Posted by: BHL (Knight1285@aol.com) on Mon Jun 18 17:00:29 2007

> I'm 5'10, 150 lbs. I play on a 14U travel team but I only use my arms. I still hit the ball pretty far. I have no clue how to use my legs in my swing. I figure that if I could use my legs I could hit the ball extremely far and hard. I need an explanation of using legs in a swing. I have looked at clips but cannot figure it out. I am trying to figure this out before the team that I'm on goes to the BPA world series in San Diego. Help?

Hi Joey,

Consider some advice from Mike Epstein:

"The heel drop is a de facto mechanical movement necessary to initiate proper hip rotation."

"Try this. When you drop your front heel, lift your rear heel up at the same time (Do NOT “squish the bug”). Move your rear knee slightly down and in and then slightly turn your rear hip 'around' the imaginary axis you’ve set up in your stride. Once you have done this a few times and feel comfortable, attempt it doing all the moves simultaneously."

"When you drop your front heel, you should feel a “swiveling” of your hips from back to front. Sometimes, and this may very well be true in your case, you have to “help” it along at first. Once the body understands its role, it will take over from there."

Remember to tuck your back elbow in as well at heel drop.

Best,
BHL
Knight1285@aol.com