Power Breaking Instructional Video - By Request.

[Colin Colenso]

Here's another impressive power breaker named Charlie Byrant on video:
http://xtremebilliard.com/usopen2006/albums/album04/usopen_057.mpg

Give me his or Colin's power and I'm a happy camper.
RJ

Nice vid RJ!
Charlie's break seems very similar to mine in technique, though it looks more controlled due to the loop bridge holding the cue down on the table and because he doesn't jump into the shot like a mad monkey the way I tend to do

He appears not to flick his wrist quite as much as me, so the follow through is not as wild. It's a spectacular and accurate break none-the-less. It helps that he has shoulders like the parthenon...lol

Would be great if the IPT had speed monitors so some speed comparisons could be made.

Colin >~Stats freak

 

[Colin Colenso]

Great video Colin. Very similar to what Bert Kinister showed in his breaking lesson, but you give more detail than I remember from the other one.

One question, you mention moving your hand forward and shortening your bridge, but I'm assuming you're comparing to how you used to break? How does your hand position and bridge distance for breaking compare to the same positions for shooting a normal shot? If we had side by side photos of you with the cue ball in the same spot, but one was a break and the other was cutting a ball on the foot spot into the corner, what would be different?

Hi MR,
Yes, I used to break with a bit longer bridge, but accuracy on the hit is so vital to transfering speed into the CB and into the front ball, that shortening provides an average net gain...especially when considering avoiding the scratch.

My normal shooting is with about a 14" bridge, but often I'll extend that to as much as 18-20". That can help with certain low-medium speed BHE shots I've found.

Colin

 

[Colin Colenso]

Great video, Colin.

I noticed that you like to break several inches to the left of the head spot. Is that location somehow better than breaking from the head spot?

Since I typically break from center of the end rail, I was wondering what you thought of breaking from the end rail versus breaking near the head spot?

Actually I almost always break from the right, about 3/4 diamond from the head spot. Just my personal preference as I tend to see the line better from that side. I tended to hit the 1-ball slightly to the right playing from the left in the video as I'm not used to aligning from that side.

I shot from the left as it gave the camera a better view.

Breaking from near the end rail has some advantages with making balls it seems, especially in 9-ball where the 1-ball will get a free path to the pocket. In 8-ball, the corner ball races around and often hits the 1-ball, stopping it from going in the center, so playing from near the rail loses its advantage.

Still, playing from the side (3/4 diamond) is preferable to playing from straight on, as it gives the 1-ball and the two balls below it on the opposite side a chance to move toward the center pocket. A straight on hit usually send no balls towards the center bags.

Just a few thoughts / observations.

Colin

 

[Colin Colenso]

Hi Colin,

I got a chance to work on it a little. Just standing more upright, moving my grip hand forward about 4 or 5 inches, and allowing my upper arm, shoulder and elbow to swing back added a ton to my break. What was limiting me was a my pinned elbow. As you could tell from my video's I play with a pinned elbow, so that is a habit that works against me in the break.

I'll work on the timing move next and see how it goes. What's amazing is how big the break is with such little effort. The visual image you showed is worth a thousand words.

I'm glad I posted my video's of my crummy break. This will help me become a more competitive player. Thank you, awesome stuff.

Chris

Great to hear you got some immediate results Chris!

If I ever get to an AZ members challenge tourney, I may regret doing this

Keep working on it, I'm sure the timing, power, accuracy and consistancy will continue to improve and you'll soon be picking up an extra couple of free games per set.
Colin

 

[mjantti]

Excellent video, Colin ! Hmm, I sound like an echo here...

Well, that video was very entertaining and educational and explained clearly how (and why) to get more power in the break. I bet your break makes the wallpaper of your neighbors to tear and fall off ! Massive break you got, man !

 

[RSB-Refugee]

Here's another impressive power breaker named Charlie Byrant on video:
http://xtremebilliard.com/usopen2006/albums/album04/usopen_057.mpg

Give me his or Colin's power and I'm a happy camper.
RJ

I notice, Charlie using a lot of the techniques that Colin listed. He is choked up on the cue and raising his body to get the longer lever. I am having a hard time understanding the eccentric thing though. Are the triceps tensed to preload the biceps?

