The forward stroke, in the cue action

[itsnoteasy]

From what I see there, I am starting too quickly forward , he kind of has two parts to his forward stroke, the get it going then the acceleration and that squeeze you talked about as he goes through the ball.
At 4.O2 it shows how relaxed his grip is ( which mine isn't, it's not tight, but it's not totally relaxed as you can see in him) it also shows the tempo of his action and that build up of speed but staying completely still but relaxed and I can see, like when you cue, the power for the stroke is coming from a different place than mine. I also see his pause although he stops he's not frozen still, so it's like he stops just to change direction and then a smooth slow start, My pause is far far too long and I'm kind of freezing, which makes getting started again an effort. I'm exaggerating what I'm doing wrong here just to try to explain how it feels to me and to get my point across.

[itsnoteasy]

Just did ten mins on the TUCA, it's is one hundred percent tension in my wrist and grip, I relaxed them both and slowed it down a bit at the start .I could feel the shot coming my from up towards the elbow instead of my hand pushing the cue through, I might try GGs idea of a word to help Ingrain it while I practice. I might just go back to the club, I will give it a few days on the TUCA see how I feel. Another thing I noticed is my pause is nowhere near as long when I practice as it is when I play, Infact everything is smoother, thinking about it, even on the table it's much much better in solo practice than it is when I do get to play someone, maybe I need to play people more to get over that, easier said than done when hardly anyone goes in.

[Shockerz]

Just did ten mins on the TUCA, it's is one hundred percent tension in my wrist and grip, I relaxed them both and slowed it down a bit at the start .I could feel the shot coming my from up towards the elbow instead of my hand pushing the cue through, I might try GGs idea of a word to help Ingrain it while I practice. I might just go back to the club, I will give it a few days on the TUCA see how I feel. Another thing I noticed is my pause is nowhere near as long when I practice as it is when I play, Infact everything is smoother, thinking about it, even on the table it's much much better in solo practice than it is when I do get to play someone, maybe I need to play people more to get over that, easier said than done when hardly anyone goes in.

I'm always doing things with my grip, bit too much tension, hand not opening enough etc etc ec.

Played 11 frames today (which is unusual) and hit everything from the elbow without even thinking of the hand/grip, everything was much more controlled and smoother.

No real jerky shots (maybe 3 or 4), a lot more smoother and controlled on cushion shots and grip certainly looser with no tension.

Another go tomorrow so hopefully it will continue.

[itsnoteasy]

It's a beautiful game when you cue like that Shockerz isn't it, I'm glad I'm not the only one that struggles with their grip.

[Erwan_BZH]

Count me in as well mate And it also due to tension and tight grip. Need to relax that a lot more to be efficient.

[Shockerz]

It's a beautiful game when you cue like that Shockerz isn't it, I'm glad I'm not the only one that struggles with their grip.

Generally, If my heads blank, my grips light but hitting from the elbow felt better today. Breaks have been getting more infrequent; gone back to lots of 20's and 30's with a couple of 40's and 50's in last 2 sessions but just over on pace a lot of the time where it's not quite flowing.

It's a little bit about technique for me, clearing the head so there's no jerk after the final pause and just getting table time.

Struggling to trust my cue at the moment as convinced I get too much throw on my long game...........God what a game.

[jonny66]

when i hold the cue lightly from the elbow the cue feels heavy in the hands that and that tells me theres more freedom, more control, and straighter cueing,
in this vid i try to exaggerate this by slowing down the delivery and opening my had completely, so as to see the timing at the end of the stroke

Thanks for that, little nuggets like these help no end.

[itsnoteasy]

Count me in as well mate And it also due to tension and tight grip. Need to relax that a lot more to be efficient.

I watch J6, and Pottrs a good one aswell ,and KWs cue action, and I honestly can't get my grip that relaxed, it looks effortless , I don't know how it feels to them. On a very good day I don't know I'm cueing and to be fair I don't know what my grip is doing because I'm not thinking of anything, it's when things go wrong I look at my grip, then of course because I'm thinking about it ,it tightens, or I move or something because I'm not playing the shot I'm thinking about how my grip feels, so it's a self fulfilling prophecy, I think my grips tight, so it tightens, so I start to worry about it, so there is more tension lol.
Shockerz, that was me, i could easily cry when I see what I leave on the table, I can see the break just sitting there and I have missed a black off the spot by throwing in a quick one,or something stupid like that. Which of course brings the tension in lol.

[Shockerz]

I would like to add, it's hard to teach someone something when you are good at it, it's easy to forget how hard they find the simplest of things. I stuck a dart board up in the kitchen for my lad, hadn't thrown a dart in fifteen years, hit three one eighties in under a half hours practice. I tried to show him how to throw, and I couldn't understand why he couldn't do it as it seems so so simple to me, but my technique is ingrained in me forever, it's just fine tuning that's needed, doesn't matter how long I'm away from the board.

