VIDEO: what's wrong with this smash?

**Pete LSD** · 03-14-2012, 11:42 PM

Everything seems good. Maybe it's not quite April yet?

**Badmintan** · 03-15-2012, 01:15 AM

http://youtu.be/fYmijskCBps
Keep the elbow compact.

**Tactim** · 03-15-2012, 01:26 AM

Originally Posted by thejym

You will notice a significant improvement in power if you keep your arm "folded in" for a longer period of time before extending your forearm (that is, keep the angle formed between forearm and upper arm small as you "lick your elbow"). Basically, you need to give your forearm more distance to extend so that it can achieve a greater speed.

Try this exercise: Cover your ear with your palm, point your elbow back, then bring your elbow forward as you try to lick it. Now that your elbow is in front of you, continue the momentum and imagine karate chopping a brick with your elbow. This downward pulling of the elbow has some power too. The instant you feel you are able to pull your elbow downwards in a chopping motion, start extending your forearm.

Your technique has improved significantly from before, and you can see that people are commenting on the "effortlessness" of the swing. This is good. At a certain point, to achieve more power you need to strengthen your entire body and work on arm explosiveness in a similar manner that you would do squat jumps for leg explosiveness.

Some of the other points mentioned in this thread hold true as well, but you'll feel a bigger difference if you try out what I just mentioned. One thing at a time

Interesting with the "elbow karate chop." Although I won't be back on court until friday, I'll have to try that out. Just swinging my arm alone without a racket though using the motion you just mentioned, I can definitely feel more explosiveness in my swing. Nice analogy, made it really easy to understand and replicate.

edit: In contrast to what I was doing before, I think extending the forearm too early led to too much power being diffused through the entire stroke rather than focusing all the power into one point like you're supposed to.

**|_Footwork_|** · 03-15-2012, 02:01 AM

Originally Posted by kwun

he was trying the hardest! maybe the major weakness is he is weak?

...

the biggest issue is that the smash don't have the explosiveness that a proper smash should.

but it looks like he's smashing during warm-up with 70%... i think your right: his major weakness ist that he's weak! his whole attitude, how he walks and moves somehow lacks power, explosiveness. don't know if it's a mental or physical thing. is he quick and explosive concerning his footwork and other strokes (net kill? can he aggressively jump in the shuttle when having the opportunity?)?

so i, as his coach, would:
a) let him work on his physical abilities! jumps, sprints, barbell training. explisiveness!!
b) work on mental issues. aggressiveness and awareness is part of the game when it comes to smashing. he doesn't seem to be aggressive at all, seems more like he doesn't want to hurt the shuttle...

his technique is more or less ok (a bit more hip rotation would be good imo), but i have seen people smashing much harder with worse technique...

**icecoldcoke** · 03-15-2012, 02:54 AM

I myself struggle to play badminton correctly...

But from what i see, i feel that his is not relax enough hitting the stroke.
And I think he isn't using his wrist enough.

Just my opinion..

**wwcbro** · 03-15-2012, 03:21 AM

Maybe.....

kan it be that the
wind resistance from the long pants making it
useless to move around
never mind about smashing......my 2 bits

**pcll99** · 03-15-2012, 03:39 AM

hip rotation is important, yes.

what about shoulder rotation? should we do that?

**sautom88** · 03-15-2012, 04:00 AM

Hip rotation is more important, like in "hula-hula" belly dance from Hawai

Just jokin pcll, nothing personal.

**visor** · 03-15-2012, 04:03 AM

Finally got a chance to view the video (i was on iphone all day). thejym has nicely broken down the shoulder and forearm technique.

I would also suggest that the feeder not feed the shots so far to the baseline (as seen in the video), so that this "fella" can concentrate on smashing first and not have to worry about footwork yet in getting to behind the bird. When the smash technique improves, then the feeds can go to baseline, but we all know that a smash from baseline is not gonna be a kill shot.

I only have a few more things to add...

1. Explosiveness and acceleration
The swing has to explode and accelerate into the bird with maximum velocity at strike( and a bit after). It is not a constant velocity affair. This fella must feel the racket head moving faster and faster into the shot ending with a swish that is as high pitched as possible.

2. Aggressive mindset
In order to get more power, as some others have mentioned, this person needs to think and feel more aggressive. Imagine your opponent has just dissed your mom! That should get the adrenaline flowing in the blood.

Say it with me: adrenaline is good... it gives more power.

3. Eccentric contractions and proximal to distal transfer of power
I learned this concept from kenzo, who hasn't posted in the last half a year, but I must credit him here. Essentially you need to prestretch ie. preload your muscles for max speed and power of contraction. Just like why we do the split step. And also just like the split step, in order for it to be effective, this has to be done at the right moment: not too soon and not too late, otherwise the stored energy is wasted. In the winding up side-on preparation, the muscles in the torso, shoulder, upper arm, forearm, (and those involved in controlling the wrist and fingers), all undergo preload and energy release in sequence. Actually, it starts in the quads first, then the pelvis/hip > torso > shoulder > upper arm > forearm > wrist > fingers. And you should be able to feel the power transfer from one joint to another in sequence from proximally to distally all the way to the racket head. In essence, your pelvis all the way to your fingers and racket should feel like a "whip".

