Slinging for Distance - Day 2 ( Smith Creek, NV)

[@Acroballistics]

Congrats on the 420m! and thank you for making these videos. some observations: 1)you didn't do run ups for the concrete like in the 1st day and still got above 300m. 2)The roughness of the hand shaped concrete seems higher than the other two, but they need to be thrown a lot more to reach a conclusion on which roughness is more suitable. 3) I don't know how well you cleaned the lead glande that had salt and dirt on but I think the dirt would or did change relative roughness and flight characteristics.

[@IronGoober]

1. I think elevation helps a lot. and these concrete were denser than normal concrete (iron oxide mixed in ~1:4 ratio) 2. Agreed 3. Agreed, I wasn't being very careful with conditions of the glandes. Still much to learn.

[@warthog02]

Very nice, almost time to beat the record! Gotta come to Utah where the rock sling record was once made

[@davidmorningstar]

This is a real landmark in the sport. Well done!

[@IronGoober]

Thanks! much appreciated.

[@timothyfoster6169]

Started slinging bout a month ago, really appreciate your vids, never knew how much fun this was. Now i cant stop, and my son is all about it. Good clean fun!

[@IronGoober]

Love it man. So cool you can share it with your son. It is ridiculously fun.

[@orangutanjuice]

*Da da da da da da* "He's slinging for distance..., He's slinging for speeeed" Congrats man!

[@sirchanesaw]

Amazing ❤

[@joe_meadmaker]

Bravo sir! That is amazing! 👍

[@thejackinati2759]

Damn, adding Iron sand to your concrete mix is genius, I should try that next time I make a batch. Also goddamn that is a great achievement, you've beaten the ol' 400!

[@schlingellore258]

Really good, you're pretty close to the record 👍 (437m)

[@IronGoober]

I see what you did there. Metal darts and non-traditional slings don't count???! I quite agree. To beat Larry's record I think I'd have to use a stone. I'm pretty dang happy to have finally broken 400 though.

[@SpitSharp]

Sweet distance ❤ Great place for rc vehicle with camera, amphibious might come in handy there in case it rains 😂 I love it!

[@IronGoober]

I think we got like 1" of rain the night before. It was really coming down. It also dried up incredibly fast. Not sure if that is just the dry air, or the combination of dry air and salty lake bed. But, luckily, I didn't need anything amphibious, just a bit of time for it to dry (which is good, since my pickup is only 2wd). And thanks!

[@MitchMersa]

Congratulations IronGoober on getting into the 400m club !!! What an amazing achievement. I’m sure you could make it past the record on the right day !!

[@IronGoober]

Thanks man! I appreciate it. Maybe a 50" sling will help. I think one of that netted, very low drag style, I might be able to get it. The kevlar one doesnt' seem to get a whole lot of extra speed, but the thin dyneema one...I think it might.

[@MitchMersa]

@@IronGoober well if all goes well I’ll be watching you do it next year

[@gregkral4467]

Woo hoo! Congrats on the 400+ mark.

[@hsaunwtyeerrs]

Stoked for you man!

[@IronGoober]

Thanks! It would have been fun if you'd been there! But maybe next year. I bet you'd put up some damn good numbers too. And it would be nice to have someone else to help look for them. Finding them is hard!!!

[@Martins-Shaves123]

That video both encourages and somewhat dwarfs my newbie efforts 😅.

[@IronGoober]

You know, in 2020, I couldn't break 200m. I think the purpose of these distance videos is to show what is possible for an average person that puts in some effort to improve can do (throwing has honestly never been a strength of mine). In the last few years I put a lot of effort into improving mechanics and focusing on getting better speed. I just turned 40 this year, so it makes me wonder if a younger me could have done better with the same training. Hopefully some young gun will take it as a challenge and smash the world record soon!

[@Martins-Shaves123]

@IronGoober bless you , you're still so young ! I'm a newbie , but having great fun learning. Wish you were my side of the pond !

[@HistoricalWeapons]

How come longer sling with a hammer throw like start wouldn’t improve?

[@davidmorningstar]

There have been a couple of people doing pirouette throws (look up VoloundExpounds) but accuracy goes to heck when you are spinning your whole body

[@IronGoober]

Honestly, it might. But getting enough angle upwards becomes challenging with longer slings. Somewhere between 30-40 degrees of launch angle seems optimal.

