Lunging & Weight Balance

[Hitter]

Howard ... I enjoyed reading what you had to say about "weight shift".

Would appreciate it if you would review what Rudy Jaramillo has to say on the topic in the link below. What do you think of his recommendation to think of the rear foot & rear knee being "jointed together" ... almost seems to "squish the bug" while some small forward momentum.

He makes more money than me and I do not buy into what he is saying!

The weight shift for me is like water flowing and it never stops especially in fast pitch!

Do you see a pitcher stop in their delivery in fast pitch? No! However Nomoe tried to stall by turning away in baseball and Cal Ripkin talked about it and said something to the effect that until he got to the T position I just waited. Probably not a great quote in my opinion by me however.

I want my hitters to not stop the weight from moving forward until they are ready to swing and landing on the inside edge of the foot on a flexed knee or eversion seems to work well.

I see too many hitters step stiff legged and the front side opens and they pull off the ball too soon.

I would rather see the heel lift and drive off the big toe area as I see a thrust prior to rotating the hips.

When I think in terms of driving off the back leg I have even go so far as to attached a brace to the back knee on a surgical tubing to pull the knee a little towards the second baseman's playing position to keep the knee from locking out or working as a unit until that initial thrust is made.

Thanks Howard

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

He makes more money than me and I do not buy into what he is saying!

The weight shift for me is like water flowing and it never stops especially in fast pitch!

Do you see a pitcher stop in their delivery in fast pitch? No! However Nomoe tried to stall by turning away in baseball and Cal Ripkin talked about it and said something to the effect that until he got to the T position I just waited. Probably not a great quote in my opinion by me however.

I want my hitters to not stop the weight from moving forward until they are ready to swing and landing on the inside edge of the foot on a flexed knee or eversion seems to work well.

I see too many hitters step stiff legged and the front side opens and they pull off the ball too soon.

I would rather see the heel lift and drive off the big toe area as I see a thrust prior to rotating the hips.

When I think in terms of driving off the back leg I have even go so far as to attached a brace to the back knee on a surgical tubing to pull the knee a little towards the second baseman's playing position to keep the knee from locking out or working as a unit until that initial thrust is made.

Thanks Howard

Thank you Howard. That was very helpful. I especially liked your description of the [rear] heel lift and drive off the big toe area as I see a thrust prior to rotating the hips.

I believe the "lifting of the rear heel and the push off of the big toe area" is the eversion process that Tom occasionally speaks of.

I'm trying to understand the relative timing pertaining to the drive off of the back leg. If I understand your description, you see the sequence as a thrust from the backside, followed by eversion in which their is a final push from the big toe. Is this the sequence of driving off the back leg as you see it?

 

[Hitter]

Thank you Howard. That was very helpful. I especially liked your description of the [rear] heel lift and drive off the big toe area as I see a thrust prior to rotating the hips.

I believe the "lifting of the rear heel and the push off of the big toe area" is the eversion process that Tom occasionally speaks of.

I'm trying to understand the relative timing pertaining to the drive off of the back leg. If I understand your description, you see the sequence as a thrust from the backside, followed by eversion in which their is a final push from the big toe. Is this the sequence of driving off the back leg as you see it?

FFS

The eversion I speak of is on the lead foot and landing more on the inside edge of the foot at toe touch allowing the hip to move until the sequence to swing is made. Landing enough on the inside edge of the foot that you could move the baby toe or wiggle it and wave to the pitcher. We try to get the hitter not to land up on all five toes or with a high heel as we think they spin out and the front side opens.

As to the back foot it the ground in the batters box allows it, we teach our hitters to dig out the big toe area so they can pre load or shift the weight more inside the back leg and this would be eversion also.

At the house I have a one inch thick piece of rubber with nails on the bottom and a tapper so the rubber does not move on the Astro turf.

We often have the hitter take off the shoes and socks so they can see and feel their feet and can see the discoloration from the pressure when the foot is properly positioned.

Most often when teaching balance we have the hitter remove the shoes and socks and I will put a piece of paper under their heel of their feet and they bend the waist first and soften the knees next.

The error most people make is after bending at the waist is they sit down and disconnect the core.

Simply put a bat under the under their butt cheeks and see if the hitter can feel like they are sitting on the bat and if they do it is incorrect.

Bend at the waist slightly and when softening the knees allow the knees to move more towards the toes and they will not be sitting on the bat and you will be able to pull the paper out from under the heels.

When the shoes are on they will feel the heel of their feet off of the shoes however the shoes will be on the ground.

You can test for it by pushing on their back and chest to see if they rock back and forth on their toes.

This balanced position helps in the load and toe touch phase in my opinion.

My martial arts training although limited can me the insight of thrust prior to rotation as a more efficient manner to initiate the hip movement.

Having eversion in the back foot sets up for me the feeling of being stronger from the back side to start the movement.

Thanks Howard

 

[Wellphyt]

Howard ... I enjoyed reading what you had to say about "weight shift".

Would appreciate it if you would review what Rudy Jaramillo has to say on the topic in the link below. What do you think of his recommendation to think of the rear foot & rear knee being "jointed together" ... almost seems to "squish the bug" while some small forward momentum.

I know this was directed at Hitter, but I thought I would join in as I find the weight shift part of the swing difficult to teach correctly.

