Question torwards a specific drill

[paksat]

I've heard, from we'll say a bud of mine, that one way to practice your stroke is at home and pretending an object is a cue ball.

I've used my counch doing this technique and it got me wondering, for anyone else that has done this, what the right way to practice this is.

Can anyone chime in? I was thinking to get the stick to move as slowly and smoothly as possible but i don't know

 

[Beware_of_Dawg]

Personally, I would think embedding positive stimuli by watching vids/matches of great players would engrain better results than wandering around the house playing air pool with vases & picture frames and stuff would.

 

[PetToilet]

practicing your stroke that way won't yield great results unless you pretent it is a cue ball and actually stroke to hit it and follow through. sometimes i do this on a table with a visible line and stroke through it like i am hitting a real shot and see if there is any deviation, but it does not exactly translate to real stroke. I usually do this right when I get to the pool hall and move pretty quickly to ball stroke tests.

at home you can try that but i prefer to watch great players and try to predict what side of the ball they want to land on and their path to taking it.

 

[center pocket]

I have done something similiar but to work on stance, grip, bridge, stroke endurance, and endurance in general.

I find a table in my house thats close to the height of a pool table. I use a beer can and stroke into the mouth of it for as long as I can, constantly stroke straight through. I can work on several things while doing this, pick one at time though.
a. You can focus on your stance, feet placement, knees slightly bent. and how long you can hold the stance building endurance.
b. I focus on my grip making sure that my back arm is straight up and down as the tip enters the can. Using the right amount of grip
pressure. And then the endurance of my back arm while stroking.
Burns like hell at around 2 minutes!!!
c. You can make sure your bridge is exactly the way you want it!
Both open and closed bridges.
d. Lastly the entire time you are grooving that stroke to make sure
your arm is guiding the cue straight back and straight forward.

If you concentrate on these things you will see a great improvement in your fundamentals and better control of your body when you feel tight or under pressure.

I follow this up with 5 minutes of sitting against the wall. This builds alot of endurance in your legs. So all together it takes 10 minutes out of your day and you will have near perfect fundamentals at the table. I am guilty of not following my own routine at this, but when I do my game is extra sharp.

 

[paksat]

I have done something similiar but to work on stance, grip, bridge, stroke endurance, and endurance in general.

I find a table in my house thats close to the height of a pool table. I use a beer can and stroke into the mouth of it for as long as I can, constantly stroke straight through. I can work on several things while doing this, pick one at time though.
a. You can focus on your stance, feet placement, knees slightly bent. and how long you can hold the stance building endurance.
b. I focus on my grip making sure that my back arm is straight up and down as the tip enters the can. Using the right amount of grip
pressure. And then the endurance of my back arm while stroking.
Burns like hell at around 2 minutes!!!
c. You can make sure your bridge is exactly the way you want it!
Both open and closed bridges.
d. Lastly the entire time you are grooving that stroke to make sure
your arm is guiding the cue straight back and straight forward.

If you concentrate on these things you will see a great improvement in your fundamentals and better control of your body when you feel tight or under pressure.

I follow this up with 5 minutes of sitting against the wall. This builds alot of endurance in your legs. So all together it takes 10 minutes out of your day and you will have near perfect fundamentals at the table. I am guilty of not following my own routine at this, but when I do my game is extra sharp.

Beer can trick is neat, i'll have to try that.

Thanks for the rest of that advice as well bro.

 

[dirks]

I've used the back of my couch aswell. Sometimes when I am playing pool I'll notice that the tip isn't coming to the same spot during my practice strokes. I then have to reset myself and make sure that I'm not swinging my elbow or shoulder around. Practicing on the couch I can see that the cue is dead center. Sometimes I use the table and set up a mirror aswell.