The THUMB Part 1 - Getting the right fit

what's going on guys welcome back to the channel today we're going to be talking about the importance of the thumb the thumb plays an important role for those who are one-handed but also plays a role for those who are two-handed I'm going to break this into a two-part video but before I get into the two parts I want you to go ahead and hit that subscribe button if you haven't already as I said the thumb plays an important role part one of the video we're going to be talking about proper fit proper feel and how you should be actually using your thumb as a one-handed bowler in in part two we are going to be talking about using the thumb as more of a directional aiming piece as well so part two is going to be important for both one-handers and two-handers so if you are a two-hander feel free to watch rest this video but if you want to go ahead and Skip to part two but if you're a one-hander stay tuned for this particular video all right guys talking about a proper fit and feel for the thumb for one-handed Bowlers one of the most important things that we're trying to accomplish when we are throwing the ball is having a nice relaxed swing so that is being relaxed in your hand relaxed in your wrist and arm we don't want to be tight we don't want to muscle it a lot of guys that I see that are trying to hook the ball are actually really cupping the wrist and elbow and keeping everything nice and tight and trying to really hook the ball and the more you try to hook the ball the harder it becomes and if you can become more relaxed learn how to have that effort at the very end flicking that wrist at the very end you're going to have more success in getting a higher rev rate getting more power on the ball so that's what we want to try to achieve and you can't achieve that if you don't have a proper fit on the ball so what I want to talk about first is this is a big thing for a lot of beginners also can be helpful for some of you who maybe have bowled for a long time but when we talk about the thumb if you're using an alley ball and it does not fit you properly chances are that thumb is going to be way too big and if it's too big you're going to have to end up squeezing the ball when you squeeze the ball you're actually taking your thumb bending it in and you're actually pointing it at the ball along with your fingers so we don't want to be squeezing at the ball so what can we do to relax it so that we aren't squeezing the ball well if the thumb is too big let's take this ball here that currently does not have one of my interchangeable thumbs in it so the thumb is gigantic right so if this is too big and I wanted to try to grab this ball I can I can grab the ball I can pick it up but I have to squeeze in order to hold on the ball especially when I get in that swing once it comes back if I'm not squeezing that Ball's going to fly off my hand so too big of a thumb hole is going to require you to squeeze the ball so what is actually the proper fit how snug should a thumb be and this is a tip that I share with all my kids and it is something that I don't think enough people really talk about if you are rubbing on the back side of your thumb which a lot of people do there's a good chance you are bending that thumb and you are squeezing it and what's it's doing is by bending that thumb as you're coming out it's rubbing along the back of the ball now you can put that thumb tape on the back of your hand that helps alleviate that although the real reason reason for wearing that thumb tape should be less about protecting the back of your thumb and more so about as you're releasing the ball having it help Glide off your thumb a little bit faster so that you can get harder lift with your finger so using thumb tape solely for the purposes of protecting your thumb a better way to go is to try to change how you're actually gripping the ball so what should it feel like I'm going to take my first vice thumb insert which by the way thank you Vice uh for creating some of the best interchangeable thumbs I'm going to take this particular this black thumb is actually a properly fitting thumb hole for me okay so I'm going to insert this into the ball now with that thumb insert in the ball what I want you to do to see if you've got the proper fit is to start by just putting your thumb in and back out okay you're going to feel slight little suction in there but for the most part your thumb can come in and out of the ball without a problem if it sticks and you really have to pull to get the ball out thumb is too tight okay obviously if you have a large thumb like this another ball that doesn't have the insert in obviously you can come in and out of that with no problem so it's not just about that but now what I want you to do is I want you to take your palm or your fingers I don't want you to put them in the ball I want you to lay your palm flat on the ball put your thumb in lay your palm flat and then what you're going to do is instead of bending your thumb and squeezing at it we're going to try to hinge instead of hinging here at the knuckle we are going to try to hinge here and push in this way with the thumm so this is what I want I don't want to see this I don't want you to feel this with the ball I want you to feel this with the ball you're going to feel more pressure up here than you are anywhere else on your thumb so put your thumb in Lay Your Hand flat on the ball do not put your fingers on the ball and then press this way this way with the thumb and you should be able to pick the ball up no problem okay that ball has no danger of coming off of my hand nice and easy ball actually feels pretty light I'm want to show you what that compared two this thumb insert is my larger one for when my hand swells so it's a little bit bigger of an insert so I put this in this different ball and I do the same thing put it in there hand flat on hinge at that part of the thumb I can still pick the ball up but I can feel this feel that it's pulling away from the back side a little bit it feels heavier because I actually have to squeeze a little bit harder here and with my hand to try to hang on to the ball it's not quite as easy in fact I feel like if I jerked really hard down the ball would fall off my hand whereas this one put my thumb in there hinge at that part of the thumb don't squeeze too hard just a nice light pressure with that part of the thumb pick it up and I can drop down and that Ball's not going to come out okay but all I have to do is lightly let go the thumb Falls right off my hand okay so that's what we're trying to achieve is that sort of fit where it feels snug enough then you can do this but not so snug that it won't fall off your hand if as soon as you let go with your thumb so if that thumb