Increasing ball speed through steps/feet work

[Ball99999]

Ok so initially I did 4 step starting at the second set of dots. Then I moved back a little bit as well as do a 5 step approach, that helped. I'm wondering if I should start at the first (Farther back) set of dots and either (or do both) take longer stems, or do a 6 step approach?

[AngeloPD]

Lowering your ball on your stance will increase ball speed. see article below.
http://www.billspigner.com/pdf/0404_Bill_BD.pdf

[JaMau24]

A lot of my ball speed comes from my 5 step approach. I start at the dots furthest away from the lane. It's a quick approach, that gives me a lot of speed/power.

[Tampabaybob]

Most of your ball speed 'should' come from being set and balanced at the line. Remember gravity is the only force you want to have from your first step thru your backswing. As the ball reaches the back of your slide leg and you begin to rotate your ball, that is your "explosion point" where you will push and lift the ball with your wrist and fingers.

You can try a 5 step approach, with your first step being little more than a shuffle, but the ball movement still will start on your second step. Getting a little lower during each step of your approach will help bringing your backswing up a little also. Think of your shoulders as a plane coming in for a landing on a runway. Your shoulders are the wings getting lower and lower from start to finish and "smoothly" at that.

Bob

[Ball99999]

I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of a lower pushaway/starting point could create more ball speed or higher backswing..

[Tampabaybob]

I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of a lower pushaway/starting point could create more ball speed or higher backswing..

Here's another tip that may help you:

CONTROL YOUR ROLL INCREASING/DECREASING BALL SPEED
By Bryan O’Keefe

Bowling is about the ability to repeat shots and the readi- ness to adjust to changing conditions.
Today, we have bowling balls that absorb oil and we compete on an invisible playing field that changes with virtually every shot that goes down the lane. Bowlers need to con- stantly adjust to those changes.
Too often bowlers immediately feel the need to adjust by moving on the approach, left-to-right across the lane. Remember, the lane is 60 feet long but only 39 inches wide. There’s much more room to make front-to-back than left-to-right adjust- ments. Sometimes the best adjust- ment is stay on the same line and
simply increase or decrease the ball speed to better read the changes in the lane. If you need the ball to slow down faster, throw it slower. If you need the ball to not slow down quite as quickly, throw it faster.
Of course, increasing and decreasing ball speed is not a new concept in bowling, but the manner in which people attempt to adjust their ball speed is the subject of con- siderable debate.
One misconception is that you can adjust your ball speed by using your upper body. It’s a mistake to think that you can keep your lower body the same and simply use more muscle to throw the ball harder, or slow the ball down by grabbing it more and forcing yourself to throw the ball slower. In truth, you may

“The best way to increase or decrease ball speed is by using your legs, not your upper body.“

In truth, you may actually accomplish faster or slower ball speed, but your accuracy and consistency is going to be very difficult to repeat.
The best way to increase or de- crease ball speed is by using your legs, not your upper body. Using your lower body to adjust your tem- po to the line will allow you to main- tain a fluid, natural swing and will greatly increase your ability to repeat shots.
To increase ball speed, start your approach a step behind your normal starting point, which will give you more room so that you can walk faster. By moving faster to the line, your stride will be slightly longer. That extra pace to the line will get your lower body working while your upper body stays relaxed and ball speed will still increase.
Conversely, if you want to decrease your ball speed, move up a foot in your approach. Whether you’re using a four-step or five-step approach, your steps will be shorter and your pace will be slower.
Naturally, a byproduct of quicker/ slower tempo to the line is that your timing must adjust with the tempo, and that’s where the biggest misconception about adjusting ball speed comes in.
Prevailing wisdom suggests that in order to throw the ball harder you start the ball higher (lengthening your swing), and to slow it down you start the ball lower in your stance (shortening your swing).
By adjusting your tempo to the line, the opposite is actually true. Start with the ball about six inches lower if you want to increase ball speed, and start with the ball slightly higher if you want to decrease
ball speed. Confused?

Here’s how it works: By speeding up your tempo to the line, you’ve actually got less time to get the ball from your stance, through your swing and to the release point. Let’s say your normal swing takes four sec- onds from stance to release point. There’s a natural tempo, so your feet are instinctively going to keep track of that to keep you in your timing. Now, if you cut your swing to 3.5 seconds, your feet are going to move faster to stay in synch.
It’s all about the distance your swing travels. If you take a shorter swing, your feet automatically have to go faster in order to stay in time.
In essence, your feet have to move faster to make up for the lost distance in your swing. If your swing is longer, your feet have to move slower to maintain proper timing.
So, to increase ball speed, move back one foot on the approach and adjust the ball position six inches lower in your stance. To decrease ball speed, start one foot forward on the approach and position the ball six inches higher in your stance.
To a certain extent, the distance of your swing dictates your foot speed. Adjusting the length of the swing shorter or longer than normal will allow you to increase or decrease ball speed.
That can come in handy because often times you’re on the right part of the lane. Instead of moving left or right, adjust your ball speed to adapt to the changing lane conditions.
— Bryan O’Keefe is Assistant Coach and Facility Manager at the International Training and Research Center in Arlington, Texas.

Again, there are many ways to do this and Brian is one of the outstanding coaches in the US. Try it and see if it helps.

