RZ Trainer (Football) -- Impressions

[SWVA-Football]

For those of you unfamiliar with it, the "RZ Trainer" is a football that is meant to enhance your accuracy/throwing ability by allowing you to throw repeatedly without having to:
A. Chase the ball
and
B. Find someone to throw with (which, for me, is hard as hell most of the time.)

Here are photos of it in case you're interested:



and a VIDEO as well:
http://www.properformancestore.com/r...ainer_full.wmv

Basically you fasten the belt around your waist and since the football is on a flexible "string"-like deal, it can still spiral properly (due to a rotating device at the end of it) while being able to come back to you once the cord is stretched to its maximum length.

The cord can be adjusted so that you can choose between medium-to-short throwing distance. Notice that I don't say "long", because the longest distance the cord reaches is probably just 15-20 yards from what I could tell.

Now as for the performance... I received the RZ Trainer as a gift for Christmas and actually pulled it out later this evening because I don't have anything to do, and I was really surprised with how well it performed.

I got in several nice throws and I couldn't help but smile when the football bounced back to me (or near me) after every throw... it's just such a relief after so many long evenings last year of throwing-and-retrieving like a dog. Those days are over, and now I have something to help me even more when it comes to practicing my throws.

The ball also improves your catching ability/hand-eye-coordination by allowing you to "catch" it when it rolls back to you after the catch (and at pretty good speeds usually.)

You can also try doing such things as letting someone else throw it (which makes it come to you after they throw) or even PUNTING IT, although I haven't tried this just yet.

There are a few letdowns... first of all, the football itself is pretty nice, but the plastic laces can do a number on your fingers if you aren't careful with how you release it.

Also, the stretchy cord/string that helps bring the football back to you can scrape across your arm if you aren't careful, and in some cases it actually kind of skimmed across my face! So if you don't want to have your arm burnt up (from where it flies so fast once you put power into the throw), you have to be careful and "turn" the belt to your liking.

I found out that if you throw right-handed, having the belt-clip (with the cord) to the left of my waist was much more comfortable, and this would obviously be vice-versa for a left-handed thrower.

The twisty-like deal at the end of the cord that allows the ball to spin DOES twist around and gets tangled up every now and then, you have to untangle it after every time you use it so that you keep it in good condition.

Overall, though, the RZ Trainer is a great gift and I'm really going to have a good time with this thing once football season gets back here (in a couple of months.)

If you are like me and don't have many people to pass football with and would like to improve your throwing skills BY YOURSELF, I'd highly recommend giving the RZ Trainer a try.. I found mine at K-Mart, so they may still have them there.

They are around $29.95 retail.

[Diets17]

Wish I had one of these when I was a kid. [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Indian09]

ive wanted one of those before.

[SWVA-Football]

If you're interested in it, go ahead and get one... you can watch my video that I made as proof of how good it works. Chasing footballs is a thing of the past!