mightyrick
Legend
In a baseball pitch, the tucking of the non-throwing arm is critical to the mechanics. It is the quickest way to turn/clear the shoulders to rotate the torso without impediment.
how to eliminate unnecessary non hitting arm movement?
- Thread starter Rozroz
- Start date
In a baseball pitch, the tucking of the non-throwing arm is critical to the mechanics. It is the quickest way to turn/clear the shoulders to rotate the torso without impediment.
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Deleted member 23235
Guest
I'm always thought this was similar to when a figure skater tucks in her arms to increase her spin rate (ie. conservation of angular momentum)
Other sports I've played using the same principle:
* diving - jump into tuck to increase rotation (eg. for a double), then switchign to layout to slow down the spin prior to entry
* snowboarding - grabbing board to increase speed on spin, then opening the arms to slow down the rotation just prior to landing
Dragy
Legend
Hey OP, in the GIF you do not hold your left arm parallel to the baseline at all - it goes down right after splitting your hands. Try concentrating on controlling the future contact point until the very beginning of uncoil. Then relax, which will most likely provide adequate movement - your arm will follow body rotation, not drop down before.
I also agree with your concern for the ball-body distance. Give yourself more space (left arm straighten parallel to the baseline should also help). In this stroke you didn't get the proper racquet release from the lag, which should speed up the RH towards the contact point providing power and spin. Your contact was with your wrist still laid back.
I also agree with your concern for the ball-body distance. Give yourself more space (left arm straighten parallel to the baseline should also help). In this stroke you didn't get the proper racquet release from the lag, which should speed up the RH towards the contact point providing power and spin. Your contact was with your wrist still laid back.
dominikk1985
Legend
There are coaches to teach pull the glove to the armpit but some disagree with that and rather want the arm to stay in front and the chest turn toward the arm.
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Deleted member 23235
Guest
and leave the non-throwing arm extended out in front? that just feels weird (yeah i just tried
)Yes the chest does have to turn to face the target, but pulling the glove to the armpit speeds up the turn-chest-to-target rotation
I can see why some folks don't describe it that way, if say you have a kid(s) that just pulls his glove hand in, without rotating-chest-to-target (ie. might be easier to say "turn your chest to the target and let the kid naturally do whatever it takes to make that faster,... like pull their glove to the armpit... but sometimes they might just drop their arm down to their hip).
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maxxy777
Guest
His arm is weak for tennis not generally.
Muscles and tendons strength needed for tennis are way different kind of strength.
I sometimes play with my left hand and i need to hold my racket much tighter and my arm gets tired much faster,even tho im very strong and athletic person.
so you cant stay loose if your arm is not strong enough for tennis.
But you can relax your arm just a bit and play little bit more with your arm instead of the body for beginning...
This was my tip.
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maxxy777
Guest
he's a pro with rock solid strokes so who am i to...?
looks ok for a warm up, he's using a lot of the wrist.
but i bet if you compare Fed to him, Fed will look more natural and loose.
i think the Djokovik slo-mo mid match winner FH
is the best example of a tight FH like i did in the GIF (with no comparison of course
Dont get offended that i said your arm was weak.
Its not about general power but tennis power.
Doesnt matter pro or not.
I will find 12 year old boy that hits forhand stronger then you.
Forhand is about maximizing arm usage and then body will follow naturally on its own.
YOur arm usage is not sufficient.
Rozroz
G.O.A.T.
I never claimed i dont fully agree with what you say.. I am not offended, obviously i dont maximize my stroke potential and thats why i have less power.
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maxxy777
Guest
Then you wouldnt have this arm problem in a first place.
Post few strokes from warm up ,when hitting thru the mid.
Any slight mistake there will only get much bigger in a match.
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Rozroz
G.O.A.T.
i'll try once i'm able to shoot some video.
but proper warm up is also a problem because 90% of my partners are eager to play and not relaxed and centered while warming.
only way to do it properly is a ball machine.
and besides, the NHA is a small part of many problems, as said above (distance, contact point etc)
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maxxy777
Guest
I know what you mean.
So that would be your main problem mate not the arm.
Lack of basic trainig,sparring with someone who can control the ball is number one enemy of improving until lvl 5.0 or even 6.0
Coz many things sort them self out naturally if given a chance.
If you have mistake in tehnic you will not solve it in a match,or by feeding the ball.
Only by hitting many decent controled balls thru mid,cross and so on against decent sparring.
Same time you practice distance, contact point and so on.
