Posted by: Matt () on Tue Jan 6 13:01:26 2004

Hi. I have a leg-related question, but I wanted
to be seperate from the huge multi-headed
thread going on now.

Anyway.

So I bought the video, and am trying to
implement Jack's techniques (I'm 36 and play
in a 28+ league on the weekends). I've
noticed some improvement, but I haven't been
all that dedicated yet. My biggest problems
seemed to be not getting my legs involved and
turning my hips enough; I'm much better with
that now. I still stride too much, I think, and
tend to swing down on the ball when I'm tired
or not focused. I'm getting there.

Anyway, yesterday at the cages, I
experimented with something I don't normally
do- lifting my lead leg about a foot when I
stride (usually I sort of "slide-step" stride).
Holy cow, what a difference! After a couple
pitches, once I got the timing right, I was
hitting the snot out of the ball! I had to have
added a good 10 mph onto my swing, I'd
guess; I pinged a couple off the fence-pipe of
the cage that really rang!

My question- why would that make so much
difference? Does that help force the hips to
open? Does it help transfer energy from my
legs that was getting wasted before? Have I
just found my natural swing? Was it just a
coincidence?