Screwing your stroke

BeeMan

BeeMan

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hello all, haven't posted here in a while, but doin plenty of reading!! Hope we're all doing well!!

Just wondering what you all think on this....Been playing great pool recently, and everything in my life is starting to fall into place, (pool, job, finance, women, etc), so I thought 'I'm feelin really good, what will make me feel better??' So I decided: go to the gym. Always decided to go to the gym over the past few years, but something would always come up every few months that would make me stop going.... But this time I'm making a real commitment. So I've started going to the gym. Played pool over the last two nights, and my aiming seems fine, my stroke seems fine, but when I take my shot, it goes haywire! Everything seems fine, nothing seems out of ordinary, nothing feels wrong, I just can't sink a marble into the grand canyon at the moment. I could understand it if my stroke 'felt' a bit off, but it doesn't, I do my pre shot routine and it feels perfectly normal.

Anyone else experienced this or something similar?
 
Yep. Lifting weights will screw your stroke... in the beginning. Your muscles need some time to get used to picking up something heavier than a pool cue :) I guess your muscles feel a little bit sore after the gym ? Usually when your muscles get used to weight training, your pool stroke returns to normal. I still suggest that avoid hard weight training on your arms just before an important pool tournament. :)

On the other hand, when I have done a hard workout on my upper body, I cannot bend myself into my regular shooting stance without some pain in my muscles. What happens, is that you start using a different stance if your muscles are stiff and sore. So my advice to you: if you want to keep on shooting, remember to strech after your workout.
 
BeeMan said:
Hello all, haven't posted here in a while, but doin plenty of reading!! Hope we're all doing well!!

Just wondering what you all think on this....Been playing great pool recently, and everything in my life is starting to fall into place, (pool, job, finance, women, etc), so I thought 'I'm feelin really good, what will make me feel better??' So I decided: go to the gym. Always decided to go to the gym over the past few years, but something would always come up every few months that would make me stop going.... But this time I'm making a real commitment. So I've started going to the gym. Played pool over the last two nights, and my aiming seems fine, my stroke seems fine, but when I take my shot, it goes haywire! Everything seems fine, nothing seems out of ordinary, nothing feels wrong, I just can't sink a marble into the grand canyon at the moment. I could understand it if my stroke 'felt' a bit off, but it doesn't, I do my pre shot routine and it feels perfectly normal.

Anyone else experienced this or something similar?
Click to expand...

Check your:
Stance
Grip
Shot alignment

When I used to lift I found it screwed my grip up at "first" until I made a quick adjustment.
 
Working out ...

I have pretty much always been an athlete in
various sports all my life, I will be 58 in January.
I have lifted weights and exercised since I have
been in High School (wrestling for 2 years). I am
5'7", so I am on the compact side a little. Lifting
too much (>3 times a week) can build you up too
much, and would affect my break more than anything,
overpowering it too often. Sometimes, a tightness
in my shoulder and back muscles would affect my
stroke as well. Lately, and not working out like I
should be doing, I have noticed my stamina has been
lacking some, and I develop some aches and pains
from playing that I never did before. So, I guess
I am saying you have to develop a happy medium.
You can lift, but do not lift heavy the day before
playing. Work with lighter weights, and the day
you play, only do stretching exercises to the point
of relieving sore muscles and feeling loose and
comfortable. Also, watch your diet and take a
good multi-vitamin. To play good consistent Pool,
you have to balance it with the rest of your life,
and being in good shape and having stamina is
part of it.
 
Stroke, Pre-shot Routine, , Etcetera

Matt_24 said:
Check your:
Stance
Grip
Shot alignment

When I used to lift I found it screwed my grip up at "first" until I made a quick adjustment.
Click to expand...

FIRST, A STROKE DOES NOT AIM ANYTHING. A PRE-SHOT ROUTINE DOES NOT AIM ANYTHING. A CUE STICK DOES NOT AIM ANYTHING. LET'S GET DOWN TO THE NITTY GRITTY. WHAT PARTICULAR AIMING SYSTEM ARE YOU USING? IF YOU DO NOT OWN AN ACCURATE AND CONSISTENT AIMING SYSTEM, YOU WILL NEVER REACH YOUR FULL POTENTIAL IN THIS GAME OF POOL. SO WHICH IS IT?

SONIA
 
Most likely, your stroke is crooked on the final delivery.

If your stroke is good, you should be able to make a straight in stop shot, and have the cueball sit in place without spinning. If it spins, whether or not you made the shot, it means that you hit the cueball off center.

My stroke goes crooked when I snap my wrist, hoping to get more action on the cueball. I'm much more accurate with a "quiet wrist", and my draw is better, too. I'm now able to draw the cueball straight back. Hard to do with a crooked stroke.
 
thats just the problem. Everything feels just the same as ever, i'm just missing!! My muscles are slightly sore yes, but i'm not adjusting anything(consciously) to relieve the soreness...when i'm in my stance, there is no soreness. I'm usually potting away like crazy, but since i've started working out, I feel the same, i just cannot string 3 balls together. It must be my stroke, because when I line up the shot, everything 'clicks', but as soon as i let that cue ball go toward the OB, i can see its gonna miss, and I just stand there thinking "what the..?". Irritating to know theres something wrong, but not knowing how to remedy it.
 
My guess is that your tricep muscle is out of whack.

We had this discussion a while back and I came out of it with the idea of sliding a 5 lb weight onto an old cuestick and then using that as tool for a stroking exercise. I stroke very slowly on the table (any table facsimile will do) with it as I watch my arm to be sure it is in proper position. When setup just right, then I do maybe 5-10 full strokes, slowly and deliberately with my head looking at the object ball, my usual stance. I might even do a couple of sets, depending on how I feel.

Another thing I like to do is use pool in-between sets. It is a good way to keep stretched and to get the blood to the extremities during a lifting routine. I think gyms should have tables just for this, btw. I'm not exact when doing this, just thinking about being fluid and loose.

As someone said, don't lift on the day of an important match. But maybe play just enough on those days so your muscles recover/grow so they integrate better with your pool stroke.

Jeff Livingston
 
Hey Beeman, my fellow Aussie!

I used to be a track and field athlete, and actually competed in the Sydney Olympic qualifying event in the shot put. I was a fat / strong bastard at 116kg at the time...about 98kg now.

Anyway, I've done a lot of weight training over the years and this has coincided with some heavy pool training at times.

What you are experiencing, I believe, is a change in muscle memory. Us strength nerds call it neuromuscular adaptation. *rolls eyes* It is basicaly about how the nervous system adapts to coordinate firing of muscle fibres.

I guess you probably used to make minor adjustments in stroke to make your shots. These came quite automatically and were subconscious. Now, your muscles are not doing this automatically, they are resisting these automatic adjustments.

The cure is practice. You don't need to give up weight training. Still, it's a bad idea to train before you play. It affects your touch.

Also, if you have DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness [sore muscles]), which occurs for 24-72 hours after you train a muscle hard, at least when you are new to training, then that will also stuff up your touch and muscle memory development.

A good way to build up your arms, which may actually improve your stroke is to simply use a cue. Pump 100 times in bridging position almost as fast as you can. Change arms and repeat a dozen or so times. This gives me a really good pump in my biceps, triceps and delts. You'll end up with strong arms and soon be able to cue smoothly with your opposite arm.

Good luck!
 
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