Happen to come across this excellent video with incredibly slow mo of him in the middle of the video. Dang, no wonder his smashes are thunderous! [video=youtube;eH6qFJoySf8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH6qFJoySf8[/video]
I wish I could understand what he says, but the video is awesome nonetheless! His smash is monstrous!
I'll translate but I'm not the most fluent Chinese speaker. He said, technique is most important and not power as "Wang Wang" (?) initially mentioned. Initially when young he spent two months practising his technique before starting to smash. Having the right technique means that you wont hurt your elbow which caused Wang Wang to retire. 4 steps in the smash. 1 preparation, 2 pulling back into position, 3 flicking back the racquet, 4 follow through and repeat.. hope that helps a bit..
He's saying: you can break down the smash into 4 smaller actions. First, getting to the bird early. Second, lining up your shoulders as you wind up. Third, don't need powerful stroke, but explosive power at moment of strike, in a downward direction. (Also notice his tremendous amount of forearm pronation! ) Fourth, contract abd and core muscles for body rotation to add extra power.
got the first bit, does anyone know any good ebay sellers with those (abd and core muscles) for a good price?
Thankyou for those translations! Now my moment of dilemma... continue with what I am currently doing (which seems to work), or spend two months transforming myself into Fu Haifeng... obvious choice
I think it's easily available in your store, it's called tummy wrap Try get the transparent one, it shows your curved abd
the air time that FHF managed to obtain is incredible. watch the slow motion at 2:00 carefully, by the time he reached apex at the jump, he stayed at the same height for almost like eternity, enough time for him to rotate his body, extend his legs, and then follow-through before he starts falling again.
Agree, sort of... If you look at that super slow mo part carefully, you'll see that the background fluorescent lights flashing at 1-2 Hz when in reality it should be 50-60 Hz. From the beginning of his forward stroke to strike, I counted 20 flashes, which means to say that he completed his stroke in that 0.3 sec while he's in the air for 40 flashes = 0.8 sec. But it sure did look like he was suspended by strings in mid air for like an eternity!
When I watched the shuttle travelling forward and his body movement in slow motion, I couldn't tell any difference in their movement speed Imagine those muscle working speed
Is it any wonder people back off when he is about to smash? And if they get it back... great. Cai Yun is there. Bugger.