I don’t know man…. I played him in Vegas one year and it surprised me how petite a fella he was. Much smaller than I’d have thought.
Lifting heavy weights and shooting good pool do not go together
- Thread starter judochoke
- Start date
For him to put time in with meditation and yoga would be like him adding ballet while wearing a tu-tu at the end of his workouts. This old dude is friggin' powerful!
An automated stroke machine to teach linear takes out the artistry of BHE and dynamic pivoting. How boring pool would be without it. Like singing or playing an instrument for opera instead of Blues.
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100 free pounds each hand is a lot of muscle overriding whatever's in there wanting to shoot pool. May take machinery to bring out the right sensations. May not. No sense adding to the downside.
That's a fact.
I thought it was already built. It's called a coke bottle, or some kind of other bottle where you learn to stroke straight
into and out of the hole without touching anything.
This is exactly my point. Pro pool is for players like Neil’s, filler, hunter, Corey, ruis, ect. I’m sure they are all in impeccable shape, and they all look great. But they all follow the same format- tall, slender, great flexibility, they all look the same, weight 150 pounds. Musclebound is not good for pool. The small increments of fine tuning you can not do when you’re tight. And the Chinese guys, for get about it. They are maybe 110 pounds. 
I wish I was 150 just for a day, and flexible.
I wish I was 150 just for a day, and flexible.
Not when you have all that fiber in charge of contraction. A fixed stroker can teach the linear motion. The coke bottle will just encourage compensatory flexing.
And the worst thing would be after going through a 2-hour bomb, blitz, arm/shoulders, upper body routine where you maxed out every set, rep, and weight would be one of these 110 lb. Chinese guys trained like Bruce Lee come over and stomp the hell out of an almost paralyzed lifter because he can't even lift his arms for a few hours.This is exactly my point. Pro pool is for players like Neil’s, filler, hunter, Corey, ruis, ect. I’m sure they are all in impeccable shape, and they all look great. But they all follow the same format- tall, slender, great flexibility, they all look the same, weight 150 pounds. Musclebound is not good for pool. The small increments of fine tuning you can not do when you’re tight. And the Chinese guys, for get about it. They are maybe 110 pounds.
No you wouldn't. You'd look in the mirror and freak out screaming. LOLI wish I was 150 just for a day, and flexible.
Kaci is a big guy. I believe he used to do some bodybuilding. More hypertrophy than power lifting but still moving some weight.This is exactly my point. Pro pool is for players like Neil’s, filler, hunter, Corey, ruis, ect. I’m sure they are all in impeccable shape, and they all look great. But they all follow the same format- tall, slender, great flexibility, they all look the same, weight 150 pounds. Musclebound is not good for pool. The small increments of fine tuning you can not do when you’re tight. And the Chinese guys, for get about it. They are maybe 110 pounds.
I wish I was 150 just for a day, and flexible.
From what you've posted you have worked hard on your game and made great progress.
I say keep lifting heavy weights and enjoying getting better. Just like lifting, the more you do it, gains take more work for smaller improvements.
Then put your brain to work and make your millions. To me, the stroke is just the result of all the other body parts and how they're either in place or out of place. Starting from the feet and angle of them, angle of the entire body, head and eye positions, grip, and wrist positions...convex, concave, or straight. I've seen pro players being quite varied in that area.
The above in its entirety determines the stroke. And body build will come into play as to what works and what doesn't.
I've been doing some form of weight/resistance training since I was 14 and continue to do so for many, many decades later. I train three times a week for about 30 - 40 minutes each session. I've always trained with moderate resistance and not heavy (brief but intense workouts). I warm up before and cool down/stretch afterwards and I've never sustained an injury as long as I've been training, however I can't say the same as far as the sport activities I've participated in my life. Competed as a natural bodybuilder for almost 25 years and shot pool at the same time and never had any issues with soreness (warmups/cool downs/stretching takes care of that) interfering with my games. The guys I knew that trained fairly heavy were plagued with joint issues later on in life and can no longer perform menial tasks.
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Still going heavy at 66 is pretty "strong". I have lifted for years and as I have aged I have moved really into high reps with less weight. I only do arms on days that I also play pool competitively, so a couple times a week. I am fine on the day that I lift but doing the high reps makes it really tough for the next day or two. I have had some hip issues and that is what originally made me take weight off. My body feels much better in general doing less weight and really stretching my reps to the absolute limit then taking a minute break and diving right back in. Also stretching might do you wonders. I do yoga on occasion and have grown to really enjoy it. It is probably the hardest workout that I do.
Not when JC's problem seems to be musclebound linkage. 'Sides, pool needs to save itself. I just offer glimpses.
Besides the other stuff being yakked about, have you tried shooting one handed?This is exactly my point. Pro pool is for players like Neil’s, filler, hunter, Corey, ruis, ect. I’m sure they are all in impeccable shape, and they all look great. But they all follow the same format- tall, slender, great flexibility, they all look the same, weight 150 pounds. Musclebound is not good for pool. The small increments of fine tuning you can not do when you’re tight. And the Chinese guys, for get about it. They are maybe 110 pounds.
I wish I was 150 just for a day, and flexible.
The problem is balance in your shooting arm. The tension in the muscles on the inside of your arms and outside is all over the place, depending on what you have been doing. If you were really interested in pool working with a full bar instead of dumbbells would help some. I have lifted weights a very little off and on. More to the point, I have done heavy mechanic work without power tools or climbed several hundred feet or so hand lifting material and such up to hang insulation and sheet metal in the petro-chem plants. Going straight from those things to shooting pool it usually took me about an hour and two or three beers to get the arm loose and balanced.
