Keys to POWERING Your Shots
Okay, you’ve now learned that a pushing release is the most ideal release to implement (if you havent, please go back and read my previous blog on it). Obviously, pushing the ball will not alone get the ball to the hoop. That doesn’t give you enough power.
To get the ball to the hoop, you need to exert force on the ball. There are two main sources of force that can be used to shoot. Upforce (as Nordland calls it) is the power generated from mostly your legs, and also a bit from your abdomen. When you shoot from this Upforce, you are shooting from a very strong, stable, accurate, slow-firing, and surefire power source. You can also shoot with the upper body. Muscles used here include the wrist, fingers, arms, etc. Tom explains that shooting mostly from these muscles produce a very flat, unpredictable shot because of the fact that these muscles are mainly fast-twitch. Fast-twitch muscles are helpful in activites such as writing, drawing, picking, sorting, etc. Try it out and you can see for yourself.
Shooting from the Upforce produces a shot that flies high (usually a foot above the top of the backboard) and true to the center of the basket. When I shoot with my hand, wrist and fingers, my shots are flat, unpredictable (especially when shooting off the dribble, long range, etc), can miss left or right. Flat shots go to the basket at a smaller angle than higher shots, and also accelerate to the basket rather than letting gravity slow it down like higher shots can. Take a look at your shots and see if you have a flat or relatively high projectory.
Take a look at the better shooters that power their shots from mainly their legs and less of their upper body. It will look like they aren’t coming off the ground that much, but they, in fact, are still exerting a good amount of force off the ground. It will look like that because they are shooting FROM their power source, their legs. Examples include Steve Nash, Steph Curry and Detlef Schrempf.
When you shoot from the Upforce, you can shoot 100% from it (that is, you shoot completely from it), or you can shoot anything below it; meaning you do not completely shoot from the legs to power your shot. This does not mean that if you shot 100%, you are jumping off the hardest. It is a percentage of HOW MUCH of your jump is put into the shot. If I am shooting from 50% of my Upforce, I am only shooting from half of my power from my legs. It will look like I have released the ball half way between the floor at my highest peak of my jump. If I shoot from 0% of my Upforce, I have not used any of my leg drive to power my shot. It will look like I have released the ball at my highest peak of my jump. Players like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady shoot (on fade away shots after they have backed their defender) close to 0% Upforce! That is quite incredible! However, this does not mean that they are terrible shooters. They can obviously be better shooters if they shoot close to 100% of their leg drive. Reasons include:
-When they fade away and shoot, they have to elevate away and above the defender. This can only be accomplished by shooting close to their highest peak of their ridiculous high jumps
-These players that I have listed are freakishly athletic. They can, in a very controversial way, ”get a way with these kind of shot selections”. If you have a very strong upper body, coordiantion skills, and have overpracticed this type of shot, go for it. If you want a simple and repeatable shot, give powering most of your shots from your leg drive, a try!
We demonstrate:
Michael
http://www.theshooterstouch.com
