As I have talked and written about many times since becoming a hitting instructor, the fundamental problem with most of the instructional material is that it derives from verbal cues that do NOT really convey “how the body works” when someone tries to swing a bat.

The phrase of “how the body works” is a simple way of saying that in order to really understand how someone swings a bat, one needs to have at minimum, some understanding as to how forces and movements are actually being created to move the bat.

As I will try to point out with a number of video demos here at you tube, VERY few of the kinds of typical verbal cues that are used by many hitting instructors even remotely explain as to what these movements and forces are that are actually involved in creating movement of the bat.

Simply put, these typical cues that many have heard lack “explanatory power.”

Meaning that they do not explain a swing in a manner that will actually help a hitter [or a coach] to really understand what they are actually doing when they swing a bat.

And thus, these cues will be ineffective at best, and harmful at worst, in terms of helping a hitter really understand the kinds of forces and movements that they need to create in order to develop a high level swing.

[I do realize that some will argue that some of these kinds of very vague cues either can be, or have been, helpful to players. The refrain will be along the lines of, “Steve,I used this or that cue, and I have a really good swing as a result.” To which I would reply along the lines of: “Well yes, I realize that you THINK it was this cue that helped you, but I think that your swing has improved due to OTHER factors.” I have written quite a bit about these “other factors” on my website. And I will be explaining what I mean in some future public blogs in the not too distant future].

So, what I am saying about what I refer to as “the culture of hitting instruction” is the following:

1] Most instruction is based on verbal cues which in no manner really describe how a swing actually happens in that it does not remotely explain the forces and movements that are actually involved in moving the bat—thus;

2] these cues are not going to help hitters either understand how they are currently creating movements and forces, or help a hitter know how to create movements and forces that will help them to develop a high level swing;

3] in order to be a really effective instructor, you have to be able to understand and explain the actual movements and forces that are causing the bat to move.

EnglishbeyHitting.com offers a variety of products designed to help baseball and softball players develop the best swing their body is physically capable of achieving.

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