Tracy

 

[Cuebacca]

That video is absolutely amazing! No wonder my break sucks so bad; I wasn't doing any of those things. LOL. Thank you, Colin.

 

[Solartje]

downloaded it, saved it, encoded it into divx, and looking at it for 2 hours, in slow mo, frame by frame. its AMAZING how much u can learn from it.

might try tomorow to make a slowmo of it and post it on youtube or my own site for others to vieuw.

 

[Colin Colenso]

I notice, Charlie using a lot of the techniques that Colin listed. He is choked up on the cue and raising his body to get the longer lever. I am having a hard time understanding the eccentric thing though. Are the triceps tensed to preload the biceps?

Tracy

Tracey,
In a normal playing stroke, the strength comes almost entirely from the biceps, as the elbow stays pretty still and the forearm moves forward.

However, with this power break, the angle between the upper and lower arm stay pretty constant, it may even straighten out during the stroke, which would slightly bring the triceps into the equation.

But by far the main force involved in these breaks is the upper arm moving forward and downward relative to the shoulder. The muscles that accomplish this, in order of importance are the pectorals (chest), front delts (shoulder) and lats. All these muscles attacc between the shoulder or upper body bones and the humurous (upper arm).

To get a idea of the effectiveness of eccentric contractions on muscle force production, click your fingers to make that sound. Notice that the sound is actually the middle finger slapping hard into the palm. Now try to make that sound with your finger without the assistance of locking it up on the thumb first. The power produced is just a fraction!

The muscle, because it is forced back, contracts very strongly. This is the same effect as eccentric contractions. The aim is to use movement to place force against these muscles (chest, delts and wrist esp) before the commence their actual shortening. When done right, they explode into action, much like a clicked finger.

Trust me on this, I wasted years studying biomechanics in a previous life

Hope that helps some of you to understand the eccentric contraction process more clearly. That will help when you try to refine the movement.

Colin

 

[Colin Colenso]

What is causing the Eccentric contractions?

A question alerted me to the fact that I haven't really decribed how the eccentric contraction works in breaking very well, so I hope this explanation helps.

It's easy to see that when flipping a coin, that the thumb kind of builds up energy, allowing it to accellerate rapidly and with high force. The thumb, being resisted by the finger, creates this extra force.

So what is this restricting finger in our breaking technique?

For the shoulder, this finger of resistance is provided by the weight of the back arm as it moves backwards and upwards relative to the body.

As the shoulder is driven upward and forward, the arm when it attempts to pull forward, must overcome it's eccentric movement in the opposite direction first. This additional force is what makes the muscle contract with more force.

So, it's not really the pause that allows this as may have been assumed. In fact, a purely static pause would reduce any eccentric effect. The slowing at the peak of the backswing actually makes it easier to time the approprate time to drive the shoulder up and forward, just prior to the upper arm reaching the furthest part of the backswing. So the shoulder shoots forward while the upper arm is still moving slightly backward. So when the arm is pulled through, it is pulled harder.

At the wrist, the finger that restricts is the weight of the hand and cue as it resists the forward movement of the forearm. The forearm should begin to move forward just as the wrist is approaching the final stage of its flex back. The rapid forward movement of the forearm will flex the wrist back even further, so that it naturally responds by flexing back with more force.

It is very hard to get the exact timing of all this spot on without a lot of practice of timing and when to tense and losen the various muscles at the different stages. But now you'll hopefully know when and where you are going wrong, and be able to adjust in the right direction.

Hope that helps,
Colin

 

[MasterRacker]

Thanks Colin.

My bridge distance is only about 8" already so shortening it more is probably out. I still need clearance for a backswing. Standing closer to get a more upright stance can certainly still work though.

 

[JoeyA]

Hey guys,
I've had a few requests to put a video together to demostrate some breaking concepts I've discussed here.

