When I'm standing on the approach I have to actually tell myself to relax that shoulder muscle. Every. single. time.

I'm a beginner and this has to be the most useful thing I've heard yet.

Something i use with my students who use a lot of muscle to control the swing, is doing a swing drill, where they place the ball in their push away,onto my hand, then just start to talk with them, about weather, how their week has been, and i suddenly at some point pull my hand away. Then they experience the free fall swing of the ball and let gravity take over. After a few times i will let them try to experience the same feeling by themself. Its a weird trick, but it works 100% of the time

@gusk

4 жыл бұрын

PS.this works also for the downswing after the top

@cibianray3065

4 жыл бұрын

Interested

The first time I watched this video - a few months ago - it didn't make any sense, to me. Recently, I realized that I was consistently inconsistent with hitting my mark... because I was trying to muscle the ball down the bottom of my swing. I just watched this video, again... EVERYTHING makes perfect sense. Now that I understand what this video is saying, this is perfect advice.

The title for this video SCREAMED at me! I’m listening!

Thanks JR great advice, I over threw the other day and got a sore shoulder. Will try to relax it next time. Enjoy your channel.

Great video, JR. Muscled swings are one of the most common issues I see out there.

Thank you JR excellent description of what I do wrong will keep working at this. Thank you.

Thanx for being transparent sir.

this would've been great about 3 hours ago for league JR.

Thanks JR. I needed to see this. Lately I've been forcing my shot with poor results.

I have to say i,m really glad i subscribed to your channel I really love the way you explain things at least least for me you make it really easy to understand! thank you! I think eventually i,m gonna try to get some virtual lessons from you

This was a good video. Could you do a video on adjustments you should make based on how your ball goes through the pins? Such as if you get a ringing 10 pin or a flat 10

Thanks JR. Used this tip yesterday and shot my high series for the year

@JR Raymond this really helped. I kept my shoulder relaxed through the entire swing. Got good scores.

I stopped league bowling eight years ago. Last week decided to bowl again for the first time. Your lat few videos have been awesome in helping me get the fundamentals down again. Thanks. Keep it up.

You are spot on! Beginning of league I was in the 180s then I dropped to 115. doing this brought me back to the 180s.

Working on this the last three months has raised my average 6 pins. Good advice!

So true...always working on this...such a hard game

man you make the most useful tips thanks xD

Great video! Can you discuss the transition from muscleless swing to how you then "do everything with your hand"? This would be a great part 2 to tie this final detail up with this excellent video. By letting the pendulum just swing, I'd stop breaking my wrist, because I'd let gravity just take over.

A free arm swing completely changed my game my ball speed rev rate and average all went up. Less is def more

That's another excellent tip JR. My Dad told me the same thing years ago, he called it a "Gravity Swing". He told me to allow my backswing to come up to it's natural stopping point then let Gravity do its job. It helped me to stop pulling and even pushing the ball at the release. That simple tip along with keeping my elbow down the target line made it possible for me to go for a 180ish bowler to a Solid 200 + Bowler.

Still working at it I have bad habit to muscle it thanks for tips great stuff!!!

You’re AMAZING!! Your vids have helped me improve my avg +4.12 pts

“Muscularly” checks out, good to go. As for me, I *have* to restrict my swing down from my push away somewhat or I have no chance of getting to the line before the ball does. Drives me nuts but coach specifically directed me to do that and it really fixed me up.

Excellent video. As usual. This explains exactly what Im helping my gf with now. Thanks bro.

League tomorrow night! Saved to my playlist

Thanks Again : this is my next practice lesson.( Sometimes i think your watching my game before suggesting these GREAT TIPS !! )

Worked on this last night I struggle very bad with this.

I bowl in a tournament today and I was doing everything bad with my swing I was to much muscle in my swing.. I wish that I watch your video to remind me not to muscle my swing.. Great advice sir.. very disappointed in my bowling today.. Hopefully tomorrow with your advice I’ll bowl better ..thank you and I appreciate..🎳🎳💪💪

JR, I tell bowlers, and do it myself, to walk past the ball, let the arm swing speed determine your footwork speed. I think of it as two swings, the ball flowing into the backswing, a slight pause at the top of the swing, and then the ball falls forward, taking the arm with it. Slower armswing, slower feet, faster feet, faster armswing. I’m a huge advocate of matching your footwork speed to your armswing speed. My thought is that if someone has a naturally fast armswing, why tell them to slow their feet down. In my view, that will result in them muscling the ball to match their armswing to their footwork. What are your thoughts on this? Have a great day!

Thank you that very good,now I know how to fix that muscled swing :-)

Hey JR, I'm a fan of your work. Your lessons have helped me and my father improve at the game of bowling. I just had a quick question about how some bowlers tuck their pinkie to get better roll. Was curious about how much difference it makes.

