One part of my game has plagued me throughout my racquetball playing has been my forehand. (No it is not because I am left-handed) The flaws in my forehand show up in two areas of my game.
1: Power – as compared to other players at my level or higher, my forehand lacks the “snap” that other players have in their forehand shots.
2: Hitting down the line. Because of the ‘hitch’ that is in my forehand stroke and timing of hitting, when I attempt a down-the-line shot. (Note: For a lefty, the forehand side matches up with a right-handers backhand, generally the weaker stroke) my shot hits the side wall, the front wall and then the opposite side wall leaving a set-up for my opponent. Frustrating to say the least! This was a primary reason for my loss in the State Finals two years ago.
One of the keys to the forehand stroke is the hips. One coach had me wear a long sleeved jacket with my left arm out of the sleeve. Using just my hip and should rotation (my arm at my side) get the sleeve of the jacket to move forward. Another area is getting my butt down and not bending at the waist. Kinda like a goblet squat. Hip flex mobility is one area I am working on in hopes to fix this problem.
Undoing 35 years of bad form is not going to be easy though. Here is Ben Croft and a text-book example of the forehand stroke.
Interesting story. 2 weeks ago I was out of town for work, M-Th. So I was going to be a good guy and keep up with exercising. I brought my jump rope! The morning routine was jump for 3x 90s, 15 GS w/35lb dumbbell and 10 pushups. End it all with a 60s plank. I did this for 2 of the 3 mornings I was there. An accomplishment in itself! As fate would have it, on the last morning, I left the jump rope at the workout center. I realized it when I unpacked. I got another one and I was reading the recommendations on the back. 12 minutes, 5x a week, burn 650 calories. Hmm.. 12 minutes of continuous jump roping! I can barely do a minute and a half. I can’t imagine 12 minutes! 650 calories for 60 minutes it only 10.8 cal/min. Secondly, I get emails from the kettlebell blog and today’s was titled, 7 fun and whimsical kettlebell workouts. It was not the Kb weight or reps, but this statement, 15 minutes on the clock and accumulate as many quality rounds as you can. 15 minutes! I know from kb class, that after 8 stations of ~30 seconds (~6 min), my heart is going to pop out of my chest. And I am not using 24s. 20s, & 14s with a 32 for DLs. Am I just that completely out of shape? Is it the extra 40lbs? My last class was a technique/strength class. 532 cal / 50 min. 10.6 cal/min. HR max 158 (94%), 132 (78%) avg. Still sweating an hour later. But good news, my back didn’t cramp up! Barb kept on the lighter bells specifically to help with the back. A nice blood blister under my callous too.