Badminton is currently recognized as one of the fastest racket sports in the Olympics, the fastest badminton smash recorded competitively is 426km/h!
Now not everyone will be able to smash at that crazy speed, but there are a few things you can do to help improve your smash.
Technique
We can’t stress over how important technique is when it comes to delivering a badminton smash. We've seen many players who can bench 120kg but is unable to deliver a powerful smash. Why is that?
Power transference- many people who are physically strong tend to neglect the importance of the legs and only focus on using the arms and shoulders to smash. Anatomically our legs have much more muscle mass and length compared to our arms and can usually generate up to 2 to 3 times more power. So if we neglect our legs all that power gets lost, resulting in a poor smash.
Trunk rotation- The trunk is responsible for transferring the power and momentum from our legs to the arms. By acting as the bridge we require full range of motion in the trunk through a twisting motion for maximal energy transfer through to the arms.
High contact- Once you have all the power transfer to your arms, fully extend your shoulder and elbows. Hit the shuttle at the highest contact point possible. This greatly increases the success rate and angle to perform an effective smash.
Wrist flick- At the point of contact flick the wrist downwards for more power and angle.
Follow through- After hitting the shuttle follow through with the swing and make sure you return to the center of the court to be ready for the next shot.
High-level badminton players practice so that the stroke of their smashes, clears, and drop shots all have the same form. By doing this it deceives the opponent by not letting them know what type of shot is coming until the shuttle has been hit.
Exercises to improve your game
Here are three compound exercises performed by our physio Jackie. Try these to improve your badminton game. Jackie is a semi-professional badminton player with many years of experience both playing and treating badminton athletes.
Banded rotator cuff activation
Overhead barbell press + lounge
Resisted cable single-leg trunk rotation
Got any questions about badminton? Feel free to get in touch.