Sometimes to get over the tension I used to think about grip strength.

For me I would do one of two things to get a feel for it when warming up:

1. Imagine you are holding a tube of toothpaste with the lid off but you don't want any to come out whilst feathering
2. Imagine you are holding a baby bird with your 2 grip fingers round it's neck and you only only want to throttle it at when your hand hit's your chest (in a nice way of course!).

[mikeyd100]

Good thread itsnoteasy. I particularly resonate with something you said earlier - "My pause is far far too long and I'm kind of freezing".
Also finding my cue action jerky and wonky - not consistent at all.

Anyone else find the more you think and concentrate on the shot about these things the worse it gets ???

[itsnoteasy]

Sometimes to get over the tension I used to think about grip strength.

For me I would do one of two things to get a feel for it when warming up:

1. Imagine you are holding a tube of toothpaste with the lid off but you don't want any to come out whilst feathering
2. Imagine you are holding a baby bird with your 2 grip fingers round it's neck and you only only want to throttle it at when your hand hit's your chest (in a nice way of course!).

Yep I try to do this every time I play, but either my brain doesn't work or my hand doesn't listen because after ten mins I can feel my butts warm( oo err) because I have been gripping too tight, when I cue well because my hand opens better and doesn't choke that chicken on the way through my butt doesn't heat up.
GG said DH gave him a dummy when things are a bit off and I play well when the only thing that's on my mind when down on the shot is just cue through the line, I don't bother about my eyes, or my grip , just cue through the line, but again I forget to do this when I start thinking about other things then it's all downhill.

Good thread itsnoteasy. I particularly resonate with something you said earlier - "My pause is far far too long and I'm kind of freezing".
Also finding my cue action jerky and wonky - not consistent at all.

Anyone else find the more you think and concentrate on the shot about these things the worse it gets ???

It's one of those things, that the harder you try the worse you get, it's strange that you will only get better when you stop trying so hard lol.
You are spot on Mikey, I'm convinced most of everyone's trouble is the change of direction and how the grip works, I got told two really good explanations about how the pause should feel , one was, think of a train changing direction even though it stops, nothing stops moving, I like that image. The other which basically says the same thing was ,its like rolling a ball up a hill, you can see it in your mind gradually slow down ,pause ,then change direction, then slowly gather pace and accelerate again, just like a good cue action, I know I'm stopping for too long at the back but maybe it's my age, I need that time to reconnect with the shot if that makes sense, that's why I'm thinking of a different eye rhythm.
This is an exaggeration but on a shot that needs power, because I freeze at the back, I can feel myself build up the tension then it's like arrghhh,explosion, too quick, timing all over the shop , shoulders moved, missed lol.

[mikeyd100]

Yep I try to do this every time I play, but either my brain doesn't work or my hand doesn't listen because after ten mins I can feel my butts warm( oo err) because I have been gripping too tight, when I cue well because my hand opens better and doesn't choke that chicken on the way through my butt doesn't heat up.
GG said DH gave him a dummy when things are a bit off and I play well when the only thing that's on my mind when down on the shot is just cue through the line, I don't bother about my eyes, or my grip , just cue through the line, but again I forget to do this when I start thinking about other things then it's all downhill.

It's one of those things, that the harder you try the worse you get, it's strange that you will only get better when you stop trying so hard lol.
You are spot on Mikey, I'm convinced most of everyone's trouble is the change of direction and how the grip works, I got told two really good explanations about how the pause should feel , one was, think of a train changing direction even though it stops, nothing stops moving, I like that image. The other which basically says the same thing was ,its like rolling a ball up a hill, you can see it in your mind gradually slow down ,pause ,then change direction, then slowly gather pace and accelerate again, just like a good cue action, I know I'm stopping for too long at the back but maybe it's my age, I need that time to reconnect with the shot if that makes sense, that's why I'm thinking of a different eye rhythm.
This is an exaggeration but on a shot that needs power, because I freeze at the back, I can feel myself build up the tension then it's like arrghhh,explosion, too quick, timing all over the shop , shoulders moved, missed lol.

Cheers, I've noticed it a lot more recently as well, its soooo fricking annoying, especially when the most simplest of shots are missed.
The game is a byatch sometimes

[Shockerz]

My brothers reading a book stop the monkeys talking to him and arguing in his head, if he doesn't rip it up I might give it a go to see what it's about.

[mikeyd100]

My brothers reading a book stop the monkeys talking to him and arguing in his head, if he doesn't rip it up I might give it a go to see what it's about.

Might work for him, then again could be a banana skin ............ banana / monkey - get it

[ibogine]

Which muscles work when hitting from elbow?
Is it the biceps ?