The Simplest Way to "Crack the Whip"

We're going to teach you how to "crack the whip" on your strokes to increase your power. It's important to understand the mechanics of counterbalancing muscles to turn every shot into a lethal weapon. FYI the link to the online program is below! Lots of great content has been planned for this channel over the upcoming year... thanks everyone!
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15 Points Of Tennis is dedicated to helping players reach their potential - technically, mentally, and physically through field-tested knowledge and understanding of the game. Join us on our journey of uncovering the secrets to transform your game and revolutionize your experience of this beautiful sport.
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[@CJZM7777]

The principle of stopping part of the kinetic chain to speed up the racket head has been around for at least 50 years. Vic Braden wrote extensively about it in his book Tennis for the Future published in the 1970s. There are also several web sites that teach it on KZbin. I know it is also taught to baseball pitchers. I think the basic principle of this video is solid but don't think the drills or the way it is explained are the best way to teach the principle. The legs, hips and shoulders start the core rotation forward to contact before the arm, hand and racket head. The core legs, hips and shoulders stop rotation and allow the arms to speed up and flow through contact. I do see a lot of rec players that over rotate the core to drive the power through the swing and that is incorrect. I would give this video a C- as there are many other more simple explanations and drills out there. For example, many instructors advocating tucking the off hand across the chest and stopping core rotation as you swing up to contact on the serve, and tucking the off hand by the side to stop core rotation on the forehand is another way it is taught. Principle is valid but execution of the video not the best.

[@robertyacoub9705]

Wow this guy’s a genius. The amount of thought and thoroughness he puts into his explanations is amazing. Makes live coaches i take lessons with basically feel like just human ball machines, and that’s not a compliment. Huge thanks to you Steven for teaching such interesting concepts and demonstrating them so well.

[@KH-ks7si]

I totally agree, I was about to comment something similar

[@akifm6160]

Absolutely HIGHLY AGREEED!!

[@ksoh2926]

Although what he says is counter-intuitive, and that's why there are so many criticisms of it here, it actually makes sense if it's received with an open mind and given serious thought. Any true student of the game would know he's not suggesting we incorporate stop & recoil into any stroke. Instead the stop & recoil exercise is meant to help one utilize the principle used in cracking a whip in tennis, in order for one to hit the ball with effortless power. It's really also an exercise in wrist lag too

[@fun1111]

Does your wrist snap?

[@jessalvo6375]

The forearm pronates...on the forehand and serves and it supinates on the backhand. The relaxed wrist being the last joint like the end tip or of the whip makes the pop or crack which is what the pros call as the snap....the product of the recoil.

[@ksagstertohi6156]

Best Tennis Channel on YT. I wished you lived in LA so I can have private lessons with you.

[@15PointsOfTennis]

Let me know if you make it up to norcal!

[@ripperduck]

Fantastic content! As a guy who played juniors as a teen, but gave up tennis when I went to work, these vids are great for improving current skills, and getting new ones. Tanks!!!

[@innoasuncion7628]

as a (amateur) golfer, the recoil drill reminds me a lot of the "hit hard stop fast" drill in golf, designed to train the exact same thing! the body needs to "brake" to allow the arm, wrist, and ultimately racket (or club) to whip through

[@fingersm]

It is a great drill. I have always missed from being early and this has cleaned up my strokes

[@akifm6160]

It indeed is. I have tried the drills and if you get it right, you do hear the pop sound

[@carpediemyes]

Really good lesson. Great ideas to think about. Bravo ! !

[@thecatvirusgotme889]

Nice innovative way to explain this. As he says,, keeping the body and head still while stroking/volleying is essential for power transmission (and the eyes properly tracking the ball). Great vid.

[@laurencecorray]

Again I say you are a genius.

[@mpmp7609]

perfect tips !! i was sure it was good one but everybody told me "not the good way"...! Even in martial art , it's the way the impact is the best. I was so surprised of the power my forehand could be sometimes, and it was doing this tip without to see your vidéo !!! GREAAT . Gotta work hard to had a new one in my head,not to forget. thanks guy

[@jochooi6870]

You are brave for introducing this unique concept. I get what you are saying, but there will be others who will strongly object to it. Just show them Djoko's no follow-through backhand pass on the run to prove it.