Bob

[Ball99999]

After reading that it makes sense why to start lower. But how do I find a default position?

Anyway what it explained to me was that a shorter swing is what is going to cause higher ball speed since it forces the legs to move faster and it is the LEGS that are controlling the ball speed (momentum and whatnot). What I had thought before was that the arm swing itself was what was causing higher ball speed, meaning if the ball had a higher backswing it would go faster.

It doesn't help they always teach to raise the ball to get higher ball speed.

[bowl1820]

Here's a post I made in another thread about this same thing.


There's a old book "Bowling: Knowledge is Key" by Fred Borden in it there's a part where he talks about "vertical placement" (Holding the ball higher or lower).

In it he talks about not holding it higher or lower to increase or decrease speed. But use it as a way of controlling arm swing timing to match the tempo of your feet movements. Raising the ball retards the arm swing in relation to the feet movement, lowering the ball advances the arm swing timing in relation to the feet movements

So Bowlers with a naturally fast tempo, hold the ball lower to match up with their footwork. Those with a slower tempo, hold the ball higher because it retards the swing.

Now if holding the ball higher retards the swing, that would mean it would be basically a longer, slower swing. And so the higher you hold it, the longer and slower the swing be.

Now if your trying to increase speed , using a longer and slower swing wouldn't help. You would wind up having to accelerate your arm through that longer, slower swing. Not only To make up for the speed you lost with the longer swing, but to get that extra speed you wanted in the first place. That would mean adding muscle to the swing, but muscling isn't something we want to do.

Now if you increase or decrease speed using foot work (as Bryan O'Keefe's article suggests). then using a lower ball height for faster and higher one for slower makes makes sense, because it's just matching up the swing timing with the foot work. Plus you can still have a free swing, with no muscles involved to increase the speed.

It just seemed to me that you could infer from Fred's idea above, that if you wanted to increase ball speed by faster footwork. You would have to hold the ball lower. And that is the basic idea put forth by Bryan O'Keefe's article. Increase ball speed by holding ball lower with faster footwork. Hold higher with slower footwork for slower ball speed. So to me it would seem to support Bryan's idea.

It's kind of a old idea, now new again.


But how do I find a default position?

The "default position" would be where you normally start off at and could be different for everyone.

Most of the time in bowling the classic starting point is with the ball at waist height, forearm parallel to the floor. You would then go from there, seeing if you need to raise or lower the ball in your stance.

[billf]

It doesn't help they always teach to raise the ball to get higher ball speed.

Who are "they"? The real question is why there are teaching outdated techniques. Reactive resin balls changed how to bowl successfully. For some reason, rather than learn update information, some still think the techniques used with rubber and urethane apply. Like anything else in the world, bowling has changed and will continue to change.

[Ball99999]

Who are "they"? The real question is why there are teaching outdated techniques. Reactive resin balls changed how to bowl successfully. For some reason, rather than learn update information, some still think the techniques used with rubber and urethane apply. Like anything else in the world, bowling has changed and will continue to change.


I've seen a few videos, youtube videos, articles, and a couple classes I took say that..

For example here (everytime I google something on bowling an article by this guy comes up)

http://www.bowlingball.com/BowlVersity/how-to-increase-bowling-ball-speed-and-maintain-balance#idc-cover

http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLC18A4C7168C226E2&v=Xr_sBDcAEao&feature=player_detailpage#t=30s


I can't wait to practice new speed control techniques I'm excited. I'm sure it's going to improve carry a lot.

[billf]

Rich Carruba. Better known as the man that makes a video that is word for word the same exact that the text is. I will admit, he has more personality when I read what he says rather than listen to what he says. He does have a lot of good tips on the site. Now I'm wondering how much of the other topics are also off course.

[AngeloPD]

I think expertvillage is a joke.
Notice the title said "professional bowling" but he made several mistakes in the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxA6tZaAzjE

[billf]

I posted that vid before. He is a joke and isn't even listed as a USBC certified coach. So even if he was certified once upon a time, he obviously couldn't pass the USBC test. I love how he can't take the steps even as he counts them. I could understand some if it was life but he chose to record and air this crap. If those are his standards, I'm thrilled I've never met him!

[Tampabaybob]

Wow, lets not spread that video around......I saw about6 or 8 things he's doing wrong. And he's doing a video ???? WOW

Bob

[billf]

Bob, I'm ok with anybody making a video. But putting that crap out for the whole world to see? Let's just be glad that everybody doesn't have standards that low for themselves at their profession.

[Tampabaybob]

Bob, I'm ok with anybody making a video. But putting that crap out for the whole world to see? Let's just be glad that everybody doesn't have standards that low for themselves at their profession.

Yup, total agreement. Just ou of curiosity I'm going to google this guy and see what I can find out about his experience. I'll let you know.


Bob

[Tampabaybob]

Ok, now I know who he is and where I know him from. He was a pro at the same time I was in the 70's and probably ran into him at one or more of the tournaments in the NY/ New England area. I also see where he is now with Bowlingball.com doing their coaching articles. Oh well.......no comment from here.

Bob

[billf]

Opps. I was referring to the expert village video. Rich's videos are bad but nowhere near as bad as that one. See post #12 for the video.

[Tampabaybob]

I counted 4 steps.....unless he's counting the step where he falls over to the right at the line !!!!!