Hip Bruising Due to Elbow "Plant"

From my view, her landing foot is almost straight ahead. Yes, I teach having it at 45 degrees. I draw a line from their right foot out to where they stride. Then, draw a horizontal line across the toe of her shoe. That corner that is formed there, by the lines, is where the toe should go. Have her compare and contrast her stride while hitting, and her step while throwing overhand. Then, her leap for pitching. They shouldn't vary.

I would rather have her that close to her body, than 8 inches away from it, where a lot of pitchers are. If I so much as have an iphone in my front pocket, I have to change it - or I will whack it with my arm.

Out in Left Field said:

With all due respect, star has a point. A 'plant' and bruise implies brush interference. It doesn't matter what it's called, 'it" is happening. I was thinking about a whip or fly fishing. You don't muscle anymore action or run out and grab it to make it go faster or in a different direction. You just let it flow after an initial move. The fact that there is enough force to cause a bruise says muscling (and maybe lean) is going on. Walking through the pitch with hips closed does not automatically cause that.

I just listened to an NCFA course, eye opening. The instructor said that no two circles are alike.

Click to expand...

So you are saying brush interference is a bad thing? As for the fly fishing, i guess i didnt follow.

The foot doesn't look to be nearly forty five. Correct me if I'm wrong but sure looks like she is landing way to the left? If she were landing more on a line at a 45 I think her hips would open and clear

Whoops didn't see page 2 responses. A little redundant now.

She does land to the left and it has nothing to do with circles, not opening, or any of that other stuff. It has to do with the fact that her transfer of weight to her stride foot - and the spacing of her feet- during her wind-up puts her weight/posture (lean) to the left. She aggressively transfers weight rearward (left leg), and then leans/rolls forward into a stride....

Speaking of landing to the left... the majority of elite pitchers do... in relation to the right foot...

This video is shot at a 45-degree angle, and her foot is at 45. Her plant angle is fine. I'm actually sorta surprised to read some of the comments on here... the OP was in regards to hip contact. Do any of you really think that opening more is going to help her? If she is brushing this much at - as some of you say - less than 45... is she really gonna experience less by opening more?! Oy vey... She's getting to about 70-80 degrees open. That's plenty.

Boomers also commented on working on stride length... and if you watch the video, you can see her reaching (stride leg), not driving. This is going to compromise her plant (resistance, leg too stiff at plant... watch hip absorbing most of the Ground force resistance), posture, and core. I've seen quite a few videos of Boomers DD, and honestly... this is not the best representation of her form/mechanics.

JJ made a great comment on her whip. It's really impressive. Would be even better if she took the focus of the elbow. Boomers said that someone told him to move the focus off the elbow and up the arm to the tricep... that's great advice. He/She knows their stuff!!! Let that elbow move freely.

If you're going to work on stride at this point, it's not about how far you can jump... it's about getting the weight IMMEDIATELY to the drive foot (fixing posture) and seeing how hard you can push off the plate. In other words, how far can you drive... not stride? The stride foot and ground-force resistance relationship can't be compromised when working on drive mechanics... and if you get too 'long'... you'll do just that.

Edit: Starsnuffer has some points worth commenting on... I see the hips/shoulder issue in THIS video being a result of two things...

1) Core represents the center... and getting too long in the stride (read: leg split distance) is going to make controlling the core more difficult.... Add in balance/stability issues (glove side lean up the front of the circle) and INCREASED GROUND FORCE RESISTANCE are going to make the core harder to control. So with this video... this long leap is increasing the GFR... and the hip is absorbing nearly all of it.

2) Boomers edited the framerates, slowing down the release phase, and resuming at full speed after release... This makes the hip/shoulder movement seem more severe than it actually is. It's much smoother and appears firmer at a constant framerate...

Also, she's a little early in her i/r, in this video. I've seen plenty of her to know that it's not the norm.

I wouldn't lose sleep over the step she's taking after release. This shows that her circle mechanics have straightened her initial gloveside lean. It would be much worse to see her on her heels.

Lastly, she's in transition (OP's comments) - and working on things... And although I'm just as guilty of making observations/comments... she really needs to hear what a great job she is doing. Great job, lil Boomer!

I think you're already onto it. The upper arm pauses or decelerates to allow the lower arm to whip. It doesn't suddenly stop as the the elbow hits the side. Feel whip, not think hit.

I get the feeling that when I understand what JS wrote above I will have taken the next step in my understanding of mechanics, but I am not ashamed to say her lost me there. I'll chew on it though.

Out of curiosity... where did I lose you, JJ?

I'm not a PC or anything but this girl really does swim with her glove hand. I personally think this causes her to close, in turn causing her pitching arm to hit her body on some pitches causing the bruise.

The part that lost me was how you are connecting the arm hitting the hip to the weight transfer of the rear foot at launch and stride length. It is one of those situations where I can smell truth in it but cannot connect the dots yet. It'll happen, but I will need to throw a few tomorrow to feel it. It seems like it relates to something I see with my DD. I called it the arm circle getting off plane and this is true, but that might not be the root cause, the root cause might be that she is off balance to the left from the beginning. When I see her plane getting too inside it is accompanied by her upper torso leaning to the left from the rearview. But I have been attributing it to her using her body lean to purposefully generate arm circle power and not to her being off balance from the start (which may be the case). I have been trying to get her glove side higher to closely mirror the throwing arm action...think in terms of an X with the two upper arms collapsing in sync. My thinking is that the glove side weight needs to act as a counterbalance to generate power against while keeping her torso balanced, instead of the glove being weak and using body lean to generate the same power. But I will have to look at this issue in a new light with your input in mind.

I'll put my 2 cents into this situation. I've never used the words "plant the elbow into the side".......Nor would I.........

I've said this before.........And I'll repeat it here again........

The Humerus stops BECAUSE the energy is SUCKED OUT OF IT by the forearm/wrist internally rotating...........

If you complete a circle with the arm........and then THROW THE BALL with the forearm/wrist INternally rotating, the humerus WILL DECELERATE/BECOME STABLE ON IT'S OWN.......

In ANY/ALL of my drills..........There is VERY LITTLE "brush interference"..........I'm NOT using my arm to slam/plant into any part of my body to STOP my humerus.........

My upper arm stops because my lower arm TAKES the energy developed and uses it to propel the ball.........