Recently I wrote an article on my “Limitless Mind” blog (www.limitlessmind19.blogspot.com) where I discussed how what we experience in our physical reality is nothing more then an outward expression of what is going on inside our minds. Basically what I discussed was how we are always searching for external reasons for the lives we are living. What we fail to realize is that the answers to living the life we desire is already residing inside our own minds. If we change what is going on internally we would then be able to see the results of that change manifesting themselves physically.
Well, how does this idea apply to baseball? Why is what is going on in our mind so important when we are trying to hit or pitch a ball? Many of you have often heard me discuss the importance of mechanical repeatability. How the most successful players simply repeat proper mechanics more often then anyone else. You may have also thought to yourself, “Well, if it is really that simple why is it there are so few people can do it?”
In order to answer this question I think we have to ask the question, “Why do we experience mechanical breakdown?” Once we are able to figure out why one athlete experiences mechanical breakdown more often then another we will then be able to figure out how to enable ourselves to repeat good mechanics more often. What I have learned is that almost all mechanical breakdown has a mental origin. That our mechanics and the results we produce are directly linked to what is going on inside our own minds.
Sure, sometimes there is a physical reason for our mechanics not being perfect. Generally this is caused by lack of knowledge of the proper mechanics, fatigue, or injury. However once an athlete has learned the proper skills involved in a particular movement they should be able to repeat those movements time after time. The mental causes of mechanical breakdown range from: lack of deliberate practice (this is mental, when you “practice” you are basically imprinting a movement pattern into your subconscious mind which will allow you to repeat that movement), muscle tension, mental clutter, emotional instability, and possessing an egoic mind set (being led by your ego). Any one of these problems will cause some kind of mechanical breakdown and limit your ability to produce results.
Let me give you an example: you are clear minded, happy, enthusiastic, and as a result you come up and crush a deep homerun to centerfield. When you get back to the dugout you feel great, your teammates are congratulating you, and you’re the man. A thought roles through your head, “Wow I am gonna hit the next one farther!” In your next at-bat you are trying to produce the same result. You become focused on the outward result and not on what’s going on inside you. Your ego has now crept in because YOU want to do it again. As a result your muscles become tense and when the pitch is delivered you “try” to crush the ball. Your mechanics breakdown and up hit a weak ground ball back to the pitcher. What happened? What was different in this at-bat as opposed to the homerun? Most athletes will look for a physical answer: I got long on the ball, I was too early, I dropped the bat head, whatever. What we fail to realize is that the physical result, the mechanical breakdown that you experienced was caused by the change in what was going on inside your mind. Your mind and body still know how to perform the mechanics, you just prevented yourself from performing those mechanics because of what was going on inside your mind.
If you really want to produce unlimited results, if you really want to find out what is possible, you must begin to focus on what is going on inside of you. Keep a journal, write down what was going on in your mind during each at-bat. Write about the emotions you were experiencing, monitor your muscle tension and write down how tense you were during each at-bat. What you are going to find is there will be a distinct pattern to what you were thinking and feeling when you experienced success. If you are then able to repeat these thoughts and emotions you then will be much more likely to repeat proper mechanics. The next time you begin to struggle or the next time you don’t experience the success you desire ask yourself, “What is going on inside of my mind?” Start to learn what it is that is blocking your success. Make changes to your emotional state and mindset and begin to see your physical success change. When we are in a good place mentally and emotionally ANYTHING is possible and we can produce unlimited results.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Deliberate Practice Part 3
Once an athlete has decided on the specific goals that they want to accomplish for that practice session they must make sure that they are able to repeat the activity a lot. In Geoff Colvin’s book he states, “High repetition is the most important difference between deliberate practice of a task and performing the task for real.” I mean think about it, you may only get 3 or 4 at bats through out the course of a game. Of those at-bats you would probably only get a few pitches to swing at so through the course of that game you may only be able to swing 4-5 times. Plus you will be so focused on hitting the ball that you won’t be able to focus on improving any specific aspect of your swing.
Remember, what separates great hitters from everyone else is their ability to repeat proper mechanics more often then other hitters. All proper mechanics are, are a group of individual movement patterns. When you are specific about what you want to accomplish you are able to work on the different movement patters in the swing. When you are able to repeat these movement patterns a lot you are developing your ability to repeat them in a game. The more you repeat proper mechanics in practice the more likely you are to repeat them in the game, as a result you will be more likely to produce the results you desire.
In the practice sessions that most athletes engage in they are not usually specific about what they want to accomplish. If they are specific about what they want to work on they usually choose goals that can’t be repeated. Make sure you are choosing aspects of your swing that you can repeat. You can see why focusing on the process and not on the outward result is so important. You may choose to work on your hip separation during one practice session. The result of what the ball does is completely irrelevant. As long as you are able to work on separating your hips during your swing you can consider your practice session a success.
During your next practice session makes sure you begin to implement the first two aspects of deliberate practice.
Be Specific: choose a particular aspect of your mechanics that you want to work on
Make it Highly Repeatable: make sure you focus on and repeat what it is you are trying to accomplish
Remember, what separates great hitters from everyone else is their ability to repeat proper mechanics more often then other hitters. All proper mechanics are, are a group of individual movement patterns. When you are specific about what you want to accomplish you are able to work on the different movement patters in the swing. When you are able to repeat these movement patterns a lot you are developing your ability to repeat them in a game. The more you repeat proper mechanics in practice the more likely you are to repeat them in the game, as a result you will be more likely to produce the results you desire.
In the practice sessions that most athletes engage in they are not usually specific about what they want to accomplish. If they are specific about what they want to work on they usually choose goals that can’t be repeated. Make sure you are choosing aspects of your swing that you can repeat. You can see why focusing on the process and not on the outward result is so important. You may choose to work on your hip separation during one practice session. The result of what the ball does is completely irrelevant. As long as you are able to work on separating your hips during your swing you can consider your practice session a success.
During your next practice session makes sure you begin to implement the first two aspects of deliberate practice.
Be Specific: choose a particular aspect of your mechanics that you want to work on
Make it Highly Repeatable: make sure you focus on and repeat what it is you are trying to accomplish
Friday, February 20, 2009
The Case for Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds
I am about to write about a topic that I swore I’d never touch. However, with the recent events of the Hall of Fame elections and the admission of Alex Rodriguez I guess I was naive to think the steroid topic would simply go away. As a player, coach, instructor, and I’d like to think and ambassador for the game of baseball I feel some responsibility to do my part to help clarify some things that have been clearly missed by the media during the steroid era. You can’t turn on Sportscenter anymore without hearing something about steroids in baseball. I hope that the rest of you are as sick of hearing about it as I am. Unfortunately the more the media focuses on it the more it tarnishes this great game and the more valuable lessons are lost.
