Teaching HLP

[heavyhittersny]

Hey Guys,

I have been a member of this site for a while and was lucky enough to spend 3 hours with Teach about 2 months ago at my facility. I was immediately sold on the Teaching and could see how this trims that fat out of so much bullshit thats out there. Unnecessary Slop!!! I have been studying and working on swinging to duplicate. Since then I am having daily Ah Ha moments but there is still so much to learn. I wanted to start this thread to post my swings as well as my kids to get feedback and show our progression. I also wanted to gather all of the information I find helpful on this site in one place.

We work on movements and dry swings during every lesson with a plan in place.
I assign a drill/ movement or 2 to do home a few days each week.
Typically these drills/ movements come with a video of me explaining and doing the drill or movement so they have a reference to follow.

Normally I teach in this order:
1- Barrel Turn
2- Coil
3- Hover

I teach out in Brooklyn, NY and everyone out here has a push pattern swing on a steep downward path that intersects the ball. There is absolutely no use of the lower body and everything is hands and arms. So I typically have my work cut out for me when I start training a new hitter.

This is Julian and he is a very good hitter for an 11 year old. I have worked with him on his Set Up, Hand Set, Coil, and now we are trying to learn to Hover. I didn't touch barrel turning yet because I think he will pick it up quicker than most kids and I wanted him to get the Coil down first.

I taught Julian to Coil in segments and then had him put it all together. First I had him set up in a No Stride, keep his back eye at the pitcher to make sure there is no twisting, stay square to home plate, Coil by moving his knob and chest in unison around his rear hip/ leg. Second I had him get up on his toes on his lead foot, show the pitcher his back pocket, and create a Corner with his front shoulder all at the same time. Third I had him learn how to pinch his Scap. We hit off the Tee and Toss after Coiling in segments and then we did so by Coiling all together. Here is some clips of the stuff we did today.

Command Drill: I wanted Julian to feel and maintain the stretch in his Coil as he swung. The back and hip resisting.


Hover Drill: This was the last part of a Hover Progression we worked on today. The progression was in 3 parts. First we lifted our lead leg and balanced on our rear leg. Second we lifted our lead leg and worked on letting our lead leg move out the same distance we coiled back. Third we lifted preset in Max Coil, let loose about 20%, lifted our lead leg coiled more, and the coiled back to max as we moved out.


Hover Full Swing: We worked on getting comfortable with the Hover and swinging. We thought about letting our lead leg get planted by our swing. This is more 2 Legged than 1 legged but he is understanding what he's working towards.


Next lesson I am going to start working on the Barrel Turn. I use Coach Soriano's Barrel Turn Progression that he posted on another thread.

Please let me know what you think and any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!!

[heavyhittersny]

Here are a few clips of me swinging last week. I have a reconstructed left ankle that is fused. This causes me to land on heel of my lead foot. I have spoken with Teach about it and we think I am better off in a No Stride. I def need to be more Ferris Wheel. This week Im going to work on using a Bownet behind me to ensure the Ferris Wheel feel.

Command Drill: I was thinking about resisting with my back and rear hip as well as letting that rear leg pull me the direction I wanted to Launch.


Hover Full Swing 1: Just trying to get comfortable adding the Hover to my swing and staying on the barstool.


Hover Full Swing 2: Attacking Oppo - Just wanted to concentrate on hitting the ball opportunity by launching my rear leg that direction.

[RayR]

I like the no stride better. Soon as you pick up foot you are shifting weight back to catcher. Same as your hitter. IMO it's because you are using your lead side to pick up.

If you contract/flex your rear ass cheek you will not shift back as much.

Edit - use the rear ass to pick up / coil.

[heavyhittersny]

Thanks Ray.

My feeling is all of my weight is on my back foot and in my back hip. So the lifting of the front leg is more of a product of the Coil and the contraction/ flex of the rear ass. I will work to get that down.

