Drills for improving timing

cmccombs said:

I am trying to coach my girls in pitching and we are running into same problem. Timing! They swing arm back with with weight shift to stride foot and forward at leg drive. The arm is out racing the knee. What is the fix...i cant seem to get it corrected.
Thx
Coach McCombs

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cmccombs said:

What is the fix...i cant seem to get it corrected.
Thx
Coach McCombs

Click to expand...

1. Standing on the RIGHT leg... the KNEE CANNOT BE BENT. LEG IS STRAIGHT. 100% of weight is on this leg.
2. Left leg is slightly flexed, toe is on "pointe", staggered behind the right. (Bearing NO weight).
3. Arms are extended a la Frankenstein out in front... or "zombie-style" if you prefer...
4. Butt cheeks are "cracking a walnut"... and do not stop doing so THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE PITCH!!!
5. The hips should be lightly out in front of the shoulders... sort of like you're thrusting them in the direction of the catcher. (spine LIGHTLY hyper-extended)

1. Remain standing tall & cracking a walnut... RIGHT KNEE CANNOT BEND... they start to fall in a face-plant fashion.
2. Once they start falling (NOT BEFORE & NOT AT THE SAME TIME), they need to tear into a backswing... and I mean fast. They MUST pass the hip, BUT THEY WILL FEEL LIKE THEY CANNOT. If they comfortably backswing (beyond 8 o'clock) they either: bent the knee too soon or started backswinging too soon.
3. They will then push from the rubber... this is not a teach, it will need to happen... and it's ok if the push happens around the same time as the beginning of the backswing (sorta preferred, actually).

javasource said:

Coach,

Based on your description... despite not seeing your daughter, I think I can help.

The legs are behind the arm, right? The legs "start" at the hips.

Although there are a million ways to Sunday to fix this issue... like:

1) shooting the stride leg out super-fast
2) offsetting the onset of the backswing
3) improving the rate of drive-leg extension
4) 2-Steps, Jumpbacks, Pushbacks
5) etc.

... the key is to get this kid of yours to repeat a well-synchronized series of pitching movements... thousands of 'em.

To do this, the most fail-safe way, is to strip ALL unnecessary movement out and do only what is needed to fix the issue.

First, the legs are attached to the hips. 9 times out of 10... the athlete is slow to activate the hip... despite identifying the issue with the legs.
Second, the short-stretch in the drive knee is often times over-stretched or held too long to actually create a ballistic response.
Third, the arms are so comfortable in their motion, the athlete reverts to this comfort.

Before I begin telling you what to do... it's important to know the definition of "cracking the walnut". It's simple... it's an expression that refers to placing a walnut between the butt-cheeks... and trying to crack it. Got it?

The drill is simple, name is boring:

Stand Tall, Fall, Go

Assuming she's right-handed...

The Set-Up

1. Standing on the RIGHT leg... the KNEE CANNOT BE BENT. LEG IS STRAIGHT. 100% of weight is on this leg.
2. Left leg is slightly flexed, toe is on "pointe", staggered behind the right. (Bearing NO weight).
3. Arms are extended a la Frankenstein out in front... or "zombie-style" if you prefer...
4. Butt cheeks are "cracking a walnut"... and do not stop doing so THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE PITCH!!!
5. The hips should be lightly out in front of the shoulders... sort of like you're thrusting them in the direction of the catcher. (spine LIGHTLY hyper-extended)

The Motion

From the set-up position.. the athlete is instructed to:

1. Remain standing tall & cracking a walnut... RIGHT KNEE CANNOT BEND... they start to fall in a face-plant fashion.
2. Once they start falling (NOT BEFORE & NOT AT THE SAME TIME), they need to tear into a backswing... and I mean fast. They MUST pass the hip, BUT THEY WILL FEEL LIKE THEY CANNOT. If they comfortably backswing (beyond 8 o'clock) they either: bent the knee too soon or started backswinging too soon.
3. They will then push from the rubber... this is not a teach, it will need to happen... and it's ok if the push happens around the same time as the beginning of the backswing (sorta preferred, actually).

2 & 3 Are interchangeable... the push from the rubber will be a protection reflex... as they will not want to face-plant... BUT THEY MUST BE INTO THE LEAN.

Depending on the degree of timing correction needed they will feel anywhere from uncomfortable to terrible doing this drill (the backswing will really mess the feel up).

WHY THIS WORKS:

1) Athletes that have bad timing are ARM DOMINANT... this makes them DRIVE DOMINANT.
2) Many athletes post on their drive leg UNTIL THEIR CENTER OF GRAVITY is forward enough for the drive muscles to activate. Displaced hips (behind shoulders) is the number 1 killer of proper arm-leg timing... and often the weakness lies in the spine/lower-extremity linkage.
3) By SLIGHTLY hyper-extending the spine (hips thrust forward a bit), cracking the walnut, and DELAYING THE STRETCH REFLEX in the knee (bending it)... the displacement never occurs, the link between core/lower-body remains intact, and the knee actually fires in response to the fall (forward momentum).
4) By delaying the onset of the backswing, BUT REQUIRING A BACKSWING TO OCCUR, the lower body gets ahead of the arm circle.

This is a drill I created that works 100% of the time... WHEN UNDERSTOOD AND IMPLEMENTED CORRECTLY.

This is the most effective timing related drill I ever created... and I'll gladly accept gifts for sharing it with you all. Just remember where you heard it first!!!

Rinse & Repeat 100 times a night 6 days a week. No ball required, but it does help. After 2-months (5,000 reps), she'll be so comfortable with this new timing, she'll be able to sense when it is off... which is the most important skill-type we can teach these young ladies (self-awareness).

Best,
~JS

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