Let me start by saying that this era has been tragic. I don’t condone or believe in the use of steroids at all. I do believe however that everyone needs to stand up and take accountability for their actions in the steroid era. Too many times the media and the general public crucify the athletes for ducking the tough questions and not telling the whole truth but the problem is far greater. Players, coaches, fans and the commissioner have all had roles in this problem (I find it very interesting that we get all over players for ducking questions but the commissioner the leader isn’t man enough to stand up and take responsibility, he did make more money than most of the players last year) and we all need to admit it and move on.
Probably the biggest tragedy in my mind though is that through all the steroid talk we have been unable to recognize the true genius of some of the greatest players of this era. We point to performance enhancing drugs (whether we can prove it or not) to explain the reasons for great performance. We never take it a step farther and really examine what it was that made these players so great. Its just easier to point to steroids then it is to figure out why these players were better then everyone else. As such we never get to see real progress and we can’t learn from these players and improve our own performance.
This is not meant to be a diatribe on my own personal feelings about steroids or performance enhancing drugs. It is not my intention to contribute to the media circus that the steroid era has become. What I want to do is examine two men. Probably the two most identifiable men with the steroid era but also two of the greatest hitters that ever lived. I am going to tell you why they should be in the Hall of Fame and what I have learned from them. These two men are in large part responsible for how I began to develop my theories and teaching techniques, as such they are partly responsible for the techniques I teach you. What ever your personal feelings are on steroids or these two men I ask that you put those aside and really try to see why it is that they were so great.
Mark McGwire
I don’t think that there is a better example out there as to why sports writers have no business voting for Hall of Fame players. They don’t have the ability to see what I see, they can’t possibly appreciate the true genius of Mark and as such have no business judging him in his career. The first thing that I believe sets Mark apart is his transformation as a hitter throughout his career. If you study swing mechanics and know what you are looking for you can tell that this was a man who desired to get better. What sets Mark apart is that he was a big guy with tremendous success as a younger player and yet still tried to improve. You see, what size does for you is allows you to make more mistakes. There are plenty of big guys in the major leagues that have terrible mechanics but can get away with it due to their abnormal size and strength. As a result they rarely try to change or learn more about hitting. They are happy with where they are and don’t really try for more.
Mark is rare in that if you look at his swing over time you can see vast improvements that to the untrained eye go unnoticed. Sure he was big but he used his body like a little guy. He maximized his power and bat speed through good sound swing mechanics that most big guys don’t do simply because they don’t have to. This to me, puts him right up with Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan because they are examples of athletes who dominated their sports but were still telling themselves that they had to get better. A very rare thing in sports today.
A lot is made about how Mark changed from his rookie year to the year he hit 70 homeruns. What the media doesn’t realize is this is exactly true, what they are missing is where he changed. They like to point to his body and how different it was. But whose isn’t? Listen, I am 31 years old and in the 10 years since my 21st birthday I have put on 30 pounds of lean muscle mass and look very different. Guess what? I am completely clean. Secondly, if you watch me hit today and compare video to 10 years ago the results I produce are not even close to what I was doing as a 21 year old. By media standards I am obviously on the “juice”. If they were educated in swing mechanics they would see a vastly different swing and the reasons why I can now produce the results that I can.
The same is true for Mark. As a rookie Mark hit 49 homeruns and in 1998 he hit 70. If we merely look at the number we immediately say, “WOW that’s a big jump!” and it is a big jump. However, if you really look at it, this is 21 more homeruns as a veteran then as a rookie. There are approximately 24 weeks in a season so really from his rookie year in 1987 to the year he hit 70 in 1998 he was really only hitting less then 1 more homerun a week. When you look at the advancements he made in swing mechanics, mental skills, and knowledge of pitchers this jump isn’t that inconceivable.
Early in his career Mark lifted the ball, he didn’t create lift in the ball. As he matured in the game he became better with his head stability, hip separation, bat path, and generated far more backspin on the ball then he did as a younger player. Early on there wasn’t very much hip separation, the barrel dropped early in the swing, his posture at the point of contact wasn’t near what it was later in his career, and the balls he hit really were high popflys that went far enough to get out of the ballpark. Later in his career however he got great hip separation which generated much more torque and allowed him to take a more direct path to the ball. His head was much more stable which allowed him to rotate faster. His bat path was much more direct which: 1) created much more backspin and carry on the ball and 2) gave him greater room for error. His bat wasn’t leaving the hitting zone as early so he gave himself a better chance of hitting the ball in the strongest position at the point of contact.
This jump in homeruns would be possible just from these mechanical changes alone. But, what we can’t even begin to measure is the power that his mind had over these results. For those of us who remember there were classic shots of Mark in the dugout before every at bat clearing his mind and focusing on the up coming at bat. You could see him controlling his breathing and getting to a place mentally that allowed for mechanical repeatability. This is no different then what I tell my athletes to do. Focus on your breathing, clear mental clutter, to put yourself in position to repeat your mechanics. Remember the athlete who repeats good mechanics the most often will be the most successful. That is exactly what he did. His swing was much more repeatable then it was early on in his career. As a result he was able to square up more balls more often which led to more homeruns.
Barry Bonds
Barry is a little harder to argue for because most people don’t like him as a person. I will go on record however and say that Barry is probably the greatest hitter who ever lived. I know, I know, I am probably offending a lot of people out there but you name another player (other than Babe Ruth) more feared then Barry. Name me another player who was intentionally walked with the bases loaded more times then Barry. Name me another player who, when he hit a single you were disappointed. Wether you like him or not he has to at the very least be in the conversation as the greatest hitter who ever lived.
Barry’s genius lied in two areas: 1) he possessed all the same mechanics that I discussed with Mark but his repeatability was unbelievable 2) his approach at the plate is legendary. I have never seen a player with more discipline and more of an ability to wait for the pitcher’s mistake and capitalize on it then Barry Bonds.
