grizzly4life
03-01-2008, 08:14 PM
i know many people won't appreciate the golf/tennis angle, but i'll go anyway.... i am wondering about this because i just had some golf lessons and have had a real "eureka"/epiphany type moment. my golf pro got me to lessen my knee bend tremendous and increase my waist bend a huge amount (previously i had almost no bend there)... anyhow, the results are simply tremendous. much, much more freedom to hit the ball well.
and i googled and this tennis article seems to have some similarities.. anyhow, i'm wondering if knee bend has been overemphasized in tennis too?? obviously you need at least a minimum amount.... unfortunately i live in northern climate and don't have winter membership this year, so i haven't tried it out yet. i'm going to watch some tennis videos on youtube.com and try to figure out how much of each the players do. of course on atp, probably alot of high balls.
http://www.tenniswarrior.com/myths/myth-bendingknees.htm
from article:
Yes, sometimes you bend your knees and sometimes you do not bend quite as much. Avoid the pitfall of making bending the knees this rigid axiom that has to be followed before you can play tennis well. Play relaxed and look like an athlete bending naturally and where necessary. Oscar Wegner in his book "You Can Play Tennis in 2 Hours" hit it right on the nose when he said "Combined with stay down through the stroke, only bending the knees makes players look like broken puppets. Bend naturally - waist, knees, arms - looking like an athlete, not like a stiff marionette."
Personally I rarely tell any of my students to bend their knees. Actually, I believe it has been years since I have uttered the words "bend your knees." I have discovered that in time most players begin bending their knees automatically and naturally without having to mention it. So, I leave them alone and let the natural process teach them when to bend a little and when to bend more. It works!
and i googled and this tennis article seems to have some similarities.. anyhow, i'm wondering if knee bend has been overemphasized in tennis too?? obviously you need at least a minimum amount.... unfortunately i live in northern climate and don't have winter membership this year, so i haven't tried it out yet. i'm going to watch some tennis videos on youtube.com and try to figure out how much of each the players do. of course on atp, probably alot of high balls.
http://www.tenniswarrior.com/myths/myth-bendingknees.htm
from article:
Yes, sometimes you bend your knees and sometimes you do not bend quite as much. Avoid the pitfall of making bending the knees this rigid axiom that has to be followed before you can play tennis well. Play relaxed and look like an athlete bending naturally and where necessary. Oscar Wegner in his book "You Can Play Tennis in 2 Hours" hit it right on the nose when he said "Combined with stay down through the stroke, only bending the knees makes players look like broken puppets. Bend naturally - waist, knees, arms - looking like an athlete, not like a stiff marionette."
Personally I rarely tell any of my students to bend their knees. Actually, I believe it has been years since I have uttered the words "bend your knees." I have discovered that in time most players begin bending their knees automatically and naturally without having to mention it. So, I leave them alone and let the natural process teach them when to bend a little and when to bend more. It works!