Now, if not already impossible to train for club head speed using the first 4 laws, you will also be required to blend other skills such as coordination, balance, agility, flexibility, hand-eye-club dexterity, and timing of the swing sequence on top of the 4 laws of club head speed. Is there a solution?  Absolutely!  It just isn't found in traditional equipment and takes an "out side the box" approach to obey ALL THE TRAINING LAWS OF SPECIFICITY and MULTI-SENSORY INTEGRATION LEARNING techniques to accomplish club head speed.  The NITROSWING is a "swing training" device that was built with all of these rules, training laws, and ideas in mind.  Does it create swing speed? Absolutely 100% of the time! Not only does it create swing speed, it provides the correct feedback necessary to increase accuracy along with distance. Only the NITROSWING obeys ALL the Training Laws of Specificity to produce speed and no other swing training aid can claim to do so.

1.) Movement Pattern must be exact, or very similar, to the athletic motion.  If you want swing speed, you better be doing a swing motion.  If you are not doing a tilted axis rotational movement in the exercise program, speed is unlikely.  This eliminates most weight training exercises that are vertical and those that are linear verses rotational.
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​2.) Contraction Velocity must be similar to the event.  The swing is a very fast motion activity.  Practicing it slow will not provide the correct learning stimulus the body needs to adapt to increase a faster swing motion. 3.) Contraction Forcemust be higher than the event.  In order to provide adaptations in training, a significant amount of resistance must be provided to generate higher than normal muscle contractions needed for force production.  Unfortunately, traditional weight training equipment typically eliminates law number two as increasing weight reduces velocity.  Other types resistance like elastic bands can be used, but law number one is eliminated as it is linear force. 
4.) Contraction Type needs to be imitated.  All muscle contractions are not equal.  Fast, explosive movements like swinging, throwing, punching and kicking, have a stretch-shorten cycle that starts with a quick pre-stretch of the muscle that almost completely contracts the muscle, stores energy in an elastic way, and then accelerates through the entire range of motion to release 

Training for Swing Speed-The Science behind the Skill

Using the Training Laws of Specificity for development,

SPEED requires these laws:

Nitroswing® 

Golf & Baseball Swing Speed & Power Trainer

The golf swing has been around along time and there are many different swing techniques that have a lot in common

and some that don't.  Since it is a multiple lever/rotational movement that has many different variables it is impossible to

say which way is the best.  Possibly the best is dependent upon the individual, physical abilities, and their skills.  Some

golfers are thin and flexible, some are strong and inflexible.  Some golfers have injuries or physical inabilities that do not

permit them to master a certain part of the swing but make up in another part of the swing.  So many variables come into

play when hitting a golf ball and which way to perform this task has become a quest of mastery.  

However in general everyone does all parts of the swing to a degree and getting the most out your variables contributes to your individual technique that you learn, hone, and develop into a repeatable, duplicable, motion.  With that being said, utilizing the NITROSWING as a swing diagnosis tool and technique development tool has been explored and some interesting observations have been made that can assist in building an effective repeatable, duplicable swing.  Several things contribute to developing talent required to swing a golf club with proper technique which provides accuracy, and obviously repetition is likely the biggest thing that contributes to development.  Another important aspect is intensity of the swing training which relates to how hard one trains.  Also, high focus and expectations contribute to learning, and without them the training as repetitious as it is, can be a detriment if the golfer is not fully engaged mentally as well as physically.

So how does the NITROSWING affect the golf swing?  

How does it differ from traditional training techniques?  

Can the NITROSWING fix poor swing techniques?  

These are common questions that have been asked by some of the best golf training professionals and until recently have just been answered.  It was a big concern during the prototype building phase because the original intent was to make the golf swing more powerful, and more power is no good if you can't control the newly developed power.  The NITROSWING was not developed to find some missing power position or move that you did not know how to perform.  The intent was to develop muscular power through training adaptations and interestingly many other skills were developed during product development with feedback by assisting with visual and audible queues to adjust while swinging.  

So, to break all this down and understand how this works to accelerate the development of the golf swing, dissecting aspects of learning are described as best as possible.

Repetition

By virtue of default, Repetition, is the likely the number one contributor to being an effective tool to learn the swing.  Swing repetition with the correct movement pattern in combination with the correct rotational resistance engages the correct muscles in the correct sequence over and over and over.  Notice the word "correct" is used a lot in that last sentence.  There is a reason for that and there are a lot of "incorrect" things that can be learned pertaining to the golf swing.  The NITROSWING does this with unparalleled repetition training stimulus.  It also does it in a faster repeatable movement compared to any product out there.  Firing the muscles that propel the golf club through the hitting sequence almost every second does some interesting things that contribute to creating that "muscle memory" everyone talks about.  And it does it fast.