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Deleted member 23235
Guest
Lol, i have hit with 12 year girls that hit harder than me (1 is now on tour, another played high level d1). And I agree,... hitting hard has everything to do with technique and timing than raw-bench-pressing-or-bicep-curling-strength
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maxxy777
Guest
Lol, i have hit with 12 year girls that hit harder than me (1 is now on tour, another played high level d1). And I agree,... hitting hard has everything to do with technique and timing than raw-bench-pressing-or-bicep-curling-strength
yeah i bench 100kg easy
but with my left hand my peak shot is power of 8 year old girl.
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Deleted member 23235
Guest
In physics terms,... a good player is a constructive wave,... everyone else (including me) is some % of destructive wave.Lol, i have hit with 12 year girls that hit harder than me (1 is now on tour, another played high level d1). And I agree,... hitting hard has everything to do with technique and timing than raw-bench-pressing-or-bicep-curling-strength
http://www.phys.uconn.edu/~gibson/Notes/Section5_2/Sec5_2.htm
Doesn't matter how strong I am, if I hitting at the wrong timing, the net effect will far lower than someone hitting with good timing.
heninfan99
Talk Tennis Guru
the wall would work for this and practicing your other issues.
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maxxy777
Guest
To get more power in the arm yeah,but the thing about wall is its to easy to predict the next shot.
which makes it boring,so you pay less attention and you tend to get automatization which doesnt work on the court.
But i think it could work for the arm practice, if you stand close to the wall 5-10 metars and hit very easy forhands slight spins 1-2 meters high across the net.
In this way you can isolate the arm much easier and get a feel for it and get it stronger for tennis.
Try to get 10-20 shots no mistake in one series.
Its much better to get more easy shots then few strong ones.
10-15 series would be enough.
heninfan99
Talk Tennis Guru
Not only the arm but he can really help his timing and hitting out in front.
It's not so great for mimicking match play, sure, but great for retooling timing or learning a totally new stroke.
Can also help getting strokes more compact when needed as you're constantly robbed of time.
It's not so great for mimicking match play, sure, but great for retooling timing or learning a totally new stroke.
Can also help getting strokes more compact when needed as you're constantly robbed of time.
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maxxy777
Guest
Hitting in front yes,but timing is much more then that.
Timing consists of the whole period the ball is in play,every movement one makes is part of the timing.
What people call talent in tennis,
is mostly just good timing, not skill.
I know plenty of players with crazy skills,cordination but poor timing.
Good timing is something reserved mostly for pro players.
Very high lvl 6.5 even 7.0 can be achieved with bad timing but huge amount of practice,determination,skill.
heninfan99
Talk Tennis Guru
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maxxy777
Guest
I know just saying what can be done easily and what is not so easy to achieve.
So playing bit in front and more with you arm yes,its possible.
Increase your whole timing or play good with poor timing ,not so easy.
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maxxy777
Guest
That is excellent idea
Rozroz
G.O.A.T.
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maxxy777
Guest
Stop thinking about non hitting arm movement. And start thinking about spine movement, esp the upper spine/ribcage. Upper spine in many ways can control the arms.
Here's how the proper spine movement goes. In a big full swing by a flexible athlete the ribcage goes from mild flexion (prep) to extension (contact) to flexion (initial stage of the finish). Often it can be truncated to mostly extension and slight flexion for pros when they reduce the size of the swing or start pretty close from the contact point. For rec players who lack good ribcage flexibility tend to keep it in extension the whole time like OP or flexion the whole time. But, as the swing gets faster and bigger the full ribcage control should be engaged. Otherwise the swing becomes weird.
OP, your problem is you lack ribcage flexion and you are trying to take a big cut at the ball. So, the ribcage is not absorbing the shock much and instead the vertical rotation is doing what it can to absorb the shock. The result is loss of balance when hitting out and slower recovery for next shot. Also, it could increase the risk of rotational injury.
First and foremost, improve flexibility of your spine, esp the ribcage flexion. Watch how much Fed gets flexion when he hunches over during serve return prep. The amount of ribcage flexion is astonishing. And at the same time try to keep both arms in front of your body the whole fh stroke as much as possible. Initially it's good to exaggerate this for practice and get the feel. It gives the spine the loaded pose and the extension during contact will be like stretched pose which quickly snaps back to the loaded pose. Until you get this motion improved try not to swing too hard without control. Your desire to swing just as hard as before brings your previous bad habits.
Basically, the extension of ribcage (open chest) should be a snap during the swing. Don't try to force it to stay open the whole time.