I struggle with this. My ball speed had been about 2 MPH than most others in my league. Been working on slowing it down and lately I'm pretty close to where everyone else is. My accuracy is much better when I don't muscle it too. I still tend to muscle my spares too but working on that now.

Can you do a clinic in NJ ?❤🙂

Good video. I enjoy watching the deliveries of Mitch Beasely and Alex Hoskins. Do they "swing" it or do they "muscle" it?

This is easier said than done…. It’s my biggest problem and really affects my ball rotation / pin carry. One minute I’m rolling the ball off my hand the next muscling it

Interesting note about the pushaway. I have seen a USBC instruction video where they said just the opposite. They say don't just let it drop, but literally push it away from your body with a slight upward movement. Is this something more of a personal preference? I have found for me the longer pushaway works better than just letting it drop. If I drop it, my timing is not right and my arm gets way ahead of my feet.

I'm a fairly newly serious bowler, and began lessons with a local coach a few months ago. This "muscling the ball" is my current big problem. Since lesson #1 my coach, like you, repeated the mantra, "let the ball swing your arm, not the other way around". It sank in for a while, but over the past month or two I'd lost that somehow as I rapidly got better (went from consistently around a 125-130 to around 175-80) and started trying to hook the ball more, which actually made my game worse (dropped back down to like a 150). My last lesson (#6), my coach noticed my spare ball shooting (with a plastic ball, but fingertip drilled the same way as my reactive resin strike ball) was much freer than with my strike ball. To prove it, he pointed out the MPH speed reading on the scoring screen. It was as much as 4-5 MPH faster! And ball speed is important for pin action! Evidently I was muscling the ball on my first (strike) rolls in an attempt to guide or direct the ball to hook. But applying muscle on the ball when it's at the top of the backswing was actually SLOWING my ball down. My muscling had resulted in a much lower backswing, as he showed with video of my strike vs. spare ball rolling. When I muscled the ball, my unconscious "muscled and aiming" forward swing would begin at about waist level, while on my spare ball, my backswing went much further back and up. His one sentence advice? "Try rolling your strike ball like it was your spare ball for a while." Then we can work on my other big problem, my tendency to turn my wrist over the top of the ball on the release. But fixing the swing comes first.

@MikeDCWeld

2 жыл бұрын

I only just recently started trying to hook the ball and I noticed that my speed readings when I hook the ball are about 4-5MPH lower than when I throw straight. My ball speed is very consistent so I can only conclude that the revolutions that allow it to hook are slowing down the ball. That may be the same phenomenon you were seeing. Ball speed definitely plays a role in pin action, but entry angle seems to be even more important based on the multitude of videos I've watched. I would worry more about getting the ball to move properly to the pocket in a consistent manner than bringing the ball speed up.

Everyone should look up the backwards bowler for a pristine example of this.

I notice myself doing this when I’m not carrying and get frustrated and then start forcing the swing and that’s no bueno

Hello JR, i have this kind of swing, in my down swing i have the tendency to control it by slowing the swing at down position as if findinding the target then , speed it up till i release the ball..is this rigth?

I mainly just focus on freeing my shoulder or my wrist gets floppy

There are many pros who push It up slightly Into the push away. Not every one just drops It.

JR seen this video and this is my struggle. I have a hard time with a smooth swing. I have done 4 step and 5 step and I always feel like I have to push down with the shoulder like you say not to do in this video. Any tips or drills I can do to break this habit?

I have difficulty doing this while keeping my hand behind the ball. It's like the muscles in my arm and wrist can't work independently of each other while I'm swinging a heavy bowling ball.

How do you load your elbow if you're waiting until it gets to your ankle

I has broken my arm abusing of "muscle ball' so im working yo change that , after My injury i just cant play more than 4 games weekly because My pain comeback .....it's hard but i'm working on it

Having the hardest time letting the ball drop but only 5 months with my thumb

I've finally figured this out and it was a huge eureka moment. Everything just kind of clicked into place. The one thing I'm still confused about is how to get a higher backswing using just the ball's weight and pendulum swing. Any advice on that? Thanks, JR! Amazing and super helpful channel.

@bradboling7124

4 жыл бұрын

I'm wondering the same thing..

