If you’ve ever had a hitting coach then you have heard him/her yell at you to “use your hips!” They are right! By getting hip movement into an action you are accessing your core muscles along with your arms. If you swing with all arms you aren’t going to have much power at all. The hips are the key to any power move weather it be punching, kicking, throwing or swinging. Below is a short list of non-baseball activities you can do to teach your body how to generate massive power from the turning of the hips.
2 fun activities that add power to your swing
1. Punching
In some ways throwing a punch is like swinging a bat. If you punch without moving your hips you aren’t gonna do much damage to your target. With a punching bag or a partner with pads you can work on really digging in to your punches. In hitting, you pivot your back foot (squashing the bug) while your swing comes through. This helps you to open up your hips and turn them into the pitch while you to rotate your swing through the zone. Same with punching, As you throw your punch you are slightly pivoting off your back foot and driving power through your core as your arm thrusts your fist through a target. By perfecting your punching technique you can teach your body the muscle memory it needs to explode your hips into a pitch and smash it out of the park. Punching a bag is also great cardio and an amazing core excursive.
2. Chopping
I’m sure by now all of you have seen video of an MMA fighter getting ready for a fight by swinging an axe like mallet down on a car tire. If you haven’t its pretty self explanatory essentially imagine chopping wood. This activity can be dangerous as the mallet can tend to bounce back off the tire quickly, however if done safely you will find few ways to get more swing strength. By constantly lifting the mallet you will see huge gains in thigh and lower back strength. The action of lifting will force your hips to open. As you reach the peak of your lift and begin to swing down your hips will turn over giving you the angle to drive the mallet down onto the tire with amazing core strength and force. Not only will you gain intense muscle growth from a power exercise like this but you will also be training you body to access the hips for swinging power.
As a person who played baseball for years before I began MMA training I can see the ways it has helped my power. I was always a decent power hitter with a few bombs per year but after I began training Boxing and Kempo I have become a line drive and long ball monster. If you already have a good swing and your accessing your hips nicely than you can use these exercises to help build strength and stamina to ensure you can hit the ball farther, harder and swing more times with less fatigue.
Jake B
www.bbcorbats.com
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