Hot mode

[LTLFTC]

Hi as suggested by the Swede with Speed i've started a new thread I would be interested in what people do to get into hot mode I know a lot of peolpe say it usually takes a certain amount of time before they get ther. What are you doing before that. I'v read the threads about warm ups etc. but where to from there?

[Alastair V]

I haven't been in many hot modes, but the ones that i have been in, i got to it like this.
I simply spin the powerball at about 6000rpm for about an hour and a half ( normally while on computer) swapping hands every minute or so. With the occasional burst of maybe 10-11k for about two minutes swapping hands every 30 seconds or so.

This manages to get me to 14k

[dcash10181]

Hi LTLFTC,

Yes, to get into hot-mode normally takes a little time. The interesting thing about a hot-mode is that when you are in it, you are normally already a little tired and almost ready to quit the session, yet you start getting scores unlike what you were doing in the beginning when you were fresh. You even might break records. :)

It normally takes me about 30 minutes to an hour to really get into a decent hot-mode where I can start getting good scores. For myself, what I mean by good scores is 14,900 or above (preferrably 15K or above). For you this might be different, but it will be scores close to your current record.

It may differ for everyone what they do to get into the hot-mode, but I have found that for me, I start with a short warm-up. Just get the ball spinning, not doing 90s or 30s yet. Just spin it for a few minutes lightly. Then maybe try some speed runs to see where you are at the beginning. This warms me up for either a few 30s or a 90s attempt. You will probably find that your grip and the pulsing of your arm is at a certain level at this time. I just keep that in mind for reference later.

After I do the strength runs, I should be sweating some and nicely warmed up. But at this point I just take a minute to rest and regain my composure and normalize my breathing a little for the record attempts. Shaking out your arms a little too.

Now you are ready. Make sure you get into your best grip. Go for it with same if not more intensity that you remember for the 30s/90s runs. You are going to suddenly find that after a few record attempts, if your scores were a certain distance below your records, they will start increasing and getting closer with each attempt to your record. After a few minutes you will find that you are suddenly going way above what your were in the beginning of the session. Though you are getting tired again, you are enjoying the new quicker pulse of your arm after the strength runs. The speed scores may even go past your record on your Powerball at that point.

I have found that suddenly I am hitting 15K (or 14.9K) with apparent ease for the next few runs. After awhile you will tire though, and you will see your scores going down from the peak if you didn't happen to break your record. If you do happen to break your record, you can decide to go for more if you wish or you might call it the end of the session so you don't overdo it too much.

There are some additional things that seem to help when you are doing a Powerball session.

1. Schedule your session for specific time of day. This might get your body to be ready for breaking records.

2. Have your favorite sports drink or creatine drink before, during and after the session.

3. Have a little chocolate treat in the minutes before you even begin. I am not sure why this seems to help, but it seems do something for your energy a little too.

4. Use a grip enhancer like Surgrip or grip spray to eliminate hand sweat and improve your overall grip on the Powerball. You don't want it start slipping just as you approach your peak speed. In general, my hands sweat a lot, so this helps for me. But even a grip enhancer may not replace a proper grip on the Powerball.

The actual approach that you use for your own hot-mode can definitely be different. If you have a Metal Powerball, you might use this instead of the strength runs, and you might find the 250Hz Powerball is surprisingly light and easy. Then you might break records. I know there are probably dozens of ways to reach a hot-mode, so experiment with what might work for you. The bottom line is that it does tend to take a certain amount of time before your get into the hot-mode. You'll know that you are in the hot mode when you suddenly start smashing your records. :)

I hope that helps a little. Now go and break some records! ;)

Always Powerballing,
Duane Cash

[LTLFTC]

thanks for the quick responses> I put alastair v's to the test(first come first served) and i can see what you mean things start getting better then suddenly yipee. I only put 150 onto my left hand score to anew high of 12606. My right hand is still refusing to cooperate without a lawyer but it got up to 12661. I thought i would have a crack at a strength run an first time got 16111 1 rev below my previos best aaaaaaaar! i couldn't let that go so i had two more cracks and got 16639 and 16612 happy me:D:D:D I'll put duane to the test next time (especially the chocolate bit) but everyone else feel free to keep their thoughts coming its very helpful

PS woops i spoke too soon came back an hour later anothr av and i finally hit the magic 13000 damn that feels good and 16798 90's

[WildThunder]

Hi as suggested by the Swede with Speed...

