Tank Tips: A Breath of Fresh Air

Disc Golf Tips from Tank

Lesson One: A Breath of Fresh Air

A man and his pregnant wife were on there way to Lamaze class, when out of the blue, the Husband starting inhaling and exhaling, almost annoyingly. The wife said, “Ah honey, Are you practicing for our class tonight?” He responded with, “No, I’m practicing making putts!” Just like an MMA fighter, a Major league baseball player and certainly a swimmer, Breathing is vital to all sports, even disc golf. Breathing can aid you in timing and technique.      
 
Breathing While Driving:
Knowing when to inhale and exhale can almost change your game, overnight! Yes, I said that, OVERNIGHT!!! Well, I said almost overnight. Once you learn how it works for you, breathing should be part of your pre-shot routine and easily called upon to help complete the shot in pressure situations.

Throwing the Anhyzer:          
When throwing an anhyzer, you want to be able to lean backwards into the shot to get you whole body on the right plane. A quick fix is to have your diapram full at release. It helps you naturally arch your back. You should be slowly breathing in the entire run-up. By doing this, your body won’t be able to be anything but erect. Obviously, the more anhyzer angle you want to apply to the disc, the deeper you need to breath in. Think of it as a clock, where do you want your release point? 10 o’clock? 11 o’clock? At 11 o’clock, your lungs should be completely full.

Throwing the Hyzer:    
The opposite is said for the hyser shot, where you want a pretty empty diaphragm, so that you can get more chin down and get your release more at 1 o’clock or 2 o’clock, depending on the shot. So, you want to slowly empty your diaphram during your run up. We’re at 1 o’clock, your lungs should be the most deflated. Make sense?
 

Putting:
Now with putting, its a bit different. You want to be breathing in during your putting motion, with 1/2 full or completely full lungs. This helps align your body, stop the shoulder sloutch, better reach and square you up with the target. As far as how much to breath in, I determine that by the length of the putt. The farther out I am, the bigger breath I will take. I personally have redeveloped my putt by my breathing, opposed as the other way around. You want a slow natural inhale, as opposed to the quick inhale. It may feel a little weird at first, but with practice, you will find more consistancey. After all, whats worse than low putts???? OK, maybe getting Water-Worked is worse, but not by much! See what I did there, I used a noun as an adjective. Ok, Back on track……

Use these tips next time your getting in some practice time and really dedicate yourself to your breathing. Incorporate it in pre-shot routine and you will see the benefits!!

If it doesn’t make sense or you just cant figure it out, see me on the course, I’ll show you what I mean..

 Ken “TanK” Franks
 #25447
 Team Innova Air Force