For example, in a series of 30 swing reps, approximately taking less than 1 minute to complete, the first several swings are very "conscious" and the golfer is very aware of the swing motion he is doing.  The golfer feels, sees, and is actively evaluating his movements and corrections, and changes are made "on the fly" with each rep, perfecting it with slight muscular changes.  This can take as many as 5 reps to as many as the full 30 swing reps to "actively learn" the motion and "get it right".  This learning phase is a very focused mental task that initiates a high level of attention and very little else enters the mind as the brain fully takes in all feedback, information, and adjustments to "get it right" to swing correctly.  Between each rep there is almost zero time to think of nothing but the next swing rep and how to adjust and make it better than the last one because you are doing the reps in such a repeatable time manner that there IS no time to get bored before the next rep.

Depending on the experience of the golfer on the NITROSWING, the focus is shifted to a more "subconscious" feeling as 10 to 20 reps are completed. It seems that they have "got it right" and the golfer is now focusing on how to do it more effectively and efficiently as the reps add up.  Muscular control is a little more relaxed, attention, and mental focus are now starting to shift as the golfer seems to become more aware of the finer tuned aspects of the swing motion.  Timing and sequencing of motions now dominate the "active learning" and the golfer pays more attention to these attributes that assists in technique and experiments and learns some more.  

Toward the end of the 30 reps, the golfer is swinging the handle just like he would be as if he were hitting balls and actually starts to imagine the outcome of the swing.  Also during this phase of the set, the golfer starts speeding up the sequencing, and if coached correctly, will perform the movement with a little more intensity and effort and execute the swing slightly faster while imagining the ball traveling further. He is now "more or less" on auto pilot with the swing mechanics and will start to feel muscular and mental fatigue toward the end of the set of 30 reps.  

During this 1 minute interaction, the golfer has started out with an intense learning curve, acclimates, and then prefects the swing motion.  What takes a golf professional to teach by conventional interaction with swinging a golf club for hours to get the student to do this is absolutely amazing.  Getting the student to shift from conscious movement pattern to repeating the swing without actively thinking in one minute is quite remarkable.  This shift is a result of the brains amazing ability to do things faster as repetitions quickly accumulate.  Why wait 30 seconds to 1 minute while the golf instructor tells you all the things you are feeling and then proceeds to then explain how to fix it between each rep.  30 swings on the range takes 30 minutes with an instructor.  Doing swing reps on the NITROSWING eliminates the down time between reps and has an "on the fly" learning curve.

Once the golfer takes 1 to 2 minutes to recharge and revitalize the whole process starts over but almost picks up where you left off.  During the next set of 30 reps and the golfer now speeds this shift of "active consciousness" learning to an " auto subconsciousness" activity in less than 5 reps.  Since the golfer has now "got the hang of it" he further refines swing timing and techniques.  After several sessions the muscular coordination to swing the handle now seems quite easy and it should feel as though more resistance can be used.  Once more resistance by the machine is applied to the handle the user is feeling the encouragement to swing more aggressively with more intensity.   Hundreds of swings compressed into a couple of hours training and it is easy to why the repetition is the "building block" of talent and there is no substitute for them.

Swing resistance

Coming in second in learning swing technique is resistance.  There is a strong correlation between how fast one learns something and the more intense the interaction is.  If you are training the central nervous system and the muscular system to perform a physical task, the higher the resistance (intensity) the faster the body learns to make it as efficient as possible.  Also if the swing intensity is not of high stimulus then the adaptation to change the body's physiology is not very high either.  The idea is to train the body to execute the swing with as much power as possible with as little effort possible.  By doing this over and over the body adjusts the motions of the swing and it feels easier because it is seeking efficiency.  As the golfer hones his efficiency of movement, resistance is added and the golfer adapts some more by recruiting more muscle to overcome the added resistance.  This trains the central nervous system to fire the muscles more intensely and become more powerful by virtue of elevating the rate coding frequency of the muscles.

Performed over time, you keep adding resistance and the body adapts by adding muscle and you get stronger, more powerful, and ultimately faster.  The swing resistance has triple duty capabilities.  Right from the beginning resistance makes the body figure out how to do it efficiently reel fast, then trains the CNS, and with repeated progressive training it builds the body to be stronger and faster.

On a side note, since the resistance of the NITROSWING produces the correct tilted axis rotational resistance that is very close to duplicating the resistance the golf swing produces, the golf utilizes the exact muscles in the proper sequence too.  The NITROSWING's big advantage is having resistance that is 2 to 100 times more intense than that of the golf club without affecting the speed of movement.  High training stimulus produces high performance skills.

Laser feedback

Fine tuning the swing technique is on the NITROSWING is a great learning experience and doing it with the laser pointer handle is even better.  The laser pointer provides a link between what your body is doing and the visual feedback of the direction of motion.  Traditional golf instruction requires swinging the club to hit a ball in a desired direction.  There is NO substitute for that.  However, for the beginner to hit the ball correctly with a high percentage of accuracy and have a positive outcome is very slim.  It is as if one must accept doing it wrong hundreds of times before he figures out what he is doing wrong before he can do it right.  Hit a ball, watch it go every different way while you try to recall what you did 2-5 seconds ago to make that happen.  Hit another and it goes perfect, and then try to remember what you did correctly.  Too much guess work, to much time, too much frustration.  No wonder people curse so much in this game!