feels good and you're picking that ball up without a problem one of the things you can work on now is on that particular release to make sure that thumb Feels Good by again putting your thumb in there don't put your fingers in the ball just lay your hand flat and apply that pressure hinging that part of your thumb to create that little bit of suction so that you're holding on to the ball and what you can do is as you swing just swing back forth that ball does not feel at all like it's going to fall off my hand and you're not trying to hook the ball you're not trying to crank the ball just swing it back and then release with the thumb ball comes off nicely if I try that same thing with this pink thumb which is my bigger thumb I can put my thumb in there I can do this and I can swing back and forth but this really feels like it's going to fall off my hand I feel like I'm really having to squeeze hard to hang on to it so yes technically I can still do that but that ball really felt like it just fell off my hand at the bottom so again grab the ball that you think fits properly Thumb in there do not hinge at the knuckle hinge right here at the base of the thumb hinge P Palm face down and then hold that ball swing it nicely feels like it's not going to fall off your hand now if it sticks if you do this and it sticks to your thumb it's too tight but if you can hang on to it a decent amount and let go of that ball the thumb feels pretty good one of the other major reasons why we want to have a thumb that fits properly is because it also has to do we talked earlier about how you want to create a relaxed Thro row it is very difficult for you to actually lift on that ball if the thumb does not fit properly so for example when you get somebody who grabs an alley ball who you know is a beginning bowler especially somebody who maybe isn't very strong I I uncover this a lot with the girls that I coach in high school is that their hand is back this way so their wrist is not flat it's not cued it's actually back this way and that even if it's flat up here when they push away and they come down here their hand their wrist is broken back backwards and that's how they throw it you're not going to get a lot of revolutions on the ball doing that what I ask a lot of those people to do is trying to flatten the wrist but a lot of them are not strong enough because what they try to do is when their hand is down like this let me move back a little bit when their hand is down like this and I tell them to flatten it they're trying to lift with their fingers so they are actually trying to almost curl the ball like you're doing curls wrist curls which is easy with this ball cuz this is a 9 lb Ball but if I grab this 15 lb ball and I were to flatten my wrist let it hang down and I tell myself to curl up and let it flatten if I use my finger to try to curl that is difficult and in fact I don't know if you noticed but I actually have a tendency to bend my elbow a little bit because if I try to keep my elbow straight and bend the wrist that is very very difficult to do probably a good workout for your forearms but it is not what you want to accomplish because even if you were to start like here as soon as you push away it's so hard to maintain that your wrist can break back and if it breaks back and you need to then bring it back forward as you're coming through the ball it's very difficult to do so how do we accomplish getting more of that flat wrist it's not about lifting with the fingers it's actually about pulling back with a thumb so if you put your thumb in the ball hinge right here fingers in Thumb in and hinge at that spot okay now and move back again now instead of trying to lift with your fingers let's hinge more at the fingers pull back with your thumb okay pulling back with your thumb that's easy this feels like I'm lifting a lot of weight cuz center of gravity is outside that Center Point here I'm keeping the ball as a center point the ball is not actually moving I'm using my thumb to pull back by pressing that thumb down the way we are not pinching it not grabbing it but flattening it down and pulling in this way you can more easily achieve that cued position so if that's what we're going for this now feels like the ball's not nearly as heavy and I can now swing this without a problem and it does not feel nearly as heavy so anybody who is struggling with being able to keep their wrist flat is probably because you're trying to curl it as opposed to having a properly fit thumb if your thumb fits properly and you are pressing it that way you should be able to accomplish getting that that also allows you as you relax your wrist as you come up back in your back swing and you need to bring it back forward it's a lot easier instead of trying to bring your fingers forward pulling your thumb back as you're coming through and then all you have to do release that thumb ball Str to roll off your hand and then you lift through the fingers and you get that rotation so so that's the best way that you can achieve a properly fitting thumb that's how you can tell if the thumb fits you properly again if that ball is falling off your hand if you can't pick the ball up the way I just show without your fingers in the ball the ball may be too loose it's not coming off your thumb it's too tight if you put a little bit more tape in the ball if you take your thumb hole and you can't do that and you put more tape in it and you go to throw a ball and it sticks to your thumb chances are it's because you're actually bending your thumb and you're now squeezing it and when you squeeze and bend your thumb by bending your thumb you actually need more room in the ball for your thumb to pass so by adding tape if you're sticking in the ball it's not because a thumb hole necessarily is too tight it's probably because you're squeezing the ball you need to work on flattening that thumb flattening it and letting go with a flat keeping it flat the whole way so practice without your fingers in the ball practice that release and see how that feels and if it's coming off nicely there it should be able to come off nicely when you're throwing the ball with your fingers in as well if you're letting go of the thumb in the proper way so hopefully this tip help you out remember to Che out part two where we're going be talking about the importance of the thumb for both one handers and two-handers when we're talking about aiming and directional rotation of your hand thanks for tuning in make sure you hit that subscribe button we'll see you at the next video [Music]

Channel: Bald Brothers Bowling

Views: 5,069

Keywords: #bowling, #viseinserts, #baldbrosbowling, #baldbrothersbowling

Id: SKchSS7qcWE

Length: 11min 48sec (708 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 15 2024