Correct weight distribution during a swing?

[MrUniverse09]

Heard conflicting reports as to where your weight should shift during a swing. I've heard that you should keep most of it on the back leg and "squish the bug", whereas i've also heard that you should shift like 60% to the front while hitting. I've tried doing stuff like this a couple of times but it really throws me off balance and sometimes I pull my head off of the ball.


I usually keep most of it on the back leg and I do pretty well, just wondering if I'm robbing myself of some power or something.


I could try to get a video of my swing for you all to critique tomorrow at the cages, but I don't know if anyone will go with me. We'll see. Thanks for the help.

[swingbuster]

It is hard for kids to pull the bottom hand from the back side. Full transfer mechanics shifts to rotate. The bat inertia without the shift will reverse pivot you.

Kids with heavy bats relative to their size are affected worse.

coil/ load/ unload through uncoiling as you carry the weight forward to foot plant, rotate

John Daly( golfer) says start on the back and finish on the front. Maybe in baseball it is finish against the front while rotating.

The rush to rotation buried the importance of shift. I am struggling with that now

[hellborn]

Heard conflicting reports as to where your weight should shift during a swing. I've heard that you should keep most of it on the back leg and "squish the bug", whereas i've also heard that you should shift like 60% to the front while hitting. I've tried doing stuff like this a couple of times but it really throws me off balance and sometimes I pull my head off of the ball.


I usually keep most of it on the back leg and I do pretty well, just wondering if I'm robbing myself of some power or something.


I could try to get a video of my swing for you all to critique tomorrow at the cages, but I don't know if anyone will go with me. We'll see. Thanks for the help.

I don't think that there is one answer here. Hitters like Ruth, Williams, and Bonds tended to end up with their weight on the back leg and looked like they were pushing off an angled front leg, but guys like Gehrig, Foxx, Frank Thomas, and ARod tended to end up over their front leg. Guys like Pujols, Bagwell, and DiMaggio are harder to analyze...they had very little stride, but there is clearly a subtle weight shift occurring.
I would say that whatever allows you to get your torso rotating in a manner that lets you bring the bat around with authority is what you should do. I do know that my #1 problem when I'm not hitting well is not using my front leg to trigger my body twist. For baseball, I use a pretty small stride, almost a little foot twist more than anything, but I need to take a more powerful step to hit slow pitch well.

[jbooth]

Heard conflicting reports as to where your weight should shift during a swing. I've heard that you should keep most of it on the back leg and "squish the bug", whereas i've also heard that you should shift like 60% to the front while hitting. I've tried doing stuff like this a couple of times but it really throws me off balance and sometimes I pull my head off of the ball.


I usually keep most of it on the back leg and I do pretty well, just wondering if I'm robbing myself of some power or something.


I could try to get a video of my swing for you all to critique tomorrow at the cages, but I don't know if anyone will go with me. We'll see. Thanks for the help.

OK, I'm going to tell you how it's actually done by the best MLB hitters.

Your head is centered between your feet, or slightly in front of your back foot. Do NOT move your head directly over/above your back foot, EVER.

In this position, you have a triangle formed from front foot, to head, to back foot. Your upper body is supported by your angled legs.

To start your swing you do NOT shift backwards. You have to learn a move that is a bit tricky until you get the hang of it. You lift your FRONT foot first, and do it without moving your head, or swaying back, or leaning back, or popping up. You have to learn to just lift the foot. This takes practice to get it right. When your front foot gets off of the ground, you will lose your balance and start to fall toward the pitcher.

The instant that you start to lose your balance, you start to put your front foot back down again, to regain your balance, and immediately as you start to do that, you turn your back hip, at the joint where your upper leg attaches to the hip. You turn it toward the pitcher, as if it was a door knob being slammed shut. Your back hip, at the leg joint, should be turning as your front foot makes contact with the ground, and the turn will force all your weight onto the front foot. You want ALL of your weight on the front foot as you rotate, BUT, do NOT let your head move off of the center point between your feet. And do NOT slide your hips sideways as you fall onto the front foot. You have to turn your back hip joint, and turn it as soon as the front foot starts to touch the ground. You rotate the back side onto the front side. The weight shifts from back to front as part of, and during, the rotation, NOT as, a sideways shift. You do not PUSH off of your back foot. You rotate the back hip joint.

