Hi, Last night after training, my coach said that my recovery footwork is insufficient. So I need help from you guys. Please tell me how I can have quicker footwork. The footwork routine that I normally do is either the 4 point or 6 point routine. Although that gives me good foundation as to how to move around the court, it doesn't really give me that extra 'push-off' that I need. Here's what my problem is: I find that after I hit each shot, I'm too slow to recover from that shot to move my body back to the centre base to wait for the next shot. So often, this left me having to clumsily retrieve the next shot or hitting the next shot in an off-balance or being out of position when hitting the next shot. If I do somehow manage to be in position to hit the 2nd shot, unfortunately, I will struggle in the 3rd shot (i.e being out of position). 2 main reasons for this problem I think..1)Not enough footwork exercise, meaning no strength in my legs..I get tired quickly 2) Poor anticipation of my opponent's shots mean that I'm that split second slower in getting to the shots. What do you think? Any ideas and suggestions are welcomed A
Oops..and also.. 2 main reasons for this problem I think..1)Not enough footwork exercise, meaning no strength in my legs..I get tired quickly and often after the retrieval of 2 shots or so, my legs feel like lead (heavy!). Just in case you're wondering, yes, I move on the ball of my feet 2) Poor anticipation of my opponent's shots mean that I'm that split second slower in getting to the shots. Anticipation is something I think is quite subjective, some ppl's games I read better than others either because I know their games or that player is very deceptive. But strength in my footwork is what I really need to work on I think. It's amazing I've got so far on such shaky foundation of a footwork. Okie, at the moment, my plan is to spend an hour a day (2-3 days a week) on footwork and perhaps do a minute of 4/6 point footwork routine, have a break for a minute and then go hard out again for a minute and so on..do you think a minute's break is too long? Other than this, what other routines can I do? Any ideas and suggestions are welcomed HEHE, TOO LATE TO EDIT THE FIRST POST, SO THE CONTENT IN BOLD HERE IS AN ADDITIONAL COMMENT FROM ME....thanks
Run stairs, jump rope. Do the reps with weights around you ankles. If you want to go for the kill, put weights in a nap sack and carry that on your back.
I don't really agree with using ankle weights in training They are fine for using when walking around, climbing stairs, etc, however during training they can easily lead to foot injuries or causing you to overextend due to teh extra momentum on your feet. I think that weight vests (the water filled ones can be even better as they can provide cooling) are better as the weight is more central and evenly distributed. As for getting tired too easily, and your legs feeling like lead, well are we talking from net or from back? There could be a couple of causes, how tall are you adelina? One thing I've found with Asian females taught the two step method going forward is that they sometimes have to overextend (that's my word for this post ;P) on their lunge, leaving them too low to the ground meaning that it takes a lot of effort (and time) to firstly recover to a more or less upright position, and then move back to base. Okay since you're an experienced player, I'm assuming that you can normally move to the net with the two step method from your base, but have you ever been taught the three step technique (either for use when you're not quite at the base, or you want to get really close to the net)? Other than that, all I can really suggest is what the other did, skipping and lunges (though most of my female friends don't do serious lunges as they think it'll give them "thunder thighs" ) Going backwards, the only thing that really helps is to scissor your legs on every overhead so that you are already going forward when you finish the stroke (but you should be going forward almost every time you hit any shot right? )
Hi, Shadow badminton, shadow badminton and shadow badminton. This helps WONDERS! Right know though i am learning the danish way of moving around the court (like peter gade) and it feels so more natural. It's hard to get used to it but in time i will. Matt
If I remember correctly you're an aerobics instructor. If so you should be physically fit. I would suspect not your fitness but your specific conditioning for badminton. Going from this point, I believe your footwork should be ok since you play a good level already. What I suggest you to try first is multi shuttle drills. Find somebody willing to feed you (there should be lots of volunteers, right) - 10 to 15, 2 reps - net; forehand side/base only - net; backhand side/base only - baseline forehand side/base only - baseline backhand side/base only. When comfortable you can mix them - front forehand and backhand, front forehand and baseline backhand side, and so on. The key to these exercises is the feeder: he/she needs to make it challenging for you but not overwhelming. Hope this helps.
I problem I had, well still have really, is a tendency to mis-time the bounce in the split step. I sometimes bounce a little bit too early and then have to either anticipate, which occasionally sends me in the wrong direction, or bounce again before moving, which loses me time. Look at that before you run your legs off, Adelina. Thinking about pushing off and recovery - do not forget that a significant amount of work is done by your non-racquet leg. Some studies are showing that your non-dominant leg is actually better at spring-like motion than your 'stronger' dominant leg. I would suggest practicing technique on the five different jumps used in badminton and also performing shadow badminton. In the shadow routines you should leap as high as possible in the last step towards the corner, either for a lunge in the forecourt or jump in the rearcourt. This forces you to be in much better balance and also strengthens the legs to recover more quickly from jumps and lunges. Work up to it though - sudden increases in load like that will often provide you with new injuries.
