Weight Management?

If you struggle to generate power on your serve, you may have a weight problem! 

Nearly every shot in ball striking sports(tennis, golf, baseball, cricket) is fueled by your feet pushing against the ground!  

Tennis ground strokes(playing after the bounce) are generated by stepping into the shot (linear momentum/closed stance) or rotating the torso (angular momentum/open stance). 

Both techniques embrace a dramatic, sometimes explosive weight shift  (PUSH)  from back to front foot. 

Conversely, on the serve, all of the power is generated by the front foot (left foot if you are right-handed, right foot if left-handed) PUSHING against the ground. 

The majority of my students’ serve problems that I've encountered day in and day out for the last 50 years stem from an improper weight shift. 

 A very common misconception is that top-level players rock back as they toss the ball to serve it and then launch up to the ball from the back leg to make the strike. That is a visual misinterpretation and causes a fatal flaw in the delivery. 

The technique advanced players employ on the serve is to fully load the front leg and coil the torso during the toss process and then PUSH UP off the front foot and uncoil the torso explosively into the impact. 

Any weight shift back during the serve motion must be done before the tossing process begins in order to have a consistently accurate toss and a properly loaded front leg and core (torso). 

 Here are a couple of thoughts to remember--  

If you find that your serve is giving your opponent a juicy setup rather than causing them problems, it may be the all too common reverse weight shift that's robbing you of the POP you want!