Hi,everybody!

The figure 8 style is one of the main ones I use when I need an overhand.
And this style is one of the first that gave me good results.
I learned to understand it from Pansling videos, which is why it’s included here as an example (I hope he doesn’t mind).

But here's the thing. I still can't quite figure out my primary hand position, and it's still an open question. My hand position varies, but most often it's palm up, which allows my elbow to be more closely pressed against my chest and less likely to swing outward during the throw.
In the figure, I've compiled three basic starting hand positions. I'd love to hear from other participants about which position they prefer and why. Have you noticed any influence, and why did you choose it?

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I started palm up. My opinion is palm up should be “most efficient” since naturally palm up becomes palm down when you swing your arm to the rear.   That is, from arm-at-front to arm-at-rear there is no wrist rotation required.

But after learning the Figure 8 palm up, I now use “palm towards stomach” with my thumb pointing upwards.

This forces an extra wrist turn to get to palm-facing-downward when the arm goes to the rear.  But from my baseball background I never hold a baseball with palm upwards…..so turning my wrist seems more normal (baseball-ly) and natural to me.

Aside from personal preference I don’t think my starting position adds any benefit. In fact, one could argue my starting position adds unnecessary or inefficient twisting of the sling.

You can see the sling twist and the untwist during my figure 8 windup.

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The middle position, thumb points upward. With a vertical throw, your knuckles should be stacked vertically, kind of like how you would be holding a hammer for an overhead swing. This should result in the sling cords also being stacked, letting the projectile flow right out.

Rotating your palm down (pronate) or up (supinate) can add spin left or right which can lead to some wicked cool trajectories. I am no where skilled enough to put that into practice though.

I really like the graphic, but it looks like the top picture is of a left hand and the other two are right hands.

bandit111964 wrote on Aug 10^th, 2026 at 10:02am:

My opinion is palm up should be “most efficient” since naturally palm up becomes palm down when you swing your arm to the rear.

I noticed the same thing when I tried a training exercise with a similar swing while standing with my right shoulder against a wall. When the palm is facing up, the elbow doesn't swing out as much as in other positions.
But I don't know if there's anything useful in this. I assumed that this way my movements (including my elbow) would be more uniform, and therefore the technique would be more stable.


bandit111964 wrote on Aug 10^th, 2026 at 10:02am:

You can see the sling twist and the untwist during my figure 8 windup.

Are your cords parallel when you hold the bag? It looks like in the first photo the strops are already crossing before you start slinging.


Rhodophyta wrote on Aug 10^th, 2026 at 11:57am:

Rotating your palm down (pronate) or up (supinate) can add spin left or right which can lead to some wicked cool trajectories.

Actually, that's not entirely true, since I often throw from a palms-up starting position. And here's another point. Perhaps one of these positions can impart additional spin to the projectile, which can be beneficial for lift. Perhaps the combination of the starting and finishing palm positions is important.


Rhodophyta wrote on Aug 10^th, 2026 at 11:57am:

I really like the graphic, but it looks like the top picture is of a left hand and the other two are right hands.

Yes, that's true. Please ignore this, I noticed it while I was already drawing. :)

Quote:

Perhaps the combination of the starting and finishing palm positions is important.

I'd guess the finishing position would be the big contributor now that you mention it. As long as you have stacked knuckles at the release, you'll throw straight. I think if you release with palm up you would "slice" hard right or straight into the ground. Slice here being the golf definition of unwanted curve/spin.

If you throw very vertical and really rip the sling, you can generate backward spin that makes the projectile fly really flat and curve up at the end. I think the "ideal" angle is maybe 15 degrees off vertical. It gives a bit of lateral spin ("rifling") that will counter the tendency to throw to the left caused by the off angle, and this gives a really straight throw.

Oh yeah back on topic, I suppose now I am agnostic on initial hand position.

My first photo cords not twisted. But due to lumpy rock fitting off center in pouch one string pulled tight and other loose.  Guess that is not ideal either!  :)

I’m a palm up guy

Rhodophyta wrote on Aug 10^th, 2026 at 6:37pm:

I think if you release with palm up you would "slice" hard right or straight into the ground.

I have a hypothesis that the projectile's trajectory itself depends more on the position of three points - the shoulder, elbow and wrist. To be more precise, it depends on the plane in which the arm opens, i.e. the direction of movement of the hand from the shoulder. Like how a trebuchet opens. After all, his trajectory is precisely vertical. But if we (right-handed people) move our wrists like we're drawing a sword from behind our back (back left - top right - down left in front), while keeping our elbow close to our torso, then the projectile's trajectory will also become diagonal (from the top right diagonally down to the left).

In turn, it is the rotation of the wrist that determines how much the elbow will be pressed to the body or turned outward. The initial position of the hand corresponds to the position of the elbow at the beginning of the swing and movement to the middle, and the position of the hand at the moment of release corresponds to the position of the elbow at the final stage of the throw. I don’t know if I’m explaining it clearly or maybe it would be better to try drawing it.

These are all my thoughts about the trajectory, but the position of the hand also, in my opinion, has a greater influence on the rotation of the projectile to the left or right around its axis (supination, pronation).

Mersa wrote on Aug 11^th, 2026 at 1:02am:

I’m a palm up guy

Oh, I haven't seen you use the figure 8 in a while.
I thought it was just the initial stage, and then it became Byzantine...

I have my palm facing down. That is the position my hand gets in when I swing it in front of me. It feels the most natural for me.

For my distance slinging style, which is just distantly related to figure 8, I use palm up, because this is the starting position which leads to a reliable rifle spin release with a 50 inch sling and the ~45 gram stones I use. I figured it out empirically. But this is a very specific case and it might not work for you if you try to copy it. Everyones throw is a bit different.

FloatingFlint wrote on Aug 11^th, 2026 at 3:27pm:

I have my palm facing down. That is the position my hand gets in when I swing it in front of me. It feels the most natural for me. For my distance slinging style, which is just distantly related to figure 8, I use palm up, because this is the starting position which leads to a reliable rifle spin release with a 50 inch sling and the ~45 gram stones I use. I figured it out empirically. But this is a very specific case and it might not work for you if you try to copy it. Everyones throw is a bit different.

So, you use a different starting position of the wrist depending on the throw variation, is that correct?
It turns out that there is still some influence and difference between the positions.