To my understanding, hyper flexion refers to the over manipulation of a joint. Hyper flexion being in a forward relative direction, hyperextension being backwards, and hyper-rotation concerning torque moments as opposed to bending moments. There are also many other ways joins can be injured. But basically these are related to soft tissue damage leading to dislocations and the alike; ligaments taking the most damage. It's important cuz this is an injury you'd like to avoid(I probably don't need to explain this). Anyways, that's what it has meant to me, and all these years, I haven't had to experience any of this, so I consider myself lucky, hope nobody ever has to experience it either. If there is a doctor out there who understands this better than I do, please correct me. Thanks. Dave.
I picked this term up from Badminton Interactive. They're referring to contraction and extension of muscle groups and how hyperflexion can help generate more power in contraction. Except I don't fully understand the principle and how I may apply it (or whether I'm already doing it).
hmmm.. I think I might know what they're talking about. I've been reading a lot about smashing lately, and it seems that there are many factors involved in getting more power from your smash, one of them being supination, then pronation, which is just rotating your forewarm clockwise so you can rotate it counterclockwise. If you rotate your arm further one way, you can swing further the other way. I think this is what the CD is talking about, which makes a lot of sense. Because if you can bend more than another player, you'll be able to have more motion which will increase your power. Do you understand? I can explain it as physics for you. Acceleration = Force/Mass Speed = Acceleration x Time Distance = Speed x Time + 0.5 X Acceleration x Time^2 Speed = (Distance - 0.5 x Acceleration x Time^2) / Time From this, you can see by increasing Distance, you will increase Speed. Hyper Flexation will just increase Distance. This is good advice, and that's why flexability is so important.
Physics was one of my favorite subjects in high school and university. But having put it down for a while, I must admit I'm getting rusty on it. Your induction above assumes that you can complete the distance at about the same time as before. Nevertheless, I'm beginning to get some "insights". What you describes certain make some sense. It's like cocking and uncocking of wrist, supination and then pronation of forearm. The "counter" motion prior to impact does creats additional distance or rotational angle. However, somehow I suspect there's also a biomechanical explanation. Here I'm only speculating - since our muscles are "flexible", by first extending a muscle we're about to contract, we store energy (sort of potential energy) there, and when you move in opposing direction, you can release more energy out. This is much like energy storage in rubber band. I've read (not study in depth) the smash article you recommended. It's good news that pronation (and supination beforehand) produces the most effect. However, I don't want to miss out the effects the other two components might generate as well. But the technical terms (radial flexion etc) confuse the heck out of me. And then the mysterious 147 degree is not easy to visualize.
Ya, I agree. Muscles do retain an elastic property, which could help your swing, I think I'm going to have to try this out. Ya, the terms confuse me also, but just learn what they are, then you won't be so confused. Everything is so technical. I never took a human anatomy class, but maybe I should do that for fun. What do you mean 147 degrees is hard to visualise? It's just the angle between you forearm and your raquet. David.
What do you mean 147 degrees is hard to visualise? It's just the angle between you forearm and your raquet. ============================================ Is this something the top players maintain throughout the swings? Or the final moment during impact? What is the significance of such an angle to effectiveness of the execution? If it's not important at all, I probably don't want to bother myself with it, as there're already enough details to work with.
You may want to go back to the home page of badmintoncentral and examine the picture of Zhang Jun playing a smash from behind Gao Ling. I found it helpful.
It's very important, and it's not an angle you carry throughout the swing. It's the angle at the moment of impact. It's the measurement taken from very good badminton players, or so the study says. I understand there are many other factors you're working on, so if you can't handle that much at once then forget about it, I didn't realize that you would become sufficated so easily. On the other hand, I welcome ALL suggestions that anybody can give me to improve my game. I own you gw thx. David ;o)
David, I didn't mean to brush you off in my last posting. I'm a "focus" kinda guy that wants to get the biggest bang for the buck. I guess I want to know that there's a reason behind certain positioning, postures, stroke-moves, angles etc. For instance, we know something about pronation, supination etc could contribute heavily to powerful overhead shots execution. Not that I have all the numerical figures in my mind to appreciate it (nor that I could/would understand them if someone present them). It's just that I now know enough to believe that there's a scientific reason behind it. And I know how to execute/use it. And I can differentiate this pronation practice from pure reliance on wrist for power. That's the original reason why I've this thread to begin with - for the sake of understanding. On another topic, it appears to me that I might have found something new (to me) about this hyperflexion. By first lengthening (or stretching) the muscle you want to contract, you actually trigger a reflex that could help recruit more muscle fibers in the ultimate contraction, making it more forceful (based on an article that I read, but not fully understood). And this force could be proportional to the speed of the muscle lengthening in the opposite direction. Now I can relate this to the teaching of one of my earlier day coach. He's an asian guy from early 70's (when he competed internationally). Naturally he uses lots of wrist actions. E.g. when he performs a clear, he would first quickly snap his wrist back before he snaps it forward. The backward action initially puzzles me. Now it seems to make more sense.
Wow, that's really cool. Stretching your muscle so that you can get more out of it. Thanks for passing on that knowledge from the article. I'm gonna have to try this out. Well, I played badminton last friday, and this new "nazi salute" way of smashing is amazing, nobody can get any smash done this way, unless you smash it right to their feet, then they just dig it. But if it's to their backhand, no way they'll get it. Just gotta put hyperflexion into the equation and we should be all good. David ;o)
