Arm Bar Demo Dave Vacarro
Arm-bar is when a hitter’s front arm becomes extended across is chest when
loading his hands. This is similar to a golfer’s front arm as he loads up to drive
a golf ball. This is a result of too much movement with the bottom hand when
loading. This problem makes it difficult to execute a short approach and
therefore leads to a bad swing-path.
Corrective Measure: To correct this flaw, tell your hitter to use his top hand to
bring his bat to the power slot, while the bottom hand just goes for the ride.
Dr. Larry Van Such, from BaseballSwingMechanics.com in their free ebook Baseball Swing Mechanics, shows this as the proper way to coil/load:
BaseballSwingMechanics Arm Bar
Most people would consider this an example of 'armbar'.
In his YouTube
he shows an example of arm bar at 1:05 (left), and how he fixed it at 1:31 (right):
Connor Power Shows Bad Arm BarConnor Power Fixes Arm Bar
Many people would consider both of these images to be examples of 'armbar'.
They define bat wrap as:
Players who "wrap" very often bar their front arm which causes a long swing and makes it impossible for the player
to keep his hands inside the ball and hit the ball where it is pitched (see photos 1
and 2)
National High School Coaches Arm Bar Fix
They fix it by:
Load Drill-
Players who "wrap" often do so because they "load" their hands too
strongly with the bottom hand. When you push too hard with your bottom hand, the
tip of the bat goes towards the pitcher thus causing a "wrap." Concentrate on loading
your hands back with your top hand. Keep your bottom hand a little looser on the
bat and focus on taking your hands back to "load' with your top hand. Do this in a
mirror, or have a parent or coach watch you to make sure you are not "wrapping."
Photos #3 and #4 are of players who do not wrap the bat. Notice that the distance
the bat head must travel to the hitting zone is much shorter than that in the first two
photos. The players' hands have also gotten into a perfect slot in close to their
bodies. You can therefore see how much a bat "wrap" lengthens the swing
Notice how photo #3 is in the stance. Arm bar and wrap are not an issue in the stance.
Also notice how the arm is actually barred in photo #4.
He defines arm bar as:
Activation of the front arm triceps leads to arm bar, slower rotation, and makes it much more difficult to hit the inside pitch.
Then he fixes it with a product of his:
The Rebel’s Rack can help eliminate front arm barring and triceps activation, back arm shoulder push, improve wrist flexibility and barrel direction, as well as teach the hitter to gain more separation between the pelvis angle and the shoulder angle
HittingRebellion Rebel's RackHittingRebellion Rebel's Rack In Use
I'm not sure where to start on this one. This is just God awful. I'm not sure how your back elbow could properly come up at toe touch with this. I'm not sure if you could properly stretch your front arm with this during the coil/stride/load phase.
Advocates for 'Arm Bar is Good'
Gallery of Hitters at Toe Touch
Most MLB hitters have their back elbow up at toe touch.
Note: Some of the above images may be copyright MLB.com and ESPN.com and are used here under "fair use" provisions of U.S. Trademark Law and are instructional, critical, non-commercial, and transformative in nature.
There's Good Arm Bar and Bad Arm Bar
Chipper Jones
I think the phrase 'Arm Bar' shouldn't be used at all. People use this phrase to suggest that you should not bar your arm during the swing.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
The term 'arm bar' causes many more problems than it fixes.
Bad 'Arm Bar' is simply when the hands are too far from the shoulder.
The arm is barred but that's not the problem.
Good arm bar is when you stretch your front/bottom arm during the stride/load/coil phase.
But... your hands can't be too far away from the tip/outside of your shoulder.
