Overhead Forehand

Power in badminton comes mainly from good timing. I recommend you experiment with using a shorter swing, because I believe it will help you to learn better timing.

It is important to use the fingers correctly. The fingers should tighten towards the end of the swing; if you do this correctly, it will greatly increase your racket head speed. A large swing can upset the timing of finger tightening.

Here is an idea based on my recent coaching, which has showed good results so far with my players:

Practice like this: stand in the forecourt, near the short service line. Hold your arm up in the air, with the elbow slightly bent, as though you are at the hitting moment of a forehand clear. Ask a friend to stand in the opposite forecourt, and instruct him to throw (or gently hit) shuttles up to your racket. Then, without making a backswing, just take the racket straight to the shuttle and tighten the fingers to hit it (ideally the throw would be perfect, and you would not need to move the racket at all). You should not follow after the shuttle; instead, rebound the racket back to its original position. In this way, you will be hitting using only the fingers and using an extremely short hitting action.

I know that this is a strange place to practise forehand clears: normally you play them from the rearcourt. The purpose of standing here is: first, to ensure that your helper gives an accurate feed; and second, to prevent you from worrying about power (because you no longer have the back line as a target for your clears).

The overall purpose of this practice is to teach you the timing for using the fingers. This is actually the very last part of the hitting motion for a full forehand clear. When you perform a forehand clear, you should feel this finger tightening at the end of the motion. If your swing becomes too big, you will lose the finger timing.

It's very important to use a relaxed grip for this practice. There should be small gaps between your fingers (the fingers should not all be held together, like a fist). If the fingers are together, and the grip is tighter, then you will not be able to generate as much power from the finger tightening movement.

You should keep your grip relaxed until the very last moment. Tightening too early is a common cause of power loss.

 

I've recently been using a similar training method, except for me I do it off-court hitting the birdy against the wall in a squash court. I begin by lobbing the bird high up to the top line on the squash court (while standing 1-2m away from the wall). I hold my racquet up in either forehand or backhand, and when the bird contacts the racquet my fingers tighten up reactively. One of my cue words is that the bird is "hot" so I want to minimize contact time.

Hitting the bird higher up seems to be better for training the timing of the action, whereas hitting it lower (the bird gets back to you sooner) tends to develop the ability to rapidly relax then contract. Both are important abilities.

If you think about it, this is essentially a form of plyometric training for your fingers, in a sport specific position. I noticed a drop-off in finger power after only 4-5 shots. Personally I would recommend resting for a bit once that happens, because if the energy system changes to anaerobic (your fingers start to burn), the technique is actually different than the one you're trying to train.