EmptyMessage board »Message Board home »Sign-in or register to get started
Online now: 4 members: 3_SoftballFreak, TonyA, cycleman, teampanthers; 9 anonymousDiscussion: How To Generate Power In Your Softball Swing!
| Posted | Discussion |
| Sept. 27 bashbro1 Men's 70 267 posts | Power to me in the softball swing comes from two main areas: 1) Leverage (i.e. length of swing arc), and 2) torsion (i.e. body rotational speed, the act of twisting, or simply the twisting of a body by two equal and opposite torques...). The swing must begin with a weight transfer to put your body in a rotational motion which begins with a proper weight shift to the front foot. In order to achieve this, the batter must rotate their body (hips) and the faster they do this the better the results. The real power source in the softball swing is generated from the hips as we’ve all been hearing for some time now. The faster one can twist their hips during the swing action, the faster the hands and arms must work to keep up and consequently more bat speed is generated! There should be no real conscious use of the wrists and hands through the impact area by the batter, because if you’ve “pulled” on the bat hard enough with your front side muscles, your wrists will un-cock automatically from the huge forces you’ve generated and the wrists snap in a blink of an eye. Just watch Tiger Woods’ swing on the Golf channel and you’ll see what I’m talking about here. The hands and arms should rotate in response to a good body rotation and the right arm should never get ahead of the left arm during the entire swing (RHB) as you’re pulling with the front side and pushing with the backside. As kids most of us were incourage by our coaches (i.e. with good intention of course) to either “roll your wrists” @ the ball or swing from the inside-out. What happens with these precepts is the first one makes the batter roll up on the ball hitting the northern hemisphere and producing a “hot” two hopper to the shortstop (RHB) for an easy play. The inside-out swing can result in a “push” to the backside or opposite field producing possibly a good hit but the power curve is way down here. What we should do is keep our hands inside the ball as we make contact which allows for a better bat lag that will produce a “bat flip” @ the ball resulting in much more power when contact is made and will be on the sweet spot! Make sure to turn your hips through the ball instead of “sliding” forward @ contact which is considered a linear or straight-line motion that doesn’t add squat to the bat speed you’re attempting to generate. As long as the bat continues to move along in an arc you will have maintain the angular momentum that produces greater bat speed. Bashbro1 (Art Eversole of Ruth 60’s Kent, WA Player and Web Page designer) http://www.bashbro1nwseniorsoftball.com/ |
| Sept. 27 4x4 Men's 65 601 posts | So (in theory) you would advocate a slightly closed stance to add to the explosiveness of the hips.... |
| Sept. 27 BruceinGa Men's 70 3233 posts | From your post you recommend the rotational swing. What is your opinion of the linear swing? |
| Sept. 27 taits Men's 65 4548 posts | all interested parties on this subject may want to ck out: http://www.batspeed.com/mechanics.html |
| Sept. 28 AlleninGa Men's 60 113 posts | Bruce, I've been reading up on the linear swing and it really intrigues me. Although it is not a new concept, I had not heard about it. Some articles state it doesn't generate as much power but I've seen you hit and your power certainly contradicts that. The linear swing definitely seems to fit my type of hitting, moderate power and line drives. It seems that although the majority of power hitters have been strictly rotational hitters; the high percentage hitters (Tony Gwynn, George Brett ,Pete Rose etc.) have been linear or a combination linear/rotaional, depending on the count. It seems to significantly improve the odds of consistant solid ball contact and reduce hitting off the handle (over extending). I like it, thanks for telling me about it. |
| Sept. 28 Tater50 Men's 60 336 posts | To me; it is situational hitting whether I use linear or rotational. Need a HR: I tend to go with a compact swing with rotational to get more lift. Need a long linedrive or just a hit, I will be more linear. AIG: will get to meet you in Pensy!!!!!!!! Tater50 John |
| Sept. 28 AlleninGa Men's 60 113 posts | Tater, I will be there and I'm really looking forward to it. I posted a message to you on Softballfans .com. I believe the linear swing may help me with some of the problems I've been having. Bruce has given me some valuable information. Hopefully it will pay off in Pensy. I'm not a "power" hitter so the linear should suit me well. See you there. Allen #10 |
| Oct. 5 UWM#6 Men's 65 2 posts | Taits thanks for the batspeed web site.Excellent site for the rotational swing.I have started practicing the rotational swing on my T-ball stand. |
| Oct. 5 Gary Heifner 248 posts | There is a web site called SWINGMECHANICS.COM It's focus is on htting the HR. It is really good. |
| Oct. 6 bashbro1 Men's 70 267 posts | Sept. 27 From: Pete D Division: Mens' 55 Posts: 213So (in theory) you would advocate a slightly closed stance to add to the explosiveness of the hips.... Good question PeteD. Actually I like a slightly OPEN stance or “drop step” like a baseball pitcher that moves my front foot form open to directly @ the pitcher and as a result automatically will transfer my weight to my back foot and then stride into the pitch and rotate the hips much like a pitcher throwing a fast ball to the plate. I also find that a closed stance can actually inhibit my hips from fully opening and doesn’t allow me to have both eyes directly on the pitcher. Sept. 27 From: BruceinGa Division: Mens' 55 Posts: 916 From your post you recommend the rotational swing. What is your opinion of the linear swing? Well BruceinGa, I used the linear swing when I played fastpitch all those years with Peterbilt Western in Seattle in the 1970’s and it worked fine for that quick game. In slo-pitch however, I firmly believe the rotational swing continues to accelerate the bat through the hitting plane for greater bat-speed yielding a greater batted-ball-exit-speed than linear. I give my senior softball students in the Seattle area two analogies: 1. The linear swing is much like a right handed boxer throwing a straight right hand punch @ his opponent; the rotational swing on the other hand is more like the hammer throw in the Olympic games with a spinning motion. Thanks for the Q’s. Bashbro1 (Ruth 60’s Kent, WA) |
