Advice on achieving a High Powerball RPM
How to achieve a high Powerball RPM? We have made a short video that you can watch with some of the main advice and tips from world record holder Akis Kritsinelis on achieving a world record Powerball RPM. Below is a more detailed advice that he gave in his own words.
POWERBALL: Tips and suggestions
Here are a few powerballing “tips”, meant to assist you in raising you scorings and generally improving your powerballing ability.
Spinning technique
Firstly you should get accustomed to the correct spinning technique. There are detailed guidelines and also some videos in the official site, but generally, you should keep in mind the following:
You should always rotate your wrist and never your forearm.
You should “listen” to the ball and try to be synchronized during the session, “following” rotor’s rotation. You should not whisk it neither faster nor slower than it is “willing” to take.
At very high speeds, there is no actual rotation of the wrist, but high intense “jolts”.
A very tight, “locking” grip should be established in order to reach really high speeds.
Exercising
Repeated exercise with the Powerball is absolutely necessary in order to improve your ability. You should not try only highest rpm sessions. Training under strength/endurance mode is essential.
I would suggest you use 30-sec and 60-sec sessions on one hand and 90-sec sessions on both hands (switching during the session). Make sure to spin the rotor up to a sufficient level before resetting the counter. And don’t think that you will get improved by just spinning to a modest level (like 5-6000 rpm). This is useful only for relaxation and rehabilitation purposes. In order to improve your strength and ability, you must literally suffer! You should use about 80-90% of your capacity when practicing and feel like your arm will fall down! This way, not only you will be improving your powerballing ability, but you will also exercise your arms and feel strengthened and “pumped’ from shoulders to fingertips.
The frequency and tension of the exercise should be formed according to your temperament and capacity. A general scheme would be to exercise for half to one hour day after day.
I would also recommend that you use two powerballs. One for high scores and another for practice. This is due to the fact that while practicing you get much exhausted and it may be difficult to always keep a firm grip on the ball. This results to rotor “bumps” and generally improper operation, which may reduce the ball’s highest speed capacity, however, does not really affect it as an exercising tool. On the other hand, a ball which is used only for high score attempts is easier to be held firmly and will progressively be “settled” in such a way that all inner parts co-operate most efficiently hence gets capable of getting to really high speeds.
Reaching really high speeds
In order to achieve really high scores, try the following:
1. Perform exhausting exercising sessions for a week. Practice more intensely than you usually do.
2. If you exercise with weights, you may need to “lighten” your weight exercising for that week. Weights may get you stronger, but will generally make you sluggish and reduce your wrist’s and forearm’s mobility.
3. Select a day on which you will have enough time available and generally be in a good physical condition.
4. Commence highest speed sessions and persist eagerly until your scores get improved.
5. After some time (it might as well be a few hours so don’t be in a haste!), you will enter a really “hot mode”, where you will magically begin to hit scores far better than usual.
6. Now you should go "berserking", until you hit 15k. Or at least until you hit a really smashing score.
Hope the above helps a little!
Akis