Ugh I wish I had a bigger smash!
Why can I never time my smash? How do I create more power in my smash?
Do you ever feel like that's you? Well in this video, our most highly requested video we're going to break down everything you need to know about the
smash including the technique and lots of tips to improve your power and timing! And the reason
we've waited so long to release this video is that we wanted to really understand where you
guys go wrong in your smashes and also get to grips of what really creates a powerful smash and
we've definitely done that with lots of research! It's going to be a good one so let's get to it
The smash is the one shot that everyone wants to be the best at but that doesn't mean you
should use it all the time if your opponent's lifted right onto the back line or you're out of
position and off balance it's probably the wrong shot choice and using it could get you or your
partner into trouble and make you lose the rally! As you can see Praveen Jordan doing here you should
use a variety of shots, waiting until the right opportunity on a shorter lift to use your smash
And just a quick note that this week's video is looking at how to improve your smash technique and
power - next week's video is on the jump smash so SMASH the subscribe button if you want to see that!
Okay, back to the video! First things first we need to break down the preparation and every aspect of
the preparation is done to enable us to have a fast racket head speed as this is the ultimate
goal when trying to create a powerful smash! So where should you position yourself for the smash?
Well you need to make sure you're behind the shuttle when hitting it, approximately half a
meter behind, this is because a lot of power comes from rotating your body forwards into the shot
and if you take the shuttle slightly behind you then your momentum won't be going forwards which
reduces your power but more on this later! This is why you need to be in a good position on the court
to play a smash and this as well as a lot of the information in this video has come from several
studies done by loughborough university looking at the smash and we've both been participants in
this we'll reference this research throughout the video as there's a lot of interesting findings and
we'll also include a link in the description below to the research paper. Being behind the shuttle is
important for whatever type of footwork you're doing whether it's a scissor kick smash, a jump
out or a jump smash! Next in your preparation you want your body to be facing sideways with
your racket arm around a 90 degree angle like this with your non-racket arm pointing up like this to
help with your timing, balance and your rotation. If you're really tucked up like this then this will
really hurt your rotation and you'll lose a lot of power in your smash! You should have a similar
preparation for your drop and clear to make it deceptive if you missed our drop shot tutorial
last week we'd recommend checking that out after this! So in this position and we found that you can
add in a stick like this to help you get it right finally for your grip you should be in a forehand
grip but if you find you slice the shuttle a lot in your smash move your grip round very slightly
towards a panhandle grip to hit it with a more flat face. You want to have your racket loose in your
hand until the last second to create that extra speed in the racket and finally you need to have
your hand low down the grip to create a longer lever. So you're in the right position, what's next?
Well the next steps are all about the rotation of the hips, torso and shoulders and these major
muscle groups work together to give you the ability to have that fast racket head speed
and forwards momentum! So you generate energy in the legs, rotate your hips then upper torso then your
shoulders and elbow come through as well as the smaller parts of your body like your forearm and
wrist and it's important to note that although these movements happen in a sequence you should
do them very quickly after one another to create the flow and perfect your timing for the shot but
we'll go into that more throughout the rest of the video! Rotation is a common theme throughout
this video that a lot of people underestimate the importance of, in fact it's probably the biggest
differentiator between an intermediate player and an advanced player and a lot of this rotation
comes from your trunk or core so you need to develop the ability to rotate your trunk quickly
your core actually slows down before you hit the shot as do other parts of your rotation and this
deceleration of certain body parts is important to note if you don't slow anything down you'll
look a bit like this! You'll lose control of the shot and not be able to create any real force
so as you're rotating your torso it's important to keep the elbow back and delay this forward
movement of your upper arm! This action stretches the chest which means that the final movement
that pulls the elbow forwards is more powerful and the elbow comes through faster as a result
so after the elbow comes through with the shoulder rotation it then quickly slows down allowing the
forearm and wrist to come through to hit the shot. It's a similar philosophy in a way to a tennis
serve or most throwing actions! So you start in the legs hips rotate, you rotate your upper torso
shoulder then forearm and wrist come through and then you hit or throw just before you straighten
the arm however unlike throwing we have a racket and this racket is a lot lighter than a tennis
racket which is why we can create a lot more force and why badminton is the fastest racket
sport in the world! And no it's not just the wrist that creates the power which many people think
it's all of these things combined and crucially it's about generating this fast swing right at the
last second as if you start the swing too early then you lose your speed and therefore your power
there's been a lot of information there but there's still so much more you need to know!
yeah there are several points we still need to consider plus some common mistakes that
we often see people make it's a complex skill which is why so many people including ourselves
often find it very difficult but we're trying to make it as simple as possible for you!
