Do the Pros Make the Swing More Difficult?

In the last few years, I have had several magazines turn down my proposal for an article in which the main premise for hitting well was that the downswing (forward swing) determines the power and accuracy of the hit. According to their experts, power and accuracy is determined by your backswing and initial preparation, not the down or forward swing. Backswing in this case means the preparatory movements to bring the club, bat or racquet backward before you swing down or forward to contact the ball. Is this emphasis on the backswing valid?

There’s no questioning the fact that the backswing plays an important role in producing power and accuracy in the hit. In essence, you must be in a position from which you can generate maximum force (speed) in the down or forward swing. This is one of the main functions of the backswing; to place the muscles that will be involved in the forward or down swing on stretch, so they can generate more force. However, and this is most important, bringing the hitting implement back into position for the forward or down swing does not by itself generate any force. The best backswing in the world will not send the ball flying forward. To generate the force and to contact the ball, you must swing forward.

The swing is not merely an action-reaction. Because you bring the hitting implement backwards in a certain manner or pathway, it does not ensure that you will bring it forward in the same pathway. If this were true, having an excellent (if there is such a thing!) backswing would automatically ensure an excellent forward swing. But as anyone who has ever played golf, tennis or baseball knows, this is not so. But yet amateur and professional players and instructors continually make corrections in the backswing or preparatory movements to improve the forward swing.

This is especially noticeable in the world of golf. Simply read a golf magazine and you will see that most of the instructional articles deal with some aspect of the backswing or grip, which they also relate to power. There are very few articles that deal with club movement and the joint actions that occur (or should occur) in the downswing. The instructors go so far as to have a cause and effect relationship, i.e., if you do a certain thing in the backswing, it will automatically cause a certain effect in the hit or shot that you produce in the downswing.

In tennis, it is common to hear instructors tell their charges to bring the racquet back level to the ground before swinging forward to hit a flat shot. But yet when you look at many players, you will see that some loop the racket up and then bring it down and through while others drop the racket head to bring it back and then swing it through on a level plane. This is a classic example of how the backswing is immaterial; the key is to get the racket back to a position where the muscles are ready to execute a good forward swing, and then to bring it forward on a level plane when attempting a flat shot.

In baseball, most attention is focused on how high the bat should be held, where the hands should be or how far back in the initial stance the bat should be held. In the swing, the bat is dropped or lowered below the waist because most swings take place on an upward plane. Thus, the initial stance and beginning backswing have little to do with the actual swing except to place it into position where it could be lowered to gain momentum and then convert it into the forward movement. It would be very uncomfortable to hold the bat back and level. Holding it up is easier and is more conducive to generating power. In essence you have already done most of the preparatory movements once you assume your stance. Then as you step into the ball you bring the shoulders around slightly to quickly tense the muscles for the forward swing.

One of the reasons for such emphasis on backswing preparatory movements and initial stance, is that it is impossible for the eye to see what occurs in a forward swing. The actions that produce the speed and power displayed happen too fast. The backswing, however, is relatively slow and may be stationary at times. Your eyes can see these positions and thus coaches tend to focus their attention on things they can see. However, to see all of the actions and the sequence of the actions that occur in the forward- or down-swing, you must have video or film tape to examine.

It’s always disappointing to see a newspaper picture showing an “expert” instructor or doctor looking at a pitcher pitch or a batter or golfer swing to determine what the player is doing wrong or to see what causes a particular problem or injury. These “experts” will only be able to focus on the stationary positions as they cannot see what occurs in the actual execution. It is humanly impossible unless you have Superman eyes, which to my knowledge, no one has ever been diagnosed as having.

That instructors usually spend more time on the backswing is not surprising since very little research or technique analyses have been done of the down or forward swing in most sports. Any studies in this area have for the most part, been ignored. When put in layman terms, the information does not permeate the literature or spread through the grapevine. However, until this is done, erroneous information will continue to be handed out which only makes learning or improving sports skill more difficult and complex.

When you truly understand what is involved in a sport skill, the skill becomes very simple. However, if you do not understand what is involved, it is very complex. As a result, each instructor comes up with his own ideas of what takes place and teaches his ideas or opinions, which are most often erroneous. As a result, we get conflicting information and more confusion in the teaching/training process. This in turn prevents improvement of technique through exercise and improving the specific physical qualities that are involved in the skill.

It may be hard to believe that teaching professionals do not truly understand what takes place in execution of the sport skill, but it would become quite evident if you visited a sufficient number of instructors. Each one would probably tell you something different that you are doing in your swing and would give you different suggestions as to how you can improve your skill. Golf is especially noted for this. It is a standing joke among golfers that if you see 5-10 different teaching pros you will have even less of an understanding of what takes place in the swing. The same can probably be said of instructors in other sports.

That instructors don’t understand what is involved in execution of a skill is not their fault because it is has never been studied in the universities nor is it taught in coaches’ schools or camps. Because of this, coaches usually scoff at the idea of improving or changing technique because they don’t know what constitutes effective technique or how it should be changed to become more effective. “If it works, don’t fix it” is then usual commentary. But understand that there are no players who cannot be better. Everyone can improve not only physically but also through better technique and with a combination of both.

For more information on running, cutting and jumping technique and training, read Explosive Running, Explosive Basketball Training and Womens Soccer: Using Science to Improve Speed.