Here's how the proper spine movement goes. In a big full swing by a flexible athlete the ribcage goes from mild flexion (prep) to extension (contact) to flexion (initial stage of the finish). Often it can be truncated to mostly extension and slight flexion for pros when they reduce the size of the swing or start pretty close from the contact point. For rec players who lack good ribcage flexibility tend to keep it in extension the whole time like OP or flexion the whole time. But, as the swing gets faster and bigger the full ribcage control should be engaged. Otherwise the swing becomes weird.
OP, your problem is you lack ribcage flexion and you are trying to take a big cut at the ball. So, the ribcage is not absorbing the shock much and instead the vertical rotation is doing what it can to absorb the shock. The result is loss of balance when hitting out and slower recovery for next shot. Also, it could increase the risk of rotational injury.
First and foremost, improve flexibility of your spine, esp the ribcage flexion. Watch how much Fed gets flexion when he hunches over during serve return prep. The amount of ribcage flexion is astonishing. And at the same time try to keep both arms in front of your body the whole fh stroke as much as possible. Initially it's good to exaggerate this for practice and get the feel. It gives the spine the loaded pose and the extension during contact will be like stretched pose which quickly snaps back to the loaded pose. Until you get this motion improved try not to swing too hard without control. Your desire to swing just as hard as before brings your previous bad habits.
Basically, the extension of ribcage (open chest) should be a snap during the swing. Don't try to force it to stay open the whole time.
dominikk1985
Legend
and leave the non-throwing arm extended out in front? that just feels weird (yeah i just tried
Yes the chest does have to turn to face the target, but pulling the glove to the armpit speeds up the turn-chest-to-target rotation
I can see why some folks don't describe it that way, if say you have a kid(s) that just pulls his glove hand in, without rotating-chest-to-target (ie. might be easier to say "turn your chest to the target and let the kid naturally do whatever it takes to make that faster,... like pull their glove to the armpit... but sometimes they might just drop their arm down to their hip).
no, the arm always tucks into the side but some teach that this is less of a violent tucking so that your front side moves less. I prefer the tucking too.
Rozroz
G.O.A.T.
many thanks for this.
do you have any link to this specific ribcage improvement?
or a suggestion of a good exercise for that?
D
Deleted member 23235
Guest
ah. thx for clarifying
I've also seen a hybrid approach, ie. glove arm is bent, vs. tucked into armpit.
I can see how a violent-tucking-motion could lead to inaccuracies...
I always taught my kids, (1) point (2) listen (3) throw (with pointing finger tucking into armpin) - not sure if that's the right way to teach a 5 year old. They can throw - but I don't see any pro baseball/softball contracts in their future
You can find a lot of info by searching thoracic spine movement or mobility exercises. Here's one:
http://www.stack.com/a/thoracic-spine-exercises
Esp, notice how round the upper back flexes in the "short seated wall reach vid".
A simple cats and dogs holds in yoga poses will help too.
What's important is that you move that part and regularly stretch the movement with simple exercises. Then, add some of those complex ones once in a while. Mostly, these are stretch and hold type exercises and they will take a long time to ingrain into your movements and strokes, so be patient and diligent in doing them for months if not more.
Best,
Spin Doctor
Professional
So much bad advice in this thread. 78 posts here and I only see 1 that has a practical solution to your problem.
OP, find a qualified pro and take a lesson. It will be way more effective than sorting through the suggestions in this thread. You are being led down several rabbit holes that lead nowhere.
OP, find a qualified pro and take a lesson. It will be way more effective than sorting through the suggestions in this thread. You are being led down several rabbit holes that lead nowhere.
Rozroz
G.O.A.T.
not sure it's that efficient in terms of budget.
i pro would start improving other various basic things according to his experience (i just did that 2 weeks ago),
before the tucked hand, and i can only afford a lesson perhaps once a month.
it's a privilege i cannot afford.
and besides, 95% of the people here should get a teaching pro and take a lesson instead of seeking advice in these threads
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Deleted member 23235
Guest
Awww... what fun is that?
If everyone did that, the Tennis Tips/Instruction section in ttw would cease to exist
Throw your tips into the mix, and join the party
heninfan99
Talk Tennis Guru
In warm-up Djokovic often catches the racquet. Just sayin.
he's a pro with rock solid strokes so who am i to...?
looks ok for a warm up, he's using a lot of the wrist.
but i bet if you compare Fed to him, Fed will look more natural and loose.
i think the Djokovik slo-mo mid match winner FH
is the best example of a tight FH like i did in the GIF (with no comparison of course
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Mack-2
Professional
Which post is the one that has a practical solution to his problem?
