How to Demonstrate Torque

[wannahit]

just got back from some hitting practice with a few of my players, and i had them crank up the jugs p machine and experimented with the hips just being pushed around with the leg, it seems without active tention in my hips helping the pull/push of the connecting tissue of my torso it seems like a much more passive swing, not nearly as strong, what am I missing.

 

[RayR]

impossible to tell whats going on without video....could be all kinds of things...

 

[wannahit]

if your hips are not involved in pulling or pushing to help start the rotation it seems you are eliminating a lot of torque, i can still hit the ball without my hips, but i could hit the ball without moving my legs if i wanted to, but why would you not want your hips to help?

 

[RayR]

the "hips" are a bone structure....

The legs turn the hips....the torso twisting and untwisting taps into muscles....providing the real power...

 

[wannahit]

i certainly understand that the hips are a bone structure, but your hip girdle is certainly surrounded by muscle tissue whch is connected to your torso including your glutes, if those muscles are not involved in the swing or at lease tense, it sure seems you are losing the connection between the legs and torso, and any power your legs are generating.

 

[RayR]

I am not sure what you mean by the muscles being tense....

You get to front foot strike with hips in the process of unwinding....the front shoulder should still be down and in creating a torque in the spine and muscles being stretched....you start releasing/walking off the back heel as you decide to move your hands to swing and is the moment the spine starts to untwist and the muscles unstretch....

You can certainly place focus on turning the hips, but I don't....

 

[wannahit]

as you stated you get to front foot strike with hips in the process of unwinding, my question would be do you feel no muscles above the thighs and below the torso are involved in the unwinding?

 

[RayR]

I don't only because the feel for me is in the torso. Mostly in the back....

 

[softballphreak]

If the hips couldn't move without the legs not too many of us would be here.

 

[jbooth]

i certainly understand that the hips are a bone structure, but your hip girdle is certainly surrounded by muscle tissue whch is connected to your torso including your glutes, if those muscles are not involved in the swing or at lease tense, it sure seems you are losing the connection between the legs and torso, and any power your legs are generating.

The glutes are leg muscles. Of course you want to use the glutes. What muscles were you having them use? If you were having them push with the leg and they did it correctly, they would be using the glutes.

The legs move the hips when you're standing up. So, I don't know what you mean when you say you want to use your hips. The hips don't move themselves. The legs move them when your standing up, and the core muscles move them if you're hanging or sitting.