Firstly, many people talk about forearm rotation but this is a bit of a myth as the forearm isn't a
joint like the elbow or shoulder if you put your arm straight out like this then you can rotate
your forearm in two different ways! Like this with just the bottom half of your arm rotating
or like this which is the rotation we need for the smash and this forearm rotation is actually
caused by this internal shoulder rotation and not simply the forearm rotating and this movement is
not proven to create additional power but it does help you get your elbow in the right position to
create this internal rotation and therefore faster racket head speed and faster smash
now it also helps you stop slicing the shuttle which is where we see a lot of people go wrong
as if you slice the shuttle in your smash you lose your power severely! Following on from what
we said earlier in the preparation phase you need to be behind the shuttle at the point of contact
and this contact point helps you to produce a good angle on your smash
now it goes without saying if you're taller you can create a better angle on your smash
and you do also have an advantage in terms of creating power with your long levers
those with shorter limbs do have a slight disadvantage in terms of their ability to rotate
and generate racket head speed and they also won't be able to make contact with the shuttle as in
front of them as the shuttle would unfortunately go into the net. That's not to say smaller players
can't still have a powerful smash though! So you want to hit the shuttle in front of you
and not with your arm completely straight at the point of contact and you also want to strike the
shuttle around here on your strings. The study at loughborough university found that the optimal
point is around two centimeters above the center of the strings and one centimeter towards the
inside like we're showing on this graphic. We were actually really surprised it was slightly off
center but this is because of the hitting action and timing this however is really hard to practice
we just thought it might be cool for you guys to know! Another point that we just need to get in
is that the smash isn't all about power! Placement is really important and can often be overlooked
but yeah back to how to hit with power... as we've said throughout the video
the main aspect of a powerful smash is to have a very quick racket head speed and staying relaxed
until the last second will help with this. A lot of top players such as Praveen Jordan
are so relaxed and loose in their grip that these three fingers are barely touching the
racket until the last second forcing themselves to stay relaxed and not grip the racket too tight
and then they put the fingers on just before they strike the shuttle to generate even more speed!
As we've said a big differentiator between those that have a really powerful smash and those that don't
is this rotation and in specific the rotation of the upper torso, so basically I'm putting all 75
kilograms of my body weight into my smash and not just the weight of my arm which weighs a lot less
and this is where a lot of people go wrong by not rotating, rotating too early or falling out
of the side and only using their arm to create the power as a result! And this can actually cause many
people to have shoulder injuries when they smash a lot in this way now do you need a big muscly
arm to have a powerful smash? No! Muscles are good but you definitely don't need a big arm and that's
a common misconception as we said throughout it's all about your racket speed if you actually study
the majority of big smashers they have quite light arms they're strong but their skinnier arms enable
them to have quicker racket speed and that is the ultimate goal! Just think about how fast a light
formula one car can travel versus a big lorry! And yes in terms of muscles strengthening the back of
your shoulder is actually just as important as it really helps you with the deceleration
phase of the smash and it's also great for injury prevention when you're smashing a lot
and we've got something to help you with this in just a second but to summarise the video you want
to have good preparation like this, be behind the shuttle in a forehand grip nice and loose holding
it down the racket then power through your legs rotate your hips torso and then your shoulders
and elbow come through after this and you get a nice clean contact with the show not slicing it
by your wrist snapping at the last moment and hitting it obviously in front of you!
Well that pretty much sums it up and there's a lot of information there for you to digest
We asked you guys on our community tab what you struggle with the most on your smash and
the common themes were consistency, timing, the use of the wrist and forearm and of course power! Now
hopefully we've covered most of them in this video it's certainly the longest one it's taken us to
put together so take your time learning it! So yeah apart from obviously just repeating this video and
practicing your technique improving your overall strength will of course help with your smash power
and you can do this by following our badminton specific weights programs and core circuits
which are both available on our website so we'll include a link in the description below if you
want to check them out! Although studies suggest that doing a jump smash doesn't
necessarily increase your power it does increase the angle of the shot and how threatening you look
and it also looks quite cool right? Yeah I think so so we're following up this video next week
with a video just on the jump smash! So SMASH the subscribe button if you haven't already and
turn the notification bell on so you don't miss out on that and we'll see you on another video :-)