10isMaestro
Semi-Pro
The problem is simple. When you execute a forehand, you proceed by habit, so to speak. You treat the execution of a tennis shot as a single block of information after sufficiently many repetitions of the same thing. It is indeed the efficient thing to do: you need to free up your ability to focus from all the moving parts of a forehand to tracking the ball and picking the right reponse out of your bag of tricks to become a good player. However, when you do shadow strokes, there you mind about your form -- and it becomes even clearer when you slow things down.
If you want to get a professional-level form, you will need to do thousands of repetitions doing the right thing -- and as few as possible doing the wrong thing. So, I have a solution for you.
1) For the next week or the next few weeks, depending on how many repetitions you can get every day, you will not play a match or have a friendly hitting session. If you ever get to hit a ball in a live situation before having worked enough on your form, you will go back to your bad habit, so you need to stop it right now.
2) You will do at least one hunred forehands per day, slowly as shadow strokes in front of a camera or mirror. You should do most of them as if they were real forehands: that means you can only occassionally look at the mirror because you should practice looking at your contact point and tracking the ball with your eyes, as well. If you can do a thousand of those shadow strokes per day in the next week, do it. However, you have to realize that you do have to complete your transition over several days because sleep allows you to modify the paths in your brain -- which is what you want to do.
3) Once you have done this for a few days, you can get a bucket of ball and go to a court alone. You'll go on the court, position yourself at the baseline and you will be hitting off self-feed balls. You shouldn't worry about what your shot looks like: don't look where the ball goes for now. Moreover, you should be doing a full stroke: you start from the ready position and toss the ball up; you do a unit turn and adjust your position with respect to the ball by moving your feet; you take the racket back and extend your non hitting arm; you hit the ball and tuck in your non hitting arm; and you follow through properly. Also, try to AVOID hitting hard. You want to slow it down enough so you can pay attention to your form. If you wish, you can stand inside the baseline.
Moreover, before hitting a ball, shadow your stroke, say 50 times, then begin to hit. Between each ball, shadow it, say, 10 times. And, when you sent the whole basket on the other side of the net, you retrieve the balls, then do 50 more shadow strokes and go over the whole basket again (slowly, as well).
4) Once you have done this a few times (say, you have over 2000 shadows strokes and 300 or 400 slow forehands), you can start picking up the pace. You don't try to forcefully hit hard, but just allow yourself to rotate more violently into your shot. Film yourself and you'll see that your form will be neat. If you are satisfied, you can then move up to playing an actual person again.
I won't lie to you: it's annoying to do. You know you can hit good shots, you want so bad to hit hard, but changing what neuropaths are geared to instantly accomplish a forehand shot is an insanely long process and the more you are careful about it, the greater the quality of the end product. A great Russian academy gets kid doing shadow strokes and live feeds for 3 whole years before they even get to play a match -- and they aren't allowed to do it outside on their own either -- to make sure their form is irreproachable before they start thinking about how to adjust to match situations. I ask you to do this for just a week or two, depending on how much time you can afford to spend per week.
10isMaestro
Semi-Pro
Such amazing footage and so unique: they are so great with their backhands, yet so ordinary (by ATP standards) with their forehands. That being said, I do enjoy Nalbandian's forehand as well.
Rozroz
G.O.A.T.
thanks @10isMaestro ..
i think that's the most practical advice.. which is hard work, and giving up real playing for a 1-2 weeks.
i will seriously consider that.
the only thing that bothers me is once i do what you describe,
i better be goddamn sure me WHOLe stroke is indeed improved, not just the NHA.
so that means corrected distance from the ball, more in front contact point, etc.
and who knows what a bunch of other micro stuff i need to take care of (like one of the posters said, some ribcage exercise to make my whole torso and unit rotate more freely and properly)
Chas Tennis
G.O.A.T.
One thing about a stroke is to get a very clear idea of some model(s) for the stroke. Then you can decide to copy the model or not. Also, to get an idea of the variations being used.
The non-hitting arm motion is often not moving so fast so that you can watch most of it on TV. If you have a digital video recorder you can do stop action and see much of it. I'm seeing it in Barcelona now.
So far for energetic forehands I can see the arm straight out after releasing the racket, about parallel to the ground and then accelerating, perhaps with both upper body turn and shoulder joint motion. ? Then suddenly the rapidly moving arm comes down close to the body, not unlike the ice skater. There are some interesting questions on timing the straight arm acceleration with the upper body turn and shoulder horizontal abduction. How is that arm "pull in" timed to impact? Ground forces? What is the timing when the players jump off the ground? Should be obvious in high speed video. Also some info should be available in 30 fps videos.