[Spartans21]

Here are a few clips of me swinging last week. I have a reconstructed left ankle that is fused. This causes me to land on heel of my lead foot. I have spoken with Teach about it and we think I am better off in a No Stride. I def need to be more Ferris Wheel. This week Im going to work on using a Bownet behind me to ensure the Ferris Wheel feel.

Command Drill: I was thinking about resisting with my back and rear hip as well as letting that rear leg pull me the direction I wanted to Launch.


Hover Full Swing 1: Just trying to get comfortable adding the Hover to my swing and staying on the barstool.


Hover Full Swing 2: Attacking Oppo - Just wanted to concentrate on hitting the ball opportunity by launching my rear leg that direction.

It looks like you are feeling some good things. Nice work!

I would def get into barrel turn with your students asap.. That's the first thing I do with my kids and I don't like moving on until they can do it well. They are going to have great results when they learn that part alone.....

[heavyhittersny]

Hey Spartans21,

Thanks for the helpful reply. I joined this site because I loved the way everyone pitched in to help each other through the journey. I look forward to being a contributor at some point with someone else's journey. Julian will be working on the Barrel Turn next lesson. As far as working with all of my other kids its all Barrel Turn and Movements in the beginning. I use Coach Sorianos Barrel Turn Progression he posted as well as some other stuff I have found on here along the way. Do you have any helpful cues that you use??

Thanks!!

[heavyhittersny]

The First Engine

The First Engine

The First Engine is the lower gear seen above.
The First Engine is the rear leg.
High level hitters are one-legged, meaning the vast majority of their weight is in/over their rear leg AT LAUNCH.
Their lead leg is on the ground.
It supplies balance.
But it has no significant weight on it at launch.
It has no real function in the swing other than to 'catch' the swing so you don't fall over as a result of the momentum created.
In the act of 'catching' the swing, the lead leg will provide a 'block' so that the energy created continues around the rear leg and into contact rather than bleeding forward linearly.
But it does not actively push back. It blocks.

The rear leg is the driver of the swing, not the hips.
The rear leg is loaded by the coil of the hip and the pulling back of the muscles of the back against the leg.
A spiral-like load around the rear leg is created.
Strong external rotation pressure will be felt by the rear foot at the ground.
This pressure is caused by the coiling hip.
It is not caused by any external rotation of the leg.
In fact, this hip coiling action is countered by the leg's INTERNAL Rotation.
A rag wring-like load is created in the rear hip socket.
The hip is coiling rearward as the leg tries to turn forward.
A bind is created.
This means, the rear leg, while attempting to internally rotate actually has strong external rotation pressure applied to it because of the strength of the coiling hip.
The rear hip coil is done by the rear hip socket coiling around the ball of the rear femur.
The pelvis is a solid bone so the entire pelvis will pivot as this coiling occurs in the rear hip socket.
However, the pivot point of the pelvis' turn is the rear hip socket.
It is not the center of the pelvis which would happen if the hitter swung around a spinal axis.

As the hitter picks up his lead leg and starts to move out, his back muscles will begin to counter that forward momentum by pulling rearward in the same direction of the hip's coil.
This action is shown well by this clip...



I call the above the 'Missing Frames'.
Because they are missing in swings that are not high level.
Most amateurs and many pros do not have the missing frames.
But every great hitter has them.

