Thanks. I've got your point no 1 down. What I need to do now is get the 'feel' right for the jump smash. I still don't know if I should consciously kick out my legs or that it will naturally happen when I crunch my abs while striking the shuttle.
Everyone is different I would suggest you do not need to consciously kick the legs OR crunch the abs. Those things MAY help you, but its not that important which you pick (if any!). Remember the jump smash is not difficult to perform - it is the most natural way to jump in the air and hit a powerful smash. If those were your only goals - jump high and hit hard - you would end up with a jump smash. With lots of repetition, you will be performing it correctly, as long as it looks right to begin with. Thats why I recommend shadowing without the shuttle and then looking at how "professional" it is. You could perform both of the different feelings (kicking versus ab crunching) and see what a difference it makes to the "shape" of your jump smash. My prediction is it won't look much different at all if you slow it down frame by frame, and if it doesn't look much different, then it isn't really that important at this stage. (obviously if one looks like a jump smash and the other is a misshapen mess... then stick with the one that produces the best "shape") I believe that these are the things you should be striving for when you practice: 1. contact is sweet 2. contact point is nearly as far as you can reach (keep it comfortable) 3. jump is vertical or forwards 4. contact point is at least 2 feet in front of the body (forces you to get the body weight, abs and torso right) Then its likely to be a good jump smash. Notice for point 2 I didn't say as high as you can reach - the smash contact point is not taken as high as possible because it is taken in front of the body - but it feels the same, as if you are reaching as far as possible to take the shuttle as early as possible. I think you current attempts are a good starting point - as long as you get the sweet contact every time. Then, if you practice 10,000 times, it will probably be perfect. So its all just a question of practice... If I think about what its like to hit a jump smash, this is what it is for me: 1. Load legs and lower arms. 2. Jump up high, pushing powerfully with the calves and raising my arms. 3. Hit the shuttle (as soon as possible). If I watch myself do it, or I REALLY think about it, I am also working my core and kicking my legs, and rotating my torso, and landing on back foot slightly before front foot etc etc... but none of those things are useful for me to think about - my body knows how to do it much better than my mind does. I load, jump, hit. Everything else falls in to play. But my "jump smash" isn't that useful for me. I don't use it much because I normally take off on one leg - I still get plenty of height! But even then I still kick my feet and use my core and rotate my torso and... etc etc etc This is the way I have naturally developed through practice. If I practised more doubles drills, I might use the classic jump smash more often. Too many singles drills with china jumps and block jumps and scissor kicks Good luck! I suggest you try to practice 50 jump smashes every day for the next 3 months (even if not on court and without a shuttle). That will probably result in you improving the skill greatly.
I use the term "dead-jump smash" to mean a type of jump smash where the jump goes straight up (or slightly forwards) from a two-footed take-off with a narrow base. In other words, it's what most people mean when they say "jump smash". The trouble is, there are lots of other ways of doing a "jump smash" too, as Matt has mentioned (and these other options are generally more useful / frequently applicable).
http://youtu.be/_KVijA9HhhY Hi guys, Above is the link to a recent training session I had. I cropped the video to two smashes. I tried my best to address the various factors (and all the kind advice you guys gave) when doing a jump smash. I noted in the video that I did not take the shuttle at the highest point of my jump (or just after the highest point on the way down). I took it late. Would appreciate pointers from you guys. Thank you.
