The purpose of the lower body coil drill is to get the lower half of the body in good position to prepare to swing. Think of the body like a spring, when you coil the spring it creates tension and therefore more force when the spring is released. With this drill, we take the same concept and use it to get into launch position.
This drill does not require a lot of equipment, all that is needed is a bat.
Lower Body Coil Hitting Drill Instructions
- Begin with the batter in a batting stance.
- From batting stance, the batter will load their body weight into the back leg creating the tension and kinetic energy needed for a good launch position (the coil effect). Younger batters tend to load too much weight into the back leg because it makes them feel stronger when they go to swing. This is best corrected by remembering to always keep the weight inside loaded. Never allow the batters body weight to be outside of the knee. The lower body turn should be a sit or slight squat with a small hip pivot.
- When the batter pulls back for the coil, they should have their belly button pointed towards the catcher and the back pocket should be pointed towards the pitcher. The batter should resist rotating the shoulders, we are working on the lower body coil with this move.
- From the coil, take the normal stride forward and hold the position. The batter should feel the hips opening and the natural separation of the lower half of the body and the shoulders.
