Coil into lean?

FiveFrameSwing said:

GM, I had some decent PM exchanges with MTS. I don’t recall any issues that would have resulted in him leaving DFP. In fact, he has been posting recently.

Tewks is someone that posted here after I began posting. Of all people, he doesn’t strike me as someone that would be chased away due to basic discussions. Tewks is someone that tends to invite open discussions.

Hitter is someone that I was told quit posting here before I arrived. According to a PM I received, his departure had something to do about him not like being questioned by a poster. Again, this took place before I arrived, so I don’t have all the history. Sometime later Hitter began posting again, but then returned to hibernation. I suspect a message board with open discussions of ideas was not what he was interested in.

As for me creating teaching videos … I’m content with the approach I use … I find it quick and relatively effective. While I’ve have used tons of drills in the past, I find that isn’t necessary. I don’t believe much of what we discuss needs to be introduced with special drills … in that I generally find most concepts can be introduced as “points-of-emphasis” during a standard sequence type warm-up. Years ago Yeager shared with me a suggested sequence for warming up … and I personally found that for the most part, that was all I needed to develop hitters … and that with his sequence I was able to introduce virtually any point-of-emphasis into a hitter's mechanics ... with a standard warm-up sequence.

Click to expand...

Would you share that sequence? That sounds like it could be very useful with the time/player count restrictions we have during the HS offseason.

softballphreak said:

Would you share that sequence? That sounds like it could be very useful with the time/player count restrictions we have during the HS offseason.

Click to expand...

10 sidearm throws
10 top-hand one-arm swings
10 split-grip swings
10 walk-up swings
10 normal swings

One place I introduced this sequence to refers to the above sequence of drills as their "Every-days" ... because they are performed virtually everyday. The head coach will bark at the players ... "get your every-days in".

After that I generally have hitters perform long-tee, head-on soft-toss and bp.

For the majority of hitting sessions I generally have 1 to 3 points-of-emphasis that I’ll have hitters focus on.

GM … Many drills have side effects that are not desirable. An individual performing a drill, and going through the motions without actively engaging the brain on the positive attributes of a drill, has a reasonable chance of regressing … and more often than not will capture the negative aspects of a drill. There is a lot to be said for actively having the brain engaged in terms of what is meant to be extracted during a drill.

Those looking for routine drills that can be performed ad-nauseam to develop hitters, need to be very careful that they don’t move in the wrong direction … because as the drill becomes routine to the hitter, the mental focus of what to extract, and what not to extract, tends to drift and go away.

Say I am introducing front knee cock as that day’s point-of-emphasis. I introduce the concept … review various style approaches, but point out the absolute within each style approach … then have the hitters perform swings in which they feel it out, with an objective being to grasp the concept … then perform the sequence I listed earlier employing a front knee cock. I want the knee cock replicated in the sidearm throws … where its use with the lower body needs to be synchronized with motion of the top hand. I want the knee cock and synchronization carried through to the one-arm top-hand swings when a barrel is introduced, to the split-grip swings when the bottom-hand is introduced, to walk-ups and into their normal swings. The point-of-emphasis is repeated for the entire progression … and then continued to be stressed throughout the remainder of the hitting session.

The same can be done for a point-of-emphasis on … sequence … or on slow & early start … or on rhythm … or fwd-by-coiling … etc.

Some concepts require having a barrel, and so the point-of-emphasis is not introduced until mid-way through the warm-up. An example may be on top hand wrist lag.

Do I use an occasional specialty-like drill? Yes … when I’m actively trying to introduce a concept I will sometimes include a specific drill. An example may be for promoting the gear effect, wrist tension, vision, etc. However, I want the concept embedded into the warm-up sequence as much as possible. I want the warm-up performed with an active mental approach of that day’s point-of-emphasis.