These are some contributing factors: 3) trying too hard in being fast - the legs are not relaxed and movement slows down(even when trying harder). 4) Centre of balance/gravity is suboptimal for movement 5) Rhythm of footsteps - pretty hard to describe in words. 6) incorrect footwork for certain situations.
(1) One factor might be your choice of return shot. Ideally, you would want to move from your base position to your point, stop, hit, and return to base. You cannot reverse direction until your body comes to a stop, meaning that your momentum has stopped and your muscles have absorbed the shock of impact and recovered. For example, to get to a drop, you would come forward with racquet extended, stop and plant before the shuttle gets to that point, hit the shot, then return back. But what if, because of the excellence of your opponent's shot, you are forced to hit the shuttle BEFORE you come to a full stop? You've hit the shot, but your legs are still in the process of bringing you to a stop and aren't yet ready to take you back. Now let's say that your return is a net drop, but your opponent is ready to move, gets to it early, and flicks a crosscourt clear or crosscourt re-drop. Even if you get to it, you'll be hard-pressed to make an effective shot, and so on until you're beaten or get lucky. That's when you need to make the defensive clear, or, if your opponent is out of position, hit a shot that could put him/her in trouble. There are excercises you can do that will improve your quickness to the point, and improve your leg muscles' ability to absorb the impact and recover more efficiently, but, in the meantime, don't make it harder on yourself by getting in worse trouble with the wrong return. (2) Once you hit, move immediately, regardless. Sometimes we pause just for a split second after hitting the shot to see where it's going and how our opponent is doing to get to it. That's a split second lost! I know a guy who is a good golfer and bowler who also plays some badminton. Sometimes he'll hit a shot, but not move back to position soon enough. He'll say, "I was just standing there watching my shot!" I tell him, "In golf and bowling, you don't have to worry about it coming back at you." I don't know if this applies to your situation, but it may help somebody.
Yeah tell me about it. Timing is really difficult to master but good timing works wonders for your effiiency.
This IBF-site article contains information about the lunge. I found it to be interesting. http://www.intbadfed.org/review.htm#BIOMECHANICS
Re: weight training Recently, a friend showed me a another nice workout, also with jumps and all. I will try to describe it. BTW, it's very exhausting ! Begin in the standing position. Jump up, assisted with your hands swinging forward, land with bended knees. Bend the knees more till your near the groud with your hands in front of you. Jump a little up, placing your hands on the ground and moving your legs in a push-up position (with slightly bended legs). Then, jump back to the position you were in when you put your hands on the groud. Then, jump up again from the beginning position and so on, repeating for xx times. Hope i explained it well enough, i'm bad at fitness terminology. Don't know the name of this workout either. One of the advangates of this excersice is that you use a lot of muscle groups at the same time. I do it a few times a week now. It is really exhausting .. ow, did i say that earlier ?
Re: Re: weight training What you did is called the 'burpees' Yong, and it does work a lot of muscle groups. Question is, now that you have been doing it for weeks, have you found that it increased your footwork agility or strength? Btw..thanks all for your encouraging and instructive postings so far..keep it up and I will heed your advice and see what happens A
Re: Re: Re: weight training Ah, burpees. Sounds cute, doen't it ? Hmm difficult, the answer to your question, that is.... Since 3 months, i've increased my fittness workouts with several leg stuff. For my knee, i'm doing several daily excercises to train the upperleg muscles. Those excercises are known as excercises for those recovering from a jumpers knee. I also started swimming once a week. Since two weeks, i started to do the burpees, but for the moment as a replacement for push-ups. Besides, i did some forearm training as well. I'm not aware of any results from the burpees yet. Sometimes, when i play the day after swimming, i feel slower. Overall, over a longer period since the knee excercises, i can say that i feel stronger and quicker, and i feel my play has improved.
Can you please elaborate a bit more on the danish way of moving around the court? What're the salient features? How would they compare with other ways that you've been using (or other popular ways)?
"Optimal" depends on body height. "Good" centre of balance - Gong Zhi Chao, Chen Hong. Watch them as they play a lift from the net and WALK backwards. Look at the angle of their back in relation to the ground. Many of us, I suspect, stand up too straight. Even if we are thinking we bending forward, in actual fact, it is still not enough (personal experience). for myself, improvement came only after 1) trying to overemphasize the crouch position (and the coach suddenly said "Yes!") 2) watching a video of myself. It took time though. I'd like to know the Danish movement as well. Didn't the Danish team employ a chinese coach to help them with footwork?
For myself, my coach kept saying I am crouching too much (like the kung fu stance) and therefore not ready to move quickly when I have to. I am supposed to be standing with the back straight (like against the wall) with the knees slightly bent. I am also supposed to shift the weight between the 2 feet even when I seem to be stationary, and not spread the weight out on both.
That's very interesting. Originally, I learned the straight-back technique, but I found from experience that I moved better if I bent forward at the waist. It particularly helped me in moving forward, which I had more trouble with than moving to the back.
