Extra Inning Softball continues our series of articles with record-setting college softball coach Mike Lotief who, after 17 years of coaching Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns softball, reveals the training program that propelled his team to the NCAA tournament, the Women’s College World Series, and NCAA Super Regionals.
Keep checking in every Tuesday and Thursday to learn how, as Coach Lotief puts it, “to improve your swing and up your game!”
*****
Eliminating muscle slack and creating tension via co-contractions happens during pelvis loading.
The amount of energy produced during the load will directly affect the rate and speed at which the hitter can release the barrel into contact as demonstrated here by Bryce Harper:
When the muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia, etc. are tensed via isometric co-contractions, it eliminates the need for excessive movements as labeled below as “flaws.”
Excessive movements result because the hitter is searching for energy in all the wrong places.
Flaws of proper pelvis loading show up in all kinds of cues that instructors give to hitters, like:
showing your numbers on the back of your jersey to the pitcher (counter rotation);
getting your stride leg down early (allowing your pelvis to fall downward instead of lifting); staying back (keeping the center of mass over your back hip instead of going forward), squishing the bug
… and on and on.
For purposes of our discussion, we will group the Flaws into 4 Categories/Groups:
- Coiling before loading the pelvis aka counter rotation
- Getting the pelvis outside of the box
- Loss of good posture
- Bad tempo
[In this article, we will cover the Flaws of Groups 1 & 2 and in the next article continue with more Flaws in Group 3 & 4]
*****
GROUP #1: OUT OF SEQUENCE BY COILING BEFORE LOADING and/or COUNTER ROTATION
Sequencing is king/queen.
The sequencing of the movement pattern in hitting a baseball or softball is proximal to distal. It starts at the pelvis and with pelvis loading.
Efficient motor control does not and cannot provide a movement solution to each individual joint (230 joints total) or to each individual muscle (630 muscles total) acting in isolation.
The pattern of the pelvis load in great hitters is complex and involves multiple planes of motion, muscles, slings, fascia, etc. There is no doubt a degrees of freedom problem which means there are multiple ways for humans to perform movements in order to achieve the same goal.
The degrees of freedom challenge is problematic to those who try to make sense of this complexity by prescribing a set of “cues” or trying to establish protocols without understanding sequencing (kinetic chain).
FLAW #1: COILING TO LOAD
If you coil to load, in other words, a posterior turn of the rear hip (show your back butt pocket to the pitcher) before the pelvis is tensed/ “hinged” then there is likely to be too much counter rotation in the transverse plane.
Lots of elite hitters “feel” the pelvis load before coiling. We had success isolating load in all 3 planes of motion, then after the player feels comfortable with the movement of the pelvis loading then introducing coil of the pelvis to maintain and increase tension and tempo and letting the hitter “blend” the movements via self-organization.
FLAW #2: COUNTER ROTATION
The reason we emphasize a proper pelvis load is to prevent the shoulders from counter rotating which causes the deltoid and pectoral muscles to tighten and pull the shoulders forward which results in spinning or transverse rotation along with an upward extension of the pelvis, shoulders and spine.
The squat down then jump-up movement pattern seen in many gym exercises are counterproductive to training posture, axial rotation, and pelvic stability seen in great baseball hitters.
The best way to think of separation of the pelvis and torso to create dynamic increase of rate of stretch is in terms of pelvis loading and lateral side bending in the frontal plane rather than trying to twist the shoulders rearward in the transverse plane against the pelvis.
Too much counter rotation of the shoulders initiated by turning the shoulders rearward in the transverse plane is a flaw.
The attempt to create thorax-to-pelvis separation in the transverse plane by counter rotating the shoulders and trying to create an “X” is counterproductive.
Do not counter rotate your shoulders in the transverse plane to try to create stretch. It puts the hitter’s head, neck and eyes in a less than optimal position.
