Forehand Drive Power: Chest Opens First, Then Arm Follows
Summary
Backpaddle’s Building Forehand Drive part 2 is a live coaching session on sequencing power.
The miss pattern: both arms coming back and through together, upper body tight, arm firing too early. The fix cue is chest opens first, arm lags, then the arm catches up through contact — left arm (for a righty) helping release stored energy from legs and torso. When the sequence clicks, you hear it on the paddle and feel the lag instead of a simultaneous arm swing.
Key takeaways
- Chest opens first — arm follows (don’t swing both arms as one unit)
- Lag the hitting arm, then help it catch up through contact
- Loose upper body; use the non-hitting arm to release stored power
Action items
- Shadow 20 FH drives saying out loud: chest → lag → catch-up
- Feed 30 FH drives; only count clean contact that feels lagged, not muscled