Pedroia is using his back muscles to ARREST his forward momentum. That action creates a strong rubber band-like stretch around the leg.
The rag wring-like stretch that was already established in his rear hip socket is enhanced by the muscles of the lower back and scap pulling rearward against his forward momentum.
This action maintains the corner, around which the barrel is launched. Without this action the hitter would turn forward too soon and thereby bleed his stretch.
Notice his center of gravity lowering.
That happens as a result of the back working to arrest the momentum. The degree the center of gravity lower varies and it is mostly based on the hitters original stance and the amount of forward momentum he uses. But no matter, the hitters goal is to 'stay on the barstool'.
Stay on his pedestal which is his rear leg.
The hitter does not allow his weight to shift forward.
The stretch is 'around' the rear leg and up the back to the Scap.
The front side has no involvement in this stretch process.
Pedroia's lead leg extends forward involuntarily to maintain the body's balance. It moves much like your arms move when walking.
You don't think about it.
But they move on their own to provide balance.
Front side involvement would require weight to be shifted forward.
If weight is shifted there is no stretch around the rear leg.
You can't have both.
You can't have a quality rear hip/leg load and have weight forward.
In order to get weight forward you MUST bleed any load you had in the rear leg.

When the above load is achieved, the hitter simply turns the barrel rearward and that triggers the leg to snap through the 'hold' of the hip and back and the barrel gets whipped forward with a quickness that no other technique can match.

Each of these hitters are pulling rearward with their back and scap against their forward move out.
This action keeps their weight back and around their rear leg.

The significance of this load is the instant spring forward at go.
You don't have to 'work' the launch.
It's automatic.
It leads to a true RELEASE of the barrel....not a swing of the barrel.

Next topic is:
How Do You Sync Your Two Engines.
Does the Scapula ever release at any point in the swing?
It will release itself.

[heavyhittersny]

The Second Engine

The Second Engine

There are three elements of a high level swing.
The First Engine.
The Second Engine.
And the sync-age between the two engines.

The First engine is the lower body. The lower gear. Most call it the hips, but the hips in a high level swing are part of the upper body. They are part of the 'fused torso'. A high level swing has an upper body (torso and hips) that is fused into a unit and that unit is pivoted by the rear leg at launch after the Stretch ’N’ Fire type load is created.

But, this article is about the Second Engine itself.
It is about the top gear shown above.
The Second Engine has three elements to it.
First, the Lateral Tilt of the torso.
The second is the Triangle Turn (triangle formed by the forearms and chest).
Third is the Forearm Rotation. This clip shows the Second Engine and it's three elements.



The above demo is from a tipped barrel but the tip is not a requirement.
It can be done from all handsets.

And a key to the movement is it has to be one move not three separate moves.
And you do that by making sure all three moves are concentric....or....in parallel planes.


LATERAL TILT:
After a hitter coils his torso usually counter rotates a bit. Some barely. Others quite a bit. Both can be effective if you are working your Second Engine properly. If you care to discuss this feel free to message me. In either case, a little or a lot, the lateral tilt of the torso is SEEN as the lead shoulder working up and the rear shoulder working down. It is actually your fused torso working tilting over the back of the ball of your femur. It is done at the angle you are at after your coil. So, if you're a righty, and you coil, your shoulder line will be pointed toward the 2Bman to some degree. That is the line of your lateral tilt. You laterally tilt so as to maintain that direction as long as you can. That movement is done aggressively....all in. That is one of the most explosive things the body can do. It is an integral part of the launch.

TRIANGLE TURN:

The triangle is the relationship of your forearms to your chest.

Here is a great view of it.



The lead elbow works up. The rear elbow works down. At first Bonds triangle was pointed downward. Sun light rays would pass through it. At the end, he can almost look through it. It has been turned.


FOREARM ROTATION:
Forearm rotation is both supination of the rear forearm and pronation of the lead forearm. And this is an extremely important element. And many miss it. The forearms is where swing QUICKNESS comes from. It is THE SOURCE of swing quickness. The other elements of the Second Engine support....provide a platform....for the forearms to work.

SYNCING UP:
As mentioned above these three actions must turn in concentric or parallel planes. If they do, all three actions work on the barrel TOGETHER...directly....and that produces the body's maximum acceleration ability. IF one of the elements is working out of parallel then you have a wobble going on and your Second Engine is not work efficiently. Your barrel will drag and it will lose accuracy.

