My overhead swing

Practice makes perfect...

I think you're getting too deep into the details. Practice your overhead swing more and eventually you'll get a feel of the 'right' way. There's no substitution for hard work. Just keep at it until it becomes second nature. Either practice swing or do overhead drop drills with friend. A friend told me that Korean amateurs (especially beginners) do overhead swings (w/o shuttle) for hours on end and they have a higher standards than North American players. So keep at it and you'll find the sweet spot.

 

If you're able to hit clears and smashes, then you must already be leading with the elbow—you just don't realize it. It may not be as much as you could do, or want to do, however.

I think leading well with the elbow goes with good hip rotation, so you might want to check that too. I'm working on improving those things in my own technique.

 

Role of elbow & forearm rotation

The overhead motion is pretty much a (slightly-modified) throwing motion. Try throwing shuttles over the net as far as you can. To do this, you would turn side-on to the net with your throwing elbow pointing towards the backcourt. You lower body (hips) starts to rotate immediately followed by torso (upper body) rotation. As you rotate your torso, you start your arm motion leading with your elbow.

As you come around, your arm reaches up to the release point (or the contact point if hitting a shuttle) with full extension. These elements of body rotation, elbow lead & arm extension are nearly identical whether you are throwing a shuttle or hitting a shuttle (w/ an overhand motion of the racket).

However, there are 2 more elements to consider consider when hitting than when throwing. These 1st of these actions is the racket drop. (This action is also present in the throwing motion but it is not quite as obvious). Before you start the forward phase of the throwing motion, you've turned side-on and you have your racket elbow pointing toward the backcourt.

Your racket arm starts bent at an angle that is nearly 90 degrees (it's OK if the angle is somewhat less than 90). As you start your lower body rotation, the racket arm bends to less than 30 (or <40) degrees so that the racket head drops down (behind the hitting shoulder) such that it points almost straight down.

The racket does not really pause at all in this down position. The racket head actually draws a small (continuous) loop behind the right shoulder & the right side of the back (for a right-handed player). The torso turn, along with the elbow leading, helps to form this throwing loop.

The last element of the overhead action is the pronation of the forearm. Pronation is the rotation that is used for underhand forehands as well as overhead forehands. (Backhand rotation is called supination). As your arm is coming out of the loop and starts to extend (to make shuttle contact), the racket head starts to approach the shuttle as if you are going to hit the shuttle with the side (frame) of the racket head rather than with the string bed. It is as if you were trying to cut or chop the shuttle in two with the edge of the racket head!

As the racket head gets closer to the shuttle (contact point), the forearm is rotating so that you square up the stringbed to the oncoming shuttle. Even after contact is made, the forearm still rotates a bit more so that the racket face is pointing off to the right as you start your follow-thru.

If you still have trouble with the idea of pronation, try the following. Without a racket in your hand, assume the throwing motion. Leave your hand open with the fingers together. Let's have the palm of your hand hand facing the (right) side of the court as the arm drops to the 30 degree position (described above). As you start your torso rotation, your arm starts to extend upward. As the arm is extending, your pinky finger should lead your hand (as if it were a cutting blade).

As your hand approaches the top of your reach, the hand is rotating (by virtue of forearm rotation) so that your open palm (rather than the little finger) faces the contact point. As you follow-thru, have the thumb-side of your hand pointing downward... this assures that we don't stop the pronation action too soon. (The open palm is supposed to represent the stringbed of the racket).

Hope this explanation make it clear enuff to understand. . If you would like to know why we use pronation (& supination) for racket sports such as badminton, but not for throwing, just ask.

Does NE1 kno if any of the www.IBBS.tv Lee Jae Bok videos show forearm rotation in a clearer manner than the IBF Training vids?

 

HK training?

You should have started a new thread to ask this question (after trying the Search function, of course). Is this the link?

http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18503