[@TamasMateffy]

Good job! Great spot too. You can soak the concrete in water to make them a bit more heavy. Fired clay got 10-12% heavier by doing so. Salty water ads a couple percent. But lead glands are the best, unless you got like 800 bucks for osmium glands a piece😅

[@timothyandrewausten]

Well done!

[@HANDIY]

Amazing achievement, congradualtions! It does makes me wonder how Larry Bray pulled it off, maybe a little extra length in the sling will do it.. do you know how he measured his world record? was it the same techinique you're using?

[@IronGoober]

I don't know how it was measured. Probably a 100m tape or a measuring wheel.

[@andrewhanke8576]

Damn man that’s awesome. Congratulations

[@gregkral4467]

Hehehe, too dang sore to sling today after slingin too much yesterday (as if there is such a thing as too much other than physically), so am instead havin a blast with your channel instead. Rock on dude!

[@qsprimalaccuracy9709]

Really AMAZING!!! Congratulations!! 👏👏👏👏 You're the living proof how slings are a very underrated implement. By the way, I'm really interested on that sling design you're using here. I wonder if you can show us some tutorial or information on it. Cheers!!!

[@IronGoober]

I asked who made it if he has a tutorial. He said one is in the works. I suppose I could try to make a tutorial. It is just a netted pouch and 0.75mm dyneema fishing line, 5 strand braid for the retention and 3 strand for the release cord.

[@IronGoober]

If you are still interested, a tutorial has been posted on the forum. slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1725431881

[@qsprimalaccuracy9709]

@@IronGoober Always interested in slings!! Cheers!!

[@doloinc]

Excellent work, Goob! Are the clay glands air dried or fired?

[@IronGoober]

These were concrete glands that I added some iron oxide to, to try and increase the density. It added a few grams over the normal concrete ones.

[@sportslinging]

Amazing!!!!

[@ильгамшакуров-ь1н]

Пацаны вообще ребята, особенно вот этот в белом, да и вообще вы все молодцы. Не в натуре класс , заебичь, чëтко!

[@NickKrush.DGandFit]

420m is incredible man, that all time world record could be in reach! That late acceleration you got with the upward explosion off the block leg looks really good, I can see why you are bombing them

[@IronGoober]

Thanks man. I appreciate it. I feel like there is a useful conversation I could have with you about mechanics. It's closer related to forehand mechanics than backhand, but I still think there are some improvements I could make. On a side note, I also brought some discs out there to warm up my opposite side with... I don't understand how you throw backhand so efficiently ;), my best throws were rolling to 400ft. ;) Maybe I'll have to book you for a virtual coaching session in the near-ish future.

[@NickKrush.DGandFit]

@@IronGoober you're welcome! Overhand mechanics are super interesting to me, I grew up playing QB and watch a lot of pitching stuff on YT these days so that would be a fun conversation. And absolutely, just let me know if you need anything and can also email me (I think my email is shown near end of my last vid) 👍

[@hibahprice6887]

I wonder what the speed limit is.. Is it possible to accelerate it to 100... 150 meters per second?

[@IronGoober]

I've seen one video where it was very likely someone was getting 100m/s or greater, but with a 2m long sling. It is hard to get the launch angle with such a sling. I think with the right training and background someone could do it with a sling close to what I'm doing. I'm a novice thrower compared to olympian javelin throwers or pro baseball pitchers. Get their mechanics and mobility paired with the sling...I think some incredible speeds and distances could be reached.

Wow, congratulations, 400 meters is crazy! I've been thinking about slinging across the river Danube which is about 350-370 meters wide where i live. Looks like it's not impossible, but need to train a LOT more for it to be on your level. Also i often get a messy release on my sling. Do you think it is more likely a skill issue, or my sling is not good enough? (i'm only using rocks though, so nothing consistent)

[@IronGoober]

I wouldn't necessarily say 'skill' but one's technique certainly can cause it to release poorly. Smooth acceleration is key is what I've found. And the type of sling does make a difference, as I found out on this trip. Usually I'd just use solid pouch slings. The lightweight release cord and minimal contact with the projectile seemed to help here.