Mechanically Barry got more hip separation then any player I’ve ever seen. He generated so much torque in the core of his body that his hands were lightning fast. In addition his bat path was more direct and the backspin he generated was better then any player in baseball. Barry was able to accelerate the bat head better because of his greater hip separation and the fact that his barrel stayed above the ball so long he didn’t waste any energy trying to “pull” the bat through the zone. His head stability and his posture at the point of contact were amazing as well.
Barry’s repeatability though was what amazed me more than anything. I have always said that there are many factors that can lead to mechanical breakdown. From fatigue, to mental clutter, to too much effort (muscle tension) there are many things that will not allow the body to perform good mechanics. For Barry to remain that focused, that clear in his mind after not seeing a good pitch to hit all game and then putting a perfectly mechanically sound swing on the only good pitch he sees was incredible.
The flight of his ball was amazing as well. The backspin he generated and the carry he got as a result definitely separated him from any other hitter. It is almost immeasurable as to how much more distance he created by the amount of backspin he got. Just like with Mark the media loves to point to how much Barry’s body changed over time. This is much more apparent with Barry then it is with Mark however his swing changed as well. His mechanical improvement over time really paved the way for him to produce the results he did.
As I began to study these hitters I was able to use my educational background and understanding of how the body works to see what separated them from other hitters. Their mechanics and this knowledge became the foundation for the mechanics I teach today. I would watch them hit and if I think I saw something I would go try it. Over time I began to notice that I was producing similar results to these two players. My bat speed increase tremendously, I began to generate backspin and as a result (even though I am 5’8” and 185 lbs.) I began to hit the ball with similar carry and distance. The more I worked with these mechanics and refined these skills I began to realize that great performance isn’t about “natural talent” or performance enhancing drugs but was completely about physical mechanics and the power of the human mind. If we simply dismiss everything as “chemically induced” we then miss the opportunity to increase our own performance. We inadvertently put limits on what it is we can accomplish because we don’t allow ourselves the opportunity to learn from these players.
I hope that you have had the opportunity to see that these players were ahead of their time in much more then simply the results on the field. I think that they both can teach us a lot about how to maximize our performance as hitters if we look past the accusations and media hype and look at the mechanics behind what made them successful. I can’t wait for the day when these two hitters are appreciated for what they really were, two of the greatest hitters ever. I know that I personally miss watching them play.
Let me start by saying that this era has been tragic. I don’t condone or believe in the use of steroids at all. I do believe however that everyone needs to stand up and take accountability for their actions in the steroid era. Too many times the media and the general public crucify the athletes for ducking the tough questions and not telling the whole truth but the problem is far greater. Players, coaches, fans and the commissioner have all had roles in this problem (I find it very interesting that we get all over players for ducking questions but the commissioner the leader isn’t man enough to stand up and take responsibility, he did make more money than most of the players last year) and we all need to admit it and move on.
Probably the biggest tragedy in my mind though is that through all the steroid talk we have been unable to recognize the true genius of some of the greatest players of this era. We point to performance enhancing drugs (whether we can prove it or not) to explain the reasons for great performance. We never take it a step farther and really examine what it was that made these players so great. Its just easier to point to steroids then it is to figure out why these players were better then everyone else. As such we never get to see real progress and we can’t learn from these players and improve our own performance.
This is not meant to be a diatribe on my own personal feelings about steroids or performance enhancing drugs. It is not my intention to contribute to the media circus that the steroid era has become. What I want to do is examine two men. Probably the two most identifiable men with the steroid era but also two of the greatest hitters that ever lived. I am going to tell you why they should be in the Hall of Fame and what I have learned from them. These two men are in large part responsible for how I began to develop my theories and teaching techniques, as such they are partly responsible for the techniques I teach you. What ever your personal feelings are on steroids or these two men I ask that you put those aside and really try to see why it is that they were so great.
Mark McGwire
I don’t think that there is a better example out there as to why sports writers have no business voting for Hall of Fame players. They don’t have the ability to see what I see, they can’t possibly appreciate the true genius of Mark and as such have no business judging him in his career. The first thing that I believe sets Mark apart is his transformation as a hitter throughout his career. If you study swing mechanics and know what you are looking for you can tell that this was a man who desired to get better. What sets Mark apart is that he was a big guy with tremendous success as a younger player and yet still tried to improve. You see, what size does for you is allows you to make more mistakes. There are plenty of big guys in the major leagues that have terrible mechanics but can get away with it due to their abnormal size and strength. As a result they rarely try to change or learn more about hitting. They are happy with where they are and don’t really try for more.
Mark is rare in that if you look at his swing over time you can see vast improvements that to the untrained eye go unnoticed. Sure he was big but he used his body like a little guy. He maximized his power and bat speed through good sound swing mechanics that most big guys don’t do simply because they don’t have to. This to me, puts him right up with Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan because they are examples of athletes who dominated their sports but were still telling themselves that they had to get better. A very rare thing in sports today.
A lot is made about how Mark changed from his rookie year to the year he hit 70 homeruns. What the media doesn’t realize is this is exactly true, what they are missing is where he changed. They like to point to his body and how different it was. But whose isn’t? Listen, I am 31 years old and in the 10 years since my 21st birthday I have put on 30 pounds of lean muscle mass and look very different. Guess what? I am completely clean. Secondly, if you watch me hit today and compare video to 10 years ago the results I produce are not even close to what I was doing as a 21 year old. By media standards I am obviously on the “juice”. If they were educated in swing mechanics they would see a vastly different swing and the reasons why I can now produce the results that I can.
The same is true for Mark. As a rookie Mark hit 49 homeruns and in 1998 he hit 70. If we merely look at the number we immediately say, “WOW that’s a big jump!” and it is a big jump. However, if you really look at it, this is 21 more homeruns as a veteran then as a rookie. There are approximately 24 weeks in a season so really from his rookie year in 1987 to the year he hit 70 in 1998 he was really only hitting less then 1 more homerun a week. When you look at the advancements he made in swing mechanics, mental skills, and knowledge of pitchers this jump isn’t that inconceivable.
Early in his career Mark lifted the ball, he didn’t create lift in the ball. As he matured in the game he became better with his head stability, hip separation, bat path, and generated far more backspin on the ball then he did as a younger player. Early on there wasn’t very much hip separation, the barrel dropped early in the swing, his posture at the point of contact wasn’t near what it was later in his career, and the balls he hit really were high popflys that went far enough to get out of the ballpark. Later in his career however he got great hip separation which generated much more torque and allowed him to take a more direct path to the ball. His head was much more stable which allowed him to rotate faster. His bat path was much more direct which: 1) created much more backspin and carry on the ball and 2) gave him greater room for error. His bat wasn’t leaving the hitting zone as early so he gave himself a better chance of hitting the ball in the strongest position at the point of contact.
