- May 3, 2014
- 2,149
- 83
You are describing a slow movement wrt laterally tilting the spine. Once you feel the hip tilt you will understand. It is clear that you haven't felt it.
Butter, it sounds like you are describing a two gear model with the 'top vertical gear' being the rear hip and the 'bottom horizontal gear' being the same rear hip. That is not how I view it.
You can break the 'main engine' down into separate movements to better understand it and master it.
In golf the motion below is referred to as "lateral side bend". Go to Youtube and search for 'golf' and 'lateral side bend' ... you should be able to find several videos on the topic. It's the same notion in the softball/baseball swing.
So dumb it down a bit for young hitters ... help them capture the feel of the 'main engine'.
Get a hitter to learn to perform 'lateral side bends' .... bending back to the catcher. Get a feel for the contraction taking place.
Also perform simple 'side rotations' towards the pitcher/ball ....
These motions by themselves are pretty simple and straight forward movements.
Then work on combining them ... performing both a 'lateral side bend' and a 'side rotation' at the same time ... and at high speed. Attempt to do this for a short distance to capture the initial feel.
Get this down and your hitters will be on their way to hitting the ball with authority.
This is important.
Your students have to be the ones to accept ownership for mastering the 'main engine'. Learning occurs when someone wants to learn, not when someone wants to teach.