The Real Reason You Can’t Move Like the Pros

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If you weren't spending hours on the
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court every day since you were 8 years
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old and still want to get better at
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badminton,
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this video is for you.
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Chances are you probably heard a coach
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or someone tell you to get lower and
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wider on court.
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Or maybe even open your hips.
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Particularly when doing drills or
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playing defensively.
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And perhaps you took the advice and did
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your best to get lower and wider, but
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the lower you got and the wider your
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stance became, the more restricted you
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started to feel. You might have gotten
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to a position where your coach said was
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good,
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but now you can no longer move on court.
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So you end up in a narrower stance
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anyway.
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Some people will tell you that your
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muscles are too tight
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and you need stretches or massages to
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fix things. It's partly true, but it
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doesn't necessarily address the root
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cause of your problems.
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Today we're going to take a look at two
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muscle groups that traditional fitness
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training tends to neglect.
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They are muscles that are so important
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in badminton and can completely elevate
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your ability to move on court when
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trained well.
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But before we even discuss the muscles
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themselves, we need to look at why
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getting low and wide on a badminton
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court is important in the first place.
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When you watch the pros play, pretty
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much all of them hold a very low and
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wide stance.
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Someone like Chou Tien Chen,
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despite being 36 years old and standing
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at 180 cm,
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will hold a position where his head is
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pretty much at the net height. Other
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notable players like An Se Young, Kento
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Momota,
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Viktor Axelsen, etc. all do the same.
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And the same happens in doubles as well.
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There are three main reasons why getting
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low and wide is so important. First, it
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lowers your center of gravity.
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Second, it allows you to take a more
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aggressive contact point. Third, it can
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allow you to move more efficiently.
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We're marking this one with an asterisk
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as it is the problem that many badminton
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players face.
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Where getting lower does not simply
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result in better movement. Let's look at
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center of gravity first though.
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The higher level you go in badminton,
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the better and faster your opponents
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get.
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Players rarely play floaty shots that
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you can simply walk up and do anything
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with.
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Center of gravity is particularly
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important on defense when your opponents
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are playing very fast, steep shots, and
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the general idea to understand is that
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moving your center of gravity down to
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play a shot will often be too slow and
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strenuous. You can think of it this way.
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If a shot comes below your center of
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gravity, there are two ways to get the
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shuttle.
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You can either put the load on your back
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and upper body by bending down to reach
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the shuttle, or you lower your center of
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gravity first by squatting down
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and then rotating your core.
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The first way is a no-go cuz even if you
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touch the bird, you generally don't have
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the means to control the shuttle. The
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second way is what pros do.
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But the difference is that they get low
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first. So, by the time their opponents
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hit the shuttle,
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their center of gravity is already low
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and their movements are horizontal
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rather than vertical.
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The following rally between Axelsen and
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Momota is a good one to look at.
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When you watch Momota play, he stays
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unbelievably low on court and it is rare
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for Momota to contact the shuttle below
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his center of gravity.
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Even when he does have to,
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it's only by a little bit and is part of
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the reason why Momota can recover so
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quickly.
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In contrast, Axelsen during this time
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had more difficulty maintaining a low
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center of gravity. Against players like
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Momota who are consistently able to
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place the shuttle at points where
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Axelsen must drop his center of gravity
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to play the shot, you can see why it is
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extremely tiring and difficult for
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Axelsen to play.
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The slightly longer recovery
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may only take milliseconds for a pro
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player,
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but those milliseconds and the energy
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consumed just add up and is often the
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difference between win or lose.
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What you'll also notice in this rally is
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how center of gravity
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affects contact point. If you maintain a
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low center of gravity, the range that
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you're able to contact the shuttle at a
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high point relative to your body anatomy
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increases.
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Momota in this rally had a moment where
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he was approaching the shuttle with his
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racket face facing upward. These general
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racket positions allow the player to
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threaten many different options as you
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can tell by Momota's eventual use of a
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deceptive cross push.
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He didn't have to, though. From here, he
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could have also cross net,
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lift right away, or maybe even drive.
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The key understanding here, though, is
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how there is a comfortable position
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where playing shots at your chest level
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or higher
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generally gives you more options.
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If your center of gravity is too high,
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you become limited in when you can play
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at this level where you have the most
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control. In contrast,
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a lower center of gravity
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opens the range
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to play more at your chest level,
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which is generally better than
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constantly bending down to play shots
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below your waist.
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It's especially important the higher
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level you go because players have better
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shot quality. You still need to be able
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to pressure your opponents even if the
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shuttle is relatively tight to the tape.
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And by the way,
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this applies to both doubles and
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singles.
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In fact, it's probably even more
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important in doubles
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because the moment you're playing shots
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with your racket facing upwards, it's an
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uphill battle. The shuttle has to come
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up from that position,
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and since there are two players on one
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side,
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it's easy for them to attack the moment
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they see you hit the shuttle at a lower
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contact point.
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That's why most doubles players will
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generally not spin that the way that
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singles players often do and often opt
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for [music] up-to-down spins where they
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can play the shuttle down.
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Aside from a higher contact point and
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the benefits of a lower center of
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gravity, getting lower on court will
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also help you move more efficiently.
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Here's where the problem begins for many
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players. If you ever tried to stand as
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wide and low like Momota or Chou Tien
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Chen, it probably felt like you were
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about to pull a muscle.
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For the longest time, we just did not
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understand how these players were able
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to maintain their low and wide position
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and move at the speeds they do
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until we started working with various
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sports scientists.
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The key to these movements is in the
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muscles around the hip, particularly the