This jump in homeruns would be possible just from these mechanical changes alone. But, what we can’t even begin to measure is the power that his mind had over these results. For those of us who remember there were classic shots of Mark in the dugout before every at bat clearing his mind and focusing on the up coming at bat. You could see him controlling his breathing and getting to a place mentally that allowed for mechanical repeatability. This is no different then what I tell my athletes to do. Focus on your breathing, clear mental clutter, to put yourself in position to repeat your mechanics. Remember the athlete who repeats good mechanics the most often will be the most successful. That is exactly what he did. His swing was much more repeatable then it was early on in his career. As a result he was able to square up more balls more often which led to more homeruns.
Barry Bonds
Barry is a little harder to argue for because most people don’t like him as a person. I will go on record however and say that Barry is probably the greatest hitter who ever lived. I know, I know, I am probably offending a lot of people out there but you name another player (other than Babe Ruth) more feared then Barry. Name me another player who was intentionally walked with the bases loaded more times then Barry. Name me another player who, when he hit a single you were disappointed. Wether you like him or not he has to at the very least be in the conversation as the greatest hitter who ever lived.
Barry’s genius lied in two areas: 1) he possessed all the same mechanics that I discussed with Mark but his repeatability was unbelievable 2) his approach at the plate is legendary. I have never seen a player with more discipline and more of an ability to wait for the pitcher’s mistake and capitalize on it then Barry Bonds.
Mechanically Barry got more hip separation then any player I’ve ever seen. He generated so much torque in the core of his body that his hands were lightning fast. In addition his bat path was more direct and the backspin he generated was better then any player in baseball. Barry was able to accelerate the bat head better because of his greater hip separation and the fact that his barrel stayed above the ball so long he didn’t waste any energy trying to “pull” the bat through the zone. His head stability and his posture at the point of contact were amazing as well.
Barry’s repeatability though was what amazed me more than anything. I have always said that there are many factors that can lead to mechanical breakdown. From fatigue, to mental clutter, to too much effort (muscle tension) there are many things that will not allow the body to perform good mechanics. For Barry to remain that focused, that clear in his mind after not seeing a good pitch to hit all game and then putting a perfectly mechanically sound swing on the only good pitch he sees was incredible.
The flight of his ball was amazing as well. The backspin he generated and the carry he got as a result definitely separated him from any other hitter. It is almost immeasurable as to how much more distance he created by the amount of backspin he got. Just like with Mark the media loves to point to how much Barry’s body changed over time. This is much more apparent with Barry then it is with Mark however his swing changed as well. His mechanical improvement over time really paved the way for him to produce the results he did.
As I began to study these hitters I was able to use my educational background and understanding of how the body works to see what separated them from other hitters. Their mechanics and this knowledge became the foundation for the mechanics I teach today. I would watch them hit and if I think I saw something I would go try it. Over time I began to notice that I was producing similar results to these two players. My bat speed increase tremendously, I began to generate backspin and as a result (even though I am 5’8” and 185 lbs.) I began to hit the ball with similar carry and distance. The more I worked with these mechanics and refined these skills I began to realize that great performance isn’t about “natural talent” or performance enhancing drugs but was completely about physical mechanics and the power of the human mind. If we simply dismiss everything as “chemically induced” we then miss the opportunity to increase our own performance. We inadvertently put limits on what it is we can accomplish because we don’t allow ourselves the opportunity to learn from these players.
I hope that you have had the opportunity to see that these players were ahead of their time in much more then simply the results on the field. I think that they both can teach us a lot about how to maximize our performance as hitters if we look past the accusations and media hype and look at the mechanics behind what made them successful. I can’t wait for the day when these two hitters are appreciated for what they really were, two of the greatest hitters ever. I know that I personally miss watching them play.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Deliberate Practice Part 2
In the second blog on “Practice” I want to dive further into being specific and how to set yourself up to have a productive and successful practice session. Too often athletes set goals based on outcomes. They have a tendency to equate the outcome of a batted or pitched ball to the level of success they are having or their ability level. The results of a practice session or game can be very deceiving. It is possible to have great results in a practice session or game and to have not improved at all.
What athletes must begin to focus on is the process of achieving a desired outcome. Each of my athletes have certain specific aspects of their swing that when they focus on them enables them to produce the desired result. For one of my athletes that happens to be hip separation. When he puts his focus on hip separation the results he produces are outstanding. However, when he begins to focus on trying to produce the result his success is severely diminished. His hip separation is not as good and as a result his results aren’t as good. I continually need to remind him to focus on his hip separation, when he does the results follow.
This goes for every athlete I have. When they are focus on the process the results happen naturally. In Geoff Colvin’s book “Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else” he states, “The best performers set goals that are not about the outcome but about the process of reaching the outcome.” Begin to ask yourself, “What specific things do I need to do in order to be successful?” These things must be within your control and you must be able to determine if you were able to perform those things during your practice session. Once you have determined what those things are set those as your goals during your practice session. Don’t worry about how well you hit the ball. Sometimes when we are trying to improve you won’t hit that well but you will leave that session in a far better place then when you began. That is also important when you hit well. Too many times (as in the case of my athlete mentioned above) you will focus on the process, have great success, then your ego will take over and you will begin to focus on the success and forget about what allowed you to have that success. Success during a practice session doesn’t matter. What matters is that you stay constantly focused on repeating the mechanics necessary that allow for success.
In your practice sessions be specific, but be specific on the process of success and not success itself. Begin to take your focus away from results and you will begin to notice the results taking care of themselves. If you truly want to become an unlimited athlete consistent, process focused practice is a must.
What athletes must begin to focus on is the process of achieving a desired outcome. Each of my athletes have certain specific aspects of their swing that when they focus on them enables them to produce the desired result. For one of my athletes that happens to be hip separation. When he puts his focus on hip separation the results he produces are outstanding. However, when he begins to focus on trying to produce the result his success is severely diminished. His hip separation is not as good and as a result his results aren’t as good. I continually need to remind him to focus on his hip separation, when he does the results follow.
