Lock the elbow angle in forehand

albesca

Rookie
I'm trying to learn the WW forehand keeping the wrist loose (hinge-like) and having a unconscious forearm pronation caused by the centrifugal forces induced expecially by the shoulder/trunc rotation and elastic forces from forearm stretrched tendons.

During the forward swing, I feel my arm muscles do most of the work to keep constant the upper-arm / forearm angle, expecially the biceps, that tends to open itself during the swing. It seemed to me that if this angle isn't firm, the raquet head loses acceleration. Isn't it ?

I use a SW grip and I tend to keep this angle at about 110-120 degrees. Assumed i'm doing the right, Is it correct to work keeping this angle constant ? Is it so important to lock the upper-arm / forearm angle to have a good racket head speed ?

Ciao
Alberto
 

NamRanger

G.O.A.T.
The reason why you lock the angle of the elbow bend is because of consistency issues and injury issues. The more moving parts you have in your forehand, the more prone you are to errors. This is the reason why you see players like Federer, Nadal, and Verdasco make alot of errors when they are not playing well. They simply have alot of moving parts in their forehand.


If you feel like you are "arming" the ball, it is most likely due to one of two reasons.


A. Your contact point is too late, forcing you to use arm and chest to muscle the ball.

B. Your not using enough rotational force from your hips and shoulder rotation.
 

albesca

Rookie
.

If you feel like you are "arming" the ball, it is most likely due to one of two reasons.

A. Your contact point is too late, forcing you to use arm and chest to muscle the ball.

B. Your not using enough rotational force from your hips and shoulder rotation.

Some time ago i had the "arming" problem, but thanks to TT forum i'm gone ahead . Now i am not feel to arming the ball and i'm able to allow my forearm to move free. I keep attention to do a good shoulders/hips rotation, doing a forearm "pull motion" and WW swing for top spin and a forearm "push motion" and flat swing for flatter.

I'm asking if the isometric work that i'm doing with my biceps ( to avoid elbow angle opening ) during the windshield wiper swing (pull) has sense or not.
Thanks.

Ciao
Alberto
 

gzhpcu

Professional
I'm trying to learn the WW forehand keeping the wrist loose (hinge-like) and having a unconscious forearm pronation caused by the centrifugal forces induced expecially by the shoulder/trunc rotation and elastic forces from forearm stretrched tendons.

During the forward swing, I feel my arm muscles do most of the work to keep constant the upper-arm / forearm angle, expecially the biceps, that tends to open itself during the swing. It seemed to me that if this angle isn't firm, the raquet head loses acceleration. Isn't it ?

I use a SW grip and I tend to keep this angle at about 110-120 degrees. Assumed i'm doing the right, Is it correct to work keeping this angle constant ? Is it so important to lock the upper-arm / forearm angle to have a good racket head speed ?

Ciao
Alberto
IMHO, what is important is the have your racket face parallel to the ground coming forward out of the backswing, and to have supinated your forearm, keeping it supinated as long as possible, releasing it at impact which causes a stretch/shorten muscle cylce. The resulting pronation will be even stronger, resulting in a faster racket head speed.

I also prefer having a straight arm at impact and really following through in the direction of the ball for power.
 

albesca

Rookie
IMHO, what is important is the have your racket face parallel to the ground coming forward out of the backswing, and to have supinated your forearm, keeping it supinated as long as possible, releasing it at impact which causes a stretch/shorten muscle cylce. The resulting pronation will be even stronger, resulting in a faster racket head speed.

I also prefer having a straight arm at impact and really following through in the direction of the ball for power.

Thank you. So your biceps doesn't work on keeping this angle constant ... but you consciently open a little this angle to have a straighter arm at contact during the fwd swing , is it right ?

Interesting suggestion to keep supinated the forearm as long as possible .. I thought that the elastic energy should be retained only for a moment, or it would be lost... i will try it.

Ciao
Alberto
 

SystemicAnomaly

Bionic Poster
^ Some, like Federer, may do well with a fairly straight arm on many FH shots. However, I do not believe that one should ever consciously lock (hyper-extend) the elbow in a straight position.
 

gzhpcu

Professional
Thank you. So your biceps doesn't work on keeping this angle constant ... but you consciently open a little this angle to have a straighter arm at contact during the fwd swing , is it right ?

Interesting suggestion to keep supinated the forearm as long as possible .. I thought that the elastic energy should be retained only for a moment, or it would be lost... i will try it.

Ciao
Alberto
When at end of the bottom of your backswing you supinate, you can then keep this supination because you are beginning to accelerate forwards and upwards towards the ball. You then release quickly at impact, resulting in a strong pronation and finishing the swing with your elbow practically in front of your face.
 

albesca

Rookie
90 ... 110 ... 150 degrees .. ok, everyone has his favourited angle.

But finally ... small or large, do you keep it constant during the swing or not ????

Ciao
Alberto
 

jb193

Rookie
I asked this same question about a month ago and got a minimal response also. Of couse, I didn't articulate as well though. I would be very interested in some discussion concerning whether to keep the elbow angle constant or not in the forehand......
 
Top