@igorhabljak3218

4 жыл бұрын

You can't get a super high backswing if you are not using any muscles. In that case, you would have to do your pushaway up above your head to get it to that hight on the top of your backswing. There are a few things you could do to make your backswing higher and not to use a whole lot of muscles. The most important is the body tilt. In the third step (of a 5 step approach) you should adjust all the body angles and carry that angles through on the power-step and the slide. Those angles should not change after the 3rd step, up until you release the ball. One of the things you should do in that 3rd step is body tilt (angeling your body forward) and this adjustment will move your shoulder down and forward. If you look at your swing like a pendulum, then the shoulder is the base point from which it swings and by moving it down you are creating a higher swing. So, with tilting your body you will allow the ball to be a little higher in the backswing, and it will look a lot higher because your body will be in a more downward position in. The second thing is to open up your shoulders in that same 3rd step to relax the swing and not create elastic tension which will limit the hight of the backswing. The more tension there is the harder it is for you not to engage your muscles and to repeat shots. I hope I helped.

Have troublw keeping soft arm swing and getting cupped wrist without using muscle to cup the ball

How do I work on a pulse at the top of my swing

so how can you incorporate that slight elbow bend in the downswing if your not engaging any of those muscles ?

How do you keep your hand cupped behind the ball without muscling it?

If your arm swing a pendulum, how does the ball start in your stomach area but is above your head in your back swing ?

Well I've seen pros in PBA like Mike Fagan for example their swing is huge, there is absolutely no chance that it's a natural swing and not forcing it to push it up there!

When I let my arm swing naturally after the push away, the ball gets to about my lower back at the apex. Most of the pro bowlers I see have their apex at or above the shoulder. How do you get the ball to this height without muscling it up there?

I have a low back swing, I'm working on creating a higher back swing. My question is - it's more about momentum rather than arm strength?

But how do people get a high back swing if they let the ball fall on the pushaway?

For me the most important part of a loose and free swing is the ball start/pushaway. The smoother I can get the ball into the swing, the less I have to regrip the ball throughout the swing and the less I have to engage muscles to keep the ball on my hand and toward it's intended path. So pushaway drills are important to ingrain that feeling of a smooth ball start.

My problem is when I accelerate. The bottom of my swing is where I use "muscle" and tore my bicep 2 weeks ago. How do I accelerate and not "muscle" on my follow-through? (Results in a lofted ball)

My question is not about a swing… but it falls into how do you feel not being nervous going up to bowl or not falling apart because you cant find your line.. ?

This has always confounded me. Not only you but many instructors talk about the loose arm swing. In my mind you tale a ball on a string abs drop it from waist height (string horizontal) the ball must not pendulum above horizontal at the other side of the arc. Your walking speed in the approach does not account for the additional rise of the ball 4 feet in your (in particular) back swing. There must be some muscle involved. I can easily see the relaxed arm swing on the downswing, now you throw in hand acceleration! How can the hand accelerate without the rest of the arm going along with it? I can see the hand impart roll or spin on the ball. Incidentally the ball on the string does not need to be a bowling ball.

@Tenpindoctors

4 жыл бұрын

You still accelerate but not until the very bottom of the swing

@michaelhertzog7093

4 жыл бұрын

It's all about physics. Basically what happens when you do your pushaway start or letting the ball drop, your approach movement forward while the ball is naturally moving backward causes a momentum shift because you are moving one way and the ball is moving the other which causes the ball to pendulum upward until an equilibrium is reached and then gravity accelerates the ball downward and it catches up to you because the acceleration is faster than your movement speed forward. Letting the ball naturally swing (gravity swing) is probably the hardest part about bowling because it's counter psychological. Your mind naturally thinks, hey I have a heavy weight on my hand so how do I get it moving? Using muscle. You literally have to train your mind to not use muscle to make something move.

That’s cool, but how about for a 2 finger one handed bowler? After about 3 games, my forearm is done

Too many bowlers are overswinging the ball. That is done with the upper shoulders. Going past your waist height at peak of the backswing is forcing the swing. The overswing throws timing off at the release point. JR has a major overswing problem. It affects a clean release. His timing is unsteady.

This is exactly my problem. The ball at the top of the backswing will go outside of my head cuz i force it.

If you didn’t have any muscle involved in the swing and depend solely on gravity, wouldn’t your ball speed be around 10 mph? There is no way players with high backswings rely strictly on gravity with their arm swing, am I wrong? BTW JR, I am learning so much from your videos. I actually plugged and drilled and changed my span because you called me out saying something was wrong with my span…you were right.

how do people let gravity swing the ball down and still throw 15+ mph 😂 i just now noticed i do the force swing but my ball is always slow sub 13mph

How would go about getting a higher back swing without using muscle to pull it back further? That seems like something muscle would almost be required for.

@RichFreeman

4 жыл бұрын

It is required. The laws of physics say that the ball can't freely swing higher than where it started unless energy is imparted. Some of that can come from accelerating forwards, but I'm sure most just comes from muscles. I don't profess to know how to do it, but it seems like everybody says to not use muscles but it seems like all the demos have these really high back swings. I try not to muscle my swing and as a result it ends up being pretty low and slow. The other thing I struggle with is being pretty slow while using most of the approach with only four steps.

