My daughters swing..

[FiveFrameSwing]

One of my hitters was telling me that her ASA coach wished to change her swing to pull the barrel forward, along the axis of the barrel, followed by a muscling of the wrists through impact. Made me laugh. To my hitter's credit she told the ASA coach that it felt wrong and that she wanted to check with her hitting coach before trying the mechanic any further.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Very good listening!

McGill trains athletes to pulse at the moment of impact. That is why I said before that it is not just about using the core to swing. In sports like baseball/softball/golf - there needs to a be tension free environment for the arms and legs even though the core is used to keep the spine from moving around too much. The athlete learns to recruit then relax and then quickly recruit the core muscles again at impact.

Some hitters learn the first part but then relax too soon losing all of the potential energy.

The gathering/loading phase is the first part.
When the hitter finishes her stretch she learns to relax (but not entirely so the spine is still supported) so things can be tension free as the swing unfolds - I teach the hitters to learn take the core stiffness all the way to the front foot landing otherwise the energy is released through the front leg while still in the air and the rear leg will wobble.
Then she learns to stiffen the core a second time at contact.

There a few really, really good exercises to train the correct core muscles for softball and it isn't crunches or quick rotary movements.

Given your whip analogy, along with this description, it would appear that you treat the 'first recruitment' as being about the pulling of the lower end of the elastic .... the connection being established to the hands/barrel. The 'second recruitment' would be about supplying resistance for the release/whip. Obviously 'at contact' there is no further muscling of energy into the barrel that can provide additional help ... but the ability to be releasing through impact, and hence the resistance, is importance.

The action is fairly quick ... especially from a feel perspective. My focus is more on the squeezing aspect of the core for the 'first recruitment', along with the body then supporting the 'releasing action' through impact.

 

[Eric F]

The "squeeze the core" idea resonates with me as something that might be very helpful for my long, lean, flexible 10yo DD. Her hips can rotate a long ways before they start to have an effect on her shoulders, because of this, the connection between top and bottom is too long and loose, or bypassed. I'm thinking that a focus on tightening the core when she fires may be effective for her.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

There you go Eric. It isn't about turning your hips forward in hopes that they pull your upper body at some point ... more about using the lower body as the lower 'connection' point to throw/turn the barrel (with the hands being the other end).

As you work with this, see if you can feel the resistance of the rear lower back, etc.

 

[Eric F]

There you go Eric. It isn't about turning your hips forward in hopes that they pull your upper body at some point ... more about using the lower body as the lower 'connection' point to throw/turn the barrel.

As you work with this, see if you can feel the resistance of the rear lower back, etc.

Feeling the resistance isn't a problem for me. It was happening in my own 40-something year-old, damaged body without my conscious thought, but now that I'm paying more attention to those muscle groups, and knowing how my DD is put together, I can see how this could be an important teach for a lot of young hitters.

 

[TDS]

Feeling the resistance isn't a problem for me. It was happening in my own 40-something year-old, damaged body without my conscious thought, but now that I'm paying more attention to those muscle groups, and knowing how my DD is put together, I can see how this could be an important teach for a lot of young hitters.

Exactly Eric... This is what is missing in all the kids who drag the bat.. Arms swing around the spine vs the spine/core swings the arms.