Stance and alignment question

[FranCrimi]

I’ll bite: what does balance mean?

pj
chgo

I'm sure there's a scientific definition which I don't know at this moment. But just in layman's terms: I think balance is the most efficient way of positioning your body relative to the earth's gravitational pull.

An example of being in and out of balance in pool would be: If you evenly distribute your weight between both legs and then bend over towards the table to get in position to shoot, you've got an uneven distribution of weight leaning forward that need to be countered. The counter that would put your body in balance would be to lean the bottom half of your body back with the top half leaning forward. But it also depends on the position of both feet as well, so it's not something that can be generalized.

Being out of balance will make you work harder and tire sooner.

 

[Patrick Johnson]

I'm sure there's a scientific definition which I don't know at this moment. But just in layman's terms: I think balance is the most efficient way of positioning your body relative to the earth's gravitational pull.

An example of being in and out of balance in pool would be: If you evenly distribute your weight between both legs and then bend over towards the table to get in position to shoot, you've got an uneven distribution of weight leaning forward that need to be countered. The counter that would put your body in balance would be to lean the bottom half of your body back with the top half leaning forward. But it also depends on the position of both feet as well, so it's not something that can be generalized.

Being out of balance will make you work harder and tire sooner.

Thanks, Fran - I thought that's what you might mean (and it sounds pretty scientific to me ).

pj
chgo

 

[skipbales]

I’ll bite: what does balance mean?

pj
chgo

On one of his training videos CJ talks about playing as a young player. An older player said he wasn't in balance and he argued. He said "I was playing good and felt perfectly balanced" The older gentleman pushed gently from the left side and CJ stumbled but still believed he was balanced. The man then pushed him from the right side and again CJ stumbled. What he learned was he was balanced front to back but not stable or solid side to side.

I think this exceeds what we would normally consider balance and gets more into being solid or stable in a balanced stance. Perhaps something like that could be part of the "balance" a pool player might be talking about. CJ defines it as being in an athletic position where he could jump straight up in the air if he wanted to.

Also it would matter if you were looking at balance without touching the table vs. 3 point balance where you have weight on the bridge hand.

Just my thoughts.

 

[JayKidd]

I think we should consider stability or balance in a dynamic sense, i.e. minimizing body movement during the whole cue stroking action. Due to the limitation of human anatomy, there must be counter balancing movement of other body parts to compensate the forward motion of the striking forearm. I suggest an easy experiment, try play pool on a very slippery floor, you will notice both of your feet are in fact trying to grab the floor in an unconscious effort to balance yourself dynamically.

 

[BeiberLvr]

I was talking about this with a fellow league player - good amateur - and was discussing looking straight down the cue with both eyes and the stick centered between them and his comment was "your eye doesn't see a combination of those images. It sees them both and then decides which to use." From what I have read and the limited testing I have done, as you outline above and several cover one eye to see what shifts type tests, I believe he is correct. So that would mean looking straight down the stick with the stick under my nose and neither eye directly over the cue my brain is using my left, dominant, eye view for all the aiming and that view is slightly off line.

By turning in my stance slightly my left, dominant eye is directly over the cue, the right eye is behind and slightly right of the cue but my brain is disregarding that input anyway.

As to the vision test, covering my right eye doesn't change anything, covering my left makes the image jump. Looking through both I see clearly the left image and a kind of shadow image of the right eye if I try to focus on it. If I don't struggle to see it I don't notice that image at all.

I can only explain what works for me. I'm right handed/left eye dominant. I had an issue for the longest time where sometimes the cue would be pointing in a straight line and sometimes at an angle.

NOTE: When you are down on the shot, the cue should always be pointing straight ahead. The only exception that I can think of is if you are using back-hand english.

So why would my cue sometimes be at an angle? Well, my belief is that even though I was lining up correctly behind the shot. As I would get down, my head would sometimes turn along with my hips as I settled into my stance. That would throw my whole vision center out of whack.

My solution has been to treat my head independent of my hips. So as my hips are turning to make room for my stroking arm, I make sure that head is coming straight down. It's really helped my game immensely, and also has given me a way to know immediately if I'm not aligned correctly.

 

[BilliardsAbout]

On one of his training videos CJ talks about playing as a young player. An older player said he wasn't in balance and he argued. He said "I was playing good and felt perfectly balanced" The older gentleman pushed gently from the left side and CJ stumbled but still believed he was balanced. The man then pushed him from the right side and again CJ stumbled. What he learned was he was balanced front to back but not stable or solid side to side.

I think this exceeds what we would normally consider balance and gets more into being solid or stable in a balanced stance. Perhaps something like that could be part of the "balance" a pool player might be talking about. CJ defines it as being in an athletic position where he could jump straight up in the air if he wanted to.

Also it would matter if you were looking at balance without touching the table vs. 3 point balance where you have weight on the bridge hand.

Just my thoughts.

Yes, indeed, if you are a stroke-arm-only player, where some very, very fine players move with the shot.