I have been working with a bunch of young up and comers in the volleyball world. Many of the young athletes are competing for college scholarships and are looking for the edge when it comes to developing hitting power!!!! Well it boils down to mechanics. So many of us are arm swingers. You feel like you have to throw out your arm first and spank that ball. Great, you are hitting the ball hard but guess what happens? That darn shoulder injury. So to be an efficient and powerful hitter, you must break down your swing into its components. The components are hips, shoulders, arm and finally hand.

 

So what initiates your swing. If you said arm, you are wrong!!! When in the air, your hips initiate. You have to develop a stretch between your lower body and your upper body. So your hips fire first by rotating, your upper body lags behind creating a stretch. When your hips stop rotating, you shoulder and mid section begin to rotate creating a stretch in your arm. When your shoulders stop rotating, your arm extends and your hand hits the ball. 

 

Sounds easy right? Not even close. To train that sequence, it requires a lot of repetition. You have to untrain your old mechanics retrain your new ones. I have included some video of those exercises.

Remember practice does not make perfect, practice make “Permanent”

 

Yours in health and sport,

Dr. C

President of Volleyball-Power.com