[@davidbeukers6762]

Pack an airtag inside the concrete. They are pretty accurate if they survive the impact

[@IronGoober]

Doesn't that require some sort of cell signal? I didn't have any in this area.

[@mlangfordoutdoor]

Slings are a blast but I not had one in 30 years

[@IronGoober]

Well, then, sir, for your own mental well-being, you should go make one and chuck some stuff! :)

[@jeffbonds3850]

try braided fishing line and a leather split pouch

[@IronGoober]

This sling was actually braided fishing line but a netted pouch. It works really well. Very clean releases

[@mrln247]

Super cool.

[@davebullard]

Congrats. I'm not at all experienced in this field, so please forgive any naiveté that I display. This is not a critique at all, it's a question. Well, it's two questions lol. 1. I understand the need for a higher trajectory, but this seems to really mess with your form. My impression is that most of the slingers that I've watched seem to generate a great deal of power from an almost crouched baseball side arm mechanic? I can see some benefit in what feels to me like a "decreasing radius" in that mechanic. To my eye, the higher trajectory not only seems to redirect the chain of "effort" into smaller muscles, it also seems to reduce the potential "radius reduction". In my head, the form for achieving the higher trajectory looks like an off axis crouch, which seems like a terrible idea to me lol. I've helped a couple of people with their drives in discgolf. I started telling them "you don't aim a gun by bending the barrel". The idea was to start with a well formed mechanic for a straight and level drive and tilt the supporting structure. This seemed to help them. 2. Is the above question at all rooted in "reality" lol. I fully expect it to be crazypants....

[@druidofsorrow]

Hello. I think I sorta understand what you're aiming at. Tell me if I misunderstood. You're basically saying "the strongest throw is a crouching sidearm horizontal throw, you should copy the exact same movements, just tilt your body backwards until your trajectory is steep enough." The simplest sort of response I can think of is that the long range slings Goober is using are simply too long for any sort of crouching throw and would hit the ground behind the thrower in the last swing. He has to lift the slings higher above his head to prevent that. A slightly more nuanced response would be that the biomechanics of other throwing movements don't translate fully into slinging, and those of a sling thrower are very different to other sports. The slinger has to "set up" the swing before s/he can go into the power stroke, which imposes all sorts of differences compared to other throwing movements. Any generalization of the movement probably misses a lot of the important nuances. A slightly spicy response would be that there's a meme running around the internet of someone criticizing an olympic gold medal winner for her form in an olympic pistol shooting competition, saying she shouldn't hold the gun like that because the recoil would hit her in the head. I'd say 420 m is the equivalent of an olympic athlete in slinging.

[@davebullard]

@@druidofsorrow Thank you! Yeah, I'm in no way criticizing here. I'm just trying to learn. I had a brief run at slinging a year or so ago, but wasn't able to devote the time to it. Time is opening up again and I'm looking forward to picking it back up. I'll learn way more from actually doing it for sure. For me, thinking about it is better than nothing.

[@druidofsorrow]

All's well, man. Hope you have lots of fun with your sling!

[@davebullard]

@@druidofsorrow thank you! I know it's kind of a small community so I'm sure I'm going to end up spamming everybody. fair warning! 😜

[@IronGoober]

Honestly, I'm not too sure that the higher trajectory does hurt. I've measured flat and upward throws with my chronograph and they are very similar. Within the noise if they are, in fact, different. But it's a good thought. The mechanics do have to change a bit, but the fundamentals are still there. Really, all I'm doing is leaning back a bit. But overall, I think it's just a matter of training that specific movement. Like...if javelin throwers were meant to try and stick javelins in as far as possible instead of throw as far as possible, their mechanics would likely change a bit. But still likely follow the same fundamental movements. This isn't much different. Similar to DG throws, too. I'm no biomechanics expert, I just watch videos about throwing and try to apply some of it. Best way to learn is to go mess around with it! Tennis balls in a field are actually a pretty good way to practice distance. As a referenceI can get the 'extra duty' (fuzz) to go about 100m, sometimes more, but you don't need a whole lot of space to practice. It is a good way to practice the mechanics, though the optimal release angle for a tennis ball is a lot shallower than a stone/glande.

[@owenthomas9863]

That is so freaking far