Proper Smash Technique

If your clears are good, then your grip should be fine.

Most likely cause is that you are taking the shuttle level with your body (like for a clear) rather than in front of you. The smash needs to go downwards so you must be positioned behind the shuttle to get a steep angle.

Although it is possible to smash with the shuttle above or behind you, it is much more difficult and the smashes will be weaker.

 

You said you had no problem doing the clears from baseline to baseline, but are you doing it correctly or you may have quite a strong upper body and arm muscles that you can just propel the shuttle forward without much effort and difficulty?

I think to achieve a better smash, not only must the shuttle be ahead of you or you need to be behind the bird, when you strike (or make contact with) the shuttle, it should be at its highest possible point, with your racket holding arm straigtened, extended and not bent at the elbow on contact.

You may not have transferred your weight enough when you do clears, but in a smash you really need to turn at the hips, bend backwards your upper body, but on very steady and stable legs to throw forward at the shuttle. And that throwing action speed must be very fast (fastest at point of contact) so that transfer of the power from your legs upwards to the upper body, to the arm and down to the last minute snapping of the wrist are all in a smooth, uninterrupted and unified action. You must be able to maintain good balance throughout, even at the follow through.

 

What's wrong with your smash?

Too flat or goes upwards?

Hits the net?

Cannot control placement (always goes crosscourt)?

Too slow?

 

I have the same problem, with my smashes being too slow, that is. I think it may be an issue with pronation, maybe we're not rotating the wrist enough. However, have you noticed if your timing is maybe a little bit off? Every time I try to smash, I tend to hit it either a shade late or early, causing it to hit the strings closer to the edge of the racket head than to the middle. It's hard to correct since I can't tell if I'm swinging too early or too late. So are you maybe missing the sweet spot?

 

If it's power you lack, there's no magic answer

Segmental recruitment: use as much of your body as possible. Forearm rotation provides most of the power, with a throwing action. Yet power also comes from shoulder and hip turning, and even other muscles such as the abdominals and legs in a jumping smash.

Make sure you are hitting the shuttle cleanly and not slicing it.

After that, it's just a matter of training: off-court and on-court. General circuit training is good if you're serious, and plenty of smashing practice.

 

ya ya, its the power u lack...

there are diff type of smashes, example u can smash a shutter towards opponent's upper body in which the shutter will go almost back of the court, another one is the sharp one, where u use almost wrist power, this have to perform at faster pace...another is angle smash...where u can smash to edges side...some of these can be performed with or without jumping. it all depends...

power mostly come from your body... that is the main point... u cant just use your arm. just like gollum said, u must faster than the shutter, the bal must ahead you, hit the ball when it is as high the position u can reach...u jumping smash, u need to adjust your timing ...and this need practises. use the power when the gravity pulls u down....

 

half smash

Try some half smashes till you are comfortable with the strokes and slowly progress with more power. No shortcuts.
rgds

 

Relax and don't grip the racquet hard till the actual time of shuttle contact. This is the only advise I give you right now.

Have someone video tape you and watch after practice. See if you are using a proper and fuller arm swing. Once you find out what is happening, talk to yourself within while you are playing to remind yourself to: Clear deep and high. Hit bird as high up in the air as possible. Don't take your eye off the bird - especially as it gets closer to you...

 

My goodness, it sounds like you must be a stick! I consider myself to be skinny, and i'm at your weight but about 7 inches shorter. At that body mass index, your best bet is to get stronger. How many pullups and dips can you do? I imagine that you would likely have tremendous gains in relative strength from doing some strength training.

Maximum strength is the basic strength quality from which other strength qualities will develop. Without a decent strength base, specialized "power" exercises, those in which you learn to develop force in a short amount of time, will be limited because of the small maximum force that you are able to exert. Same goes for "plyometric" exercises where you teach your muscles to react elastically.

I suggest that you get access to a weight room somewhere and start working out. Some things to watch out for:
- most people train like bodybuilders -> using slow controlled reps. For sports, this is a bad thing because it teaches poor motor recruitment patterns. instead, try to emphasize the use of explosive movements
- many people train only 1/2 the muscles across a joint. For example, you might find that the bench press has a good carry-over effect to your smash. As a result, you'll want to train that movement to strengthen your smash. However, it is also important to train the opposing movement (in this case horizontal rows) in equal volume to prevent imbalances in strength, which can cause injury or pain across that joint, poor posture resulting in back pain, limits in strength gain and decreases in flexibility
-often people will spend too much time on simple, single joint exercises like leg extensions and bicep curls. The problem is that in sports, you never try to exert force using such a mechanically disadvantaged position. as a result, carryover to sport will be limited. instead, use multi-joint exercises (squat, deadlift, row, press, etc) with free weights to maximize strength gains and the "functionality" of your strength.
-just because you have "strong legs" from badminton or running or whatever, train your legs in the weight room anyways. Except for purely aerobic sports like running, cycling, or bowling, having good strength will make you more capable of training in the higher intensity ranges, because your fast-twitch muscles will be better developed and for anaerobic endurance, each movement will be a smaller portion of your maximum strength. Also, heavy leg exercises (like squats and deadlift) will have to greatest load on your body, leading to higher testosterone levels. It's like being on natural steroids! Also, for those exercises, the heavy load transferred through your body will give you a level of core strength that is much better than what you would achieve by doing tons of crunches