This is a great example of a level swing with a good weight transfer.
Jimmy is going to be an excellent addition to any junior college or large college team.
He has a very good swing and consistently makes solid contact.
He has never had any formal instruction. He is a natural hitter.
Watching other good hitter hit and just copying their moves.

Kinesiology and How it Affects Your Swing

I am fascinated by Kinesiology . Little did I know what I was getting into when I chose this a a major in college. I just knew after a few classes I was on the right track. I would always say I want to work with world class athletes and that is what I do today.

Kinesiology, also known as human kinetics, is the science of human movement. It focuses on how the body functions and moves. A kinesiological approach applies scientific based medical principles towards the analysis, preservation and enhancement of human movement in all settings and populations. Kinesiologists work in research, the fitness industry, clinically, and in industrial environments. Studies on human motion may be supported by computer vision, using stereo camera systems for pose recognition and motion modeling.

How do I use Kinesiology in my teaching? Well let say there are bio mechanical and kinesiology principles all through what I teach. Everything I show an individual or group can be scientifically proven to work. So let's look at the principles.

• Summation of Sequential Segments: I tried to find a good Wikipedia definition of this principle but there is not one that most people would understand so I will keep it simple. I have always understood this to be the unlocking of the joint segments in a specific sequence. The end result is speed, power, and strength. I would also throw in efficiency and fluidity. In baseball this would be a smooth swing that generates hard it balls. I will give some examples to hitter over the years that really had this. In the baseball swing I have broken down the correct sequence and it is big toe, ankle, knee, hip turn, spine turn, shoulder turn, Shoulder/ upper arm, elbows, wrists, bat. Most people at the higher levels have 9 out of 10 right and this is good enough to get them to a certain point then they get stuck. when they learn the missing piece then it adds 30 to 40 more feet of distance to the ball and about 7 to 10 MPH increase in exit speed.
• Distance of Force Application:
• Start PositionLaunch PositionFinish Position
• This is one of the simplest application to explain. The farther the hands go back from the center line of the body the harder the the force that can be applied. The Bigger the swing arc the harder the swing also. This principle is universal in all sports. The tennis serve, or a boxers punch, golf swing, and throwing a baseball. The farther the hand, or club, bat, or racket gets from the striking point the more time it have to accelerate and create speed producing max velocity potential. In baseball this how it works for you. If a pitcher is throwing 90 mph and the batters swing speed is 85mph + body speed of 10 mph. Potential exit speed if the ball is struck perfectly could be from 95 to 110 mph. The hands don't have to go back as far because of the speed of the pitch. The pitcher is supplying a lot of the power and the hitter only has about .38 of a second to make a decision to swing. Now here is where this really come in handy. Lets say the pitcher throws a 72 mph curve ball, who is supplying the power now? If the hitter is still in his balanced launch position and his hands keep going back he has increased his distance of force application so the swing speed increasing. So ball speed is 72 + swing speed of 88 mph = body speed of 10 mph exit speed with stay in the 90 to 110 mph area. I have tested this over and over in my cage by lobbing balls and recording the exit speeds. Then by interviewing college, pro, and high school players along with my own personal experience we all the said the same thing. We hit that slow hanging curve ball harder than anything. The reason is we were all just swinging harder. It is still easier to hit a flatter moving fastball because your guess is better on this pitch. I'll explain why in another blog.
• Rigidity Theory: Perry Husband brought this one to my attention in 1996. It made sense so I started talking about it in my teaching. It falls in line with sound bio mechanical principles. So this is Rigidity Theory as explained to me. If there are any bends in the joints then force with be absorbed into the body. So for max distance and exit speed the body must be lock out and rigid at impact. Since hitting is a guess this is very hard to obtain but if worked on it can be made more of an occurrence instead of an accident. An example of RT is when a boxer throws a punch and his wrist has a slight bend in it he will sometimes absorb the impact in the wrist and break bones. This is extreme. Thank God the bat will vibrate and sometimes the force will give the hitter a bone bruise on the thumb or palm. Sometime the hitter will break the hemate bone in the palm. Most of the time the ball just isn't hit as hard as it could possibly be hit. I have had all three of these things happen. Today I strive to be in lock out when I hit the ball. At 37 I can still hit the ball off a tee in the low 90's. I don't train like I used to and I'm not in world class athlete shape, but I can still hit a baseball over 400 feet. I have had recorded exit speeds of over 110 mph and I'm 6 feet tall and played at 220 lbs. Eric Cole was 6 ft and 195 lbs and could hit a ball off a tee 100 mph. He was consistently smoother with his swing and just more efficient. Bigger players could never figure out how he hit the ball so hard. Eric had the perfect swing. Speed+Power+Strength+Efficiency= Max Distance. It really doesn't matter how strong you are, if your body doesn't move in the correct sequence you will actually work against your strength and be counter productive. Better move equals better results.