@sauronseyescream8394

4 жыл бұрын

@@RichFreeman My ball speed isn't slow per say but I have would like to increase my back swing to be level with my shoulders. I hover around 16-17 mph standing the dots closest to the foul line. I know part of a higher back swing is turning your upper body to allow for it but other than that it does seem like some muscle would be required.

My question would be, what do we do for slow feet/fast feet? If the pendulum swing is generally consistent, what do we do to adjust our timing with our feet? Thanks!

@walterhpalmer5239

4 жыл бұрын

VinYan Leo what I’ve done and told bowlers is to move up on the approach to slow the ball down. Take your normal approach only slightly slower to reduce speed. The converse is to move back on the approach taking longer steps with your normal approach. You will cover more ground in the same amount of time, thereby gaining more momentum that if transferred to the ball will result in more ball speed. Bear in mind every bowler is different and what works for one, may not work for another bowler.

@RichFreeman

4 жыл бұрын

@@walterhpalmer5239 yeah, I need to work on this, but I'm bowling at only 10mph using most of the approach with four steps. Maybe my arms are just too long. :)

@walterhpalmer5239

4 жыл бұрын

Rich Freeman maybe moving everything faster without muscling might work. Or take a virtual lesson from JR.

@RichFreeman

4 жыл бұрын

@@walterhpalmer5239 yeah, that would be tempting but I'd have to be less lazy and drag a video setup to my alley. :) Not sure how you can speed up your swing without muscling though. The swing time of a pendulum depends only on its length. I suspect what they're doing is using muscles on the back swing but not on the forward swing. Or maybe it has more to do with moving your body downwards and coordinating things so that your forward momentum goes into the back swing. I've only been bowling for a month or two though and I've just had a few lessons. Those helped quite a bit but mostly I'm finding I have to slow down and the pace doesn't seem too natural. To be fair I haven't kept up with the practice as much after the holidays. I will say that once I started trying to follow correct technique I find myself having far more endurance. And that is despite moving up to a 16lbs ball.

@walterhpalmer5239

4 жыл бұрын

Rich Freeman I have been bowling and coaching a long time. 57 years since I started bowling and 36 since I started coaching. I can say this, I don’t coach the same way as I did when I first started. At any rate without watching you throw the ball, it is very difficult to assess what you need to take you to the next level. Hence that’s why I say take a virtual lesson from JR.

Do guys on tour really do this? Does Tommy Jones really let it fall when he throws it 21 mph with 480 revs? When I let it fall it looks more like 14 mph 😔

@Tenpindoctors

4 жыл бұрын

Yes. You are probably decelerating at some point. You still accelerate the swing but not until the bottom. Ball speed is related to your foot speed as well

How does Pete Weber get that high backswing without muscling?

@Tenpindoctors

4 жыл бұрын

High backswing is from pulling up.. you have to be real good at disengaging your muscle when it gets to the top. He muscles up and let's it free fall

@clowny2396

4 жыл бұрын

@@Tenpindoctors I muscle up and I'd like to learn how to keep from doing that. I can practice away from the lanes and never muscle up. Get to the lanes and bingo muscle up right away. Any tips?

@carlkelly3710

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you JR. Pete Weber must have learned it at a young age, difficult for an adult to execute. I am sure his father did not teach him that!

I definitely do a muscle forced short backswing. Afraid to lose the ball! Should I grip it tight during the backswing?

@tylerhoffman2271

4 жыл бұрын

Your thumb hole should be snug enough that you can have a relaxed grip throughout the swing including the back swing. You should never be death gripping the ball at any point. If the ball is falling off during the back swing then your thumb whole was drilled incorrectly and needs to be either plugged and re-drilled or you need to use tape to make it smaller.

@walterhpalmer5239

4 жыл бұрын

Tyler Hoffman tape is my friend and I personally use less reverse pitch than what I used to. What it does is let’s me adjust my thumb as I need. I use anywhere from 1/2 to 1 inch tape in my thumb hole.. depends on a lot of factors beyond my control. For instance how cold or hot it is outside, how cold or hot the bowling center is, if my blood pressure is elevated higher than normal, how much salt I’ve consumed, etc etc.

This also seems to creep up for me when shooting spares with my plastic, and I end up pulling it right.

Not calling you a liar but look at your own backswing, and you’re gonna tell me you just let it fall 😂

@Tenpindoctors

4 жыл бұрын

Yup. I have muscle at the top directing it into the slot but I'm very conscious to not pull it down.

@Tenpindoctors

4 жыл бұрын

I also never at any point claim that I do anything perfectly

You have to apply muscle into your backswing, otherwise your backswing will never be higher than your starting ball height. Simple pendulum physics.