- Feb 17, 2009
- 37
- 0
Wellphyt, what kind of bag do you use, homemade or does someone sell them? How does the drill work in hitting the bag and focusing on the rear leg?
Too much stride?
- Thread starter ThundersDad
- Start date
Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch
Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.
Heavy bags can be purchased at most sports equipment stores such as The Sports Authority. An old duffle bag filled with mulch might work. An old couch cushion bungied to an unframed double door opening in your basement will work for awhile
.
IMO the only way to work on dynamic balance and weight transfer is by taking full swings at nearly full speed. It's impossible to duplicate the rear leg/foot position of Pujols or Mantle at contact in a stagnant drill. The benefit of the heavy bag is that the hitter can focus on getting the feel of the correct movement without worrying about hitting a ball.
With my DD I had her get in her stance and then pick up her front foot while balancing on her back leg for a couple of seconds. Then I had her glide her front foot forward as she turned her front shoulder down and in slightly. From there I asked her to try and initiate her rear hip before her front foot landed. It's impossible to do, but it is the best way I know of to teach the correct feel of keeping the load in the rear hip until the last possible moment. In reality the ball of the front foot lands before the rear hip is initiated.
At first your DD will likely have to much weight forward and the swing will look similar to a golf swing where the weight is on the front foot. From there it's just a matter of getting your DD to gradually keep more and more weight back behind her axis. IOW instead of being upright and on her front foot at contact, she needs to learn to slant her body backwards and keep her weight over her rear thigh. The front leg needs to be stiff for this to happen (when the front foot lands the front leg will initially/momentarily be bent).
.IMO the only way to work on dynamic balance and weight transfer is by taking full swings at nearly full speed. It's impossible to duplicate the rear leg/foot position of Pujols or Mantle at contact in a stagnant drill. The benefit of the heavy bag is that the hitter can focus on getting the feel of the correct movement without worrying about hitting a ball.
With my DD I had her get in her stance and then pick up her front foot while balancing on her back leg for a couple of seconds. Then I had her glide her front foot forward as she turned her front shoulder down and in slightly. From there I asked her to try and initiate her rear hip before her front foot landed. It's impossible to do, but it is the best way I know of to teach the correct feel of keeping the load in the rear hip until the last possible moment. In reality the ball of the front foot lands before the rear hip is initiated.
At first your DD will likely have to much weight forward and the swing will look similar to a golf swing where the weight is on the front foot. From there it's just a matter of getting your DD to gradually keep more and more weight back behind her axis. IOW instead of being upright and on her front foot at contact, she needs to learn to slant her body backwards and keep her weight over her rear thigh. The front leg needs to be stiff for this to happen (when the front foot lands the front leg will initially/momentarily be bent).
- Feb 17, 2009
- 37
- 0
Thanks Wellphyt, we are going to get started on the bag drills. It seems that on our team that the weight getting too far forward is the most common problem with our girls. That and not making their minds up soon enough to swing. When my DD gets aggressive and attacks the ball she rips it, but too often she sits on the pitch too long, then the hits are all to right field or fouled off. Thanks again everyone.