With the laser ON while swinging, it leaves a tracer like effect on the training mat, and if properly trained and instructed to manipulate the laser "dot" through targets on the mat, the swing path and plane are now incorporated into the swing technique.  At first it is difficult, but with time and reps, the laser dot can be manipulated at high speed through the target line.  Tendencies to swing "over the top" and create the outside to inside swing path delivering a slice is IMMEDIATELY seen and can be fixed with swing adjustments by manipulating the laser dot movement.  No more figuring your swing out, or guess work while hitting balls and learning from from ball flight.  The laser tells you in real time what you are doing right and wrong and the guess work and frustration are eliminated.

Golf Handle feedback 

The golf handle is tethered to the swing plane arm via a swivel pulley and is relatively free floating.  The handle also can rotate freely in your hands as well.  The "clip" that attaches the tether/cable to the handle also moves up and down the handle shaft about a half an inch and this gives an audible "click" when the tip passes throughout the ball or target.  When you are pulling the butt of the club to the ball when swinging you eventually rotate the hand positions to let the lag angle out and extend the club head at impact.  When doing the NITROSWING the handle and slide clip act as an audible timing reference as to whether you got your hands in the correct position at impact to get the "release" effect.  If you do it wrong, no "click" and the hands are not in the right position for timed impact.

Machine Design

The NITROSWING may look like several other "swing machines" and seem to perform the swing just like them, but once you understand the design and do swing reps on it, you will see why it works better to duplicate the swing mechanics.  The golf handle explained previously is tethered to a torque reduction cable system that is connected to a tilted axis pivotal arm that compresses one or more gas springs (NITROSHOX).  Since the pivotal arm in most swing machines are directly connected to the handle the freedom of motion of the handle is quite limited.  The cable system disconnects the handle from the tilted pivotal arm, and as you swing more cable is drawn out freeing you of motion dictated by the pivotal arm.  

At the very top of the back swing the cable is drawn in to the tip of the pivotal arm, which makes you start in the same place when you start your swing toward the impact zone.  As you move the handle during the swing you are pulling more and more cable feed out which enables more and more freedom of swing variables.  Combining a set starting point at the top of the back swing and the freedom to manipulate the laser dot to the impact target creates a repeatable start that you gradually take over as the swing progresses thru the rotation.  So you have the machine controlling the start, but you control the end.  Many swing problems start the moment the golfer takes the club back and sets it up to start the return to the ball.  Since you are looking at the ball and can't see the club when you take it away and rotate it behind you, it is impossible to know if you are putting it in the right position to start the downward motion to the ball.  The NITROSWING fixes that problem and gets you to feel where your body and hands needs to be when starting the swing.  Once you start the swing toward the target on the NITROSWING your peripheral vision picks up the laser dot about 4 foot in front of the target ball and you are free to manipulate the handle with hand eye dexterity.

Another great aspect of the machine design is that the pivotal arm is on a tilted axis that matches the swing plane of the golfer.  Even though you are free to manipulate the handle during the swing motion, the pivotal arm feeds cable out along this tilted axis swing plane.  This seems to create a swing pattern for the handle to find the least resistance and lead the pivotal arm through its intended path.  The more that you leave the intended path of the arm however, the resistance increases in the handle.  So you find the "sweet spot" that is the path of least resistance for the handle to the impact target.

Drills and exercises

There are several drills and exercises that the NITROSWING assists in the learning process of swinging the golf club.  Some are partial movements of the swing, and some are variants of the swing.  Some are used to perfect a certain aspect of the swing that might be of concern that is lacking or lagging, and others are used to correct learned bad swing tendencies.

Lag flick- develops wrist lag push out to release stored energy in shaft angle

split grip lag flick - develops arm/shoulder linkage to hands to push-pull handle to increase lag push out speed

spike - learn wrist angle hold through first half of swing

slap shot - develop body rotation with shoulder/arm linkage timing

double overhand - learn and develop width of body and hands through torso rotation

speed skater - learn and feel weight transfer from loading to unloading to impact and cure reverse pivot

stone skipper - learn to keep right elbow inside during swinging

back hand - develop straight right arm through rotation

right hand release - learn and develop getting right hand through impact

left hand release - learn club guidance through impact

up and down the swing plane - learn laser manipulation as if using different clubs and adjusting swing plane

To understand these drills and exercise more see the video presentation on YouTube. "NITROSWING GEN V"

In summary the NITROSWING has some attributes that get the golfer to do the correct thing which is the basis for most golf training aids and programs.  But going beyond that is further development of the swing that it can provide and development of the golfer by adding the element of adjusting the resistance to levels that are not normal for a golf swing.  This contributes to actually changing the physiology of the golfer and making them better, stronger, and faster which leads to better control and distance.  The best training tools and programs create the best athletes.  Why would it be any different with golfers?