Using a mirror...

[nullsys]

Hi all!
I hope you can follow this two-part question, I just read it and baffled myself.
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I just set up a bench the height of the table bed & placed a straight edge along it in the direction of cueing.
I measured where I should bridge and 9-12 inches further along. I marked those places with tape on the straight edge.

I then used a side on mirror, got into position making sure my bridge was on the mark and my tip between the 9-12 inches marks, and looked at the drop of my back forearm and back leg.

After shuffling my back leg until it was vertical, and shuffling my forearm along the butt until it was vertical (with both in vertical in line with each other too), I found the position on the cue where my grip should be (a massive 5inchs up!).

Now I know where to grip, where to bridge (using the chevrons) and using the above methods, I can easily make sure my forearm & leg are vertical...as long as my front-leg is in the right place to give me enough hip twist.

Is this correct?

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Also, I looked in the mirror straight on whilst doing this, and found my back shoulder and arm where really extended away from me, but pointing in the right direction.

Once I moved my front leg and twisted my body more, I found they came in line - behind my head (Much like Terry's avatar).
Did I just fix this alignment correctly, by twisting my hips and moving my front leg?
It's putting a lot of strain on my side and back of the straight knee.

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Phew, complicated, but if anyone can help confirm this was "ok" then I'll be happy lol.
Thanks!

[nrage]

It sounds like you've now adopted the recommended position, but if you could capture a video or still images from front back and side we could confirm it with more confidence.

The back leg is not itself truly vertical. In a right-hander, if viewed from behind, it will tend to lean from right to left .. to give the grip hand room to move past the hip. If viewed from above it can be vertical or lean a little forward (or even backward), whichever is comfortable/stable.

I took to placing a small square of tape on the top of my cue (I always hold it the same way up) at 11 inches from the tip, where it should rest on my bridge, but using chevrons is fine also. Likewise I wrapped some round the grip just in front of my first finger/thumb position so I could just "feel" it and know my hand was correct. Some people find tape distracting but it didn't bother me one bit.

To relieve the pressure on your back knee you can turn the foot out slightly, anywhere up to 45 degrees would be ok, I tend to use just 10-15 degrees personally. My grip hand is above the center of my foot, where my shoes laces tie.

My front foot is 1-2 foot lengths in front of my back leg, meaning my stance is not a square stance, or a full boxer stance but somewhere in between. This is for comfort, and to allow me to get my cue running just to the left of my nose, it also relieves tension in my shoulder and brings my elbow in line. You should experiment with front foot position and body/hip twist to find something comfortable - you should be able to stay down on the shot for a full minute without discomfort I reckon.

[Terry Davidson]

The straight leg is not vertical in EITHER plane. Because you should twist the hips to the left (in a right-handed player) it will slope slightly from right to left at the hips (as nrage stated). It should also be behind the vertical when viewed from the side, because (again) you have twisted the hips to the left which pushes the butt back a bit so the right foot is a bit ahead of the hip and therefore the straight leg leans back a bit.

Trying to keep the straight leg vertical will cause pain in the knee joint and maybe the ankle joint too unless you turn the foot outwards a bit. You must 'swivel' the hips to get the grip hand and butt away from brushing the hip or the trousers and therefore the straight leg is NEVER actually vertical.

If you have 5" of cue behind your grip hand and unless you're using a 60" cue then that is a bit too much. 4" is barely OK but 2" would be better. Assuming your cue is of normal length (57" or 58") and you have somewhere between 9" to 12" over the 'V' of your bridge then I have to assume you have the bridge arm bent too much at the elbow (or you have really short arms). Straighten out the bridge arm but do not flex it absolutely straight as that is uncomfortable, but have a slight bend in it of say around 10degrees or so, such that when you assume your address position you are able to put some weight on that forearm (around 10% of total weight) by pushing the elbow into the bed of the table. This gives a player much more stability.

To finish this, remember that COMFORT is the most important factor. Assume what you consider to be the ideal address position, then close your eyes and stay in that position for at least one minute. Try and note where you feel any strain after about a minute and then work on changing your address position to alleviate that strain and try the test again. (This is a very good exercise for ANY player of ANY ability to do every once in awhile to check things out and ensure there's been no 'creep' in his set-up.)

Also remember, any big change from what you've been doing for awhile might initiate some minor strain and you have to sort of train the different muscles or muscles which are now used in a different manner

Terry