This goes for every athlete I have. When they are focus on the process the results happen naturally. In Geoff Colvin’s book “Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else” he states, “The best performers set goals that are not about the outcome but about the process of reaching the outcome.” Begin to ask yourself, “What specific things do I need to do in order to be successful?” These things must be within your control and you must be able to determine if you were able to perform those things during your practice session. Once you have determined what those things are set those as your goals during your practice session. Don’t worry about how well you hit the ball. Sometimes when we are trying to improve you won’t hit that well but you will leave that session in a far better place then when you began. That is also important when you hit well. Too many times (as in the case of my athlete mentioned above) you will focus on the process, have great success, then your ego will take over and you will begin to focus on the success and forget about what allowed you to have that success. Success during a practice session doesn’t matter. What matters is that you stay constantly focused on repeating the mechanics necessary that allow for success.
In your practice sessions be specific, but be specific on the process of success and not success itself. Begin to take your focus away from results and you will begin to notice the results taking care of themselves. If you truly want to become an unlimited athlete consistent, process focused practice is a must.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Speeding Up by Slowing Down
Sounds crazy doesn’t it? I mean how can anyone get faster by going slower? But what I have come to realize is that most athletes actually slow themselves down by trying to go too fast. In hitting for example: what is the first reaction of a hitter when they are facing a pitcher that has an above average fastball? Almost every, single time the hitter tries to match the pitcher’s velocity by speeding up their swing. As a result what normally happens? The hitter is still behind the fastball. Look at Major League hitters, does it ever appear as though the change their effort level based on the speed of the pitcher? The best hitters in the Major Leagues always look effortless, they appear as though they are hardly trying but yet they are able to consistently make contact on pitches upwards of 100 mph. Now you might be thinking, “Their natural ability allows them to play effortlessly.” However, have you ever thought that maybe the fact that they play effortlessly allows them to use their talent?
You see, in the United States we tend to cheer for the underdog. We tend to root for the players and teams that, “try hard”. We love the “Rudy’s” of the world and we tend to dislike the athletes that make things look easy and effortless. We tend to believe that they aren’t really trying because they play the game with effortlessness. This is true in every sport and not just baseball. How many people like college football and basketball more then the professional games because, “Those kids are really out there trying.” We are so attached to the idea of really trying hard that we have raised thousands of athletes who play their sports with the “football” mentality. We have taught them that they have to go out there and, “give it everything they’ve got”. Believe me I understand this mentality because I was one of these athletes. I went out everyday and killed myself. I would run through a brick wall for you and God forbid I ever showed any lack of effort. You know where it got me? No where!
I then began to think that maybe professional athletes knew something I didn’t. Maybe they had figured something out about performance that most of us hadn’t. Maybe the fact that they are effortless is a big reason why they can repeat their mechanics so easily. So let me put one myth to bed right now. Professional athletes are not lazy. Professional athletes are efficient. They are efficient with their movements, they have figured out how to work smarter not harder when they are on the playing field.
Let me explain what I mean. In the situation I gave you earlier of the hitter who has to face a hard throwing pitcher, his natural reaction is going to be to speed up his swing. When an athlete tries to speed up their swing they are rarely able to generate their desired bat speed. This is because in their mind they enter a state of “trying” instead of a state of “allowing”. Think of a hitter who hits a homerun. Generally homeruns come when the hitter isn’t trying to hit a homerun. They are in a smooth, relaxed state, their mind is clear of mental clutter, and because they are relaxed their physical mechanics are allowed to fall into place and the ball jumps off the bat naturally. The next time up when the hitter is feeling pretty good about himself and his ego takes over he tries to repeat the same result. He has left this state of “allowing”. As such his mechanics breakdown and he is unable to reach the same level of success he had in the previous at-bat. The same holds true for hitters that try to speed their bat up to match a pitcher with good velocity.
When an athlete moves from a state of “allowing” to a state of “trying” their mind begins to race and it becomes filled with mental clutter. In addition their breathing becomes faster and their muscles tense. When the muscles tense they then have to fight one another to perform the movement (every force creates a counter force). This not only causes the athlete to become slower but it makes it more difficult to perform fine motor movements. An inability to control fine motor movements opens the athlete up for mechanical breakdown. Think of driving your car with the parking break on. You can floor the gas pedal all you want but the car won’t go very fast even though the car is working hard. If you release the parking break you can go much faster without depressing the gas pedal very much. “Trying” or “Effort” in this case acts as the athlete’s parking brake.
I saw this example play itself out numerous times when I was working with my martial arts instructor. Anytime we were sparing I would be okay in the beginning, as the session progressed he began to move faster and faster. I began to notice that as he moved faster I began to increase my effort level in order to block his punches. However, the more I tried the more I got hit. It wasn’t until I slowed myself down and completely relaxed was I able to not only block him successfully but I was moving faster then I ever had thought possible.
The same applies in hitting, pitching, fielding, or any other activity in baseball. When we get into a pressure situation, face a fast pitcher, or are in any situation of stress our bodies natural reaction is to speed up. We must fight this reaction and force ourselves to slow down if we plan to be successful.
The first thing you can do to accomplish this is to monitor your breathing. We never really think about our breathing because it happens so naturally. However it is the most basic thing that is under our control. Begin to listen to yourself breath. Notice the speed and depth at which you are breathing. Then intentionally slow your breathing down. Take long, deep, slow breaths, notice what is happening to your body and notice what is happening in your mind. You should notice that your mind is clearing itself of most of it’s thoughts and your body should begin to relax and move at a slower more efficient pace. This is the state we should be in if we want to allow ourselves to be successful. In this state we are efficient. We are not blocking our body from performing in any way. We are essentially getting out of our own way and allowing ourselves to be successful. In this state we are able to move faster then we normally move, we are also able to have greater physical control enabling us to repeat proper mechanics.
Begin to listen to yourself breath during your practice and during your game. Listen to your breath while you are hitting and if you ever get into a pressure situation go back to listening to your breathing. You will immediately notice yourself relaxing. Remind yourself to “slow down” and you will notice that you are playing the game at a faster more efficient speed. Slow the game down in order to increase the speed at which you play. Sounds crazy but it works.