Horizontal Abduction on the right. (shoulder abduction, another joint motion, is vertical)
Kerber, on TV now, is not using upper body much but her shoulder muscles to initially accelerate the non hitting straight arm.
Thanks Rozroz for the interesting OP. Thanks again Curiousity for the detailed description of what the non hitting arm is doing for a high level forehand and why.
The non-hitting arm motion is often not moving so fast so that you can watch most of it on TV. If you have a digital video recorder you can do stop action and see much of it. I'm seeing it in Barcelona now.
So far for energetic forehands I can see the arm straight out after releasing the racket, about parallel to the ground and then accelerating, perhaps with both upper body turn and shoulder joint motion. ? Then suddenly the rapidly moving arm comes down close to the body, not unlike the ice skater. There are some interesting questions on timing the straight arm acceleration with the upper body turn and shoulder horizontal abduction. How is that arm "pull in" timed to impact? Ground forces? What is the timing when the players jump off the ground? Should be obvious in high speed video. Also some info should be available in 30 fps videos.
Horizontal Abduction on the right. (shoulder abduction, another joint motion, is vertical)
Kerber, on TV now, is not using upper body much but her shoulder muscles to initially accelerate the non hitting straight arm.
Thanks Rozroz for the interesting OP. Thanks again Curiousity for the detailed description of what the non hitting arm is doing for a high level forehand and why.
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heninfan99
Talk Tennis Guru
You have a trunk dominated forehand motion where the arm is just along for the ride.
It can work and changing it now could take a very long time.
If you're over 30 I wouldn't do it.
It can work and changing it now could take a very long time.
If you're over 30 I wouldn't do it.
Rozroz
G.O.A.T.
what do you mean by that?
is it good or bad?
isn't it better than an ARM dominated forehand motion?
heninfan99
Talk Tennis Guru
Fed, Nadal & etc use a "multi-segment" swing with some arm independence whereas you rotate as one unit.
i wonder if you do this to make up for lateness. The ball is well into the screen before your racquet is back, at least on the gif.
Doesn't matter too much if you're hitting a good ball but you were asking for some feedback.
i wonder if you do this to make up for lateness. The ball is well into the screen before your racquet is back, at least on the gif.
Doesn't matter too much if you're hitting a good ball but you were asking for some feedback.
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10isMaestro
Semi-Pro
You don't necessarily need to take care of everything before you go back to play. Besides, if you insist on improving your forehand so much, you can only change a few things at a time. Nothing forces to stop shadowing strokes and going on the court to hit balls by yourself in between matches or hitting sessions, focusing on a specific aspect of your forehand at a time, once you already took care of your non hitting arm problem. I suggested stopping everything because that was a very big deal to tackle. Small stuff like turning your shoulders properly when preparing for a shot requires a lot less work.
Also, once you did get rid of your biggest issue, if you have some dedicated friends, you can practice with live balls. Just make sure you're both trying to hit a specific shot -- and do so in a way that affords the other as much chance as possible to hit their shot in return. Some people do not like to practice strokes over an over, but it would be useful to just hit dozens of cross-court forehands with a friend -- while neither are trying to kill the ball. When you do live balls, however, you have less time to think: it means you can only focus on one detail at a time.
donquijote
G.O.A.T.
I couldn't read the whole thread but it's only natural for the other arm swinging freely when you turn your body. If you bend your arm and lift the elbow, hence balancing your body, you will also have a better stroke.
Free swinging of arms when you turn the body back and forth as illustrated here:
Free swinging of arms when you turn the body back and forth as illustrated here:
10isMaestro
Semi-Pro
You do realize, donquijote, that the OP indicates unnecessary arm movement of the sort you never see any professional player, nor most amateurs players perform ?
Although I suspect that people do look at another to learn how to play, there probably also is a population-wide bias over a sufficiently long period of time for certain habits. These habits, because of their impact on certain aspect of tennis performance, become normalized in other words. It's clearly a situation where, most of the time, doing what most people do is not a stupid idea -- especially if the population in reference consist of highly competitive players.
Although I suspect that people do look at another to learn how to play, there probably also is a population-wide bias over a sufficiently long period of time for certain habits. These habits, because of their impact on certain aspect of tennis performance, become normalized in other words. It's clearly a situation where, most of the time, doing what most people do is not a stupid idea -- especially if the population in reference consist of highly competitive players.
