What does it mean when they say collapsing the back side? Is this the result of weight transfer where your back leg is bent and heel up off ground? if not what is it and is it a good thing?
Collapsing the back side
- Thread starter Dragoncoach
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Dragoncoach. This how I understand it. But Howard may explain it differently. Our back knee is coming forward and under us to some extent and we go into bat lag and then release the angle in our shoulder, upper arm, lower arm and finally the energy in the wrist by releasing it last and make contact with the ball.
You may even see the back foot sliding forward and under the hitter or the lead foot rolls over towards the outside of the foot from the rotation and torque being generated….and it feels good and is powerful!
You may even see the back foot sliding forward and under the hitter or the lead foot rolls over towards the outside of the foot from the rotation and torque being generated….and it feels good and is powerful!
- Oct 12, 2009
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It may be a problem if it happens prior to contact, but it's very rare that it happens then. In most cases, this happens after contact.
This could open up a can of worms....I took martial arts when I was much younger yet I do remember some of it and use it with hitting and throwing as I feel 1,100 years of martial arts trumps 125 years of baseball and softball.
At clinics we are always trying to get the hitters to be more balanced in their movements and flow to the ball. Crystl bought me a book about Bruce Lee and his saying become the water my friend brought back some of my training. I use a half full bottle of water and have the kids put their hand under mine so they can feel and see the water shifting in the bottle and then I point to their hips and say this is where I want you to become more like the water and flow on a flexed knee.
To demonstrate how powerful the hips can be at just the right time I select someone I know very well and have them stand in front of me and I explain the the kids don not try this at home however watch my hip and foot action. I stand at arms length from the person and stretch out my fingers and touch their chest and then make a fist and turn my fist so it is palm up and only two inches away from their chest. I do not pull back or separate. Now I roll my fist over and just as I strike their chest I move my hip by coming forward on the big toe area of my back foot. My heel never turns side ways and I was at heel plant prior to striking. My point is without a negative move I am able to propel the subject backwards about 2 to 3 feet! Now with a weight shift I could do some real damage and that is not my intent. I hold up my back leg of my pants to show them how little I moved and how much force it creates by moving the hips forward with the back toe pushing forward. When I observe the back leg bending or collapsing so far as to cause the persons head to move away from the pitcher I know we have lost power. The weight going forward in my mind is stabilized by the front heel being planted or down and firming up as we get the hips to a point they can not move further. In martial arts as we stepped forward our heel had to be planted prior to our punch for maximum force to be applied. I am sure their are those on here that can make this so scientific that others may not be able to comprehend this and then it becomes useless in my opinion as I teach kids not other instructors egos or camps that everyone seems to carry the flag for.
I understand what the Big uses and that is all I need to really understand and then comes the kids, parents and coaches and if I can get them to see it, feel it and fix it it makes me happy!
Thanks Howard
Howard do you you have any videos that can be purchased, if not you should team up with some of your compaderes and come up with a simple way to instruct hitting.
Eric
Eric
