Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Wed Nov 19 10:01:41 2003

Video is the way to go.A lot has to go "right" to get good rotation/no lunging from launch to contact.

One important thing is what I think rql noted,which is "maintaining the spine angle" (golf term for this stable posture) through contact.

Edmonds and Pujols are a nice comparison for different "prelaunch" techniques.

I would not call what teacherman describes "weight shift".I think this is a better description for what Pujols does.

Edmonds does what you can do in golf to try to "force" yourself to rotate instead of sway/"come over the top"-you take a closed stance which tends to "cock the hip more" and this forces you to rotate with hip leading torso to "pull the ball" and hit in the direction of the target.

Edmunds emohasizes the inward turn/"showing of the back side just prior to the cocking of the hips.

You can get the same effect with the 2-piece stride if you prefer stride.The first pice of the stride emphasizes the inward turn,then you cock the hip as you lift the stride foot again.All of this is a way of encouraging the coiling aspect of loading which encourages rotating into foot plant which gets you rotating well at launch as opposed to lunging/swaying.

The Pujols approach is to use more weight shift.If you watch clips compared to Edmonds,Pujols really moves the head and center of gravity forward,then uses this to boost rotation at launch.Edmonds keeps the head more centered,really shows his backside,and keeps his back leg "stable" in the sense of the weight staying centered as he emphasizes coil.This is hard to see,but most obvious as the difference in head motion and how much inward turn/showing of the backside there is.