Posted by: Andrew (drog29@aim.com) on Tue Feb 7 14:01:53 2006

Hello everyone! I hope all is well. I just wanted to share something I have been learning and would like to hear your thoughts about it. What I have to say only confirms what is taught on the Final Arc video. It is called the X-Factor. You have a direct connection from your left hip to your right shoulder, and vise versa from your right hip to your left shoulder. For so long I was sold on the thought that I had to push with my back sid to generate power. I was wrong. As taught in the Final Arc video, the lead hip should initiate the rotation because of the X-Factor of your core muscles. Think about it, when you run it's opposite arm, opposite leg. When you throw (if you are right handed) your left leg steps toward the target while the right arm goes back. The core strength is what transfers your lower body power to your upper body. Still don't understand what I am saying? Ok, try something. Stand up and hold your dominant hand up. Now try to just pop the same side hip forward to immulate the beggings of rotation. You should notice that the arm moves very minimally if at all. Now, hold the same arm up and pop the opposite hip back to immulate rotation. You should notice the arm automatically propells forward. In other wors, you are not moving the arm forward, it just happens naturally. You should also notice the quick stretch and contraction of the muscles across your corefrom the left hip to the right shoulder (if you're right handed). What causes the right arm to move forward? The core is transferring the movement from the lower body to the upper body. How does this apply to hitting? Well, just as the Final Arc Video claims, the front hip is more important in initiating rotation than the back hip because it is directly connected to back shoulder where the bat is. It takes some practice and coordination, but when i figured it out, the balls were flying. The best part is.....it felt effortless, and I could do it over and over again. I hope this helps, and please give me feedback. Have a good one.