nowhere close to as consistent as standing still however, which is to expected considering the disparity in the number of moving parts.

When it comes down to it, in games that use the power break, I think that anyone could benefit from using at least a little of their body in the shot. What makes the pro's breaks so incredible is the combination of power and consistency. I'd be willing to wager that the vast majority of AzBers can match either the power or consistency of pro's breaks, but very few if any can match both simultaneously.
 
Jerry Forsyth said:
I used to throw my whole body into the break shot and Nick Varner saw me doing it and asked why I did that. I told him I wanted as much power as possible. He told me to just use my arm and to concentrate on moving the cue forward as FAST as I could and still have control of the shot. So I changed my thought from POWER to SPEED. My break improved immensely. Then I was told to hold the cue loosely on the break shot and not hold the cue hard. I was told that 'gripping' the cue would slow my arm down and hurt my speed. Again, the break shot improved. Don't know if this is good advice for anyone else, but it sure helped me.
Click to expand...

A very good player told me once that you should only grip the cue tightly at the moment of impact...to avoid launching the cue across the room....:)

You made some great points here, I've seen Nick Varner break, and he hits em as hard as anybody, but his control is far better than most...without using the ballerina kick....
 
Jerry Forsyth said:
I used to throw my whole body into the break shot and Nick Varner saw me doing it and asked why I did that. I told him I wanted as much power as possible. He told me to just use my arm and to concentrate on moving the cue forward as FAST as I could and still have control of the shot. So I changed my thought from POWER to SPEED. My break improved immensely. Then I was told to hold the cue loosely on the break shot and not hold the cue hard. I was told that 'gripping' the cue would slow my arm down and hurt my speed. Again, the break shot improved. Don't know if this is good advice for anyone else, but it sure helped me.
Click to expand...

Jerry,
Loosening the grip helps you to generate more cue speed. The cue speed combined with an ACCURATE stroke on the cue ball is transferred to the rack ACCURATELY.

Charlie Bryant has a video on youtube where he explains the "push off" with the trailing foot. He gives away one of the secrets of the push off, which is to make sure that push off starts when your stroke hand passes your hip.

If you start the push off too soon or too late, you will not see a positive result.

I always tell people to

a) Start out with 50% of their breaking power
b) Concentrate on an accurate hit on the 1 ball.

Most players (on avg) find that they get the best results by breaking with 65% of their total power. The "West Texas Lunging Thrust" (that's what I call it) is not half as effective as a 9 ball break where you pocket a wing ball while having all of the balls spread (contacting 1 rail, barely 2 at the most).
 
Like most have said here its consistency that makes the big difference.

After talking with Nick Varner when came to San Ramon. One guy asked about breaking. Nick reply to the whole body into break thing, is: never forward, up and back is ok. Just never forward!

Personally I don’t that! But I'm not a pro!

Good Luck,
John
 
Good stuff, Blackjack. I recently downloaded one of your e-books on 9-ball and it's well worth modest $6 or $7 price.

Here's the video segment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3U-...90E0D786&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=65

The Charlie Bryant video is terrific. He did an Inside Pool Magazine segment where he shows you break shot technique and how to more effective put your body weight into your break.

I've been practicing it for quite a while, and it's helped my 9-ball and 8-ball break a lot.


Blackjack said:
Jerry,
Loosening the grip helps you to generate more cue speed. The cue speed combined with an ACCURATE stroke on the cue ball is transferred to the rack ACCURATELY.

Charlie Bryant has a video on youtube where he explains the "push off" with the trailing foot. He gives away one of the secrets of the push off, which is to make sure that push off starts when your stroke hand passes your hip.

If you start the push off too soon or too late, you will not see a positive result.

I always tell people to

a) Start out with 50% of their breaking power
b) Concentrate on an accurate hit on the 1 ball.

Most players (on avg) find that they get the best results by breaking with 65% of their total power. The "West Texas Lunging Thrust" (that's what I call it) is not half as effective as a 9 ball break where you pocket a wing ball while having all of the balls spread (contacting 1 rail, barely 2 at the most).
Click to expand...
 
Cuaba said:
I break my best when the tip is hitting the center of the cue ball and the cue ball is hitting the center of the one-ball.

I have to cut down a little on power to do it, and putting my body into it doesn't help.
Click to expand...

I get my best results hitting 1/2 tip to 1 tip below center, other than that, I agree completely.

Also, I've realized lately that I'm holding my bridge hand too high off the table, when I lower my bridge hand, I get the "pop and squat" action that we all look for....
 
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