Posted by: BHL (Knight1285@aol.com) on Mon Feb 9 21:05:22 2004

>>> I was working a player yesterday. He was staying tall on the rear leg and it was not dropping to parallel. His past tendecy has been to extend the rear leg and extend with rear elbow. Obviously he was not getting a hip turn. I made him sit in on a more bent rear leg. With it more "knock kneed" it served as a better spring. I also made him get more "linebacker" in his set up with the legs more bent at the knees and more spine angle. I asked him to get his rear elbow around and higher at toe touch. IMO rear side momentum comes from the circling and dropping of the rear elbow in the slot and the dropping of the rear knee to parallel. I then asked him to focus on not stopping the hip turn from launch to finish and keep his hips in front of his hands at all times. He did better on many swings but it takes time. <<<
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> Hi Donny &BHL
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> BHL, Donny made some good suggestions. – When we ask the body to perform an athletic movement, the sub-conscious mind will set up a motor program to accomplish the task. Therefore, I have found that if I can get the batter to correctly envision the bat-head first accelerating back toward the catcher before he directs his energy forward, the more likely he will generate the correct hip and shoulder rotation to accomplish the task.
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> If, on the other hand, the batter only thinks of swinging forward, he has the tendency to first extend the hands forward. This is mainly accomplished by using the arms to thrust the hands and knob, which does not require good hip and shoulder rotation. With this vision of the swing, keeping the hands back and allowing the hips to lead does not compute to his vision of the swing. He now has to consciously think to override the task he envisioned (sub-conscious program).
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> Once I feel the batter is starting to have the correct vision of the swing, I use the cue, “Rotate the heel (initiate lower-body rotation) – Rotate the bat-head (initiate the acceleration back toward the catcher”). I ask the student, “what must you do with the top-hand as your elbow lowers to accelerate the bat-head back at the catcher?” After a few attempts, they learn to hold back (or pull back) the top-hand at the shoulder and allow shoulder rotation to accelerate the bat-head back. When they start to get the bat to accelerate correctly, the hips just naturally rotate ahead of the hands and they have the “L” in the back-leg at contact.
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> Jack Mankin
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Hi Donny, Tom Guerry, and Coach C,

Let me thank you for the support. Before I get to my statement, I believe you need to "spruce" your names up a little. How about posting under the names provided in quotation marks. Let's see--Don, I respect you enough to call you "The Hitting Don" Buster; Tom, I think "Tom and Jerry, Golf Pro," will fit you well, and for Coach C, if I am "Grasshopper," how about calling yourself "Master Chi." Think these names over, and do with them what you will. These are just suggestions.

Now, back to the locus of my original argument: hip rotation. I have found that if a hitter cannot initate proper hip rotation, to take the following measures when he lands on the ball of his front foot, opened at least 45 degrees:

1) Drop the front heel
2) Roll the front heel over so the weight is near the outside of the front heel
3) Lift the back heel off the ground slightly and turn it slightly (no bug squashing)
4) Turn the back knee down and in
5) Take the back hip around the spine slightly.

Do these moves simultaneously until they hip rotation can be initiated automatically by dropping the front foot at a 45 degree angle.

In other words, Don, Tom, and Coach C, these moves must be mastered until they are reactive to heel drop, rather than proactive.

Now, are these my ideas? No. The well I am drawing from is information made from Mike Epstein, who understands how to create solid lower mechanics to allow for a good CHP, and good shoulder rotation.

I am not refuting that I will ignore Jack's information; it's just not the "cues" that get every person to whom I explain them to results. Also, during softball seasons, these lower body mechanics allowed me to pull a softball 320+ feet consistently on a high trajectory line drive, clearing many fences.

But not all players are the same, so I will set aside Jack's information on this issue, and review it again! Some may get fantastic results by rotating the front heel!

Once again thanks for your kind responses, and I am looking forward to your responses!

Sincerely,
BHL (Black Hole Lexicographer)
Knight1285@aol.com

P.S. It has often been asked before, so, yes, it is true--my real name is Geoff!