You see, in the United States we tend to cheer for the underdog. We tend to root for the players and teams that, “try hard”. We love the “Rudy’s” of the world and we tend to dislike the athletes that make things look easy and effortless. We tend to believe that they aren’t really trying because they play the game with effortlessness. This is true in every sport and not just baseball. How many people like college football and basketball more then the professional games because, “Those kids are really out there trying.” We are so attached to the idea of really trying hard that we have raised thousands of athletes who play their sports with the “football” mentality. We have taught them that they have to go out there and, “give it everything they’ve got”. Believe me I understand this mentality because I was one of these athletes. I went out everyday and killed myself. I would run through a brick wall for you and God forbid I ever showed any lack of effort. You know where it got me? No where!
I then began to think that maybe professional athletes knew something I didn’t. Maybe they had figured something out about performance that most of us hadn’t. Maybe the fact that they are effortless is a big reason why they can repeat their mechanics so easily. So let me put one myth to bed right now. Professional athletes are not lazy. Professional athletes are efficient. They are efficient with their movements, they have figured out how to work smarter not harder when they are on the playing field.
Let me explain what I mean. In the situation I gave you earlier of the hitter who has to face a hard throwing pitcher, his natural reaction is going to be to speed up his swing. When an athlete tries to speed up their swing they are rarely able to generate their desired bat speed. This is because in their mind they enter a state of “trying” instead of a state of “allowing”. Think of a hitter who hits a homerun. Generally homeruns come when the hitter isn’t trying to hit a homerun. They are in a smooth, relaxed state, their mind is clear of mental clutter, and because they are relaxed their physical mechanics are allowed to fall into place and the ball jumps off the bat naturally. The next time up when the hitter is feeling pretty good about himself and his ego takes over he tries to repeat the same result. He has left this state of “allowing”. As such his mechanics breakdown and he is unable to reach the same level of success he had in the previous at-bat. The same holds true for hitters that try to speed their bat up to match a pitcher with good velocity.
When an athlete moves from a state of “allowing” to a state of “trying” their mind begins to race and it becomes filled with mental clutter. In addition their breathing becomes faster and their muscles tense. When the muscles tense they then have to fight one another to perform the movement (every force creates a counter force). This not only causes the athlete to become slower but it makes it more difficult to perform fine motor movements. An inability to control fine motor movements opens the athlete up for mechanical breakdown. Think of driving your car with the parking break on. You can floor the gas pedal all you want but the car won’t go very fast even though the car is working hard. If you release the parking break you can go much faster without depressing the gas pedal very much. “Trying” or “Effort” in this case acts as the athlete’s parking brake.
I saw this example play itself out numerous times when I was working with my martial arts instructor. Anytime we were sparing I would be okay in the beginning, as the session progressed he began to move faster and faster. I began to notice that as he moved faster I began to increase my effort level in order to block his punches. However, the more I tried the more I got hit. It wasn’t until I slowed myself down and completely relaxed was I able to not only block him successfully but I was moving faster then I ever had thought possible.
The same applies in hitting, pitching, fielding, or any other activity in baseball. When we get into a pressure situation, face a fast pitcher, or are in any situation of stress our bodies natural reaction is to speed up. We must fight this reaction and force ourselves to slow down if we plan to be successful.
The first thing you can do to accomplish this is to monitor your breathing. We never really think about our breathing because it happens so naturally. However it is the most basic thing that is under our control. Begin to listen to yourself breath. Notice the speed and depth at which you are breathing. Then intentionally slow your breathing down. Take long, deep, slow breaths, notice what is happening to your body and notice what is happening in your mind. You should notice that your mind is clearing itself of most of it’s thoughts and your body should begin to relax and move at a slower more efficient pace. This is the state we should be in if we want to allow ourselves to be successful. In this state we are efficient. We are not blocking our body from performing in any way. We are essentially getting out of our own way and allowing ourselves to be successful. In this state we are able to move faster then we normally move, we are also able to have greater physical control enabling us to repeat proper mechanics.
Begin to listen to yourself breath during your practice and during your game. Listen to your breath while you are hitting and if you ever get into a pressure situation go back to listening to your breathing. You will immediately notice yourself relaxing. Remind yourself to “slow down” and you will notice that you are playing the game at a faster more efficient speed. Slow the game down in order to increase the speed at which you play. Sounds crazy but it works.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Swing Mechanics: Rotational vs. Linear
There has been a big debate over the years in baseball about what is the best type of swing. It’s almost like two political parties going head to head when people in baseball decide to jump on either side of the fence. Both have good arguments and both have video evidence to back up their theory. I have always found it amazing at how both arguments stand so firmly in their belief that their style of hitting is better.
So what is my opinion? Which one truly is better? Well, again just like politics the ideal solution is a compromise of both. That’s right I said it, when it comes to good, solid, result producing swing mechanics the swing has got to be both rotational and linear. No great hitter can afford to stand firmly on one side of the fence. The true rotational swing and the true linear swing is reserved for average hitters. Hitters who want to be great, hitters that want to create “playstation” type results have got to have a little of both in their swing.
As we have discussed before, when the stride foot lands the hips must separate from the hands. The hips begin to rotate storing up “rotational” energy in the core of the body. This is where the rotational aspect of the swing comes into play. A true linear swing would have the hitter loading up the back leg in preparation for “weight transfer”. When the swing is linear during this phase it causes head movement and head travel. This hurts the hitter’s ability to pick up the ball and to get the bat head into the strongest position at the point of contact. In order to build up a great amount of energy in the core, keep the head stable, and allow the bat to get to the point of contact as efficiently as possible this phase of the swing must be rotational.
When the hands start to move toward the ball the rotational energy that is stored in the core of the body is then transfered into the linear energy the hands need to take a short, direct path to the ball. This allows the hitter to generate the maximum amount of bat speed possible and to generate backspin which allows for the maximum amount of carry.
If this phase of the swing was truly rotational the bat head would drop and be generated by the front arm and shoulder. If the bat head drops the body then has to produce more energy to maintain the same bat speed (think of a figure skater spinning with their arms extended out as opposed to with their arms tucked in). In addition, if that bat head drops the bat will get to the point of contact slower and leave the hitting area sooner. The hitter will have to be perfect with their timing in order to hit the ball square. The bat will pass through the hitting zone and won’t allow the hitter to drive through the ball. Not to mention the hitter is more likely to generate top spin which doesn’t aid in the carry of the ball.
In order to reach the unlimited potential that you desire to reach you must make sure that your swing contains both components linear and rotational. Standing on either side of the fence limits your ability to create results.
