Fixing Form

Discussion in 'Techniques / Training' started by Dragonistear, Jun 17, 2015.

  1. Dragonistear

    Dragonistear Regular Member

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    So I've been plagued with bad form for the first few years of badminton... And I'm trying to fix that. The problem is, when I do empty swings (without the bird there) my form is quite good (cuz I focus on making sure everything is right). But then when I hit the bird, I "forget" the form and I devolve back into the horrible form I had before.

    How do I train my timing with the bird while keeping good form?
     
  2. Gollum

    Gollum Regular Member

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    This happens to everyone. It's normal. Thinking and doing are different things; it takes time to turn thinking into doing.

    You just need to hit a lot of shuttles in practice.
     
  3. MSeeley

    MSeeley Regular Member

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    As you do the swinging, let your mind remember the feeling of the swing (concentrate on it!) and pay attention to where your racket would come through to hit the shuttle - remember how this looks.

    Now go on court and repeat what you remember.

    Good luck
     
  4. opikbidin

    opikbidin Regular Member

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    Do the "birdie hanging" and practice, search kowchan on youtube to see how to do it.
     
  5. Dragonistear

    Dragonistear Regular Member

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    I've seen that before. The problem is, I don't have a high enough ceiling (luxury I guess BBC or any warehouse facility has). But yeah, I'm told that the powerhouse nations have their starting players practice hitting shuttles exclusively on these things so that they get their timing and form right.

    The problem is, when I'm focused on hitting the shuttle, I tend to revert back to the old hitting style. I've had friends lift to me for me to practice my smash, but it ends up either massively mistimed, or my form being way off (and as a result my smash is weak and high and largely ineffective if used in a game).
     
  6. Gollum

    Gollum Regular Member

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    You might be trying to make too big a "jump" at once. You have to accept that your no-shuttle practices don't count for that much.

    Rather than trying to jump from "old form" to "perfect form", try a smaller jump. You have to build up your technique bit by bit, not all at once.

    Try just reaching up for a high contact point, using a better grip -- it doesn't have to be "the right" grip, but less panhandle than your old style.
     
  7. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    And forget about putting lots of power in the shot. Hit a slow smash with good form and good contact point.

    After you hit a few hundred of those (in practice), then gradually add the power.
     
  8. Dragonistear

    Dragonistear Regular Member

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    Not really a grip problem, but rather the lack of proper supination/pronation during the smash.

    But yeah, I see your point.
     
  9. visor

    visor Regular Member

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    To force yourself to use pronation in your smashes, make sure your racket approaches the shuttle *edge on*. And at the very last split second, use pronation to turn the racket face on into striking the shuttle.
     
  10. Yousor

    Yousor Regular Member

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    This! Advice from my side would be: Don't try to hit the shuttle in the first place. Take the shuttle as an impulse for your hitting action. Your brain says to itself: "There comes the shuttle, time to start swinging that racket." When doing it off shuttle you were saying to yourself when to start and stop the movement, when to stretch the arm, when to pronate and let the racket fall while swinging out. In short you were prepared. Use the shuttle as the trigger for your brain to swing the racket and not let your brain say to itself I will now swing the racket. This adds urgency to it, but don't let it take over. Use that urgency to induce the correct technique and get out of the pit, that urgency puts you in a state of haste. This will be infact another step to hit the shuttle well, when being under pressure. Another point is to remind yourself that it might look easy and effortless, but there is a lot of combined muscle work going on. Your mind has to adapt to that, if you are not used to it. This is related to strength training when you never did it before, your brain has almost no idea how to flex a particular muscle. When you learn it you will be able to rapidly add weight to an exercise, without gaining muscle at all. You simply taught your brain how to activate that muscle more efficiently. This will be difficult if you have to correct old habits. If the shuttle comes flying just pick an arbitrary moment at first to use the correct technique and miss, miss a lot and work your way to get the correct timing, then add power to it. Don't think to hard about hitting the shuttle or even hitting it hard in the beginning, making long clears. Use slow movement and concentrate. If you feel comfortable try hitting it harder. If you hit, it is great, if not, slow down again. I put emphasize on the pronation and let players hold their arm up, not fully stretched though. Then we hit the shuttle using only pronation of the forearm. The results always show that a full swing will not benefit them at all. Using only pronation makes the shuttle for them go as far as using the full swing. This is "merely" to prevent them from shoulder injuries. Some think the power comes from trying to rotate your arm at the shoulder joint as fast as they can, as if they are about to throw their arm away, making it rip of at the shoulder joint. This is awnser another take on keep calm and carry on. Progress comes in steps. Another thing I want to put on the table is your attitude. Do you get frustrated with yourself, when failing to do well? Get over that, it willl not help you at all, not if you want to learn new stuff. Failing is part of that and you should be well aware of it. edit: F*** it, the linebreaks were perfect until I edited the reply. =(
     
    #10 Yousor, Jun 20, 2015
    Last edited: Jun 20, 2015
  11. EvoCopter

    EvoCopter Regular Member

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    Your last sentence brings back old memories of how I practice hitting high shots on my own on court while waiting for friends to arrive during my younger days. I practice first lifting high and straignt up, both fore and back hand and than move to position myself for a lob, drive, drop, back hand and smash while the shuttle is dropping back down from height.

    You will find that this simple exercise have many benefits. You will see in today's game low lift are often use and the extra speed and timing to be in position is paramount. The above is one way of self training for this.

    Try it and let us know what are your thoughts.
     

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