[CCRider]

I usually have an hour, sometimes two to practice in the evening when I get home from work. What is the best way to spend that time to advance my game. I play about average. Nothing to brag about.

[Big_Bad_Bern]

CCRider, I find that with a limited or set practice time the easiest thing to do is break it into sections and spend a little time on everything.

For example throw balls out on the table and run them randomly to wamup and loosen your stroke for about 5min.,

10min. break practice,
15min. practicing patterns for your prefered game
10min. cut shots,
10min. various bank shots,
5min. jumping,
5min. straight in stop shots from 4 diamonds away,

Also don't forget to vary the time you spend on things (giving more to your weaknesses) and rotate the routine to include tangent line work, position practice and kicking.

I call this my total body workout because it does you no good to have great big biceps (shotmaking) and little pin legs (position/cueball control) to carry them around. the total body workout give you a well rounded body (game) and not just a couple of overdeveloped muscle groups that will cause injury in the long run ( financial/loss of $ or emotional/frustration, stagnation and burnout caused by lack of fun/results).

Also I try not to spend anymore time on one thing than 30 minutes because your mind tends to wander and you stop giving your full effort and develop bad habits instead of developing your game.

The only exception I make to this is when I do my run 100 drill (throw all the balls on the table randomly [no clusters or problems] and try to run as many as you can before you miss, putting all the balls back on the table after every miss and repeat, keeping track of your high run) I focus on my shot routine on every ball. This drill is about consistency and rythmn and should be done for 1-2 hours once a week. My most recent high run is 258 (17.2 racks) without a miss. When I started I could not run 15 balls but I built my way up, let me know when you beat me (by the way 100 balls this way is pro level). I use this to rate my students

0-15 balls, beginner/ d player ------------------------
16-20 balls, c- player /these players need to
21-35 balls, c player /work on shotmaking
36-50 balls, c+ player----------------------------------
51-65 balls, b- player /these players need to
66-80 balls, b player /work on position
80-100 balls, b+ player---------------------------------
100-120 balls, a- player /These players need to
120-150 balls, a player /work on consentration,
150-200 balls, a+ player /stamina & weaknesses
200+ balls PRO------------------------------------------
/These players need to
/on tour!

Bern

[ Edited by Big_Bad_Bern on 2007/6/1 20:14 ]

[ Edited by Big_Bad_Bern on 2007/6/1 21:09 ]

[9BallroadPro]

That is excellent advice. You must practice with a plan, or you just waste your time.

[Big_Bad_Bern]

I believe that "you can plan to succeed or plan on failing!"

Bern

[ Edited by Big_Bad_Bern on 2007/6/30 13:05 ]

[Big_Bad_Bern]

Just bumping some good info for new members who may not have seen it.

Bern