Whenever possible, balance yourself along the vertical plane that runs thru the tip of your ring finger on your bridge hand and your front toe by putting pressure on both.
Whenever possible, balance yourself along the vertical plane that runs thru the tip of your ring finger on your bridge hand and your front toe by putting pressure on both.
As you age, that might hurt the front knee and then what?
It's important, I've discovered over the years, to keep everything balanced and use all parts of the body to build a strong, reliable stance that doesn't move during the shot.
I still get such advice from better, YOUNGER players, though. One said to lock my knees so I wouldn't wobble. I did that for one week and had to give it up from pain.
It's easy when young to do crazy crap and it seems to work, but in the long run, integrating all parts of the body seems to work best.
Your mileage may vary,
Jeff Livingston
Locking the back leg is far more stable than two locked legs or two bent legs.Lock your knees? Your knees should be slightly bent like you are playing a sport. Locking them is bad.
I don't think it's the tip of the ring finger nor the front big toe. Some tuck the ring finger to firm up the support of the bridge hand.
Personally I'd rather be balanced on both feet & my entire bridge hand as the wider the contact points of the balance points the more stable they are IMHO.
I especially like it when I can put my whole bridge arm down on the table & even make contact with the table with my bridge side hip &/or rib cage.
But...I don't use a full pendulum stroke.
As to the bridge hand, I like it when I remember to get the sense that I am grabbing the cloth with the base of my palm & the fingers. I don't always do that as I have some old injuries in that hand & the added 'tension' that results becomes uncomfortable. But...I do try to do that on certain shots to sort of make it more stable.
I hope something I've said helps someone.
Best,
Rick
When I can't get my forearm on to the table, and only have fingers or hand planted, I was always taught to have about "the weight of a brick" planted on the bridge hand. Less weight makes the stance unstable, more makes the muscles tense up too much.
And yes, too little weight on bridge hand will destabilize the stance. You lose your "tripod" with too little weight on bridge hand.
Locking the back leg is far more stable than two locked legs or two bent legs.
It's not about stability it's about body height and type. For some people that may work but for my body type locking my knees is bad. That and a prominent local instructor/pro player is the one that gave me this advice so I tend to believe him.
If you are very tall, widen the stance with a locked back leg. The stance is purely for stability purposes first and foremost. I'm not saying its wrong to bend both legs or lock both, I'm just saying a locked back leg and bent front leg is the most stable way to stand in pool.It's not about stability it's about body height and type. For some people that may work but for my body type locking my knees is bad. That and a prominent local instructor/pro player is the one that gave me this advice so I tend to believe him.