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adductors and abductors. [music]
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The adductors are commonly referred to
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as the groin muscles and help bring the
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leg back toward the midline.
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While the abductors
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help move the leg away from the midline.
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These muscles frequently work to help
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players to not only push off, but also
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pull them back in deep lunges and
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various side-to-side movements.
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Court movements are generally more
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efficient when you can take big steps
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with very fast small adjustment steps
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rather than multiple consecutive running
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steps, too.
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And when you really think about how
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badminton players typically move,
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the importance of strong and mobile hips
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becomes very apparent,
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especially the adductors and abductors.
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Movements are pretty much all
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side-to-side and constantly require the
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adductors and abductors to stabilize
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your hips and legs on court.
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Something that many players who started
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playing later in life will experience is
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that their adductors and abductors have
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not been trained for badminton and
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general sports-specific movements,
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which can make it extremely difficult
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[music] to copy some of the movements
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that pros do.
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Squatting, running, and even sitting all
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use the hips, but they do not challenge
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the adductors and abductors in the same
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side-to-side way that badminton
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requires. The adductors and abductors
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are active in stabilizing, but all of
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those movements
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are pretty much front and back
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movements. And as we already pointed
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out, badminton is very much a
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side-to-side activity. It contains heavy
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change of direction. Weak or
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under-trained adductors and abductors
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mean these changes of direction can feel
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slower,
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>> [music]
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>> less stable,
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and harder to control.
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Conversely,
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stronger and mobile adductors and
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abductors will give you the capabilities
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to open and shift your hips to positions
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you need to go.
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Players who started playing very early
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in their lives
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will naturally have pretty good adductor
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and abductor strength, as playing
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badminton itself will help train those
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muscles in the required positions and
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activations.
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Players who start later in life and did
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not necessarily play a number of sports
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with lots of direction changes will
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inherently have a more difficult time
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because those muscles are not as trained
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compared to other ones.
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The solution?
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Spend more time strengthening and
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training the adductor and abductor
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muscles for badminton.
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The good news is that training the
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adductors and abductors is actually much
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simpler than many players think.
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The mistake many players make is
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focusing only on stretching.
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Stretching can certainly help,
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but if the muscles are weak in those
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positions,
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all you're really doing
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is increasing the range that you can't
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control.
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What we need to do instead
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is build strength in the positions that
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badminton actually [music] demands.
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One of the most researched exercises for
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this is called the Copenhagen plank. In
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one study, athletes increased their
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eccentric hip adduction strength by over
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35% after [music] 8 weeks of training.
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The reason this exercise is so effective
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is that it teaches the adductors to
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produce force while lengthened.
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Which is exactly what happens during
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lunges,
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defensive movements,
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and changes of direction on court.
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However, we personally prefer thinking
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about badminton movements rather than
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individual muscles.
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So, a sport-specific exercise that is
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great for the hip adductors
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is the banded lateral walks.
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Not only will this train your hip
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adductor strength,
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but also train your capability to move
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your [music] body
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as one unit.
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Because the adductors and abductors
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don't work alone during a rally. They
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work together with the hips, glutes,
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quadriceps,
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calves, and core.
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Because of that, some of the best
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exercises for badminton players are
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often banded lateral walks,
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Cossack squats, side lunges, and various
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single-leg movements that force you to
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stabilize and produce force in wider
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positions.
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Notice the common theme?
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All of these exercises require you to
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become comfortable in positions that
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typical weightlifters will never get
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into, but are positions badminton
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athletes will frequently be in.
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The goal is not to see how wide you can
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force yourself into a stretch.
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The goal is to become strong enough that
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your body feels comfortable moving
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there. Generally speaking,
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an idea for physical training
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is that if you can handle load at your
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full range of motion,
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then you will be less likely to get
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injured on court and more confident in
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certain movements. Of course, don't
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start with a super heavy load. Start
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small and gradually build up.
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And this is where many players suddenly
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realize that what they thought was a
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flexibility problem
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was actually a strength problem all
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along.
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As your adductors and abductors become
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stronger and more coordinated,
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you'll often find that getting lower
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feels easier,
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wider stances feel more natural,
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and moving side to side requires less
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effort.
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You are no longer fighting against your
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own body every time you try to defend,
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lunge,
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or recover.
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Instead,
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you're finally developing the physical
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qualities
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that high-level has been demanding
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[music] all along.
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So, if you have trouble holding a low
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and wide stance on court, it may not
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just be your glutes
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or quads that are the problem. It may
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also be the muscles that control your
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hips side to side, especially your
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adductors and abductors.
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These muscles are crucial
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in a multi-direction sport like
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badminton, where you're frequently
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moving from side to side. Players who
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start very young
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and play a lot of badminton
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will naturally build this strength
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through gameplay.
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Players who start a bit later might find
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it [music] more difficult as certain
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muscles have become stronger while the
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adductors and abductors are underused.
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Fortunately, these are muscles you can
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train
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and improve.
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Proper strength work done to help you
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move in your full ranges of motion
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will help you move better on court and
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allow you to copy some of the movements
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that pros do more effectively.
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If you guys like this video,
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As always,
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let us know what you would like to see
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next in the comments below,
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and thanks for watching.
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>> Mhm.

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The Real Reason You Can’t Move Like the Pros

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