What do sports like baseball, golf, and tennis have in common? All three of those sports involve either hitting or throwing a ball, and require athletes to shift their weight in order to do so.
From a sports performance perspective, the act of hitting or throwing requires various body segments (typically hips and shoulders) to be perfectly timed and sequenced in order to produce the force and power required to hit the ball.
Weight shifting (or weight transfering) in sport is a fundamental movement where the weight of the body moves from one foot to the other.
It’s crucial in the sports mentioned above. Let’s dig into those a bit more:
The complex action of throwing a ball or hitting one with a piece of equipment like a racquet requires a powerful movement of the pelvis — together with hip and shoulder rotation — to produce a great amount of force and power output.
The two most important biomechanical aspects to consider for an effective transfer of weight are the shift of the center of mass (not body mass) and the range of motion, both necessary to increase the amount of force and rate of mechanical energy (power) produced.
The center of mass (CoM) can be defined as the point that represents the total weight (or mass) distribution of a body and it is located around the pelvis. To effectively transfer weight from one foot to the other, the pelvis should move forward in order to shift the center of mass. Rotating the hip alone would not cause any shift in weight, rather just a redistribution of the total weight.
As shown on the right, a baseball pitcher with a longer stride is going to have an increased range of motion for their weight transfer, thus increasing the force that can be produced.
Because of the real-time biofeedback feature, coaches can more efficiently train athlete’s on their movement patterns while monitoring their overall progress.
To learn more about weight transfer evaluation with plantar pressure mapping, watch our webinar, 'Evaluating Weight Shift Movements in Sport'.