I would advise you to train the finger tightening speed, by hitting in the wind shots repeatedly you can correlate the power you put into your hit with the wind noise. You generate most of the power at the end of the movement when you tighten you grip after it being relaxed. Try to not grip at all with your 2 last finger and only tighten them before impact to get a feeling of how you should coordinate.

When you are satisfied with the noise, imagine hitting the shuttle in front of you.

And after that it's a matter of finding the right timing on a real court.

I feel like it's more important to put power in your legs than in your shots.

Focus on having the shuttle in front of you, hitting it as high as possible and aiming it in the right place. You generally don't want to smash unless it's a winning shot.

When you have that, it's all about using as must muscles as possible, which means using ur leg and torso rotation with your arm swing to generate better power. Power don't come from shooting harder or swinging harder but by using all of your body.

Go on the court and try to ghost smash and make sure you are pushing with your racket leg while your rotating your body (your smash start with you rotated 90 from the net and with you in front of the net) while you are swinging your arm. If you feel you are using all your body while ghost shooting, you are good, then try to replicate that with a shuttlecock.

You have a few videos on youtube to help you work on that.

You have to scream very loud right before you smash like Zheng si wei

Absolutely impossible to you give you real useful advice without seeing you play.

I have no idea if this is a technique issue or a timing issue or just a straight up weakness issue.

Not much to say. I guess if you don't have enough power, it is either a question of technique or of repetition. Here's a breakdown on where the power is generated in a smash : https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0hJEHfRor3/?igsh=MWpxbGJwYXIxdTF2MA==

> naturally the more powerful a smash is the faster it is.

And so it is. The racket head speed at time of the contact defines how much energy is transfered to the shuttle and how fast it will go.

I could only think of how he generates this racket face speed. Either by fast swings or a very short, but powerful swing (very high acceleration in a very short range of motion). In the end, as long as he generates the same racket face speed, it doesn't matter speed wise.

Can someone confirm or deny this.

I read somewhere saying that head light racket can generate faster smash. But head heavy rackets generate heavier smash. I took this info with a grain of salt but I was just wondering if there is a factor in a smash like 'heaviness' of the smash. Or is just speed the deciding factor for a powerful smash

Fast smash is more like a stick smash, where you sacrifice power for speed by flicking your arm and wrist at a high angle to catch the opposition unaware.

A powerful smash is one where you go through a full range of motion to land a powerful shot.

That is what I think he's referring to.

Yes you are correct because physics is physics . When discussing about shuttlespeed , fast also means powerful . An athlete might play good but doesn't teach well .

However there is a difference in doing a full powerful swing or a fast short swing . A full swing generates power from legs = more power ( often flat because you are very far from the net at the backline ) . A fast short swing generates power from the upper torso or forearm , gives less reaction time for opponents due to snappier movement , shuttle loses speed fast too ( often steeper in angle because these smashes are played around mid court as interception ).

You might ask why I said full smashes often is flat but not always . Reason is natural height and elevation fron jump . If we study Lee Zii Jia's back court smashes , even at the back court his swing still looks snappy and short but still powerful . Reason it is powerful is because he still have ample of time to incorporate his legs to generate power , but he takes the absolute highest contact point for steepness . Him being tall means he cannot play flat smashes very well because it would go long .

Finally some might argue about defending fast smash or powerful smash . Some would say it is hard to lift a powerful swing / using more energy . The reason is your low string tension no longer match the shuttlespeed played by your opponent , his shuttlespeed created a big trampoline effect on your strings , making it harder to control . This is also why the better you play , the higher tension you go . It would be a big disadvantage if your shots all played somewhat sticky and slow . But wouldn't higher tension generate less powerful smash ? No , the trampoline effect can happen no matter what the tension is , if you can hit the sweetspot . But the higher tension trampoline bounces the shuttle back more powerfully = bigger smash .

It probably refers to the speed of the movement, so “a fast smash” mean a smash with quick/short movements, which doesn’t generate as much power.

Perhaps try "smashing" in slow motion without power i.e. just focusing on the direction, placement and how your wrist and shoulder is moving. Once the basic mechanics are in place, you can focus on increasing the speed of your smashes.

Not too be stupid but how is it even possible to have a stronger backhand?