[@twinwankel]

Coach Stevens, you must have been awake in your high school physics classes. This is fundamentally a collision problem using conservation of momentum principles. I applaud you for applying this principle to tennis. I tried the stop and pop method last week and my counter balance muscles are not very strong. As a result, there was simply too much stress on my wrist muscles. I will try to strengthen the muscles later but I went back to my normal loose wrist approach that has served me well. As I said in prior messages, the problem with the stop and pop as well as recoil is that you can't impart spin on the ball. So it's difficult to use the technique to every tennis shot. I would reserve the method for situations where you're hitting sitters or certain volleys. Thanks for the interesting discussion.

[@johndaniel4532]

Same problem for me, so much stress on forearms and wrist. What exercises would you recommend?

[@ldeue4837]

This is something that's not talked about enough in tennis, because people want to say or think its too complex....I taught myself the modern forehand through research and the only thing I have to say about the difficulty is that there are 10 year olds out there crushing the ball....just like this...This is a difficult swing to develop, it takes time, it takes practice, it wont be easy I assure you....but when you get it and it clicks, you will feel amazing and you will hit the ball better than you ever have in your entire life. He might not be exactly biomechanically sound, but the part about counter balance muscles is on the money.

[@JamesDavisakaRemguy]

Finally, a thoughtful and respectful post on KZbin - good on you! By 'conservation of momentum', do you mean that you impart greater force on the ball by stopping your swing rather than swinging through it? Isn't it a question of vector forces cancelling out, i.e. by applying a decelerating force, you subtract from your total "forward" (into the ball) vector/force? I'm not sure he meant this as a practical technique, but more a teaching tool - to get the proper feel of the kinetic chain.

[@ldeue4837]

Yeah he meant itas a teaching tool...what happens is most people don't rotate enough on the groundstrokes, so when taught properly they will tend to over rotate or under rotate due to those lack of counter balance muscles, this will take a bit more time to develop timing and feel from.

[@joseh899]

VERY INTERESTING CONTENT COACH! IT MAKES LOT'S OF SENSE. ENJOY WATCHING YOUR VIDEOS!! 👍👍👍👍👏👏👏👏🎾🎾🎾🎾

[@B1cam]

How interesting I struggle to get power on my strokes, always trying to stay loose and create wipp but never seeming to increase power. I’m going to try this.

[@remedypath5941]

amazing!! subscribed - thank you

[@rmirawan8455]

You are a genius Bro, thanks a lot, this is fixed my wat of follow through

[@maydayradio]

Great video! Totally counterintuitive but that’s why most of us aren’t pro athletes!

[@TheProRecplayer]

Also putting a little weight at the tip of the racquet will help with the feel of inertia- I think we can def get you to wrist lag with the eye trainer too

[@casperdigitality4486]

Amazing. Thanks for this lesson 👌

[@TheCvilay]

Awesome lessons thank you

[@luzheng576]

Great tips.

[@asbestomolesto]

I love this!

[@permission2rock494]

Very good.

[@JamesDavisakaRemguy]

Steven: I am that student, the one who doesn't get it. I have seen people start from zero, from never having played before, who are now passing me by. It is discouraging to say the very least. 'Soul-crushing' I think is a better word for it. I am happy for them, I really am. But I want to join the club. I will give your lessons a try, and I'll report back to give you some feedback

[@15PointsOfTennis]

Yes, let me know. Feel free to email me

[@sameertalcherkar3988]

I struggle with racquet head accleration which is a timing issue ultimately. I can't wait to try this out! This is something I have not yet seen taught in online tennis instrutction.

[@geepeeone]

Try different swingweight (increment of 7); start with 300

[@FairwayJack]

what is the purpose of stop and pop ... to develop timing to arrest the torso rotation and FLING arm thru impact (reactive brake) ??

[@carpediemyes]

Fling the wrist as well as the arm.

[@TheProRecplayer]

I need to make Tennis Yoga - love the physics! You COULD TOTALLY do way more with wrist if you get the Billy Jean Eye Trainer- I literally did some of the wrist stuff from the last video but I didn’t know why not thinking about the momentum really being at the tip of the racquet- You have got to get the eye trainer- you can do anything with it. Also if you want some seriously high IQ body movement check out primal vinyasa- she is like Albert Einstein of body movement and physics- Federer has some thing we que as soften your skin when in 100% strength pose …

[@watcher687]

I think there’s an easier way to achieve this, brother. That recoil pull back exercise sounds a bit weird. How about glueing the head/eyes at contact and during the forward swing? Perfect way to ‘put brakes’ and prevent over rotation. By the way that’s exactly what Federer does.

