How can I hit/throw/punch/kick farther? The Kinetic Chain.

[kyleb]

Many people in this forum and the Internet in general want to know how to throw a football farther, how to hit a baseball into the bleachers, how to deliver a side snap kick harder, or how to land a punch with devastating effects. All of these activities use the arms or legs, leading many to believe that strengthening those body parts is what allows you to add power or distance.

It's not necessarily true. Take, for example, the act of throwing a baseball. Will strengthening your arm allow you to throw the ball harder and farther? Possibly - but you're focusing on the wrong body part. Utilizing the arm to throw the ball is a good way to land on the surgeon's table. Why is this?

In all of the activities I listed, though the arms/legs are the part of the body that gets the most attention, the real way to increase performance is through better understanding of the kinetic chain. Let's take a look at Barry Bonds hitting his record-breaking 756th home run:



What can we learn? Note how Barry strides sideways to the target and begins the swing with his legs, rotating his body and eventually "throwing the hands" at the ball. (I hate this cue for hitters, but it's a good start for visualization.) The act of rotational hitting (the opposite of linear hitting - think Roberto Clemente for the opposing mechanics) is meant to generate maximum swing speed through the zone. To do so, the kinetic chain has to be in place and followed in the right order:

1) Establish a firm base (stride leg plants initially flexed, then firms up)
2) Rotate on the base (legs and torso rotating on the front leg as it firms up)
3) Deliver the projectile through the release point (in this case, the bat)

To better deliver the bat through the zone, most power hitters hold the bat upright and slightly pointed at the pitcher. This is often called the pre-loading phase of the swing, because in doing so it allows the hitter to simply "hinge" the arms downwards and "maintain the box" (with his arms/shoulders/torso) as he simply rotates his body and release his hands to attack the ball. (That's all a bit complicated and not necessarily relevant to a non-baseball activity, but a full explanation might help some.)

Here's a side cutaway view of David Wright. See how he pre-loads and simply rotates his body to launch his hands?



Here's a super-slow-mo image of the Big Hurt:



How can this help non-baseball people?

That's a fair question. Let's take a good non-sport example, say, punching someone in the chest. Assume that we'll be using a right-hand dominant orthodox fighting style taught by many MMA trainers and traditional martial arts schools:



Weak hand leads, slight sideways tilt facing the opponent, hands up at chest level. (I don't want to get into the debate of various alternate fighting stances found in styles like Jeet Kune Do, which is more of a linear way of attacking the opponent.) We keep the head still and face the opponent at a slight tilt, primarily using the weak arm for defense, feints, or grabs, while the strong arm delivers strikes and begins the advanced grapples.

Now, when we deliver a punch to the target, it is critical to follow the kinetic chain of events to deliver maximum force. All of the aforementioned steps will be of use: Solidifying a firm base, rotating the hips/torso, and finally the arm comes through to strike the target. You'll see some fighters use counter-rotation in the hips to deliver knockout blows - this adds to the power of the swing at the cost of time. Even on jabs and light hooks, you'll see the torso lead the attack if it was meant to damage the opponent.

What are other applications of the kinetic chain?

A very good example came up when I was playing high school soccer. In a group of midfielders, my coach was working with us to improve our defensive abilities and to ensure we didn't get beat on the counter-attack by their strikers and midfielders. One of the primary attacking tactics in soccer is the overlapping run: A defender or midfielder carries the ball near the sideline, passes the ball to a close midfielder or striker, then sprints past his man where the teammate plays the ball back at him and moves down the line, rendering the initial defender useless and burned upfield. To defend against this highly useful tactic, you need to cut the attacker towards the sideline while simultaneously keeping your eye on passing teammates of the attacker to ensure your man doesn't overlap you and burst down the empty sideline. It requires the ability to read the man with the ball.

The default approach to reading the man with the ball involves looking at the attacker's feet and the ball placement - you react to his motions. This will work on lesser skilled opponents if you are fast enough, but the better midfielders have superior foot skills and speed. Even if you possess higher skill than the attacker, you have the unfortunate problem of responding to his attack. Try telling someone the exact spot you are going to touch them on the head and stand 2 feet away from them. See if they can block you more than 10% of the time as you simply touch them on that specific spot. Even when they know exactly where you are going, they can't do anything about it - their reaction time is simply too slow to stop you. So, how can we read the opponent? By using the kinetic chain against him.

When you are lined up with an attacker who might be attempting an overlapping run or a long cross, look at his shoulders, not his feet. This takes time and lots of training before you'll get it down without being burned, but it's the only way to stop the better players. When he goes to pass the ball or set up a long cross, he will firm up a base to do so and rotate his shoulders/torso to initiate his kick. When you see any alteration of the torso, you can cut the angle off and force him to adjust - now you're on the attack and he has to defend.

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I hope this was informative - if you have any questions or comments, I'd love to hear them.