Name: Playbook - Jordan Verdon - Swing Feels/Warmups Complete Catalog
Uploaded: 2024-01-09T21:15:23.281Z
Duration: 30 min
Description: Swing Feels/Warmups Complete Catalog

This is a complete collection of all my swing warmups/feels. Use them at your disposal and add them into your routine prior to a workout or during to aid in feeling a certain feel.

- This drill is crucial for understanding the initial move of the swing. You’re firing your back arm/back leg to the ball without pushing your hands past the midline of your body. 
- THIS IS JUST WORKING ON THE FIRST MOVE/FEEL. 
- Start with the tee DIRECTLY in line with your chest in the middle of your body (no cheating and it will feel super close to you)
- Fire back arm towards the ball creating a deep barrel move behind you. 
- Knob of the bat with hit the ball off the tee. Do not push your hands past the tee once contact is made. 
- The goal of the drill isn’t to see how far the ball goes when you hit it with the knob of the bat. Just tap the ball with the knob focusing on the backside move as the most crucial thing in in the drill.

Backside Move with Knob to Ball

- Put a resistance band just above the knees
- Keep tension in the band as you stride forward without letting slack out of the band
- Focus on keeping your knee in line with your back foot as you stride forward. 
- Feel your glutes controlling this move

Banded Loading

This drill helps you feel the stretch needing to be created as your front foot goes forward and at the same time you are stretch Jung rearward with you body into your scapula and back muscles.

Banded Stretch Loading

- Only difference between this and banded loading is now you’ll swing after you get to your launch position. Keep tension in the band after your swing as well 
- Put a resistance band just above the knees
- Keep tension in the band as you stride forward without letting slack out of the band
- Focus on keeping your knee in line with your back foot as you stride forward. 
- Feel your glutes controlling this move

Banded Swings

- Half kneeling (one leg in the ground) 
- Palm up on the leg that is up and you will rotate as far as you can towards the leg that is up following it with your eyes all the way back
- The hand that is palm down acts as an anchor staying straight out in front of you the whole time the other arm is doing the rotations

8 REPS EACH SIDE

Banded rotations

- Put a basketball or soccer ball between back shoulder and handle of bat (right above the hands) 
- Make the knob to the ball move while keeping pressure on the ball. 
- If you want to knock the ball off the high tee so you can have a visual to aim at that’s fine! If not, just doing this dry and prior to swinging works well! 
- This helps you feel a tight connected turn and moving your body as one fused unit (core/hips) rather than being disconnected and pushing with your hands/arms.

Connected Turns

- Set up a foam roller, basketball, anything really that you can put on the outside portion of your knee. 
- Goes though your loading while keeping the object stuck between the wall and your knee. 
- The goal is to keep you knee in line with your toes when you load and your heel and foot anchored in the ground.

Constraint Loading

- Execute the same feel as the “hit the catcher on the head” drill (Hand pivot). 
- Take the PVC overhead and all you do is the same hand pivot except now you can add in a small turn of the body. 
- Walk your hands to the bottom of the PVC so there is a lot of resistance while you make this move. 
- Keep the hands overhead while making this move so that you do not have the urge to push your hands forward. 
- If done correctly you will feel the move happening solely from your core and nothing else. This is the feeling we want when we swing the bat. 
- Not letting our hands and arms take over but connecting our swing to our big, most powerful muscles (core and back)

Helicopter

- High tee is great for mixing up your tee routine and challenge yourself to not just hitting pitches that are right down the middle. 
- This is great for guys that drop their hands and can’t make their swing right across their chest. 
- When loading, your hands should already be at the top of the zone (or top of the tee) 
- When you swing feel like your hands stay right under your chin when working on the high tee. 
- I don’t love saying this but think “swing down or swing flat” a little for this drill to over emphasize making the move across the chest and flat. 
- Great for guys that collapse their back side early and don’t load at a high pitch posture.

High Tee

- This is a feel to get the barrel to work rearward and getting on plane deep behind you, rather than pushing your hands forward. 
- Start by holding the PVC in the middle, supinate (turn to the sky) your top hand so that the top of the PVC would hit the catcher right on the head. 
- This is a great cue that helps guys simplify their swing thoughts in the box. 
- The next step would be to add the same feeling/cue to a demo swing (as shown in the video) and try and create the same moves in making.