Another extremely critical point is the relationship of your rear elbow to the hands and chest. The angle of your rear forearm to your rear upper arm must be within a certain parameter. It must be somewhere between 90 degrees and 60 degrees (give or take....it's personal) It can't be more than 90. You are asking for trouble when it gets less than 60. Experiment with it. None of these numbers are given as hard fast numbers. They are given as a guideline. You'll be able to find YOUR spot when you execute the following. Establish the handset as just mentioned, then draw a visual line from your hands to your chest while in your handset. Another visual line, from your rear elbow forward will bisect that handtochest line. That line is critical. You must turn your Second Engine so that the elbow moves, is turned, forward ON THAT LINE extended. This is the power line. Generally speaking that line is parallel to your chest AT LAUNCH. However, the leg is going to turn the chest. YOU MUST MAINTAIN THAT LINE TO THE BEST OF YOUR ABILITY. You must swing 'out from' your body and not 'around' your body. Here is Manny swinging out from his body....



His chest is being turned as the leg turns the torso. But his elbow stays on the power line for as long as possible. This is not disconnection. It would be disconnection if you had a spinal rotation swing. But high level hitters have a forearm axis. Manny is keeping his forearm axis turned barrel....on the line of the pitch....and not allowing his body to pull him off the ball.

This line must be maintained by the launch so that the energy developed from your lower gear reaches the barrel. I will fully acknowledge that a hitter might have to 'let out' a bit to get to an outside pitch. Or, 'pull in' a bit to get to an inside pitch. That's fine. But the launch itself must be done so that the elbow travels down that line initially.

The actions that create what I've described are quite simple.

Lateral tilt of the torso.
Adduction of the rear elbow.
Abduction of the lead elbow.
Supination of the rear forearm.
Pronation of the lead forearm.

You must avoid external rotation of the humerus.

[heavyhittersny]

This is one of my kids working on feeling the Barrel Turn for the first time.
Vito is battling Bat Drag so I put him in the Neck Slot and asked him to think about his hands staying where they are the whole time and turning the barrel behind his head.
Before we worked this Barrel Turn Drill I showed him how we Laser the ball in different locations and we spoke about the Adduction of the Humerus and Supination of the Forearm.

[Spartans21]

Looks like things are going well. Nice work. Jsoriano's vids are def good stuff, I do those drills often. Recently "knob to nose" or "turn the knob to the sky" have been two that I have been using. I feel like kids can't enough snap stops. Off a tee, off front toss, we do a ton of snap stops. Sometimes we throw the "wall" in there too while doing them.

Those descriptions of the 1st and 2nd engine are awesome. They cannot be read enough. I reread things like that all the time. I feel like the better I understand them the better I will be able to teach it.

Keep up the good work!

[heavyhittersny]

Great video of Coach Richard breaking down the Wall Drill.

https://youtu.be/u9q4ji5gDCI

[heavyhittersny]

Thanks Spartans!

I have heard the cues "knob to nose" and "turn the knob to the sky" but i haven't used them yet. Would this be part of the jut????

[heavyhittersny]

Barrel Turn

I will post all information, gifs and videos pertaining to Barrel Turning right here that I have found on this site.

[Spartans21]

Thanks Spartans!

I have heard the cues "knob to nose" and "turn the knob to the sky" but i haven't used them yet. Would this be part of the jut????

I think it just really gets kids to use their forearms to turn their barrel. Instantly, turn that knob up.....The cues may be a little exaggeration but I think it's needed because many kids don't feel comfortable doing something that radical. It goes against what they have been doing their whole life. They need to wipe out out the old system and reprogram the new.......

[heavyhittersny]

I think it just really gets kids to use their forearms to turn their barrel. Instantly, turn that knob up.....The cues may be a little exaggeration but I think it's needed because many kids don't feel comfortable doing something that radical. It goes against what they have been doing their whole life. They need to wipe out out the old system and reprogram the new.......

Thanks Spartans!!!