Hi LTLFTC,
Hehe, I see that we have some great rhyme skills here!! :D

About Hot Mode,
I think Duane more or less covered the area completely.

But here some personal thoughts anyway:
When I started PowerBalling I only did speed runs all the time.
After a while I became more interested and started reading posts on this forum.
I learned that working with strength runs is essential for improving your speed records
(at the time I didn’t even know what the 30,60 and 90 on the counter was).
I had a hard time believing this since I thought that this would get you too tired for achieving any decent speed score. Anyway I gave it a try and was proved wrong. :)

Today I think a mixture between strength and speed runs are the best way to achieve maximum scores.
How this mix should look like vary from person to person (you just have to do some testing and find out what works best for you).

Another thing I’ve found out by myself is that I’ve never scored any records going into a session feeling great and strong having high expectations. The sessions were I’ve scored records is normally the day after a very intense session feeling worn, rather weak and having no expectations what so ever.
But this is just how it works for me. ;)

[One-Eye]

Metal is good warm up for me.

Do some speed runs, then a couple of 30s strength on each hand, then a few more speed runs.

I'll switch to 250hz and do a couple of speed runs before doing some 90s strength then let my arms recover a bit before trying some record runs.

I also tend to find that record runs happen when you're least expecting them too.

Have rested my arms a good few days now so I'm going to have a good session tonight and see what comes of it.

[slim123]

Hi all, i had a little hot mode today i jumped from 12,473 to 12,817 :D
Which is a jump of 344 whic i was quite pleased with i am now aiming for 14,000 within the next 2 months and 13,000 by the end of the week.

Best Regards

Slim:p

[Adrena1in]

Metal is good warm up for me.For ages I would warm up with the Metal, and I didn't make any speed improvements for ages. Tuesday jut gone I warmed up with the Plastic, and by the end of the session I added over 210 to my plastic and Metal scores, (and my Metal score was the first Metal speed run of the evening.)

Coincidence? Maybe, but from now on if I want speed I'm going to warm up with the Plastic, if I'm going for endurance I'll warm up with the Metal.

[Alastair V]

Completely different from my previous post, i now have a different way of getting into a hot mode.

As soon as the powerball is started, i try to get it up to 11k-11.5k(just below my 90s score) and keep it there for as long as possible, switching hands every 10 seconds or so, after a couple of minutes, i have a break and spin at about 6k for a bit, then i go up high again.
Gets me into a hot mode in between 15-20 minutes.

[Adrena1in]

Something else I did last Tuesday, when I was in hot mode, was not warm up at all. Silly really, but I went straight into it. I always warm up first, but this time I didn't.

Makes ya think! :rolleyes:

[petemayhew]

Completely different from my previous post, i now have a different way of getting into a hot mode.

As soon as the powerball is started, i try to get it up to 11k-11.5k(just below my 90s score) and keep it there for as long as possible, switching hands every 10 seconds or so, after a couple of minutes, i have a break and spin at about 6k for a bit, then i go up high again.
Gets me into a hot mode in between 15-20 minutes.

I'm completely different to you Alistair

I could/would never go straight into keeping the powerball at 11-11.5K constantly for over 90 seconds. This would just tear my hand up and is likely to give me blisters and make my hand hurt/ache resulting in the hot mode being ... how do i put it ... **** :o

I would start by doing about 1000 on the first setting keep the ball about 6000-7000 taking me about 15 minutes, then once i feel i can spin the ball with ease I'll up the pace a little bit to about 9000-10000 constantly for about another 5 minutes, switching hands every 30 seconds.

