Sqishing the Bug

[redhotcoach]

There is an H.I. gif with a coil spring cropped over a gif of Pujols hitting....

Think of an imaginary coil spring. The bottom of the spring is attached to the top of your femur bone. The top of spring is hooked to the bat/hands/shoulder area.
The act of "hip coil" is coiling around the femur, not above the hip, but around the rear leg. That tightens the bottom of the coil spring. You want the hands/bat launched because of the release of the top of the coil spring. So anything turned forward above the bottom of the spring (the rear femur) is uncoiling the tension in the spring. You want the uncoiling of the spring to be the release at the very top...the bat being launched. So everything above the bottom of the spring must continually resist the rear leg turning...or you are loosening tension in the spring somewhere other then the bat launch.
Yes the whole spring will turn forward...the hip will turn...the rear leg turns the whole assembly...BUT the hips (via the back muscles), being above the rear leg (bottom of the spring), must continually resist that turn to tighten, or keep tight the coil to be released in the swing.

The UNCOIL is the swing of the barrel.

 

[NoonTime]

Ummmm...confused...didn't we say the same thing?

No, you said "the hips fire against the tension that should already have been created in the rear leg"

FFS said: "rear hip is brought forward."

In your view the hip is firing to bring the hip forward... you turn the hips with the hips, and faster is apparently better because I assume you think there is some relation to faster hips = faster shoulders = faster bat.

That is way way different than the hip being brought forward due to actions other that firing the hips, and kind of the whole point of what RHC, FFS, and others are trying to help you distinguish.

Stick with it... it takes a awhile to sink in but you'll get it, and your line of questioning is exactly the process to get there in your own head

This may help get you there:
http://www.baseball-fever.com/showt...ager-IsoBaseball-Videos&p=2077138#post2077138

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

There is an H.I. gif with a coil spring cropped over a gif of Pujols hitting....

Think of an imaginary coil spring. The bottom of the spring is attached to the top of your femur bone. The top of spring is hooked to the bat/hands/shoulder area.
The act of "hip coil" is coiling around the femur, not above the hip, but around the rear leg. That tightens the bottom of the coil spring. You want the hands/bat launched because of the release of the top of the coil spring. So anything turned forward above the bottom of the spring (the rear femur) is uncoiling the tension in the spring. You want the uncoiling of the spring to be the release at the very top...the bat being launched. So everything above the bottom of the spring must continually resist the rear leg turning...or you are loosening tension in the spring somewhere other then the bat launch.
Yes the whole spring will turn forward...the hip will turn...the rear leg turns the whole assembly...BUT the hips (via the back muscles), being above the rear leg (bottom of the spring), must continually resist that turn to tighten, or keep tight the coil to be released in the swing.

The UNCOIL is the swing of the barrel.

Good post.

Bold above ... this is what is meant when golfer's speak of "body coil" ... the uncoil is the swinging of the club.

p.s.
In the backswing (from stance towards launch) the lower body resists. In the downswing (from launch towards contact) it is the opposite … the lower body starts to move and the upper body resists.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

FR, ..... RHC and Noon are giving you some very good advice.

Just for the heck of it ... I'll try this from a different angle.

Below is a golfing lesson meant to help extract the 'feel' of the lower body in the swing.

Note the discussion on bringing the rear knee forward (.... personally I like to think more in terms of the tension in the rear thigh). Pay attention to the muscles in the rear upper leg and core bringing the rear leg forward, and along with the rear leg coming forward comes the rear hip. Also pay attention to the stabilization of the lower rear leg leading this action.

Notice in this demonstration that the lower body leads the swing … as in "hips before hands" … or in this case "rear thigh before hands" … that is, by giving himself a mental cue of moving a body part (his rear knee) that is ***BELOW*** his rear hip. He is not attempting to open up his torso against his rear leg, instead it is the rear leg that leads.

If you consider the perspective of the hips being the "bottom of the upper body", as opposed to the hips being the "top of the lower body", then having a focus below the hips can be helpful.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

A drill that can be used to capture this feel is the 'rear leg kick drill', which over exaggerates the action.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

See if you can 'feel' the action in the following swing ....

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

A drill that can be used to capture this feel is the 'rear leg kick drill', which over exaggerates the action.

p.s.
Another name I've seen used for this drill is "Touching the Legs Together Drill". Rather than state the objective of driving the rear knee forward, the goal is to have the rear upper leg end up touching the front upper leg.

The drill also has other names ... and is used for teaching a 'feel' in the golf swing, baseball/softball swing, windmill pitching and overhand throwing.

 

[straightleg]

I do not have video you can surf you tube to find some.
If you travel much for turnaments you will find players still using it.

Hitter (a poster on the ofc) responded to a post on the OFC of camps till teaching this and a Cincy Reds youth camp where a modified squish the bug was being taught.

Also if you catch many High School games you will see this is an easy way out for many coaches who get rec. players (or weaker) to field teams to make contact. (Go to I-High.com and watch a few games)

You will see wide stances, hands to ear and rotate to contact with several ladies. Not so much in our conference (at the varsity level) but, in most of the other area programs and JV you see it.

"By no means do I think this is a way to go for my players" but, again I do not get a lot of inexperianced players trying out.
I merely acknowledged it has been around for years and is still out there and it works for some ladies.

I know your daughter is a good hitter, seen her in person. What you say is true, it might not be what you teach but there are girls that hit that way and play at high levels. They just get there bat on the ball.

Casey played with ALL STATE GIRL she had a circular swing big time. She would get up there and wack the heck out of the ball. Ugly swing , but seen her put a couple over the fence in fall ball.

She got it done.
Your right coach Dennis. We teach one way, but you see others doing it with results!!




Straightleg

 

[coach dennis]

I know your daughter is a good hitter, seen her in person. What you say is true, it might not be what you teach but there are girls that hit that way and play at high levels. They just get there bat on the ball.

Casey played with ALL STATE GIRL she had a circular swing big time. She would get up there and wack the heck out of the ball. Ugly swing , but seen her put a couple over the fence in fall ball.

She got it done.
Your right coach Dennis. We teach one way, but you see others doing it with results!!

Straightleg

Our HS leadoff hitter bunted 80% of the time... when she swung she made contact enough to get on using squish the bug...ended up with a BA over .300 in the Cincy GMC one of the (if not THE) toughest conference in Ohio...
Fall and Winter I would try to convert this girl (she had good size) she said she liked the way she hit and had good success in rec. ball doing it so she was not going to change... Now Playing in college at the Mount….

Do I think she could do more….yes…However; what she has done with the effort she has put into it works for her and got her into college while helping her HS team get 2 D1 sectional titles..



PS: I like the cross fit training video....Bigger...Stronger...and Faster...Very good results...

 

[Greenmonsters]

Bold above. For the dads that are lurkers like me, DON'T LET YOUR DD 'SQUISH THE BUG'. They won't be as lucky as the girl above. Learn and teach the proper sequence. Why wouldn't you as a coach or dad teach the proper sequence and why would anyone try to justify 'SQUISH THE BUG' as OK. I will take my back of the class seat.

RDB - You will take your seat in the front row. The back row is for those that are willing to accept "good enough", which may be fine for an older player who has some success and doesn't want to rebuild their imperfect swing; however, for those with younger ones the fact is that it takes no more time or effort for a kid to develop a swing that won't limit them in the future. What it does take is the knowledge of what that swing is and how to learn/teach it. Wade through the stuff here at DFP and other sites as necessary and it will come to those searching for it!