There’s no shortcuts unfortunately. It’s all down to practice. Repetition is the mother of skill.

It’s strange that you find backhand easier to do. Almost all players will find forehand more natural and have weak backhands.

Get behind the shuttle when the bird is up high, as in your left foot should be one arm length away from where the bird is gonna land. This way, you can utilize your body twist which will add power to your smash.

If you are missing 66% of your smashes, there is probably something wrong with your fundamental swing. Focus on improving your clears before your smashes.

Keep your racket in front of your eyes before hitting the smash. Keep your backswing short and quick. Make sure the shuttle is in front of you. You can do this by moving quickly to the shuttle through efficient footwork. You want to face sideways towards the net. Then BAM! You should be hitting your smashes. I suggest watching fullswing badminton's video on the smash. Its very instructive and helpful.

Just keep hitting you’ll get better ❤️‍🩹

Keep your eyes on the point where you hit the shuttle. All the way until after you hit it. It‘s important for your brain to understand where the point of impact is.

Relax your body till it's time to actually hit the smash. Surprisingly, you generate more power and improve your accuracy.

full Swing's badminton YouTube videos are the best for the Swing technique for smash/clear etc.

There are a couple of fundamental issues.

One is the swing motion itself. The focus on shoulder strength is too high. This leads to "push" smash instead of properly hitting the shuttle. You need to establish a proper swing to have a proper hit. As others have mentioned you can think of your arm as a whip or think of a throwing motion. There is a slower wind up (backswing) and an explosive release (forward swing) in the movement. Your arm is relatively relaxed throughout and your grip should only tighten just before the racket meets the shuttle.

Another issue is that your ready position is not suited for your level of ability. Pros can get away with a lowered arm, because they have the necessary movements absolutely ingrained into their body. For your level you need to keep your arm up (shoulder height) to reduce the delay between backswing and hit.

Another issue is that the timing of your footwork and your swing being misaligned. A likely cause is that you don't have a clear hitting point set. You need to observe the shuttle trajectory and speed and consciously set a hitting point in the range of your swing. If you don't have that, your footwork will be unsure and you end up "chasing" the shuttle, because it's out of reach otherwise. Same problem also happens when the shuttle gets too close and you compensate by moving your body backwards and reducing the power. Both scenarios lead to poor power transfer. You need to make sure that the range of your swing is established and carefully watch the shuttle to have good positioning.

Another related issue is that your weight transfer is very light. You need to really step deep on your backfoot and accelerate to your front foot with torso rotation. That's where the main power of a smash comes from. To get back into motion from that kind of rotation you need solid legs and core for balancing the follow through movement. But this sort of weight shift is very difficult to pull off, if you are not positioned properly.

Another issue is that you have barely any torso tilt. A common misconception is that you need to raise your arm far above the shoulder to get a higher hitting point for a good smash angle, but if you look at a professional smash the position is usually not achieved by raising the arm, but by tilting the torso sideways. The arm rarely exceeds a 20-30 degree angle from shoulder line. To get even higher the solution is to jump and not to raise the arm. (Pros still raise the arm high in specific scenarios, but you are not at the level where it's a good choice)

One common advice thrown around is "set the hitting point as high as possible". I think this is not good advice, because it can very easily be misunderstood and interpreted in a way that leads to bad technique and over strain on the shoulder which can lead to injury. When receiving active coaching and correction it can be useful, because the coach should make sure that the technique is not harmful to the player, but this makes a coach necessary and the coach needs to have a baseline quality. As explained in the previous point, the arms should not raise very high above the shoulder line. This is because power transfer sharply drops when the shoulder tension is high. The solution is establishing the fundamentals properly before trying to set the hitting point higher. Anything else just makes it better only for a short while, but fundamentally misses the fundamental technique you should be trying to establish. The result is subpar technique for a long time.

Panhandle grip. Taking small steps instead of big steps to get into the smashing position optimally.

More advanced maybe look into gripping hard while you make contact with the shuttle.

One glaring thing is your arm is bent when you strike the smash. You want to be reaching up as high as possible to strike it. And not wait for it to drop down like you are.

Good that you are stepping through. But you can really make it more dynamic. Make everything more snappy. Atm it looks like your are gently stepping through. You really want to go at it.