Hi there, First off - I think these attempts are much better than the previous ones. Well done! I think you have managed to improve the shape of your shot. Now, if I were your coach, here are my comments: shuttle contact height is fine - the more you practice over the coming 6 months (50 reps a day if you want to master the skill) the better this aspect will become. General shape of the shot is good. Looks relatively professional, but if you slow it down, does it still look good? the main problem I see is with your balance. Look at when you land both shots - where would you say it LOOKS like you balance is? To me, it looks like you are either falling backwards, or to your left, or both? Imagine Lee Chong Wei when he hits a jump smash. When he lands, where is his balance? I would say its perfectly centred or leaning forwards slightly. I would suggest being well balanced after the shot is more important than getting the shot right - no point playing the shot if you can't then play the rally out! So - how to fix this? Well, do some jump smashes and FEEL where your balance currently is. Then do some more and try to adjust the feel so that you are more balanced in the middle when you land. A wider stance on landing may help - kicking the back leg back is a good way of shifting your balance. smash contact point. it looks like you are taking the smash above your head - there is a very different look and feel when someone really gets BEHIND the shuttle. This is potentially linked to the problem I highlighted in point 3 above. When you practice next, try to get 1 metre further behind the shuttle, and hit the shuttle when its WAY in front. I am not saying 1 metre is the perfect distance to get behind the shuttle (not far off though...) but I am saying you are not currently far enough back, and you need to get back further! Start by trying to get too far back, and see how different it feels. Then do some more practice and get the positioning perfect. Remember: it should feel like your whole body weight is able to go forwards, and then your arm reaches out forwards, and then contacts the shuttle and hits it forwards. Thats a LOT of focus on FORWARDS, I know. The only way to achieve this is to get back far enough! Just give it a go and see what a difference in feel it makes! So, two things: your contact point could be further forwards, and your balance could be better on landing (possibly both linked problems!). If you start experimenting with those two factors, I think your jump smash will improve again. But don't worry about the height or anything else - those will come with practice. Keep at it - in 6 months, you will have a great looking jump smash! Well done and good luck to you!
Thank you so much for your very detailed reply and guidance. Really appreciate your kindness! Can I clarify? What do u mean by kicking the back leg back (at the end of point 3) is a good way of shifting your balance?
I mean making sure that the leg that is behind you when you land (probably your left leg if you did a perfect jump smash) is as far behind you as possible, so that you land with a very wide distance between your feet. You can also push "into" the floor with the back leg (hence my use of the word "kick") which will propel you slightly forwards as you land. Important to note that your upper body should remain upright or leaning slightly forwards. Its all about the feel - if you feel balanced, and almost "sitting" between your two legs, or leaning slightly forwards, then it will be much more effective and useful in rallies. This is important to note with regard to balance: many people land "on" the back leg - this will normally lead to them falling slightly backwards. You ideally want to feel that your weight is directly between your two feet, and that the feet are wide enough to feel stable (maybe double shoulder width is wide enough?).
Ok. I realise I'm often landing with my right leg behind (and it's not a block jump that I'm attempting). My form is wrong probably because I'm taking the shuttle too far from my body - probably too far right. Very good advice on consciously trying to take the shuttle way in front of me. That will force me to take it in front. There is a mistake I often make. It can be seen in this video. I bend my right knee in order to get energy to smash the shuttle - and this bending of the knee firstly looks awkward and secondly, is just wrong. You can see it here - I realise I'm out-stretching my left land a little too late. And I'm bending my right leg (at the hip) wrongly. All the pros I've seen don't do this. Hence will correct this too. Your thoughts guys?
I have another question. Why do people bend their knees when they jump smash. If the intent is to get as high as possible, why bend the knees? To generate power?
looking at your video, i would not put too much emphasis on the knee bent, but pay more attention on the knee kick out as counterbalance to the stomach core crunches to bring the upper body forward. but to go two steps further, which i think would improve your stroke in the future, i would suggest getting comfortable first smashin off one leg, either a step through smash or kick through smash or improve on your standing smash before jumping. look at the fluid sequence of this lady from hip rotation all the way through to contact:
i cant do two leg jump now, because i am old and my knees are rebelling, but if you are young and once you master the proper mechanics, jumping part is easy with some minor adjustment to higher and further out contact point.
Hi, Thank you for your reply and the video. Yes very fluid - the way she smashes. Allow me to say that I'm pretty comfortable with the ground smash. I now wish to master (for lack of a better word) the jump smash. I wonder why, when one does the jump smash, the knees are bent and then kicked downwards back.