4. Weight transfer
For that last little bit of power, this person needs to "lean into" the shot with his body weight at strike. He can't be falling backwards away from the bird if he wants power. It just means that he has to have faster footwork to get behind the shuttle earlier.

For a video, please refer to this youtube video "Fu Haifeng teaches how to smash". The super slow mo part is in the middle of the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH6qFJoySf8 (The only part missing is no one has dissed his mom yet!

)

**NanoBatien** · 03-15-2012, 07:04 AM

Technique looks smooth to me, whip and impact sound is nice! He must be quite high level if that is a "weak" smash! I would like to see the shuttle speed if possible?

Hes not that young (sorry!) and so realistically cant expect really massive mega smash. Technique is all good and well but eventually you are pretty much optimized and then its just explosive power. Big fast guys actually do smash harder. The earlier posters have made some very interesting points though! The smash at 0.46 looks like he is already running out of steam

, if he smash any harder only one smash and he will have no energy left!

**Yuzo64** · 03-15-2012, 07:44 AM

Originally Posted by Tactim

I think extending the forearm too early led to too much power being diffused through the entire stroke rather than focusing all the power into one point like you're supposed to.

This's something I noticed too on the video, thank you for reminding me : looks like he's accelerating his racket head too late, so all the power he uses is useless because released after making contact.

Have you tried to make him stop the racket right after he hits by tightening the grip and "pulling the racket backwards"?
Basically, don't let him bring his arm down, or remove the follow through part of his motion.

I know this is not the ideal form of hitting, but it might help him find some clues on how to use his power efficiently...
I think LJB mentionned something close to this for backhand, and underhanded shots.

**blableblibloblu** · 03-15-2012, 08:54 AM

Originally Posted by visor

He needs to get a VTZF and fer shure he's gonna smash with 19kgf power!

Originally Posted by urameatball

change the racket and string.
that's the solution for most people on this forum.

also everyone knows the red zymax67 isnt as good as the other colours
he should definitely get the ivory white one and everything will be fine

**thunder.tw** · 03-15-2012, 10:46 AM

Didn't read all of the responses but, it seemed to me that a lot of the time he was smashing while still moving backwards. It doesn't look like he's transferring any energy from his legs into to shuttle.

Edit: Yeah, look at the slow motion, he's on his back foot on contact with the shuttle. He needs to step into the shot.

**raymond** · 03-15-2012, 10:55 AM

Originally Posted by Tactim

Interesting with the "elbow karate chop." Although I won't be back on court until friday, I'll have to try that out. Just swinging my arm alone without a racket though using the motion you just mentioned, I can definitely feel more explosiveness in my swing. Nice analogy, made it really easy to understand and replicate.

edit: In contrast to what I was doing before, I think extending the forearm too early led to too much power being diffused through the entire stroke rather than focusing all the power into one point like you're supposed to.

If we're thinking/talking about the same thing here, but I'd focus on discussing the pronation part first.

I've been wondering delaying one's pronation would add more power. If you start to rotate forearm too early, then your rotation would have to be done over longer period of time to cover the same distance (away from your body). This means slower speed (distance/time), and thus less kinetic energy transfer.

So holding the rotation till the last minute (maybe with the Karate chop thing) would actually mean you've less time to finish your rotation, but you'd need to do it faster, thus more energy transfer.

Presumably, the same thought process can apply to other parts of the body/arm movement/rotation.

So I would suggest he checks when he starts his pronation process (early, or later).

**raymond** · 03-15-2012, 11:20 AM

Originally Posted by kwun

but there seems to decent pronation. maybe i will take a video of him from the front next time.

Please check my other post on pronation timing, in case you're referring to just the extend/magnitude of pronation. Note this is just my personal view.

As on slicing, he could check if his racket face movement is in the same direction as the shuttle's flight path. If the racket face is not moving in the same direction (or at any angle from that flight path), a slice is there. Depending on whether he does that intentionally, or not, if he intends full power, then this needs to be looked at. A video from the front, focusing on the racket action, could help reveal that.

**sautom88** · 03-15-2012, 12:47 PM

Kwun, by now you should be as confused as I am (after reading so many comments) as to how to 'improve' an already decent smashing skill. As some of the posters noted, aggresive mental attitude and personality also helps in developing an 'explosive' smash.

Just look at Markis Kido, FHF and JJS faces when they are smashing, they look like they want to 'KILL' the guys on the other side of the net. I don't know you personally but I have a feeling you are not their type.

***kwun*** · 03-15-2012, 01:16 PM

Originally Posted by sautom88

Kwun, by now you should be as confused as I am (after reading so many comments) as to how to 'improve' an already decent smashing skill. As some of the posters noted, aggresive mental attitude and personality also helps in developing an 'explosive' smash.

Just look at Markis Kido, FHF and JJS faces when they are smashing, they look like they want to 'KILL' the guys on the other side of the net. I don't know you personally but I have a feeling you are not their type.

yes. aggression is good.

but also be aware that this guy is pretty old and not so fit as FHF/JJS... haha.