Difficulty Thrusting up

[bkataoka]

I’ve completed Chapter 3 and have been having difficulty surfing the knees and continuing by thrusting up. I appear to breakdown somewhere on the right side where my right shoulder dips or gets thrown out. I’ve reviewed many of the posts and have seen Brian describe where to focus. The one area I’m missing is the lifting of the left ribs in the thrusting up to get to the crescent. The question I have is it the left side that is lifting on the thrust up? Somehow in the transition from the surfing I can’t seem to naturally lift my left ribs. I think I might be actually dropping my right side instead. Also is there a slight dipping of the knees on the surfing to make it more natural to thrust up. From the video it appear Alex and Lauren do so, but I don’t see it with Brian. Did I miss a key component?

[Stephen]

I think the first thing to realise is that despite all the individual pieces being relatively easy and very well explained it is easy to get some of them slightly wrong. The system fits together like a Swiss watch and when all the pieces are “machined” properly it works brilliantly. HOWEVER, all the components need to be working correctly and accuaracy is vital. Even though your on chapter 3 it would be worth you going back to chapters 1&2 and in particular the anatomical descriptions in the chapter support tabs.

Look at each movement description carefully and film your self from down the line and caddy view (in front) performing them. It may surprise you how something that you think feels correct does not look like it! When you remember how many pieces there are to learn in Tathata then common sense tells us that if just are few of them are 10% off then the result could be chaos, even without the addition of speed. Discipline in obtaining accuracy of each movement is vital to success. (Believe me, it will feel awesome when it comes together!)

In answer to your specific question it sounds like you are lifting the left side of your rib cage straight up, which also lifts your left shoulder up and dumps your right shoulder down and possibly out. If you recall the stretching routine when you. Lie on your back, throw your left leg over to the right, hold it behind the knee with your right and and then grab the left side of your rib cage with your left arm and pull, that is the feeling you need. Here’s a great video by Brian that should help with this.

Good luck, Steve.

Student Q & A: Steepness of shaft angle on downswing

[bkataoka]

Thanks Stephen. I went back and reviewed Chapter 1 anatomical review and already identified part of the setup that I have been forgetting to focus on. Old habits die hard 🙂 I’ll start working on setup again so I can properly pressurize. Thanks for responding.

[John]

I struggled with coming over the top with my driver and searched for a couple of weeks on the correct movements. I’m on the right track now (had my best driving day ever yesterday) and the referenced video above helped immensely. It should be required viewing in some kind of “common faults and causes” curriculum.