[@chtomlin]

yes, this by Yucel is a much better explanation.

[@Saheb0877]

could you do a video on taking balls out of the air and beat that pusher/lobber type of player...thanks

[@15PointsOfTennis]

At some point for sure! Swing volley, overhead and drop shot combo will take care of most moon ballers

[@celicom]

Is that a good idea to practice the "recoil pull back" with the wall?

[@JamesDavisakaRemguy]

No. You will still probably get the wall pregnant.

[@celicom]

@@JamesDavisakaRemguy Tell us about your drama, ok

[@15PointsOfTennis]

Wall could be good... helps to have a little pace to work with.

[@areewichainchai1743]

You use energy to pull back. We need hole energy to the ball to hit. How to do it!

[@KH-ks7si]

So do you want your body to be still during and after contact or just during

[@15PointsOfTennis]

It’s important to get turned all the way, but be still at contact. The residual momentum will likely rotate your body through after contact which is fine.

[@JamesDavisakaRemguy]

Here's someone whose advice you believe in enough to check back regularly and see what other free goodies he has for you and yet you string him up for a practise he himself touts as being helpful, from his own direct experience. Before criticising (and rendering your own "expert opinions") have you tried it? Have you stuck with it long enough to actually see firsthand if it works. I kinda doubt it, given that this was just uploaded TODAY. Hey, it's okay to be skeptical. What's not okay is to blast your teacher, publically, before you've given any thought or practice to what he said. I say shame.

[@commondirtbagz7130]

Most of the people commenting probably play at a high level.

[@kennyg9149]

This is not the correct way to crack the whip. I've been playing tennis for a long time but this make me laugh after watching this video. Cheers!!

[@mervynchan772]

Credit to this coach for efforts to be innovative, but this is very dangerous to body dynamics and poor coaching. The whip is a flexible device unlike a tennis racket. If you are more grounded in your science, you recoil or stop a stroke when you crack a whip to change the direction of the tip of the whip when it is outstretched. The sudden change in direction is to change the velocity abruptly to get the sonic boom (cracking sound). This serves absolutely no purpose in tennis but instead prevents real power potential. Forcing a stop like this in tennis is not only bad for your muscles and joints but also doesn't transfer momentum into the ball. Just think about it - how many baseball players stop and pop when they bat? Or discus throwers stopping their momentum just before they throw? There seems to be more power just because you have to be more relaxed and snap your muscles. You can do this with proper follow throughs as well and that is even more effective. Perhaps the lesson here is for us to be more discerning when we look at stuff on the internet.

[@commondirtbagz7130]

It’s really sad because most of the guys in this comments sections aren’t good enough to know that when they take this out on court they’re really not helping they’re game, yet they think that they are.

[@carpediemyes]

Wrong ! You can't Snap a bat because it's too heavy. But a Tennis racket can be snapped if you're grip is light.

[@franccastilla3881]

I think, It's wrong. To stop the movement and back is against the kinetic. In addition, muscles suffer more if a breakthrough movement is made. For me, that movement only serves for the volley

[@helmeteye]

It's a drill.

[@gcs7817]

It’s only a drill to achieve a point

[@commondirtbagz7130]

@@gcs7817 it doesn’t matter if it’s a drill. Doing these exercises can hurt your arm. That’s like saying, I’m gonna practice punching a wall, but because I’m practicing that’s not a bad idea. The muscles in your wrist especially are very delicate. This action is going to seriously hurt your TFCC joint which can lead to you having to stop tennis for months all together.

[@gcs7817]

@@commondirtbagz7130 Shaolin monks did that... mind you not at full speed or strength

[@one2punchtennis]

You are misleading and irresponsible. There is so much more to tennis than what people see. You have great passion and thats admirable. Some of the things we see and talk about are irrelevant. At a certain speed and pace none of your shots will work. You actually don't have to time the ball perfectly, there is a trick to it and its actually natural. To say your timing is off should never happen. It suggests bigger problems. I could go on for days. You are young enough, try and get to 150-200 ATP and you will realize what you mostly say now is inaccurate. You would have to restructure your whole process. Good luck

[@nnyt]

Why show video when Federer in practice and not in a match. His body moved more during a winning shot mid court.

