In simple terms: The best hitters create power and... adjustability by using their trunk (rib cage and torso) efficiently. When the shoulders stay back a little longer, hitters gain two huge advantages: 👉They don't commit too early, which gives them more time to recognize and adjust to pitches. 👉They can create a bigger burst of speed when it's time to swing. Think of it like a rubber band. The longer you can keep tension without forcing it, the more powerful the release. For that to happen, the upper body and lower body can't move as one rigid piece. The pelvis starts and slows down at different times than the rib cage. That separation is what creates both power and adjustability. ❌Hitters who move everything together usually have to commit earlier and have fewer options when the pitch isn't what they expected. Power and adjustability aren't opposites—they come from the same ability to sequence the body correctly. Use this simple drill connecting a pvc pipe or long tube to the chest and practice your best range of motion every day before you hit.show more

Every golfer knows the feeling… you get to the... top, you’re fully wound, and there’s that urge to hit from the top. That’s the Hit Impulse. The problem? The harder we try to fire our hands and arms early, the more we rob ourselves of sequence and compression. Power doesn’t come from panic — it comes from order. Here, I’m relaxing my arms as much as possible. Almost to the point of feeling passive. That softness allows my lower body to initiate, my legs to glide, and my core to unwind the club the way it was designed to move. When the arms stay supple, the body can dominate. It’s counterintuitive… but that patience at the top is what creates that heavy, compressed strike we’re all chasing. If you’d like to go deeper into how I train this and build a classic, body-friendly motion, visit my website for more information.show more

A lot of hitters confuse being late with letting... the ball get deep. They’re not the same thing. In this video I show it with a simple example. I toss the ball and reach way out in front of me to catch it. That’s what late looks like. The ball already beat you… now you’re chasing it with your hands. Then I toss another one and catch it slightly behind me. That’s being on time and letting the ball get deep. When you’re late, your body and barrel are reacting after the ball passes your window. You’re forced to reach, cut across it, or roll it over. When you’re on time, you can let the ball travel and still control it. Now the barrel can stay through the zone longer, and you can drive it with authority. Deep ≠ late. Good hitters aren’t reaching for the ball… they’re on time enough to let it come to them. ⚾️ Train with an expert. Not an influencer.show more

Nobody comes into my office and says they've been... losing ground for years. They come in for a knee or a shoulder. But when you ask the right questions, a different story emerges. They stopped hiking because it got too hard. They gave up tennis. They hesitate before the stairs they used to take without thinking. They've quietly rearranged their lives around what they can no longer do... and most of them didn't notice it happening. This is what I think of as the narrowing of people's lives. It's not a dramatic event. Instead, it's a gradual shrinking of what's physically possible, so slow that people mistake the adaptation for a choice. It wasn't a choice. It was the slow, quiet disappearance of capacity that nobody warned them to protect. They normalized all the changes and attributed them solely to aging. The narrowing is not inevitable!! Dammit... it's not ;-)! But it requires intention to resist because the body will not hold the capacity to do things you do not train, and the losses accumulate in silence until they don't.show more

Why do so many kids quit baseball at 13?... Steve Springer has heard every excuse. But the real answer is usually simple. It is the pressure put on them by the people who love them most. Parents who turn the car ride home into a postgame review. Coaches who only talk to a kid if they got two hits the night before. Ten year olds playing with tension, anxiety, and pressure instead of calmness and focus and fun. Steve's response to the parents who ask what happened: you know what happened. You were a whack job. Hard to hear. But the cost is real. Kids who quit at 13 because of that pressure don't always come back to the game. And even if they do come back, it's usually not til they are 17, once their body changes and they want to try again. That is four years of instincts they never get back. Steve Springer has coached, scouted, and played professionally for decades and this week on the podcast he breaks down what kids need at every age to keep developing instead of burning out. Want the full episode? Comment PODCAST and I will send it over.show more

HANDLE THE BALL AGAINST PRESSURE This clip is a... masterclass in handling the ball against pressure. Most players think that the more moves they make, the better BallHandler they are. In reality, a players ability to Start-Go-Stop is what makes them productive. Do you have a starting move that can get you downhill. On that ‘go’ can you be in control under pressure. Then, do you have the ability to stop to create separation, and be comfortable in a face up so that you can make a decision and play.show more

Here is a drill to help you learn what... it feels like to use the ground and start to sequence effectively. Notice how the club is setup in the video between my feet. Get to your back swing and jump favoring your lead foot left and laterally like I am. With that feeling step in and hit one. Not where you are pushing off from when you swing and try and get that into a feeling that makes sense to you. This is how power is created in the golf swing. This is also where physical limitations can show up.show more

