Front side resistance

coach james said:

I think she looks great. I would like to see some adduction in her legs, and some hip torque, but otherwise nice job. My biggest problem with this clip is the girl in the on deck circle. She definitely looks like an easy out, for high and in pitches! No transfer, late, bug squisher, and she's casted out.... Lol. 3 pitch K, baby!!!

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coach james said:

We talk about the arms pulling together a lot... However, the legs need to as well. The belly button is the center of the body, and we should adduct into center with arms AND legs once the front leg is down. Laces toward to catcher and knees pulling into center. I say center rather than knee to knee because in order to maintain true resistance we can't come up over, or past front leg. Aka "stay back"
She has a figure 4 finish, this in my opinion will keep the hips too far open and will negate the hip snap. The hip snap is necessary in getting the back hip in position to brush! And as we know, the fastest pitchers in the world have hip snap (torque) and brushing in common. This is the secrete sauce in getting higher speeds.

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coach james said:

We talk about the arms pulling together a lot... However, the legs need to as well. The belly button is the center of the body, and we should adduct into center with arms AND legs once the front leg is down. Laces toward to catcher and knees pulling into center. I say center rather than knee to knee because in order to maintain true resistance we can't come up over, or past front leg. Aka "stay back"
She has a figure 4 finish, this in my opinion will keep the hips too far open and will negate the hip snap. The hip snap is necessary in getting the back hip in position to brush! And as we know, the fastest pitchers in the world have hip snap (torque) and brushing in common. This is the secrete sauce in getting higher speeds.

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1bucketmom said:

Are there any particular drills for improving hip snap?

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javasource said:

If I may add some thoughts here...

You really need to read that document in the link about 20 times. Rick is not advocating that you physically torque your hips... he's advocating that you RESIST IT.

Rotation of the core is all about timing. It happens efficiently with pitchers who get off the plate sooner than later. When their timing is off (where they are in the circle/stride) athletes will compensate by moving unnecessarily... like try and open per se... or try to snap their hips...

Movement is torque... in the joints... purely a biomechanical fact. Think of it this way... imagine a heavy dude on a merry-go-round. He asks you to spin him around. Because of his mass... getting him started is a lot of work... but once moving... it's a lot easier (rotary inertia ). On the flipside... stopping him is really freakin' difficult.

Now... take what you know about kinetic transference of energy... If you want better whip, the larger proximal parts of the body need to slow in order to transfer energy. The hips are part of the core of your body (the largest part). If you wish to accelerate the hand passed them quickly... ask yourself, do you want them moving?

Now... consider one last thing... View the pitching motion as containing three types of movement (forward, rotational, and lateral). If you watch an elite athlete, you will see that their body moves in that order in three distinct phases. They push out (forward) against the ground. They disconnect from it while rotating... and then they RECONNECT to the ground on plant... and then LATERALLY perform.

I do not like the term "hip snap"... because it directly implies a forced movement. What it really is... is resistance to rotary inertia (trying to stop the big dude on the merry-go-round). It's stopping rotation... NOT adding to it. Simply put, "hip snap" can be looked at as the bodies attempt at realignment... during a transitional phase.

The largest issue I see in 99% of pitchers... is that they do not pitch in those three DISTINCT phases. The three phases start to blur together... and when they do, you are inefficient... and fundamental issues arise.

My recommendation would be to scrap the concept of rotary movement... or snapping of the hips... and fully embrace the resistance... or stopping of rotary inertia.

"Hip Snap" is an advanced concept... you would be better served making sure your DD or students have three, properly timed/executed phases to their motion.

Edit:
Oh yeah... adduction of the rear leg SHOULD be more natural than a concerted effort. When it becomes the latter, you introduce unnecessary movement... during a time/phase that screams STABILITY. You'd be better served looking at why forced adduction of the rear leg is even necessary... and fixing that, first. Elite pitchers SLIDE INTO the front side...

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shaker1 said:

Sliding into the front side forces the adduction of the rear leg??

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