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March 31, 2005
Cues vs Reality: The Stiff front Leg, Squashing The Bug, and "The L" ..."
More about cues versus reality specifically with regard to issue such as the problems associated with using cues such as a stiff front leg, squashing the bug and other such coaching and instructional "perceptions".
One "cue" that I hear quite often is the need for a hitter to brace up or stiffen up the front leg to create/help rotation of the hips. The reasoning behind this cue being rotation of the hips it is a function of stiffening up a racing up of the front side (front leg). And or that converting the stride into rotation requires bracing up/stiffening of the front leg. That the bracing up of the leg is what causes hip rotation.
The same thing can be said for squishing the bug and or “The L”. For those who are not familiar with the concept of: “The L”, it is a description of the shape of the back leg as the hips hour rotating and/or have been rotated (goes hand-in-hand with squishing the bug i.e. rotation of the back foot such that it appears that the ball the foot is squishing a bug and the heel is coming up). The “alleged” final result of the action of squishing the bug with the back foot is hip rotation which also creates the shape of “the L” in the back leg.
Again we are back to symptoms versus cues, form versus function.
The symptom here being squishing the bug and "L" is what causes hip rotation when in reality (the cause) hip rotation is primarily produced by muscular actions in the pelvic-buttocks area. That the muscles that are responsible for abducting and adducting around the hip joints creates forces around the hip joints. The effect of these forces is what you see as squishing the bug and creating “the L”. In other words these movements of the foot and leg are in support of the actions of the muscles in the pelvic area give the appearance/impression of bracing up on the front side and squishing the bug and creating "the L" on the backside.
One has to question the value of these “cues”. They are cues that are based on visual “perception”. The question is how effectively do these cues contribute the actual muscular movements and muscle activation's that are observed in high-level players.
And like most cues, their existence is because I better than nothing as opposed to their teaching instructional effectiveness. Their main reason for existence is because they satisfy the coaches need for visual representation of that portion of the swing process.
Posted by PaulNyman at March 31, 2005 01:16 PM