10isMaestro
Semi-Pro
In itself it's problematic because it makes it all the less likely that you will enjoy lengthy rallies. Good players have good habits and, well, if all you learn to do is kill tennis balls, your footwork will probably be of dubious quality -- at least as far as rallies are concerned.
However, this is also bad for a whole other reason. When people really try to go after a shot, even when they get pretty good, they tend to exaggerate their take back. Imagine a plane (surface) crosses your whole body vertically, in line with your shoulders. Normally, your hitting hand (dominant hand for a one handed forehand or one handed backhand and non-dominant hand for a two handed backhand) should never cross that plane. If you ever hear a coach, online or live, tell that you should keep your stroke in front of you, this is exactly what they mean: don't take your racket back all the way behind your shoulder line before swinging forward. (Just to be clear, as you start swinging forward, your hand and racket may kick behind that line without problem. It's the huge takeback, prior to the forward swing, which is a problem.)
When people just try to kill the ball, they tend to violate that rule and turn it into an habit. The obvious consequence is that sending your racket so far makes it way harder to get it in the right spot on time for a good contact. The weird part is that, while not taking your racket close to that point might lower your power, taking it further won't add anything visible. It's really just a big waste of time -- like those huge loops some players do. I know how bad this one can be since I have that bad habit myself -- and am currently on my way to shorten my takeback. When I bother thinking about it, I cut my forehand UE almost in half and I can hit just as hard.
Try to find people who will bother to trade baseline blows without trying to kill it, or tell your friends in advance that you'd like to trade cross-court balls at, say, medium pace. Explain them that, in this context, the goal is to hit a passable forehand (not an amazing forehand) in a way that allows the other player to hit a forehand as well. Super hard strokes, painting the lines, going for a short angle on the first ball or getting the ball to kick above your head isn't the point of it.
If they do not want to stick to that rule, maybe they'll go for a compromise: you each need to hit, say, 3 forehands cross-court and, on the 7th stroke, a real rally begins. Also, ideally, you do not both way way over to your forehand side -- the drill is at its most effective level if both bother to recover near the center mark as if you didn't know where the other player will be aiming. By the way, once you get better, you can start practicing patterns with your friends. You could each hit 2 cross-court forehands, then the 5th ball is sent down the line and you each do 2 cross-court backhands. You don't have to make it really dull and just trade slow cross-court forehands all day -- the point is just that it has to be purposeful and allow you (both) to get into good habits.
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10isMaestro
Semi-Pro
You could try to post ads, physically or numerically, to find dedicated partners. I am sure plenty of very capable players would enjoy hitting with someone serious. Personally, even if my opponent wasn't quite as solid as me, I'd go for it because he or she'd probably get better with time and slower, yet steady rallies are much better to improve control and footwork than the erratic type of hitting sessions I usually attend. Serious players are hard to find.
Meanwhile, you could indeed keep trying on your own. Self-fed balls are better at improving your game than not hitting at all. My hitting partners typically admire my forehand and that's exactly how it got so big and steady: thousands of forehands struck off self-fed balls.
Meanwhile, you could indeed keep trying on your own. Self-fed balls are better at improving your game than not hitting at all. My hitting partners typically admire my forehand and that's exactly how it got so big and steady: thousands of forehands struck off self-fed balls.
Chas Tennis
G.O.A.T.
I couldn't read the whole thread but it's only natural for the other arm swinging freely when you turn your body. If you bend your arm and lift the elbow, hence balancing your body, you will also have a better stroke.
Free swinging of arms when you turn the body back and forth as illustrated here:
The arm leads and I've also seen shoulder muscles working so I don't believe that it is all upper body turn. You can see this on TV.
There could be a great demo of this principle if anyone has a rotating lazy suzanne ball bearing type platform that they could sit on. Sit on rotation platform and hold a 2-3 lb dumbbell. With your arm held straight out to your front, have someone rotate the platform. Duplicate the non-hitting arm motion seen on the forehand. You should notice that your rotation rate speeds up when you pull the arm into your body.
I tried doing this just turning my body with a 3 lb dumbbell and might have felt an effect but I'm not sure.
This demo works! Just simply stand and hold a dumbbell straight out. If you do not rotate your upper body but move the 3 lb dumbbell rapidly to the side using only your shoulder muscles. When you pull the arm in the upper body begins turning.
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The Unknown
Semi-Pro
Out of curiosity is this an evidence based process? Has it been proven to work? Where did you hear of this?