That's how the big boys do it.

[Ohfor]

Almost. Are you saying the front hip/leg plays no role in the rotation? There is no pull from the front? Sounds like a revolving door to me. Ever heard of a swinging gate?

I suggest you relook at the big boys.

[jbooth]

Almost. Are you saying the front hip/leg plays no role in the rotation? There is no pull from the front? Sounds like a revolving door to me. Ever heard of a swinging gate?

I suggest you relook at the big boys.

I've looked at the big boys a lot, and experimented with different methods and feelings myself. I am confident that I have it right. I'm knocking the heck out of the ball and my students have been hitting like something magical occurs when they do this.

I don't know why you think it is a revolving door when I SPECIFICALLY stated that it is like slamming a door shut.

I used to think that you pulled the front hip around, but that is not what works best and THAT can lead to the revolving door.

[Ohfor]

Maybe I'm confused.

How do you turn the rear hip (ball and socket joint) and still slam the door?

And, you said door knob....not door.

What's much closer to what the big boys do is shift weight forward in the "forward by turning" move and as you touch down the front leg provides an anchor that helps rotation around the front hip joint. A pulling effect versus pushing effect.

That is the swinging gate.

Do you really see what you've described in this swing?



I see shifting during the fall and rotation around the front hip joint. I don't see any rotation around the rear hip joint.

[wogdoggy]

why dont you just say whats right pulling the front hip or firing the rear...so many gatekeepers of information..

[wogdoggy]

so ohfor says work the front hip around,,dont fire the back side ,,but yet crawl in his backside?

[Ohfor]

so ohfor says work the front hip around,,dont fire the back side ,,but yet crawl in his backside?

A perfect example of why I feel sorry for your son.

I warned you about improperly using the term "backside". You ignore it and continue to contribute to the confusion.

Please find the quote where I said exactly...."crawl into his backside".

[Ohfor]

Where is this hitters rotation? Front hip or back hip?

[Ohfor]

And this hitter.



Do you see the rear hip joint working as he starts to "fall".

[Ohfor]

And this one.



I see linear weight shift into rotation around the front hip joint on everybody I look at.

[jbooth]

Maybe I'm confused.

How do you turn the rear hip (ball and socket joint) and still slam the door?

And, you said door knob....not door.

Easy, I do it by twisting at that joint.

What's much closer to what the big boys do is shift weight forward in the "forward by turning" move and as you touch down the front leg provides an anchor that helps rotation around the front hip joint. A pulling effect versus pushing effect.

The weight is shifting forward due to falling, due to the front leg being lifted. Yes, the front leg provides an anchor. All the weight eventually goes onto it and you revolve on it. I used to think it was a pull too, but it isn't. That isn't to say that an individual batter doesn't "feel" that. The rotation of the pelvis causes feelings and muscle movement on both sides, so the question is; which side is working. In fact; they BOTH are working together, the question is which one "feels" better for you to make YOUR best swing. An individual can cue the front or the back. I happen to have made vast improvement by thinking about the back side, but I also feel the front side rotating. The pelvis is one bone. Whatever the one side does, the other does the opposite, so you will feel both.

Do you really see what you've described in this swing?

Yes.

I see shifting during the fall and rotation around the front hip joint. I don't see any rotation around the rear hip joint.

Yes, he is rotating around the front hip joint, but part of the force that creates the rotation comes from an application of force from the muscles in the back hip. You're misunderstanding what I'm saying. The initial force is from the muscles in the back hip. The subsequent rotation is around the front leg.

[wogdoggy]

A perfect example of why I feel sorry for your son.


uneccesary dont ya think? luck the internet seperates us? See i feel my son is lucky cause his dad is trying to research and help him..someday you may know more about people than you do a swing.theres just something not right with you ohfor..people extend their hand to you and you pi$$ on them...:gt