Just watched Peter Rasmussen's video on the jump smash and he said that the leg flick is done to generate power for the smash. And I was thinking it would come naturally. Gosh. There's so much to work on!
on a proper jump smash, the lower legs are naturally brought up behind the body, as the jumper prepares to form a bow shape witht he whole body before unwinding. you are right, when i watch your jump, there is some awkwardness in the way you try to prolong your stay in the air before bringing your shoulder and arm through. make sense? i didnt read what everyone has written above. but i would suggest instaed of making big jumsp, return to baby jump samsh, forget about the knees or the lower legs. i think if you progress from small jump to big, the body naturally forms the arc witht lowerlegs. good luck
You are right when you say that I try to prolong my stay in the air and only then unleash the strength. I feel that's not right too. I watched many players do the jump smash and they do not hang in the air (although if you watch them in slow-mo they appear as if they do). Maybe I've been focusing too much on the slo-mo videos. Today I'm training again. Will try to do it one fluid action and not hang in the air. MSeeley where are you? Am waiting for your comments.
So... I kind of already gave you everything I could suggest. Lets review: 1. Does is look like the professionals? Roughly, I would say yes it does 2. Are you taking the shuttle high enough? I reckon its not bad. 3. Are you taking the shuttle in front? No! Try that out and record again. 4. Are you balanced on landing? No! Have a think about it and see what gets better. 5. Have you practised 50 times a day for 6 months? No!... what did you expect to happen when you haven't had time to practice yet?!!!! So the last one is kind of a joke, but it really is the most important one. It seems to me like you are obsessing about this jump smash. Honestly, if I were your coach, I would be telling you that obsessing about details is not worth your time. It DOESN'T help. It just slows you down (you think you have found the "secret" details that make it "work", but they eventually stop working, and you become depressed and re-analyse and the spiral continues!) You have plenty to focus on - big things like weight and contact point, so experiment with those first, then re-evaluate. I don't know why you are looking back at old footage... I used to be the same as you. I would look back at the footage and analyse every single movement. But let me tell you - after you have done dedicated practice every week for 6 months, ALL of these things will correct themselves WITHOUT your conscious input. Trust me So I stand by what I said - lots of practice, 50 times a day, with or without a court or a shuttle, and try to get a FEEL for what the right shape looks like. Keep taking new videos. Keep posting them here... but until you have practised hundreds of times, it won't feel easy, and it won't look much different. Don't worry about that, don't analyse that, its just true - the more your body repeats things, the more it gets used to and refines them and improves them and makes them more powerful and smoother and.... AND it does it all by itself. Without your conscious thought. It will all work out Just do the practice! I would advise you try to focus on the things we talked about for the next week or two, do lots of practice, and then see how it looks. Remember - if it looks good at that point, then you just need to practice, if it looks slightly wrong, then we can introduce some new things to adjust e.g. keeping the knees together rather than letting the right leg flick out. And to answer your question: why do the knee bend? Mr Rasmussen has it correct (as always) - the knee bend allows you to kick your legs to initiate the stroke. The energy you create from kicking can then be passed up the body by rotating the core, then crunching the core, then rotating the shoulders, then extending the arm, then hitting with the racket. Its a big chain of energy. Kicking adds some power to the start of the chain. It IS complicated to DO it. But heres the thing, its really easy to LEARN it You just have to practice - try to get the shape right, then repeat 1000 times. Your body will learn to hit more powerfully, and will automatically kick at the right time, and rotate the hips and shoulders etc etc. You don't have to think about any of it - just practice. Good luck, don't panic, and stop analysing Just get out there and put in the hard work!
Matt is absolutely right on about getting the shape right, without thinking too hard about it. And whose better shape to follow than FuHaifeng in that video I posted earlier.
Thank you for the reply guys. Ok will just continue to practise. 1. Take the shuttle in front of me. 2. Trying to be balanced when I land. One question: Should I consciously kick out my legs (as Mr Rasmussen pointed out)?
Don't bother. Go and practise, video it, and see what your legs are doing. Remember you are ALREADY kicking your legs. Why think about it AS WELL as everything else? Pointless. You need to try and avoid thinking to much and giving too many instructions to yourself. Focus instead on how it FEELS. Good luck!