So what is my opinion? Which one truly is better? Well, again just like politics the ideal solution is a compromise of both. That’s right I said it, when it comes to good, solid, result producing swing mechanics the swing has got to be both rotational and linear. No great hitter can afford to stand firmly on one side of the fence. The true rotational swing and the true linear swing is reserved for average hitters. Hitters who want to be great, hitters that want to create “playstation” type results have got to have a little of both in their swing.
As we have discussed before, when the stride foot lands the hips must separate from the hands. The hips begin to rotate storing up “rotational” energy in the core of the body. This is where the rotational aspect of the swing comes into play. A true linear swing would have the hitter loading up the back leg in preparation for “weight transfer”. When the swing is linear during this phase it causes head movement and head travel. This hurts the hitter’s ability to pick up the ball and to get the bat head into the strongest position at the point of contact. In order to build up a great amount of energy in the core, keep the head stable, and allow the bat to get to the point of contact as efficiently as possible this phase of the swing must be rotational.
When the hands start to move toward the ball the rotational energy that is stored in the core of the body is then transfered into the linear energy the hands need to take a short, direct path to the ball. This allows the hitter to generate the maximum amount of bat speed possible and to generate backspin which allows for the maximum amount of carry.
If this phase of the swing was truly rotational the bat head would drop and be generated by the front arm and shoulder. If the bat head drops the body then has to produce more energy to maintain the same bat speed (think of a figure skater spinning with their arms extended out as opposed to with their arms tucked in). In addition, if that bat head drops the bat will get to the point of contact slower and leave the hitting area sooner. The hitter will have to be perfect with their timing in order to hit the ball square. The bat will pass through the hitting zone and won’t allow the hitter to drive through the ball. Not to mention the hitter is more likely to generate top spin which doesn’t aid in the carry of the ball.
In order to reach the unlimited potential that you desire to reach you must make sure that your swing contains both components linear and rotational. Standing on either side of the fence limits your ability to create results.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Deliberate Practice Part 1
I am going to start a series on practice. As Allen Iverson said, “Practice? We’re talking about practice?” Yes, we are going to talk about practice. Practicing, specifically how to practice is one of the most misunderstood and often most widely misused aspects of sports. Most athletes, coaches, and parents believe that practice alone is sufficient enough to improve their athlete to the levels of performance that they desire. If that level of performance is not met it is then believed that the athlete was simply “not talented enough” or that they had some “limits” that prevented them from achieving the success they desired. This however, is nothing more then an excuse, a copout to relieve the athlete of any sense that they might not have reached their athletic potential. In Geoff Colvin’s book “Talent is Overrated: What REALLY Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else” he states, “This explanation has the additional advantage of helping most of us come to somewhat melancholy terms with our own performance. A god-given gift is a one-in-a-million thing. You have it or you don’t. If you don’t- and of course most of us don’t- then it follows that you should just forget now about ever coming close to greatness.”
What we are beginning to find is that great performers are actually made. That the “either you have it or you don’t” theory is losing much support and credibility. Again from Geoff Colvin, “Of course such findings do not prove that talent doesn’t exist. But they suggest an intriguing possibility: that if it does, it may be irrelevant.” Think about that for a second, talent, if it does exist might be irrelevant! This statement should provide a shot of excitement to anyone who desires to play at a high level. I know that it does for me. So what separates great athletes? If it’s not natural born talent what is it that enables them to perform at such amazing levels?
The answer to that question is what Colvin calls “deliberate practice”. Over the course of the next few articles we will discuss what deliberate practice is, how to implement it and what it really takes to achieve the level of performance that you desire. Generally however your level of performance is directly proportional to the amount of deliberate practice you engage in. “The accumulated amount of deliberate practice is closely related to the attained level of performance of many types of experts, such as musicians (Ericsson et al., 1993; Sloboda, et al., 1996), chessplayers (Charness, Krampe & Mayr, 1996) and athletes (Starkes et al., 1996).”(Eriksson, Expert Performance and Deliberate Practice, 2000 http://www.psy.fsu.edu/faculty/ericsson/ericsson.exp.perf.html)
What I know from personal experience is there is a distinct difference in the way that great athletes practice from the way average athletes practice. This is not to say that average athletes don’t work hard or put in the requisite hours to be great, but rather the practice of great performers is much more specific. From my own career I know this to be true. Prior to the accumulation of the knowledge of swing mechanics I posses today I struggled tremendously in my high school, college, and early professional career. This was not from lack of effort. I was routinely the “hardest working” player on every team that I ever played on. I spent hours in the cage trying to improve as an athlete and hitter but to no avail. I believed, like most do, that hard work alone was going to get me to where I wanted to be. When this didn’t happen my teammates, coaches, and everyone around me basically told me that I had gotten the most out of the ability I was given, that “you can only do so much with what you have”.
Of course none of this sat well with me and I refused to believe that I couldn’t be the player I wanted to be. Then an amazing thing happened. I began to learn what it took to be successful. I began to learn about the mechanics of the swing and how if I could master them and if I simply repeat them more often I could become the player I dreamed of. I began to practice deliberately (though I didn’t know it at the time).
In baseball we can attribute most failure to some sort of mechanical breakdown. If you watch a major league game and you really know what you are looking for you will notice that the most successful players repeat proper mechanics more often then anyone else. This is true for pitchers, hitters, everyone on the field. Believe it or not it is really that easy. The players that are able to repeat proper mechanics the most often will have the most success. What happens too often however is that players are unable to repeat these mechanics due to one of three things:
The don’t know what the proper mechanics are
Their mindset is not allowing their body to perform proper mechanics
They haven’t practiced in a way that fosters repeatability
If an athlete learns the proper mechanics involved in a particular movement, practices in a way that allows the body to repeat these mechanics, and produces within them a mindset that allows the body to repeat these mechanics then that athlete will perform at at an expert level.
So what are the steps? How to the practice routines of great athletes differ from those of everyone else?
Be Specific
In order to begin to develop a deliberate practice routine you must make sure that every practice session has a specific, non-result based goal. Many times when average athletes practice they focus on an external result to determine their success for that session. For example: most hitters feel as though they had a good practice session if they hit the majority of the baseballs hard during their session. Unfortunately a hitter can hit the balls hard during a practice session but not improve their performance at all.
