Well, as I have explained many times, I'm a simple guy. In football I liked to hit people [had I played college football and stayed healthy I have no doubt that I would have been drafted as a strong safety---I was a better football player than I was a baseball player].
As regards baseball I was drafted as a hitter and of course my favorite part of baseball WAS hitting. And from an early age I gravitated towards drummers and drumming [my dad played as a hobby and introduced me to African and jazz drummers when I was 6].
Bottom line----and what all 3 have in common---I very much like to HIT SHIT!! And here's a guy who also likes to hit shit [one of my favorite drummers] Gergo Borlai:
As I have said before, there are numerous similarities between developing drum and swinging mastery. Simply put, both require a good deal of deliberative practice.
So as to develop speed, timing, precision--- the mastery of all 3 of which entails a very refined degree muscular control and kinesthetic awareness/sensitivity.
Lastly this: Gergo breaks the mold as regards the stereotype that fat guys are not capable of being able to move pretty damn fast!!
And let me preface my comments here by saying that, yrs. ago I became known by members of Setpro as a guy who understood the Setpro info well enough to convey it in a very accurate manner.
The back story, so to speak, on my coming to this point is this: I had been out of baseball for many yrs. [I did not even watch baseball for yrs.---until my wife signed up my only son to play and he, over time, became a huge fan of Ken Griffey].
Paul's hypothesis is, based on my almost 20 yrs. of working with hitters and pitchers [especially hitters] is thoroughly correct. That's almost 20 yrs. of working with and close observation of hitters/pitchers.
Over the years, people who have heard about me will call me, and almost inevitably after talking for long periods of time [yes, in earlier yrs. I was known as a guy who could cause cell phone battery failure!], I would say along the lines of this:
Well try to understand that regardless of you buying my stuff or signing up on my website, what you REALLY need to understand is that THE main thing you need to understand is this--this near primordial flaw/problem:
If you look at the context here he is asking what I think is a good question--that of thinking about what one needs to do create better upward trajectories basically. Is hitting "below the equator" the answer? To which I say: Yes, no, it depends.
Meaning that a yes or no answer pretty much ENTIRELY depends on how one understands the movement dynamics involved in swinging a bat. Both poorly and at high level of competence.
As I have written about in some detail on my website over the yrs., the notion that elite hitters are creating "lateral trunk tilt" or "bend" [flexion along the frontal plane] so as to create "adjustability" is largely incorrect.
From my vantage point, this is a misinterpretation of what is ACTUALLY happening. Now I should hasten to add that there are many joint/muscle combinations that can be and are utilized to move the body to swing a bat.
BUT. My frame of reference here is that of thinking in terms of optimal efficiency and the maximal transfer of momentum from body to bat. Regardless of location.
The following may seem off topic [to this site] but I think otherwise. Over the yrs. there has been some discussion of implicit vs. explicit learning in the context of swinging/throwing.
Though not exactly synonymous with this bifurcation [but related] is the notion of internal vs. external focus.
Wulf et al argue that an internal focus is superior to external focus. I disagree. Simply put...."it depends" [a Mel Siff quote that does apply in this context I think]
The following ex. ---that comes from drummer Marco Minnemann and bassist Mohini Dey---is an example of a learning process which COMBINES implicit/explicit learning and internal/external focus.