[@chtomlin]

because the ATP is restricting video used in matches to their favored boys club

[@chessbrilliance8783]

It's like a karate shot in fact. Stop at contact like Bruce Lee liked to do. If Bruce were to play tennis he would have played like that for sur and Never followed through.

[@carpediemyes]

Bravo !

[@lcervantes8505]

Live arm

[@bsmmhr1778]

friend you will heart your and others muscles after sometime.

[@robertblount1377]

I love your analysis of all things tennis including this whipping action. But I disagree with your method to implement the whipping action. It is far too complicated for the body to achieve easily. There is too much thought process about movements that are too infinitesimally small to willfully control. I feel a better way is too approach the ball with your racket head slowly, then when you touch the ball with your racket head, immediately touch the top of your opposite shoulder with the racket handle (Oscar Wegner), with the racket head achieving its greatest speed when the handle is about to contact your opposite shoulder. This creates your whipping action and that cracking feel by executing a severe racket head change-of-direction (which is what the tip of a whip does) at the moment of contact with the ball. This automatically creates topspin and a whipping action without much willful thought. It is soooo much simpler. I feel that you have great insight and powers of analysis when it comes to biomechanics and motor learning as it pertains to tennis, and I have great appreciation for your perspectives, but in this case alone your remedy seems far too complicated. Great lesson in your example of juxtaposing Kerber's stroke against those of the male players.

[@JamesDavisakaRemguy]

What good is it if your greatest racket head speed is at your shoulder? ("...the racket head achieving its greatest speed when the handle is about to contact your opposite shoulder.") You want the greatest RH speed to be WHEN THE RACKET CONTACTS THE BALL. Then you need to decelerate the racket, otherwise you will leave it stuck in your shoulder like a broadsword. I respect Oscar Wegner's teachings, but I dare suggest you've misquoted him. Perhaps he was talking about a useful mental construct, but I can't imagine that anyone believing this is what happens in the empirical/physical world. With all due respect, please show me what I'm missing.

[@nicolaiguba]

Not sure why tennis players think of it as "kinetic chain" (look this up in physics -- good luck). Transfer of momentum is what the mechanism (or phenomena) is called.

[@TopSpinWilly]

There's a lot of good coaching it seems but I have seen anything better than your videos.

[@timsiemisiraya6297]

sorry the translation into indonesian is very terrible

[@ANGELOFDARKification]

I don't know about this technique. Pros hardly use it and it seems like it would wear and hurt your muscles too much.

[@chrain2.080]

Shut up It’s a drill

[@shadowyshutterbug]

its a drill to improve counter balance muscle strength, which will in turn make your strokes cleaner and more dynamic

[@ts440s]

When I play tennis I usually get my whip cracked, yet I still come back for more. Why?

[@JamesDavisakaRemguy]

Hey buddy, what happens on-court during your rental hour is strictly your business. (Unless you paid for it, in which case it is someone else's business and they need to claim it as income.)

[@jamesl.d.142]

This is garbage. Your teaching will get joints injured. Professional players are very still when they swing for two reasons. Excessive body movement can cause head movement which can cause blurred vision. Excessive body movement can cause loss of energy transfer to where you want it to be. Try aiming your ball contact point 6 to 8 inches behind then release your grip on the handle to prevent injury and conserve energy. Good luck.

[@chtomlin]

sorry, but this is an example of the wrong understanding of the -Kchain, as well as the correct way to accel the racket.

[@chrisnguyen9379]

There's an issue with "crack the whip' here WHAT WHIP? Your racket is NOT a flexible whip!!! By trying to stop following thru after impact, that SHOULD help to improve the contact point between the ball and your racket, which helps with the speed and energy of the ball going back to your opponent. That's all. Any of you out there a physics major or know someone who teaches physics? Please help this gentleman to explain the phenomena. He's lost. Thx Tsyt

[@chrain2.080]

Chris Nguyen I think you’re misunderstanding. You’re arm is the whip.

[@chrain2.080]

Do you play tennis? I think you should know that without a follow through maintaining relaxation and consistency is near impossible

[@carpediemyes]

Your fingers are the whip and the bottom of your wrist is the handle of the whip.