The key to a good pool stroke is consistency and that isn't going to happen when your arms are in different condition every day. I will note here that stroking into a bottle or tube is not good advice. There is no reason for your stroke to not have movement up and down and taking that out of your stroke makes for a very contrived stroke. Set up something so that the cue can move freely up and down but very limited side to side. Think a channel rather than a tube.
Funny story, I was busting my bottom swapping out heavy diesel transmissions, me and a partner that went about 150 or so, working in a gravel parking lot with no power tools. After two can to can't days of this we stopped to grab a cold beer on the way to dropping Bobby at his house. I got on the bar table just for grins while drinking a beer or three. Two guys came up wanting to play partners. Sure why not? We lost the coin toss and one of them broke dry, barbox eight ball. Not having hit a ball to warm up Bobby ran out from their break, then broke and ran seven more racks. I cleaned a few balls off a couple times after that but I was suffering from dry or nasty breaks. After thirteen games I had gotten up twice, Bobby had done everything else.
We weren't out the door good before I told Bobby we had to talk. What we were doing was dangerous as hell besides the pay sucking. Two days later we headed out on our first road trip. Funny thing, over the course of several years or so that day after turning wrenches for two days was the best I ever saw Bobby shoot! The muscles happened to be balanced that evening.
The type of lifting you are doing is directly counter to the manner that generally works best to play pool. Pool works best with long elastic muscles. Those short heavy fast twitch muscles you have spent a lifetime building are working against you playing pool.
Exceptions to every rule but you are going to have a hard time lifting in the style you do and playing your best pool too. The two things just don't go well together. Just my opinions of course but I have trained a little here and there, have trained running horses too.
With a little planning you can coordinate pool and lifting so your arms are in their best shape on pool nights. Others have already mentioned it but flushing out the lactic acid is huge. Your arms need to be loose and free, not tight feeling, and again, the lead up to pool playing needs to be consistent. It seems like weight lifting is far more important in your life so you will probably have to accept your pool game will suffer some.
Hu
The key to a good pool stroke is consistency and that isn't going to happen when your arms are in different condition every day. I will note here that stroking into a bottle or tube is not good advice. There is no reason for your stroke to not have movement up and down and taking that out of your stroke makes for a very contrived stroke. Set up something so that the cue can move freely up and down but very limited side to side. Think a channel rather than a tube.
Funny story, I was busting my bottom swapping out heavy diesel transmissions, me and a partner that went about 150 or so, working in a gravel parking lot with no power tools. After two can to can't days of this we stopped to grab a cold beer on the way to dropping Bobby at his house. I got on the bar table just for grins while drinking a beer or three. Two guys came up wanting to play partners. Sure why not? We lost the coin toss and one of them broke dry, barbox eight ball. Not having hit a ball to warm up Bobby ran out from their break, then broke and ran seven more racks. I cleaned a few balls off a couple times after that but I was suffering from dry or nasty breaks. After thirteen games I had gotten up twice, Bobby had done everything else.
We weren't out the door good before I told Bobby we had to talk. What we were doing was dangerous as hell besides the pay sucking. Two days later we headed out on our first road trip. Funny thing, over the course of several years or so that day after turning wrenches for two days was the best I ever saw Bobby shoot! The muscles happened to be balanced that evening.
The type of lifting you are doing is directly counter to the manner that generally works best to play pool. Pool works best with long elastic muscles. Those short heavy fast twitch muscles you have spent a lifetime building are working against you playing pool.
Exceptions to every rule but you are going to have a hard time lifting in the style you do and playing your best pool too. The two things just don't go well together. Just my opinions of course but I have trained a little here and there, have trained running horses too.
With a little planning you can coordinate pool and lifting so your arms are in their best shape on pool nights. Others have already mentioned it but flushing out the lactic acid is huge. Your arms need to be loose and free, not tight feeling, and again, the lead up to pool playing needs to be consistent. It seems like weight lifting is far more important in your life so you will probably have to accept your pool game will suffer some.
Hu
Pool requires muscle memory (feel) in order to be consistent. If you insist on lifting heavy weights (to beef up), you're likely changing your muscle mass, and that can definitely affect your feel/muscle memory when playing pool.
A consistent stroke, as well as body alignment and speed control (feel of the shot), relies on developed muscle memory. So when your muscles change, body mechanics might not feel quite the same to your brain. The connection between your body and your stroke/cue gets muddied up, temporarily, until the mind develops new/updated muscle memory.
With all that said, SVB is pretty stout for his body type. He looks like he works out regularly, as many pro players probably do. But they're also hitting a ton of balls every week, which keeps their mind and muscles in tune with each other just fine.
A consistent stroke, as well as body alignment and speed control (feel of the shot), relies on developed muscle memory. So when your muscles change, body mechanics might not feel quite the same to your brain. The connection between your body and your stroke/cue gets muddied up, temporarily, until the mind develops new/updated muscle memory.
With all that said, SVB is pretty stout for his body type. He looks like he works out regularly, as many pro players probably do. But they're also hitting a ton of balls every week, which keeps their mind and muscles in tune with each other just fine.
Outside of a specific subject regarding pool where we don't agree because muscle and visual memory hasn't been developed on your part for its variants to other systems, I go along with the above 100%. And the most important is the last sentence which can probably be changed from every week to every day. Agreed? (This could be a HALLELUJA moment but not holding my breath)
I agree 100%. Halleluja.
This guy is fairly successful at 3Cushion.
Looks like he's seen a few weight rooms too.
Looks like he's seen a few weight rooms too.