Instead, try having a specific goal for that session that you can control. For example: you know that when you get your stride foot down early it makes it easy for you to perform proper mechanics. However, you are currently struggling with getting that stride foot down. Maybe during your next practice session you work on getting your stride foot down earlier. That session should then be devoted to the accomplishment of this goal. You then determine your success of that practice session entirely on wether or not you accomplished this goal regardless if you hit the ball well or not. Developing a specific goal for your practice sessions will enable you to improve at a faster rate and help you begin to develop a deliberate practice routine.
What we are beginning to find is that great performers are actually made. That the “either you have it or you don’t” theory is losing much support and credibility. Again from Geoff Colvin, “Of course such findings do not prove that talent doesn’t exist. But they suggest an intriguing possibility: that if it does, it may be irrelevant.” Think about that for a second, talent, if it does exist might be irrelevant! This statement should provide a shot of excitement to anyone who desires to play at a high level. I know that it does for me. So what separates great athletes? If it’s not natural born talent what is it that enables them to perform at such amazing levels?
The answer to that question is what Colvin calls “deliberate practice”. Over the course of the next few articles we will discuss what deliberate practice is, how to implement it and what it really takes to achieve the level of performance that you desire. Generally however your level of performance is directly proportional to the amount of deliberate practice you engage in. “The accumulated amount of deliberate practice is closely related to the attained level of performance of many types of experts, such as musicians (Ericsson et al., 1993; Sloboda, et al., 1996), chessplayers (Charness, Krampe & Mayr, 1996) and athletes (Starkes et al., 1996).”(Eriksson, Expert Performance and Deliberate Practice, 2000 http://www.psy.fsu.edu/faculty/ericsson/ericsson.exp.perf.html)
What I know from personal experience is there is a distinct difference in the way that great athletes practice from the way average athletes practice. This is not to say that average athletes don’t work hard or put in the requisite hours to be great, but rather the practice of great performers is much more specific. From my own career I know this to be true. Prior to the accumulation of the knowledge of swing mechanics I posses today I struggled tremendously in my high school, college, and early professional career. This was not from lack of effort. I was routinely the “hardest working” player on every team that I ever played on. I spent hours in the cage trying to improve as an athlete and hitter but to no avail. I believed, like most do, that hard work alone was going to get me to where I wanted to be. When this didn’t happen my teammates, coaches, and everyone around me basically told me that I had gotten the most out of the ability I was given, that “you can only do so much with what you have”.
Of course none of this sat well with me and I refused to believe that I couldn’t be the player I wanted to be. Then an amazing thing happened. I began to learn what it took to be successful. I began to learn about the mechanics of the swing and how if I could master them and if I simply repeat them more often I could become the player I dreamed of. I began to practice deliberately (though I didn’t know it at the time).
In baseball we can attribute most failure to some sort of mechanical breakdown. If you watch a major league game and you really know what you are looking for you will notice that the most successful players repeat proper mechanics more often then anyone else. This is true for pitchers, hitters, everyone on the field. Believe it or not it is really that easy. The players that are able to repeat proper mechanics the most often will have the most success. What happens too often however is that players are unable to repeat these mechanics due to one of three things:
The don’t know what the proper mechanics are
Their mindset is not allowing their body to perform proper mechanics
They haven’t practiced in a way that fosters repeatability
If an athlete learns the proper mechanics involved in a particular movement, practices in a way that allows the body to repeat these mechanics, and produces within them a mindset that allows the body to repeat these mechanics then that athlete will perform at at an expert level.
So what are the steps? How to the practice routines of great athletes differ from those of everyone else?
Be Specific
In order to begin to develop a deliberate practice routine you must make sure that every practice session has a specific, non-result based goal. Many times when average athletes practice they focus on an external result to determine their success for that session. For example: most hitters feel as though they had a good practice session if they hit the majority of the baseballs hard during their session. Unfortunately a hitter can hit the balls hard during a practice session but not improve their performance at all.
Instead, try having a specific goal for that session that you can control. For example: you know that when you get your stride foot down early it makes it easy for you to perform proper mechanics. However, you are currently struggling with getting that stride foot down. Maybe during your next practice session you work on getting your stride foot down earlier. That session should then be devoted to the accomplishment of this goal. You then determine your success of that practice session entirely on wether or not you accomplished this goal regardless if you hit the ball well or not. Developing a specific goal for your practice sessions will enable you to improve at a faster rate and help you begin to develop a deliberate practice routine.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Hip Separation
One of the best things we can do as a hitter in order to increase our bat speed and increase our power production is to make sure that we get hip separation when we swing. This aspect of the swing is often over looked as most hitters believe that if their hips are rotating this is sufficient enough to generate the bat speed and power necessary to hit.
The idea that simply rotating the hips generates the power necessary is limiting because it doesn’t allow the hitter to maximize bat speed or to take the shortest possible route to the ball.
After the hitter lands their stride foot and begins their rotation toward the ball the hitter must have their hips rotate first. That is the hips must begin their rotation prior to the hands delivering toward the ball.
Ideally when a hitter begins their rotation toward the ball there should be separation between the back hip and the hands. This movement clears the hips and allows the hands and the bat to have a clear, unobstructed path toward the ball. This enables the hitter to take the shortest path possible to the ball and allows the hitter to keep the barrel above the ball as long as possible. When the barrel stays above the ball as long as possible it allows the hitter to have good posture and be in their strongest position at the point of contact. In addition it allows the hitter to generate backspin on the ball which aids in the carry of the ball.
Hip separation also allows for the build up of torque in the core of the body. When the hips separate from the hands there is a build up of energy that is stored in the core of the body (think of the stretching of a rubber band). The greater the separation of the hips the greater the amount of stored energy in the body (stretching the rubber band farther and farther). When the hands finally begin forward that stored energy is then released into the hands and the bat allowing for greater and greater bat speed (letting go of the rubber band). This energy is then transferred into the ball causing the ball to travel farther.
Too often hitters rotate their hips with their hands together. This looks as though the back hip and the hands are connected by a string. When the back hip begins to rotate the hands move with it. This limits a hitter in two ways: 1) when the hips and hands rotate together the barrel of the bat must travel out and around the hips in order to get to the point of contact. This lengthens out the bat path which doesn’t allow the hitter to have the short compact swing. It also drops the barrel, making it more difficult for the hitter to generate backspin which is necessary for maximum distance. 2) when the hips and hands go together there is no build up of torque. Therefore there is no additional energy transferred into the ball so that hitter will be limited in the results that they can produce.
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