Drills to stop arming kick serve?

[Relinquis]

Any good drills or tips to stop arming my kick serve?

I was practising my kick serve early this morning and feel that I am arming it too much. I don't seem to have as bad a problem with my flat serve because I follow into the ball more on that one.

Any tips to make sure I'm not arming it?

 

[morandi]

Its more a question of getting your arm to relax which requires changing your mental focus. I think shadow swings are a great way to loosen things up. And then I start practicing my serve while trying to exert the minimal amount of effort. Going for height over the net before speed. I just keep trying to relax into it, gripping the racquet and loosely as possible.
This is a good drill:

http://www.feeltennis.net/effortless-tennis-strokes/

 

[Relinquis]

thanks morandi. that's a very interesting exercise and was what i was looking for. I'll try it out.

 

[kaiser]

This site is an absolute treasure trove, thanks!

 

[the hack]

someone posted the other day about making sure the tip of your racket accelerates faster than your hand. I thought it was a really good tip for my spin serve.

 

[LeeD]

Why not just throw your body into the court, coming to net for a few times.
After you hit the ball, and after you recover your balance, you should be standing 5' inside your own baseline on the way to net.

 

[HughJars]

I saw a drill which emphasised staying side on for as long as possible when practicing kick serves to limit 'pushing/muscling' into the ball which has helped my serves

 

[rufus_smith]

kick serve is supposed to be mostly an "arm" serve, isn't it?

 

[fuzz nation]

Consider practicing some serves with an especially heavy "training racquet". Without a decent progression in your service motion (kinetic chain, blah-blah-blah...) your arm won't be able to reproduce a decent serve for very long. A hefty racquet can force you into calling upon your bigger muscles (legs and core) to drive your overall motion over and over.

DO NOT try this in competition where you can't monitor yourself nearly as well as a practice setting. It can also be helpful to repeat several practice motions with a heavy "trainer" before even trying to hit a ball. Comfortable tempo is vital for a solid serve, even a kicker.

 

[Nellie]

Oddly, if you practice serving from your knees (forcing you to arm your serves), you will often arm your serves less once you are standing.

 

[Relinquis]

thanks guys. i'll try these tips the next time i'm on court

 

[HughJars]

The lesson I saw on the topspin serve is here:

http://www.feeltennis.net/improve-topspin-tennis-serve-technique/

It emphasises staying side on and really focussing on using the arm.

Really interested to here what the experts out there think about the merit of this drill.