This is one of the greatest feelings a hitter... will ever experience… and most players never learn it. This drill has nothing to do with mechanics. It has everything to do with execution. The pitcher mixes fastballs and slow balls. Your only two rules: ⚾ Slow pitch or spin? Don’t roll it over. ⚾ Fastball? Don’t pull it. Now you’re forced to recognize speed instead of guessing. You’re training your eyes, your timing, and your approach—not just your swing. This is one of my favorite two-strike drills because it teaches hitters to trust what they see instead of committing too early. A great swing is important. Knowing when to use it is what separates hitters. Train with an expert, not an influencer.show more

Penguins are some of the world’s most charismatic birds.... They look like they’re wearing suits. They appear to fly underwater. And they waddle like sumo wrestlers. Now, scientists say they’ve finally pinpointed the muscle behind this endearing gait: an enigmatic and long-misunderstood tissue that forces the bird’s lower limbs to stay close to its body near the knees. The adaptation not only contributes to penguins’ signature waddle, it also helps keep their bodies streamlined when underwater, allowing them to move efficiently on both land and sea. Learn more: News from Scienceshow more

The thing I help hitters with the most.. (1... good way to train it👇🏼) They start on time but never actually get loaded to GO. They think they’re ready. They’re not. So they start earlier next time. Same problem. —— This is a conversation I have with almost every hitter. When is the right time for you? - Based on your load style - Based on how long your load takes - Based on the pitcher’s velo, windup, or slide step —— If that’s you, try a “loaded at release” type load. Bobby Witt. Judge. Get your hip and elbow loaded early. Then stride with it ready to fire. “The pitcher is up there for 20 seconds telling you to get ready. Shame on you if you’re not ready to swing.” ____ If I have you in the cage, what I’ll do is have you get into a no stride position, get ready to swing and I stand there for 1-4 seconds… Holding my hand out over the plate ready to snap my fingers. When I snap, you swing. Do that 4-5x. You get the quickness, readiness feeling. Then we go back to stride with moving ball and you’re trying to time up that same GO move with the ball With your foot up in the air and the GO will make the foot go down. Not foot down then swing. That typically kills quickness. This works 95% of the time I’d say! —— > Send this to a hitter who needs it > Save it for when you need it.show more

🎥 + 💭: sinothando "There’s something almost unreal about... thresher sharks. 🦈 That impossibly long tail, the slow and graceful way they move through the blue. It looks like an animal from somewhere else. Seeing one takes patience. They spend most of their time deep, and the encounters happen early, before sunrise, at cleaning stations on seamounts where they rise up to get worked over by wrasse. You get in the water in the dark and you wait. And for all that presence, a thresher is shy. They spook easily, they keep their distance, and they pose no threat to a diver. What they do matter to is the reef itself. Predators like this keep the whole system in balance. A quiet reminder that the most extraordinary animals are usually the most misunderstood." #MarineMonday #ThresherSharkshow more

Best Backswing Drill… This is my favorite drill to... improve upper body rotation at the top of the golf swing: 1. Make a backswing and stop when you feel you have reached the top. 2. Take your lead hand off the club and push the grip as far away from your back shoulder asshow more

Contrary to what many believe, we don’t want our... feet landing from the prep step at the exact moment the bat makes contact. Why? Because if you land a fraction early, your feet can become stuck and stagnant. Instead, aim to be a fraction of a second late. As your eyes read the angle of the bat through the hitting zone, your feet can begin to self align in the direction you need to go. This doesn’t mean jumping higher or creating a bigger prep step. Stay low to the ground, athletic and ready to move. Being a fraction late takes practice and a high level understanding of how to be on time every pitch. But when done correctly, it can gain you inches or even a couple feet of range in either direction. And in the infield, that distance matters. Here are two infielders showing exactly what that timing can look like.show more

You booked a moving company to help you move... to a new home. You agreed to their price and signed a contract with them. On the day of the move they arrive as promised and they pack up your belongings and load it up onto their truck. Then instead of taking them away to your destination, they take it to a warehouse. You call them and they said that it would be more money to take it to your property because it’s getting late. Essentially they are holding your belongings hostage, so what do you do now since you don’t have the extra money they want?show more