Here is the video:
http://www.cue-tv.com/blog/_archives/2006/10/12/2410328.html

Look forward to any constructive criticism or questions.

Colin

Colin, I tried your technique for Power Breaking last night and while I was just renewing some old acquaintances, I did break a few racks. The more upright stance and the rear hand forward movement did help to create more power however my cue ball seemed a little wild most of the time.

I didn't have enough time to emerse myself in all of the techniques fully but was wondering if there is anything that you can do besides taking a little off the effort to minimize a wild and crazy cueball? Maybe it was just the newness of a new style of breaking and my control will come back with a little practice. BTW, I was breaking 9 Ball racks. Regardless if you have something else you would care to share concerning control of the cue ball, I would love to hear it.

Colin, you could hook up with Chalk-Off or some other vendor/supplier to the pool industry to create a high quality video concerning the Power Break and market it to the league players (they have jobs and money to spend ). Maybe Accu-Stats could do the filming and sell your videos and you could receive royalties from each sale. They are well known for their filming and distribution abilities but I like talking to the APA or the BCA leagues (International) and see if they would like to develop a series of videos aimed at specific portions of the sport. I would talk to Pat Fleming of Accu-Stats FIRST and ask him about marketing opportunities because you have unique abilities to communicate and the talent to go with it. While I am not nearly as talented as picking a winner as Purdman, I am sure that your ability to communicate Professional Level Instruction is unsurpassed.

Good luck and thanks for sharing the most astute and detailed fundamentals of the Power Break I have ever seen or heard of.

JoeyA

 

[Solartje]

ok colin, some first questions and notes after being tired of watching your break

0/ funny u always do the same. u aim first at a normal stroke position. u then move your head and body higher to get the arm straighter (waightlifting thing), u do 4 new adressing strokes and then u fire. cool prebreak routine. ps you showed 2 ways to shoot. one where u bend your shoulders and get power from there, and the other where you body moves upwards. it seems the shoulder turning would be a movement that would help consistency and control more then the upwards movement. could u explain me the differences in the 2 moves? why did u chose for the one option?



1/ u are right, your body moves forward and upwards, at the exact moment that your arm (that was at a 125° with the cue, because u are gripping it more forward) is exactly 90°, thats when u start your body movement.
first your back leg thats is slighty non straight, straightens a bit and moves your body forward, this bends your forward leg even more.

2/ the time your body starts to move forward because of the back leg pushing forward. thats the time it takes for your stroke to go from vertical-arm position to fully behind and ready to fire.

3/ at the exact same time, u then completly stretch the forward leg that was highly bend due to the forward movement, giving u a vertical movement, while the leg behind straightens up at the exact same time and gives you the forward movement. combining into your forward and vertical movement.

4/ this forward and uppermovement , is in the opposite direction of the arm and grip moving backwards. these combined give this (coin flipping) movement where the backwards movement is the movement that (blocks) you forward movement.

5/ as your body then jumps upwards and forward, your body Pushes your arm
then forward, giving the coin flip arm/shoulder movement. (blue line) and if at the same time u do the same with your wrist, (smaller blue line) you have the snap break movement.

6/ u finally end with a almost perfect straight back/body letting the cue folow true in the air because your body movement was vertikal, your folow will go the same way. upwards and forwards, straight to god

7/ u now have the perfect godly break

ill try to post a VERY slow motion on youtube or my website for those who want. but its hard with a break that only consists off 6 frames.. but im sure with flash i could do quickly something. ill do it now, and post in some minuts.

