Okay, I think I understand. So "barrel load" is a position of "barrel lag". I guess the part I am struggling with is that the barrel is an inanimate object. It doesn't bend or flex (well perhaps upon impact if you consider the trampoline effect that some bat manufactures talk about...). It doesn't have the ability to store energy in any measurable way. I can understand how muscles can store energy. It's obvious you have followed Chappy quite a bit... One of his favorite topics is "SSC", and I really have no issue with that as a way of storing/utilizing energy. I am fine with the principles of fascial and myofascial anatomy if you want to get involved with Anatomy Trains. To a certain extent I can even understand how a towel or a whip can become "loaded" (your examples) because there is a bend/flex in those items that actually become part of the kinetic chain (well, sort of...). And while I can understand how one can visualize the bat as an extension of the bottom arm, and therefore part of the kinetic chain as well, it seems to me as though you are stating that the "wrists" become loaded more so than the barrel itself ("top hand getting cocked"). If that's the case, then my next question would be... How does that top hand become uncocked? Is it a muscular action that is occurring at a specific point of the swing, where you are actually forcing the wrists to bend in various ways? Or instead of "bending that wrist", is it more a case of "the wrist is being bent" by other actions that are occurring at the same time? Essentially, what I am asking is this... Is the cocking/uncocking of the top hand an action or a reaction?