Imagine you have a ball and you want to throw it as far as possible. You really step through adding your body weight and rotation energy to throw the ball as far as possible. Same principle behind the smash, the smash shot is actually called a throwing action!

Point of contact is low. You should feel like you're fully extended when hitting. Also it's not quite a whipping action. It's not the most aggregious racket first snash but it is there. I think you are not bringing the racket behind your back enough to then get the most consistent action

I’d say get a new coach. Need one with more patience and the right teaching style for you. He cannot get mad at you for that. That added pressure is not what you need when you’re starting out learning.

It’s hard for anyone to comment without a video of your smash.

Are you smashing with 100% of your strength? I find it harder to control when I go all out with a smash which is why I generally go at only around 80-90% of my strength.

Well smashing at shuttle down at the net is very different from the mid to back court. From the sound of things you could be

• Not striking the shuttle at its highest point
• Not striking the shuttle in front of you

Being at the net you don't have to worry at all really what height you strike it at as anything loose will essentially be killed. And everything you strike will be directly in front of you.

So you might need to address timing and positioning. Smashing you need to be like a step to half a step behind where the shuttle falls vertically.

The smash action is a chain of movements and shifting body weights that link together to form the smash. You're stepping through the shot as you make contact with your arm straight to ensure you're striking the shuttle at your highest point.

I think as you practise this shot start of slow or half smash till you are consistently hitting a downward shot then start introducing the power/pace. I've seen too many people try their damn hardest to smash wrenching their arm off and in doing so loose any semblance of the smash technique. And where they tire and actually half smash its ends up being a better smash.

This video has a good breakdown of the shot : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsyGElreEWU

Perhaps you should upload a video of you smashing so that the eagle eyed redditors on here can further pinpoint where you are going wrong. If you are smashing into the net/inconsistently then I wouldn't really say you can smash correctly no offense! If I was playing against you then I would def be lifting/clearing to you.

Also these are things a coach should be picking out and addressing to you. They should be able to point out where you are going wrong or should be first to go to ask questions to as they being paid by you to catch these things and be much easier to see where you are going wrong than a post on here.

Record yourself and see what's going on.

Do you understand Korean? I found this channel particularly focusing on small tips during smash training.

https://youtu.be/6YaGSqkGrao. You might find some insight.

It is generated from your whole body. Right from your racket leg, to your core, to your racket arm (correct pronation of forearm) and finger/grip power. Getting behind the shuttle is very important.

This video from Tago Ken - Secret of Smash pt2 is very good: https://youtu.be/HIYVPEI89i0

which beys are breaking your wizard rods? and are you using string or winder launchers

What kind of training are you doing?

Those numbers are awesome for a string launcher. Those are typically my weakest launches, and you're doubling my highest with my winder. I need to start training more. Well done!

What app is this?

Watching the explanation of Bruce Lee's one inch punch. Tldr: generate power with (most of) your entire body and focus all of that into one point, i.e kinetic linking. The punch, or your arm hitting the shuttle, is only the tip of the iceberg.

It is fundamental in badminton but I never bothered to learn it. Then I was enlightened by a youtube video I randomly searched out of curiosity and linked it back immediately to badminton.

Moral of the story: Please learn the fundamentals!

#1. Playing against better players than you. Talk with them about strategies.

#2. I'd used to record games and rewatch my faults/shot selections. I still do.

#3. Coaching - multi shot drills, and training with like minded players.

Another is adequate footwork when shifting to rear-court. Used to accept my fate when the shuttle went over my head, but split step and proper movement eliminated this problem.

Racket UP. Always. Always. Always. Pains me to see newbies make the same mistake I did. Helps so much with preparation, defending properly (instead of having to swerve out the way of the shuttle) and taking the shuttle earlier. Still have to remind myself from time to time.

i injured my knee (overuse), and while recovering was doing very light movement not to put stress on the knee. Previously i was relating to much on the fact that my legs were quite stronger then players on my level. With not power rushing around, i learned to move a lot more efficiently, and have grown more in the past year when i did a lot smaller volume of training due to recovery, then in a year before that when i trained almost every day.

I guess that basically every high level player moves well, but i started late and definitely consider this a breakthrough for me. (even though the ceiling is still high 😁)