Serve Speed help

[BU-Tennis]

I hit with a friend today and had to use one of his older racquets, which was actually the racquet that I used about 3 years ago. It's a game improvement racquet so it is pretty loaded with power. It felt really weird, had no plow through, but my serves were pretty fast. i could generate a lot of spin and pace. i attribute this to me being able to really swing the racquet fast, as its about 2 ounces lighter than the racquet i use normally.

So how can i get this feeling in my heavier racquet? i used the same form but was just able to swing faster. I don't want to try and swing too hard with the heavier racquet because i feel like i am arming the ball and i'm trying to stay as loose as possible. So am I maybe being too loose? And where should i feel the contraction when i try to really go for a serve: the forearm, bicep, tricep, shoulder, back?

[LeeD]

actually, swing speed help....
Light rackets you can arm thru really fast, leading to shoulder and arm problems down the line.
Heavier rackets, you CAN'T arm thru, so you gotta learn technique, employing forward movement, knee explosion, correct long swing, long follow thru, and replicated strokes.
Kinda like throwing a tennis ball as opposed to throwing a baseball.

[BU-Tennis]

^^^^I do have good form, i would like to think. Good knee bend, decent wrist snap, and excellent shoulder rotation. But I can't really ratchet up the MPH. So when i used the lighter racquet, which had more power in it and was able to whip through the ball faster, the MPH was a good bit higher. My question is where in my stroke should i put more effort to get more speed?

[charliefedererer]

You can review, step by step, the individual components of the serve at the following site:
http://www.fuzzyyellowballs.com/videos/index.php/view/957/205/Introduction_to_the_Serve
But it is the smooth coordination of all of the movements in the kinetic chain that is going to produce the fastest serve:
http://www.playerdevelopment.usta.com/content/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=116178&itype=7418
http://www.aroundhawaii.com/lifestyle/health_and_fitness/2006-04_how_to_improve_your_tennis_serve_speed.html
Too often, too much attention is paid just to arm strength:
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=251533
But if you've been playing tennis for for some time, you ought to have the necessary arm strength to move the heavier racquet at the same velocity as the lighter one. (Although off court conditioning will be essential to have sufficient strength and endurance.)http://www.playerdevelopment.usta.com/news/fullstory.sps?inewsid=249182

Most likely you will need to keep practicing using the perfect form of starting a powerful serve from the leg thrust, through the core uncoiling, the shoulder over shoulder cartwheel, and then the arm, foream and wrist motions.

[BU-Tennis]

^^^^Charlie you have made me thought about my form a little with your last sentence. I think with the heavier racquet it takes more power to get the ball to go the same speed as with the ligher, more powerful racquet. Whenever I try to speed up my technique i think my lower half goes too fast and my upper half gets disconnected. I am definitely not in the best shape and have been working on it and I think if I improve my core strength i can better contract the abs to help with the chain of power from my legs and hips to the shoulder which should speed my arm up.

But i still have some problems. i am not sure that i'm using my arm enough now as it is, sometimes it feels like its lagging behind. Should I have a straight line going from shoulder to shoulder to elbow? It seems that Federer has a little angle between has shoulder and elbow. Any thoughts?

[defrule]

I didn't notice a different in speed when I tried using a light powerful frame again.

But I actually found my serves a lot more inconsistent with a light powerful frame.

[LeeD]

I'm with the above....
Light, big, head heavy, powerful rackets don't serve any faster, but they do serve faster with incorrect technique, like arming the ball only....
Heavier, softer, smaller, headlight rackets can serve just as fast, but they require the correct kinetic chain each and every serve, so no lazy here.....
Roddick has one of the fastest serves, moderate size, moderate weight, lotsa air drag, medium balance ......
And isn't Haas or Berdyck (nice try at spelling, eh?) switching to 300's, lighter and bigger than their older 200's?
I think most adults with decent technique can serve just as fast with a 13 oz racket as an 11 oz'er.....

[charliefedererer]

^^^^Charlie you have made me thought about my form a little with your last sentence. I think with the heavier racquet it takes more power to get the ball to go the same speed as with the ligher, more powerful racquet. Whenever I try to speed up my technique i think my lower half goes too fast and my upper half gets disconnected. I am definitely not in the best shape and have been working on it and I think if I improve my core strength i can better contract the abs to help with the chain of power from my legs and hips to the shoulder which should speed my arm up.

But i still have some problems. i am not sure that i'm using my arm enough now as it is, sometimes it feels like its lagging behind. Should I have a straight line going from shoulder to shoulder to elbow? It seems that Federer has a little angle between has shoulder and elbow. Any thoughts?

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "Should I have a straight line going from shoulder to shoulder to elbow?" If you mean should the shoulders and hitting elbow be level to the ground in the "trophy pose", the answer would be no, as there is a pretty severe upward angle from the hitting elbow through the hitting shoulder to the front shoulder, although all three line up in this upward angle. This is best seen at the end of the the sequence on Fuzzy Yellow Balls where Will discusses the trophy pose (http://www.fuzzyyellowballs.com/videos/index.php/view/957/163/Step_5_Tennis_Serve_Trophy_Pose) and at the beginning of the next segment on the tennis racquet drop (http://www.fuzzyyellowballs.com/videos/index.php/view/957/162/Step_6_Tennis_Serve_Racket_Drop). In the sequence on the raquet drop, he reviews in slow motion severeal pro's as they go from the trophy pose to the racquet drop to better illustrate this.
The obvious purpose of this tremendous windup of so many body parts, is that it will allow the greatest explosion of each of these parts adding up to your maximum raquet speed.
I think you echo many players when you say your upper and lower halves get disconnected.
But the first step is to form a stong mental image of what you wish to accomplish, then train the body to perfom the sequence almost as a reflex using muscle memory. As you practice you'll find the coiling up into the trophy position occurs at a slower rate, and then comes the explosion from this position to hit the serve. (As a hint, tossing the ball a little higher will give you a little more time, and you'll need the height as you will be leaving the ground from your strong leg thrust.)
It will take time and a lot of practice to get all this timing down.