Hopefully some ultimate or frisbee golf players out there can help me with this issue...
Ultimate season is about to start in about seven weeks. As I mentioned in other threads, I don't play in a competitive league but that doesn't mean the other players and I don't want to play well as we can. (Basically, we're a group of friends who get together weekly to play. Some of us are a lot better than others, and we make up teams based on who shows up, doing our best to make them equal in overall ability.) Most of my concerns have centered arounds increasing endurance, sprinting, and jumping ability, but I also have a LOT of room for improvement on my frisbee throws. It certainly would help to be faster, but my catching and (especially) my throwing abilities are much bigger liabilities of mine than my ability to get open on offense and play solid defense. My catching improved a lot during the course of the season last year, but I remained a mediocre thrower. I had no problem with the short passes, but I remained unable to throw a nice, long, accurate pass. I really, really want to improve that. If I suddenly turned into a dangerous passer, it would really cause problems for the other team, since in the past they never had to worry about me doing more than a dump pass or a short forward pass. Of course, I also have never been good at "pulling", that is, the throw following a score similar to a kick-off in football. Naturally, I would like to improve my pulling ability as well.
I realize that throwing a frisbee is not a matter of brute force. My arm muscles aren't particularly strong, but clearly it isn't a lack of arm strength that is keeping me from throwing decent long passes. I realize it's almost completely a matter of improving my technique. I also know that throwing with too much straight-line velocity without enough spin will cause the frisbee to become unstable and won't result in a long, nice flight for the frisbee.
Now, besides improving my technique, I'm wondering if it's possible if there are any exercises I could do for my wrists to make them capable of giving the frisbee more spin. Are there some sort of plyometric exercises or strength exercises for the wrists to increase the explosive power ("flicking ability", you could say) of my throws? (And obviously, I wouldn't want to do an exercise that could lead to carpal tunnel issues or otherwise injure my wrists.) Would increases wrist strength matter? Or, given that I have no reason to believe my wrists are not abnormally weak, should I only be concentrating on improving my technique and not worry about the power of my wrists?
Ultimate season is about to start in about seven weeks. As I mentioned in other threads, I don't play in a competitive league but that doesn't mean the other players and I don't want to play well as we can. (Basically, we're a group of friends who get together weekly to play. Some of us are a lot better than others, and we make up teams based on who shows up, doing our best to make them equal in overall ability.) Most of my concerns have centered arounds increasing endurance, sprinting, and jumping ability, but I also have a LOT of room for improvement on my frisbee throws. It certainly would help to be faster, but my catching and (especially) my throwing abilities are much bigger liabilities of mine than my ability to get open on offense and play solid defense. My catching improved a lot during the course of the season last year, but I remained a mediocre thrower. I had no problem with the short passes, but I remained unable to throw a nice, long, accurate pass. I really, really want to improve that. If I suddenly turned into a dangerous passer, it would really cause problems for the other team, since in the past they never had to worry about me doing more than a dump pass or a short forward pass. Of course, I also have never been good at "pulling", that is, the throw following a score similar to a kick-off in football. Naturally, I would like to improve my pulling ability as well.
I realize that throwing a frisbee is not a matter of brute force. My arm muscles aren't particularly strong, but clearly it isn't a lack of arm strength that is keeping me from throwing decent long passes. I realize it's almost completely a matter of improving my technique. I also know that throwing with too much straight-line velocity without enough spin will cause the frisbee to become unstable and won't result in a long, nice flight for the frisbee.
Now, besides improving my technique, I'm wondering if it's possible if there are any exercises I could do for my wrists to make them capable of giving the frisbee more spin. Are there some sort of plyometric exercises or strength exercises for the wrists to increase the explosive power ("flicking ability", you could say) of my throws? (And obviously, I wouldn't want to do an exercise that could lead to carpal tunnel issues or otherwise injure my wrists.) Would increases wrist strength matter? Or, given that I have no reason to believe my wrists are not abnormally weak, should I only be concentrating on improving my technique and not worry about the power of my wrists?