I actually think Rudy is very close to being on the same page as Williams. Williams described the weight shift as an "Unwinding of the hips." He also said "You have to get your butt moving".

When I watch these clips of Chipper and Bonds, I don't see a meaningful push from the back foot. I see more of an unwinding of the hips as Williams described. Bonds looks to my eye to be very close to squishing the bug. Which would be consistent with a power hitter who hits more off of their back foot.

YouTube - Chipper Jones sweet swing

YouTube - Barry Bonds

Williams also makes reference to how a boxer throws a upper cut body punch. I just gave that a try and I don't feel like I'm using my back foot to push off. My back foot feels like it's there to provide balance. I feel like the actual force for my punch comes from my hips unwinding. I also noticed that my front leg externally rotates as the punch gets thrown, without me thinking about it. I see the same external rotation of the front leg with Chipper and Bonds.

This external rotation of the front leg seems to be very consistent with what Hodge teaches about the overhand throw. Which is to say that the external rotation of the front leg is what triggers the throw. As he describes it, as soon as the front leg begins to externally rotate, the throwing arm immediately begins to externally rotate in response. When the externally rotation of the front leg is synched up to the external rotation of the throwing arm, you get an effortless and accurate throw.

If you throw an over the top punch as if you were punching down on something, you'll get a better idea of how the front leg works in the the overhand throw.

Overhand throw would be similar to an overhand punch directed downward.

Hitting would be similar to a upper cut body punch.

The big difference is that in the swing the flattening of the palms motion as demonstrated by Tewks, momentarily occupies the hands to allow the hips to get out in front.

 

[tom.guerry]

well-

I think the more hip action there is the more it has to be stabilized with the back foot eversion/push (foot eversion and extension at ankle through the big toe to be able to get the rear hip thrust necessary) which has a distinctive feel.

the back foot sequence is heel leads toe/antibugsquish rotation of back foot as positive move proceeds, then start of eversion/extension feel to support the synched external rotation of back arm and front leg and synched INternal rotation of lead arm and back leg as rubberbandwinding starts, the heel to sky rotation as back leg internally rotates/back knee starts down and in.

What happens here is a blend of the start of coiling with acceleration of linear momentum that is directed in such a way as to produce a ground up (not middle out) sequence. This requires a very specific back foot action/feel.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

FFS

The eversion I speak of is on the lead foot and landing more on the inside edge of the foot at toe touch allowing the hip to move until the sequence to swing is made. Landing enough on the inside edge of the foot that you could move the baby toe or wiggle it and wave to the pitcher. We try to get the hitter not to land up on all five toes or with a high heel as we think they spin out and the front side opens.

As to the back foot it the ground in the batters box allows it, we teach our hitters to dig out the big toe area so they can pre load or shift the weight more inside the back leg and this would be eversion also.

At the house I have a one inch thick piece of rubber with nails on the bottom and a tapper so the rubber does not move on the Astro turf.

We often have the hitter take off the shoes and socks so they can see and feel their feet and can see the discoloration from the pressure when the foot is properly positioned.

Most often when teaching balance we have the hitter remove the shoes and socks and I will put a piece of paper under their heel of their feet and they bend the waist first and soften the knees next.

The error most people make is after bending at the waist is they sit down and disconnect the core.

Simply put a bat under the under their butt cheeks and see if the hitter can feel like they are sitting on the bat and if they do it is incorrect.

Bend at the waist slightly and when softening the knees allow the knees to move more towards the toes and they will not be sitting on the bat and you will be able to pull the paper out from under the heels.

When the shoes are on they will feel the heel of their feet off of the shoes however the shoes will be on the ground.

You can test for it by pushing on their back and chest to see if they rock back and forth on their toes.

This balanced position helps in the load and toe touch phase in my opinion.

My martial arts training although limited can me the insight of thrust prior to rotation as a more efficient manner to initiate the hip movement.

Having eversion in the back foot sets up for me the feeling of being stronger from the back side to start the movement.

Thanks Howard

Howard … Again, I greatly appreciate your input on what I consider an important area of the swing.

To be honest, eversion about the front foot isn’t something I’ve placed a lot of detail into. I’ll work with it to better understand your points here.

When you speak of your hitters digging in with the rear big toe area … I imagine you are doing so as a helpful reminder, or emphasis, for the hitter to make use of rear foot eversion. I like this. I have a few hitters that fire/thrust their rear hip but tend to avoid eversion … they will thrust and their rear hip action appears to be inhibited from its full potential when eversion doesn’t take place … as their rear foot will largely remain square to the pitcher. Perhaps your recommendation here will help these hitters. Any further recommendations on this would be welcome.

Thank you again … and if you have any advice for hitters that restrict rear foot eversion, then that would be appreciated.

 

[tom.guerry]

FFS -

Lead foot eversion is a very reliable landmark in both high level throwers and swingers. The lead foot everts at the same time as the back foot and in the case of the lead foot is a sign of the transtion from positive move/hancock to rubberband winding.

A cue for this is "showing the sole" of the front foot. In the case of overhand throw, this is immediately before "stepover" which is the external rotation of the lead leg (synched with back arm).

As you look at clips of hitters and swingers you will find many that emphasize this showing sole/eversion action of the lead foot.