Once i feel my hands have come used to the force of the powerball i'll go for about 2 or 3 30's runs, then a 90's run and after the 90's run i'll rest for a minute keeping the powerball at low speeds and then go for a speed attempt which normally turns out about 98-99~% of my record or more.

Once I've done about 3/4 speed runs and feel im getting nowhere I'll do another 90's run then followed by a another speed attempt ext until I feel I'm "knackered" and Tired and then I'll stop. The while thing usually goes on for about 45 minutes :)

Hope you can get them scores on video Alistair

Pete

[petemayhew]

Speaking about hot modes :D

I just made 3 of my records just literally now, sorry to boast but
I've long awaited to get on to the Top400 and now comes the time.

I started as usual and did a few endurance runs, thus making 6229 (30s), 17209 (90s) :) :D

.. i remember saying to Tim at the live chat, "I really want to get into that Top400", his response was "It'll come Pete" and somehow that has sort of drove me on to get in the Top400. My score came quite unexpectedly 13437 a jump of 284 rpm, i made countless 13200 + and finally came out with that! I felt i was shaking my body more, 'pulsing'.

Anyways Thanks for listening and sorry to boast :o But I'm rather happy! Hope someone who's trying to get up in the 13K bracket has found this useful. :)

Pete

[WildThunder]

My score came quite unexpectedly
13437 a jump of 284 rpm......

Great score Pete - Congrats and welcome to the speed score boards! :)
That’s a very impressive improvement and a huge leap.
Well now when you're in I'd guess we'll see you storming up the score board :D
Yes, records come when you least expect it, I’ve more or less been surprised by all of my record scores.

[Installed]

Awsome Pete!! Like WildThunder said, welcome to the scoreboard!

[One-Eye]

Good going Pete. :)

[Alastair V]

Top stuff pete.
Reminds me of when i jumped from 13395 to 13607, hopefully you can do something similar again.

[Jammy]

Congrats Pete - You're a legend in the making;)

[Adrena1in]

13437 a jump of 284 rpm, i made countless 13200 + and finally came out with that! I felt i was shaking my body more, 'pulsing'.Excellent scores Pete, and isn't it great to make such a score improvement? I never used to put my whole body into it, and only when I started to do so, keeping my arm quite still and pulsing my body, did my scores start to rise significantly. I'm sure the same will happen with you. 13.5k shouldn't be a problem, and then 14k isn't that far away afterwards! :D

[lhnova]

Excellent scores Pete, and isn't it great to make such a score improvement? I never used to put my whole body into it, and only when I started to do so, keeping my arm quite still and pulsing my body, did my scores start to rise significantly. I'm sure the same will happen with you. 13.5k shouldn't be a problem, and then 14k isn't that far away afterwards! :D

yeah I think you discovered the trick to getting those high 13k scores :), same thing happened to me and its the only way I was able to get above 13k and beyond. But be careful of overdoing this new technique now, for me at least it put a lot of strain on the elbow because I kept my arm straight and almost overextended the elbow during every pulse. AND of course I enjoyed getting those mid 13k scores so much that I completely overdid it and now im paying the price with sore tendons in my right elbow :(.

Couldn't do any powerballing with my right arm all week so don't let the same thing happen to you, though im sure you're not quite as dumb as I was :o

Keep the scores coming :)

Linus

[Adrena1in]

...though im sure you're not quite as dumb as I was :o
Oh I don't know about that, but I do know that I don't keep my arm dead straight. Most of my effort tends to be focussed in my shoulder, so if anything's going to hurt it'll be that.

[petemayhew]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I rested the weekend so should be hitting mid 13k scores later tonight, I don't have my arm totally straight just shake my other arm a bit to get some rhythm and speed.

I'm going to try an "Installed" run tonight, because my runs keep being branded Ed Tech so I'm going to make use of it and maybe increase on my score, but I'll try one with a firm grip and see how they match up :)

[Installed]

Good luck. Keep in mind that some rotors are not good for ed tech, only the ones that sit smoothly at high speeds while spinning on a single axis... and you'll probably want to use washers and a track that you dont mind wearing out.