Here's something from trainer Kelley Baggett that I think VERY much relates to how I teach:
"If you go to any traditional martial arts school and study some of the advanced ranks you’ll see people that have trained themselves to be exceptionally quick even though they likely didn’t have much innate ability to be that way."
" In my opinion it’s largely due to the way things are taught and repeated in traditional martial arts. Movements are broken down to their most basic levels and repeated over and over and over again until they become second nature."
"A good instructor will not allow a single flaw in body position or technique and over a period of time the body inherently learns to eliminate all wasted movement and that allows better and faster function."
This last quote is,I think, particularly insightful in that it strongly suggests that in mandating that certain basic kinds of movements be learned, this results in learning how to become very efficient by eliminating what I typically refer to as "extra movement."
"Extra movement" essentially meaning movement that degrades functional characteristics like swing quickness,bat speed, barrel accuracy, and the ability to consistently repeat your best swing.
Now, I should add that I am aware of the fact that what one defines as "basic kinds of movements" in the context of swinging a bat well is subject to a myriad of interpretations!
I will simply say this about that: From my vantage point I think that very few really understand the basic postural and movement components that underlie the ability to optimally create and transfer momentum from body to bat on a consistent basis.
Something that all elite level hitters have figured out how to do!!
And something that I have spent the last almost 20 years figuring out ---in an effort to be as effective of a teacher as I can possibly be!
And something that I have spent the last almost 20 years figuring out ---in an effort to be as effective of a teacher as I can possibly be!
