Tips to incorporate more hip action into the forehand

[Cheetah]

Originally Posted by xFullCourtTenniSx

I can't get more coil (at least from the upper body).

What do you mean here exactly?

[boramiNYC]

Originally Posted by tricky

You'll notice that your weight transfer is better, and that your pelvis turns more forcefully. This teaches you to move your weight forward through the shot, which is what you are really trying to accomplish with the hips.

for the modern FH I would be cautious about emphasizing the forward weight transfer. it can be over done and can mess up the stroke. I believe roddick was this case.

[Metalica]

Originally Posted by Cheetah

Fed doesn't rotate his hip on most forehands?? He isolates his shoulder? Fed's 'head turn' is to help make good contact and maintain balance. the head weighs 30lbs so keeping it still is optimal. Nothing do with 'isolating the shoulder'.
Can you show me a video of Fed hitting a rally ball where he doesn't rotate his hip?

A 'full swing' does not mean 'bigger swing' or 'longer swing' and is not related to being 'not compact'. A full swing means you have a takeback, you swing and then you have a full follow through and finish around your body or above your shoulder etc.
A 'compact swing' refers to the takeback mostly and not the 'swing' necessarily.

I wouldn't recommend the method in the vid in the first post unless you have an injury or something. He's using a neutral stance, he's 'pointing at the ball', no coil in his hip and he's hitting off the front foot. Sure they might be some situation where that would be used but it's not something you want to base your regular swing on.

This is what I mean when i say he doesn't rotate his hip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkDIFP4SK9Q
Notice how his right leg moves backward preventing his hip from rotating too much? I realize my wording is probably wrong when I say he doesn't rotate his hip. What i meant is that he doesn't rotate his hip a lot apart from some shots. You also corrected me about the his head turn.
I still think that you don't need to consciously think too much about roating your hip. I concentrate more on turning the shoulder; torso and hip turn can be a by-product of that but I don't think it's too important so long as you turn your shoulder a lot.

[tricky]

Originally Posted by boramiNYC

for the modern FH I would be cautious about emphasizing the forward weight transfer. it can be over done and can mess up the stroke. I believe roddick was this case.

Most people don't realize this, but the modern FH comes in both flavors. It changes the shape of the takeback and the nature of the WW action in the forward swing.

The drill itself works well with both FH, whether your ground reaction force goes angular/up or forward.

[enishi1357]

great footwork = hip rotation. Know your close stance, extreme close stance, open stance and you should be good

[Cheetah]

Originally Posted by Metalica

This is what I mean when i say he doesn't rotate his hip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkDIFP4SK9Q
Notice how his right leg moves backward preventing his hip from rotating too much? I realize my wording is probably wrong when I say he doesn't rotate his hip. What i meant is that he doesn't rotate his hip a lot apart from some shots. You also corrected me about the his head turn.
I still think that you don't need to consciously think too much about roating your hip. I concentrate more on turning the shoulder; torso and hip turn can be a by-product of that but I don't think it's too important so long as you turn your shoulder a lot.

He rotated his hip about 90degrees there. that's a lot. plus he was coiled. Normally he rotates even more than that even but that shot was a 'specialty case: aggressive winner'.
Also his hip stops rotating when it faces the net (from leg kick) causing the racquet to whip around which wouldn't happen at the degree it does on his fh's without that rotation.
rotating the hip after contact has no effect on the ball.
The hip is not a by-product in the kinetic chain. It's an early step in the kinetic chain which comes before shoulder rotation. If you swing the way you are describing then the chain is short circuited and arming the racquet is likely to occur and you won't get anywhere near the rhs you would be able to w/ hip rotation.
power comes from the ground up starting w/ the legs, then hips etc.. If the hips aren't rotating then there's a lot lost right there.
The same principle applies to the serve, golf, baseball, and any other throwing sports.

that music is funny. and appropriate

[xFullCourtTenniSx]

Originally Posted by Cheetah

What do you mean here exactly?

My hips get turned, but all I focus on for the legs and lower body is to bend my knees and positioning myself to hit my shots. On the upper body, I focus on a full turn and I can't really get any more turn than I already am.

Originally Posted by boramiNYC

if what you have been doing is using just shoulder rotation to generate rhs i believe there's quite a bit more you can do to improve but rotating the hip more to increase rhs is not one of them. try counter rotating the hip. this is usually done in the air for jumping fh to balance out the upper body rot inertia. it is one of the stopping mechanism by lower body including hip. think fast cars have much larger brakes. or due to the braking power you can drive fast. otherwise it's injury and your body knows that and wont allow it to happen even if your brain tells swing faster.

Counter rotating then hip sounds painful. I need some sort of visual example or a drill or a different explanation.

Of all the air forehands I hit (and used to hit), the only injury I've ever gotten was a mid-air cramp (which is normal for me, the cramping I mean, but I've gotten a lot better at managing it) and my shoulder popping out of my socket once or twice for a split second. I was moving back as I hit the shot while also trying to extend as far through the ball as possible.

[Cheetah]

Originally Posted by xFullCourtTenniSx

My hips get turned, but all I focus on for the legs and lower body is to bend my knees and positioning myself to hit my shots. On the upper body, I focus on a full turn and I can't really get any more turn than I already am.

Simply turning the hips is not coiling. Coiling is having the shoulders turned at a greater angle than the hips are turned, like a wound spring. A wound spring stores energy. It's part of an efficient kinetic chain. With no coil you have a weak link in the chain.

Look at the hips and shoulders in the vid posted earlier. no coil. I'm assuming you look similar.

Compare that to the following

[boramiNYC]

Originally Posted by xFullCourtTenniSx

Counter rotating then hip sounds painful. I need some sort of visual example or a drill or a different explanation.

when the stance starts out more open and finish more closed the hip counter rotated. most often jump in open stance and land in neutral stance weight transferring toward front in the air. Tsonga does this most regularly and almost all pros do this.

[xFullCourtTenniSx]

Originally Posted by Cheetah

Simply turning the hips is not coiling. Coiling is having the shoulders turned at a greater angle than the hips are turned, like a wound spring. A wound spring stores energy. It's part of an efficient kinetic chain. With no coil you have a weak link in the chain.

Look at the hips and shoulders in the vid posted earlier. no coil. I'm assuming you look similar.

Compare that to the following

Actually, unfortunately, all I hear is that I look exactly like that.

Also pretty sure my shoulders are more rotated than the hips.

But I don't have a camera to check.

Originally Posted by boramiNYC

when the stance starts out more open and finish more closed the hip counter rotated. most often jump in open stance and land in neutral stance weight transferring toward front in the air. Tsonga does this most regularly and almost all pros do this.

Hmmm... In that case, I probably do this more than I think. It seems like something you would do naturally.