Athletic posture while coiling

[heavyhittersny]

Thanks Ben. I was swinging my bat the last couple days trying to understand what’s going on. I realize you have to , and TM says it , really go all in turning the barrel backwards. The more I Committed to throwing the bat head rearward from the beginning instantly things were falling in to sequence. I think your assessment is right on. Hopefully we have a breakthrough in the next week or two.


On a side note, when I swing as fast as I can my wrist bind up and can’t keep up with the speed of the barrel. Any suggestions about that?
I have to stop trying to fit this swing in to my old swing and make this my swing...... I wouldn’t put a new suit on over my old suit same goes for my swing....

HAPPY EASTER MIKE & ALL!!

I find using wiffle bats or anything lighter than their game bat really helps kids get the feel and understand the idea of the turn. I have younger kids so I worry about them hurting their wrists so when we do one handed stuff the bats or object is always much lighter. I also want them to be able to get the feel for what we are trying to do, so by using something lighter its easier for them to handle and the movement is without restriction.

Also i have had some of my kids who have issues with hands plunging or the front elbow going down to start in their stance with a higher front elbow position. I say its up and has to stay up. Like Richard says it has to get up and out of the way. The real problem is the scapular control but when i do this it helps them focus on the front elbow being up and staying up. At the end of the day the scap pimch is what is needed.

I hope this helps.

[Ben]

Thanks Ben. I was swinging my bat the last couple days trying to understand what’s going on. I realize you have to , and TM says it , really go all in turning the barrel backwards. The more I Committed to throwing the bat head rearward from the beginning instantly things were falling in to sequence. I think your assessment is right on. Hopefully we have a breakthrough in the next week or two.


On a side note, when I swing as fast as I can my wrist bind up and can’t keep up with the speed of the barrel. Any suggestions about that?
I have to stop trying to fit this swing in to my old swing and make this my swing...... I wouldn’t put a new suit on over my old suit same goes for my swing....

Mike, can you post a picture or video of what you are talking about with your wrists so I can see it?

[jryan15]

The tricky part is that the arms alone won't bring the barrel through the zone, your hip has to work right too. We talk alot about snyc'ing those two pivot points, but in reality when you setup your coil correctly, they work together automatically. When you go all-in with the barrel turn, the scap will get involved and if you have good glute response, your rear hip will react to the interaction with the scap and you will have a nice swing.

However some kids (lots of girls) don't have a good glute response. Their linkage to the ground is broken. So even if they commit 100% to a barrel turn, the glute might not kick in and no-glute = no snappy rear leg IR which means nothing to turn the body and bring the barrel through the zone. For kids with bad glute linkages, it is critical to get the rear leg heavily weighted and get a good coil making sure the femur doesn't roll out (dump the hip).

If your rear hip is not working, you will have to drop your hands and pull the barrel across your body.

Above is me and my oldest, if our setup is not perfect, we have no chance. Even though we try and turn the barrel all-in, since our rear hips don't work right, we would always end up pulling the bat into contact. Now my youngest, she has good glute linkages and her rear hip just works great automatically. It's practically been a no teach. Now she still has issues getting onto to her front leg and what not, but when she turns the barrel, her rear leg works and it turns her body through.

Side note: One place the glute issue really showed it's head was when me and Baily went to work with Rich in person. It was a mini clinic and I beleive both JS and Ben were there too. At one point Rich had us one by one go swing the bat with the sliding whiffle ball thing on it. The goal was to turn the barrel all-in, and the ball would slide down the shaft and would shoot off toward the opposite batter's box. However when I would do it, the ball would always shoot off behind me. I was turning the barrel hard (hence the ball landing behind me), but I was not getting any hip turn so there was nothing to turn my body to shoot the ball opposite. At the time, we had no idea why it wasn't working right so we kind of just moved on. It was not until the last year or two that I've learned of this problem with glute linkages. BTW it is moderately common with B-athletes (A-athletes tend to be naturally fast and fast tends to be the result of good functioning glutes).

Aside from the rear hip, another catch is hand position. When the hands get high or too close to the chest, I speculate that it gets harder to get the scap involved correctly. The barrel turn thru the forearms will result in the humerus getting involved and the humerous will pull the scap into play (which then will interact with the glutes/rear hip). If the arms angles are funky, the geometry might not be favorable to get a scap response. This is why I say if someone is continually strugging to turn the barrel, try lowering the hands so they are both below the chin (and keep them low during the load phase) and also get the hands significantly off of the chest. This should free up the arms to work more efficiently and hopefully give you the best shot at getting the scap involved automatically.

[jryan15]

This is my youngest, Jordyn. Her rear hip works excellently without having to teach much at all. In fact, if you ask her about her coil and pelvic tilt, she'll zone out before you finish your sentence. Baily however could probably write a thesis on the topic and still struggles to do it right.



So I contend that some kids will look like they are not turning the barrel even though they are trying very hard to do it right. It can come down to a dysfunctional rear hip (due to glutes). If the rear hip does not work, a barrel turn won't get the bat into the zone. The mind knows that hands are going to bind (as Mike described above) so the kids will just keep pulling the hands down and across.

Be very cognisant of how your athlete's rear hip works. If it's not naturally snappy, you need to take special actions. Here is what has helped Baily.

- Get in the box with all weight on back leg
- Force in good hip hinge
- Shift the weight toward oppo batters box so it's on the toes
- Free up the arms for good barrel turn (hands low and off the chest)
- Coil without dumping the hip
- Now turn the barrel while trying to keep the coil

Snap stop cuts also help quite a bit, but be careful not to injure the wrists doing it too much.