Gotta Go Back to Go Forward!

Adding a rhythmic movement to your pre swing routine is crucial to get on time and developing power, but how do we do it???

So many coaches have their philosophy on swings and how the barrel should go to contact as well as how a stance should look. Let's be honest here.... it's not a perfect world, we can't make every hitter look the same. Our job is to NOT create robots, but create similarities within each swing. What I mean by this is that if you were to line up numerous hitters and video their swings (by the way, go to Youtube and look up hitters as it's that EASY), you see similarities and differences.

Some differences include how they start in their stance. Some are open, some are in line while others are closed in. Some guys have hands back more while others are closer to the body or lower than the shoulder. Heck, some guys even move their feet in their stance before they even begin their swing. Don't get me started about the finishing points as guys are wildly different from each other, but it's what them who they are and there's not a damn thing wrong with it!

GET ON WITH IT, COACH!!

One thing that stands out to me is the motion of going backwards in order to go forwards.

For every hitter, youth to pro, they have a motion that they take to get their swing started. It has different sizes and speeds, but it's the same motion that goes across the board with either the legs or hands, and that's the loading phase. Loading your body is such an important factor for hitters that it needs to be taught as part of the mechanical phase to hitters. They've got to find a certain motion that makes them feel comfortable, but also allows them to generate maximum power! We all know that power comes from the lower half from the ground to the hips.

It can be done with the hands or through the legs. Either way, there has to be precautions when you work on it. If you use your legs, make sure you weight isn't falling over your back foot when you load as you could lose your balance and you can lose the quickness not to mention the power you were generating. Instead, make sure the back knee is inside the back foot and it's more of a coiling motion when using the legs. This means you're "pinching" your back hip away from the plate that will allow your upper body to turn in and stay on the pitch longer before you explode through the ball. If you use your hands more, make sure it's not a forcing motion that you shove the hands away from your face, leading to an arm bar of the front side. Instead, focus on rocking the baby or scooping the ice cream so you can have more of a loading phase into the scapula of your back shoulder. This will trigger the back elbow to engage and drive into the back side of the ribs, aiding hitters to getting the barrel turned and behind the ball earlier, generating a "longer" swing through the pitch plane and allows the back shoulder to release the barrel instead of just hands.

Don't worry, I plan on talking about the last segments in separate posts!

Remember.... in order to go forward, we gotta go back!!

***Check out my lessons page as this is something I work with hitters on both on-site and online!***

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