Hit Catcher on the Head

- Swing the bat from your opposite side 
- Re wires the brain for when you step back into the box from your normal side. 
- Sounds crazy but just trust me!

Opposite handed Swings

- Start with hands on PVC pipe. 
- thinking about keeping your chest still while only moving from your pelvis. 
- Gain control over this movement to increase hip/shoulder separation
- Elite throwers and hitters have amazing hip/shoulder separation

PVC Hip Rotations

- Keeping front foot anchored in the ground, try and hit the wiffel ball off the tee up the middle (do not have to swing hard) 
- Main goal is to keep your head down, while keeping your feet anchored in the ground
- This will help you check your posture over the plate
- Great to add this to any hitting routine/workout and a warmup

PVC Half Swings

- Take PVC pipe and swing 5 times as fast as you can (in a row) while keeping good balance and not falling over 
- This is a great way to warm up your core and stabilizers to get your body ready to swing the bat fast.

PVC Rapid Swings

- Start with PVC in the creases of the arm
- Get into a string launch position 
- Touch the end of the PVC to the middle of the tee 
- Focus on keeping the feet anchored in the ground and using your core/hips to hold posture over the plate

PVC Tee Touches

- The ability to hinge your hips (sitting butt back but keeping tight core and vertical shins) is the number 1 thing that most hitters lack the ability to do. 
- The hinge of the hips allows space for our arms to move during the swing. 
- Start with vertical shins and sit your hips back while keeping the PVC on three points of contact (head, upper back, glutes)

PVC Hip Hinge

- Flips and dry swings work perfectly for this drill. 
- Swing 3-5 times in a row focusing on using your core and legs to get the bat back into a strong firing position. 
- If you lunge or get out of a strong hitting position this drill with be very difficult. 
- Focus on keep your center of gravity right in the middle of your body without massive weight shifts one way of the other.

Rapid fire swings

- Start with top hand on the top of your bat and your bottom hand on the handle like usual 
- Punch the top hand to the pitcher while keeping your chest over the plate and your top hand palm pointing up to the sky
- Move your top hand down to the middle of the bat and repeat the same feeling
- Lastly, go all the way down the bat to a normal game like grip and take swings trying to find the same feeling you had in the previous swings

Stay Through/Posture Flow

Connect the water bag to your chest with an underhand grip. Maintain your balance and use your core and pelvis to turn as fast as you can. 

Do both normal hitting side and non hitting side.

Water bag Turns

- This drill is designed to help hitters feel the upper body sequencing of the swing. 
- The front arm stays in line with the numbers or letters on your chest while the back arm starts to work down and behind the body (getting slotted) 
- While making this move, the hands stay in line with or behind the mid line of the body to avoid a push of the hands. 
- Do 2-3 reps just launching the back elbow into the slot before launching the frisbee/bucket lid forward. Keep palm up/ palm down finish and hold for 2-3 seconds.

Frisbee/Bucket Lid Sequencing

- Great bat path drill 
- If you accelerate too early or spin the shoulders, the ball launches out to the side. 
- Goal is to stay connected early (back elbow to belly button) and release the launcher forward and through the zone sending the ball up the middle. 
- Also it’s just a fun drill that if you have dogs they will love you for playing with them.

Tennis Ball Launcher (Full Swing)

- Isolating each arm with the launcher is a great precursor to full one handed swings with an actual bat. 
- Throw the ball up the middle and freeze your swing at the end. 
- Drive the elbow towards the pitcher while keeping the lead hand inside the elbow to stay connected and hold swing direction. 
- I use this to work on bat path and extension through the zone as it teaches guys when and how to release or snap the barrel through the zone (staying middle of the field with good direction)

Tennis Ball Launcher (bottom hand)

- Isolating each arm with the launcher is a great precursor to full one handed swings with an actual bat. 
- Throw the ball up the middle and freeze with your palm up towards the sky at the end. 
- I use this to work on bat path and extension through the zone as it teaches guys when and how to release or snap the barrel through the zone (staying middle of the field with good direction) 
- I also use it for guys who have trouble connecting their backside in a swing as the launcher is very light and we can easily make changes with instant feedback of then all going up the middle or not.