In golf, there is no time constraint because the ball is sitting still on a tee; while in baseball the ball is moving up to speeds of 100 mph and the hitter is under duress with a time constraint of .12-to-.15 hundreds of a second to execute his/her swing (the golfer’s swing time is almost doubled at approximately .25 per second).
Avoid drills and movements that require the upper torso to counter rotate against the hips in a transverse plane.
Do not overemphasize trying to feel stretch by working to turn the shoulders back in a transverse plane to get the feeling of twisting against yourself.
That will create more power, but it is not going to be productive against good pitching. If you take the shoulders rearward then you will have to pause and restart them to come forward. This is not how elite hitters load nor swing.
GROUP #2 FLAWS: GETTING THE PELVIS OUTSIDE OF THE BOX WHICH INCLUDES SWAYING
FLAW #3: GETTING THE PELVIS OUTSIDE OF THE BOX
If a hitter lacks a sufficient awareness of what their pelvis is doing in terms of stability and/or mobility and has excessive movement outside of the box during the pelvis load, it is a flaw… this can apply to swaying, drifting, stepping in the bucket, stepping across your body, etc.
Watch this video of Tyler Glasgow to understand the terminology of keeping the pelvis in the box:
FLAW #4: SWAY, LOADING THE BACK LEG VERSUS LOADING THE PELVIS
Sway is excessive pelvis lateral movement away from the pitcher. Swaying is a flaw to good pelvis loading. Swaying can be seen by drawing a box around the pelvis in the stance. If the pelvis moves outside of the rear foot or more than five (5) inches of movement in a lateral direction away from the pitcher, it is considered a flaw.
Good pelvic loading is not swaying backwards then pulling forward. Swaying is not effective for high level baseball or softball hitters. Pelvis loading done correctly prevents and eliminates swaying. Sway creates excessive linear weight shift which causes excessive head movement.
A simple constraint to help the hitter feel or test if they are swaying is some gadget that is set up outside of the back foot and runs straight up the rear hip.
To prevent swaying, work on maintaining stability in the pelvis. Good stability in the pelvis results in good alignment of the spine (also referred to as posture). Working on stability of the pelvis will allow the hitter to have consistency and control throughout their loading process.
Another idea to help with pelvis stability that prevents swaying is ankle strength and mobility and overall balance. Stability of the rear leg ankle is necessary to avoid excessive sway. There are great tools on the market (wobble boards, stability pads/balls, slant boards, etc.) to use to work on ankle strength and stability and balance/proprioception.
FLAW #5: GETTING & STAYING BACK OR ONE LEGGED OR HANGING BACK
When you get one legged, more likely than not the pelvis has moved in the sagittal plane. An advantage of getting balanced on the rear leg versus just stepping with the stride leg (it’s not a binary choice) is that in order to keep your balance, it forces the hitter to use and activate the pelvis.
A perfect example is my favorite one-legged pose – the Karate Kid:
FLAW #6: LEANING BACKWARDS/HANGING BACK
The disadvantage is if there is no shift of the center of mass off of the back leg and the hitter just tries to stay back on the rear leg then it stalls the pelvis and forced the hitter to lean backwards or sideways to stay balanced.
Here is Brent Strom, the pitching coach of the Houston Astros and World Champion who just announced his retirement, explaining and demonstrating how to “move the middle” and also pointing out how to look for leaning back:
If the rear hip socket is over the rear femur and there is no shift of the COM and then the hitter tilts the right pelvis downward and backwards, it will create more power versus just stepping with the front foot, but it will cause the swing to be too steep and give a smaller window to be accurate with the barrel.
Keep studying and learning how biomechanics affect your swing and influence your performance.
See the big picture of the spine and pelvis as an integrated, interdependent and dynamic part of the kinetic movement chain of the hitter.
Put your own twist to this!
Pursue excellence… somewhere deep in the movement of pelvis loading is a SWING ATTRACTOR that will help you WIN THE NEXT PITCH!