FiveFrameSwing said:

GM … Many drills have side effects that are not desirable. An individual performing a drill, and going through the motions without actively engaging the brain on the positive attributes of a drill, has a reasonable chance of regressing … and more often than not will capture the negative aspects of a drill. There is a lot to be said for actively having the brain engaged in terms of what is meant to be extracted during a drill.

Those looking for routine drills that can be performed ad-nauseam to develop hitters, need to be very careful that they don’t move in the wrong direction … because as the drill becomes routine to the hitter, the mental focus of what to extract, and what not to extract, tends to drift and go away.

Click to expand...

Most drills are time-fillers. The purpose of drills is to introduce a new feel, and help transition that feel into the swing. Some drills are more successful than others.

Guys, let's stick to the topic - coil into lean. This non-stop bickering about who is the biggest and bestest expert is getting very tiresome.

People post or don't post for their own reasons. It's an open forum, dedicated to the exchange of ideas. We're not here to all agree upon "The Truth" because there isn't any Truth. There's just what people think, and what they think works.

As I've said many times before, those who want to offer opinions and not have disagreements should start a blog and close the comments. That way you can say whatever you want and represent it however you want. You may not like what someone else says here, but you absolutely must respect their right to say it. Making accusations such as "So-and-so is lying" doesn't help anyone.

Incidentally, when you attack the poster instead of the post, you are falling prey to a fallacy of logic called ad hominem. Follow the link to learn what it means. Let's stick to information so everyone can learn and draw their own conclusions.

Ken Krause said:

Guys, let's stick to the topic - coil into lean. This non-stop bickering about who is the biggest and bestest expert is getting very tiresome.

People post or don't post for their own reasons. It's an open forum, dedicated to the exchange of ideas. We're not here to all agree upon "The Truth" because there isn't any Truth. There's just what people think, and what they think works.

As I've said many times before, those who want to offer opinions and not have disagreements should start a blog and close the comments. That way you can say whatever you want and represent it however you want. You may not like what someone else says here, but you absolutely must respect their right to say it. Making accusations such as "So-and-so is lying" doesn't help anyone.

Incidentally, when you attack the poster instead of the post, you are falling prey to a fallacy of logic called ad hominem. Follow the link to learn what it means. Let's stick to information so everyone can learn and draw their own conclusions.

Click to expand...

I agree that we don't need to bicker about who is the best poster here and what not. I disagree that there is no "The Truth", because there are positions and actions that are common to all high-level hitters.

It's imperative that all of us learn how these actions and positions occur to help either ourselves or our hitters.

So to sum up, there is "The Truth". And "the truth" entails whipping, rather than pushing.

Everyone would like for there to be a Truth. The trouble is, there are several different gurus out there who all claim (or their accolytes claim) to have The Truth. And yet those gurus disagree, sometimes vehemently. If there was a single Truth there'd be no need for all the petty bickering and one-upsmanship that goes on all over the Internet. We'd all see it and agree, and could then teach to that standard.

I also like what Bill James had to say: You can't see the difference between a .270 and a .300 hitter.

Ad hominem........vehemently.........all this word learnin' I gotta go back to perfect circle's headache recipe.

Hey, my parents paid good money for my education back in the day. Might as well get some use out of it. And at least, in the case of ad hominem, I provided a link.

Ken Krause said:

Everyone would like for there to be a Truth. The trouble is, there are several different gurus out there who all claim (or their accolytes claim) to have The Truth. And yet those gurus disagree, sometimes vehemently. If there was a single Truth there'd be no need for all the petty bickering and one-upsmanship that goes on all over the Internet. We'd all see it and agree, and could then teach to that standard.

I also like what Bill James had to say: You can't see the difference between a .270 and a .300 hitter.

Click to expand...

Bill James is pretty good at sorting through data to find meaning in numbers, but shame on him in this case. The difference between a 270 and 300 hitter is subtle from a swing or performance standpoint (i.e., 3 more hits per every 100 at bats), but it becomes crystal clear when you look at their financial statements.