Let the Hips Lead the Hands

By Nick Demyanovich

Letting 'your hips lead your hands' is by far the most important baseball hitting tip that you must learn how to do in order to drive the ball to great distances. This phrase is thrown around very loosely in the baseball world today, but not many people actually grasp its true meaning. I've known plenty of hitters that are aware of this important batting concept, but still don't implement it within their swing. And because of this, they're not generating the POWER that they are truly capable of, or in other words, they are not hitting a baseball to their full potential.
Let me now explain WHAT 'let the hips lead the hands' actually means. By using common sense, you understand that your lower body needs to start your swing off and move towards the ball before your upper body does. This sequence of events is essential, because if it's done in any other order, than you will not ACTUALLY be using your lower body to hit the ball. You will only be using your upper half, which takes away most of the POWER you could produce if you were using your ENTIRE body.

So exactly HOW do you go about doing this in the proper manner? Well first off, in order to get your lower body involved in your swing, you need to open up your hips immediately as you're taking a step towards the pitcher. This is done by making sure your foot makes an angle of about 45 degrees or slightly greater, measured from the front of the plate (if your foot was pointing straight at the pitcher, that would be an angle of 90 degrees). While this is occurring, you also need to make sure you keep your upper body back, or slightly twisted in the opposite direction your lower body is moving in. So to sum it up, your lower body is starting to move forward, while your upper body is staying back. These opposing forces create a torque, which is crucial for obtaining MAXIMUM power for your baseball swing.

Ultimately, your hips should be the major driving gear of your body when swinging a bat. So when you're in the position as described above, you need to use your legs, hips, and lower body to rotate your whole body, while simultaneously allowing your hands and upper body to follow them and absolutely CRUSH the ball.

If you want to learn more, and see a video that specifically shows you how to swing the RIGHT way, then visit my site. http://www.baseballhitting-training.com
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