I came across this clip of Carlos Alcaraz doing... this simple but effective drill to help with his ball toss when serving It immediately made me think about how these amazing players in ANY sport don't skip the basics I see it everyday with golf, the recreational golfer isn't willing to do the smallest, most basic things in order to help themselves acheive their goals They say they want one thing but their actions don't show they will achieve it Golfers always want to hit driver as hard as they can, they skip the importance of setting up to the ball correctly, they don't like changing their terrible grip because it "feels weird" Yet the best tennis player on the planet is working on his ball toss in order to ensure he can serve the ball to the best of his abilities It's these 1% efforts that can help you achieve exactly what you want. Don't skip them & when a coach asks you to do them, there's a reason we want you to listen and do them. They are importantshow more

The Hollingsworths Emma Hollingsworth Lyla Hollingsworth came down from... Massachusetts today. A big part of our lesson was learning front-side compression how the front leg and hip stabilize so the body can rotate up against it into contact. Too many hitters think forward momentum is “bad,” but it’s not. Moving forward is necessary, the key is keeping the body connected as it moves. We worked on using the rear lat and back side to pull back and stay connected to the front side. This keeps the body together instead of pushing forward. Through resistance band and towel drills, they learned the feel of: •Holding strong direction through the front side, •Allowing the pelvis to pull the rear leg through, •Creating whip of the barrel against the front side and through extension.show more

Sometimes, we become so focused on figuring everything out,... forcing outcomes, and making things happen that we forget the power of simply asking and allowing. Get clear about what you want. Ask with intention. Believe that it is possible, and then release the need to control every detail of how it will happen. When you shift from constant struggle to trust and expectation, you open yourself to possibilities you may never have imagined. 🌟 Want to deepen your understanding of abundance and the power of your thoughts? Discover Countdown to Riches and explore powerful principles for creating a richer, more fulfilling life. 👉 💬 Comment "ASK" if you’re ready to ask for what you truly desire and trust that it is on its way. ✨show more

🧵 THREAD: You've heard the phrase "OUR DEMOCRACY" a... million times. But what exactly is "OUR DEMOCRACY"? 🤔 When they say "democracy," they don't mean a republic. They don't mean consent of the governed. They don't mean your right to choose your own leaders. They mean a system where "institutions" - NGOs, multilaterals, the permanent bureaucracy - advance a set of values they consider settled: equality, social justice, cosmopolitanism, global governance. These values aren't proposals to be voted on. They're treated as moral prerequisites that must be true *before* your vote counts. Despite what they say, they aren't for checks and balances. Checks and balances limit what government can do to you. This limits what you can do to *them*. The brakes are on accountability, not power. The institutions that set the boundaries of acceptable policy have put themselves beyond the reach of the electorate, and they call that arrangement "democracy." Trump has been an existential threat to this system since the moment he said "drain the swamp" ... because the swamp IS the system. When he threatened those institutions, he didn't threaten the republic. He threatened their immunity from it. And they said so. On camera. At their own events. In their own words. As always, patience as I pull together the thread.👇show more

Marcus Freeman said, "You can't talk your way into... winning a National Championship. You can't talk your way into being a Hall of Famer...You got to work and you got to constantly focus on improvement." You have to show up and do the work. Your work ethic is something that you can control. • It means competing. • It means committing. • It means showing up consistently. People see success, but they don't see the hard work and preparation it takes. 5 Steps to Improve Your Work Ethic and Focus: 1. Be Intentional About How Your Work - Show up every day with a clear purpose on what you will prepare and why. Think about the quality of your practice, the details, and reflect on where to focus most. This approach ensures your working towards improvement and growth. 2. Show up Committed Every Day - Don't just participate, show up, and commit. It means compete and choose to go above-and-beyond every day. Have a positive attitude and dedicate yourself to what you are doing. When you're focused, present, and engaged that is when growth starts to happen. 3. Be Consistent - You have to be consistent with your habits and work ethic. It means committing to the process of improving and putting in the time. Success doesn't happen overnight, it's the result of consistently showing up and doing the work day in and day out. 4. Prepare Mentally and Physically - This means think about your physical and mental state when you are practicing and when you will perform. Understand what environment allows you to perform your best. Use mindfulness to think about the connection between your mind and body. 5. Create a Plan for When Obstacles Arise - Don’t just imagine the great outcome, visualize what may stop you from reaching it. Prepare for the obstacles. Write them down and plan how you’ll overcome them. This keeps you prepared and resilient when challenges come your way. Takeaway: Talent can you get you into many rooms, but it's your work ethic, focus, and attitude that keep you there. - - - The video comes from Marcus Freeman's interview with Pivot Podcast. A great listen for all coaches, parents, teachers, and athletes out there! Follow me Coach AJ 🎯 Mental Fitness more posts on resilience, leadership, and mindset.show more