EDIT: for all those who want, u can download a slowmotion picture that has been worked on a bit, to make it ok'ish in quality. hard to make a 30second video with only 6 pictures, but it looks ok. .

http://users.pandora.be/solartje/colin.avi <--- slowmotion of Colins break

now that i can see the slowmo in bigscreen, its time to train this movement. AFK for some hours hope u dont mind i worked on your original video colin. but it was to fast and to small for me to compare to what im seeing in the mirror. if u need any more help with slowmo's u let me know.

ps if u ever are going to get a better way to film yourself, look at the Frames Per Second. thats the most important part. video's on youtube arent bigger then 320x240. almost all digital picture cameras have 640x480 option. so if you are only going to post them on youtube and not commercialise them, u can do pritty well with a 320x240 and 30FPS. almost any digital camera can do this. u could do with slower fps, like 15, but if you are going to make slowmotions, the higher the better

greats from silly solly

 

[RSB-Refugee]

I Juust had a thought. What if you used a closed bridge and gripped the shaft tightly, while preloading all the breaking muscles in the rear arm. You could relax the bridge hand and then the rear arm would fly forward. The bridge may be able to serve as the thumb in the finger clicking analolgy. I only get to a table on weekends now, since I started afternoon shift, so I haven't tried yet. Just something, I thought may be possible.

Tracy

 

[jsp]

Just saw the video. Great video colin!

Nice summary Solly.

 

[supergreenman]

Hey Colin, great instructional, I didn't get to watch the whole thing last night before I went to play but I did put some of it to the test.

That's a pretty funky floor you got going there.

 

[Williebetmore]

Hey guys,
I've had a few requests to put a video together to demostrate some breaking concepts I've discussed here.

Look forward to any constructive criticism or questions.

Colin

Colin,
Well, I'm going to have to disagree with the majority of posters; I thought your break is TERRIBLE!!!!! I've been playing straight pool for several years now and I have seen NO ONE break like this. I think it's a bad idea, perhaps you had been drinking (?do you get free Shanghai Beer?).

 

[Solartje]

Colin,
Well, I'm going to have to disagree with the majority of posters; I thought your break is TERRIBLE!!!!! I've been playing straight pool for several years now and I have seen NO ONE break like this. I think it's a bad idea, perhaps you had been drinking (?do you get free Shanghai Beer?).

wbm, do you mean the controle, or the technique? or do you mean straight pool? i think this break hasnt anything to do with straightpool. its a 8ball break. i even think colin uses slight less power and more controle on the 9ball break.

the explenations sounds very possible, and he does get a alot of balls traveling at high speed. the controle might be a bit off, but u can easily lower the amount of power untill the controle is back. its finetunable i think.

i know *** about breaks so im not the best man to judge it, but if u have some other video's of excellent breaks, plz post them

colin: could u post some 9ball breaks? im curious to see how the balls spread.

 

[Williebetmore]

i think this break hasnt anything to do with straightpool.

Sol,
It was a joke. Just a way to see if there is any free beer in it for me if I make it to Shanghai (Colin's break is excellent, but don't tell him I said so).

 

[Solartje]

crap i didnt get it.... guess why i call myself silly solly about the beer, u can drink on me. i still own the bastard a 6 pack of shangai beer from a bet

ok colin, i installed everything. i took the mirror from the bathroom, placed it next to me, cleaned the dining table, took those small thee lights (small cilinders) as ob. (the are cool, because the are round, and the thingy inside, when i hit it real hard u can easily tell where u hit it. good to check on my controle).

well im having some problems.

first. its very weird to move your body like that, and kick it forward and upwards. im not used to it. i tend to stay perfectly still on every stroke. its like, even if im standing up, and im not using that power and put it in my stroke. its like if im scared.

second: having a bridge lenght that far, made me unwantedly touch the cb (or T light ) alot of time in my adressing strokes

third: ive NEVER ever used a closed bridge, but my accurace to touch the cb where i want is alot higher when using the closed bridge. :s would u suggest me to learn this bridge?

fourth: u own me a lightbulb. my folow true was so big, i hit the lights in my diningroom

5th: i hurt my fingers, when on a brake i slammed them against the dining table. ! hurted for a while but its over now and i dont seem to have broken anything.

ah man, its really not so easy. even with the slowmo's i can now see clearly what u are doing, but the body movement is really hard. im starting to get the 'coin flip' movement in my wirst, and slowly in the arm (not yet good, because im still scared of jumping up like that, REALLY weird feelign) so my arm isnt slaming yet.

do you have any other idea's except train this movement for hours?