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whether you're a men's or women's
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singles badminton player moving faster
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and more smoothly on the court is
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something we all desire and need that's
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why all top badminton players have spent
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a good chunk of time shadowing and
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practicing their footwork but why does
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it sometimes feel like your footwork is
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not improving even though you're
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shadowing hours on end every day well it
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could be that certain movements you're
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practicing on your own are inefficient
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and don't translate well into real games
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if you want to get better footwork then
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there's arguably no better person to
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analyze than Le Chong way today we're
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going to take a look at a couple must
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know badminton secrets to move faster in
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singles by studying Le Chong Way's
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footwork so you know how to split step
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you know how to shuffle you know how to
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cross over and you've been training ply
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metrics weights and running for hours
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every week yet for some reason you just
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can't seem to move smoothly to various
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corners and always take the shuttle late
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one reason that could be affecting your
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ability to move is how your feet are
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positioned and to understand this we
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first need to talk about how you move on
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court most of you are familiar with the
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split step most of you will also
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understand that to move in One Direction
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you have to push in the opposite
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direction this seemingly obvious concept
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is something people understand but don't
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Implement well enough let's look at Le
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Chung Way's two different movements to
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the reason Le Chong way moves more
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smoothly in the second clip is because
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his right foot is in front and angled
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this position is the best for moving to
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your around the head because it gives
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you the most surface area for maximum
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exertion to move smoother and faster on
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court you need to combine this idea with
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shot selection an anticipation the
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reason why Le Chong way is so smooth is
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because he positions himself for the
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most likely and dangerous shot based on
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the shot he plays look at how he changes
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his foot positioning in these rallies to
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prepare for his around the head
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you can see there's a goal in Mind by
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putting your feet in this position
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you're basically preparing to change
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speed to your around the head and opting
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to neutralize other shots these foot
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adjustments can be applied to all other
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situations too place your feet where you
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have the most surface area to push off
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from in anticipation of the most likely
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or dangerous shot let's look at defense
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for example after Lee Chong plays a
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clear or lift he will often go to a
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position where his feet are side by side
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with his toes facing forward this is
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because the smashes are the most
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dangerous shots and he needs to have the
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best ability to push from side to side
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with the same concept in mind Le Chang
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way often moves his right foot forward
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after playing a good block so he can
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move to front or back faster just think
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of how many options your opponents have
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when they take your block under the tape
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all they can really do is push or net
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which means there's really no reason to
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prepare for midcourt shots here's
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another example if you think your
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opponent is going to push to your
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forehand side sometimes it's worth
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preemptively switching your dominant
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foot back so that you can instantly jump
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out and attack the push in the case that
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your opponent does Net back it's not the
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worst either as it's relatively easy to
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push off your right leg and either renet
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or push your opponent however I will
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mention that brushes are a little bit of
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a different story if you want to change
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p at the net you generally will be
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better off keeping your dominant leg
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forward because that's the easiest
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position for you to jump at the net and
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balance another reason why you may feel
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like your footwork is not smooth is
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because of your recovery it doesn't
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matter how fast or strong you are if you
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always move at the wrong time part of
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the reason Leong way looks so smooth on
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CT is because his rhythm is rarely
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broken and this is because his recovery
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is tied to the shot he plays plays let's
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take a look at Le Chong Way's full
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smash notice how Le Chong way
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immediately pushes off and runs forward
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to the net the reason is because his
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smash is very fast and the most likely
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shot is a block that'll be coming back
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pretty much instantly there is no time
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for him to shuffle to the middle and
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then split let's take a look at Lee
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Chong's footwork after playing a clear
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Lee chongu shuffles forward to the
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middle here this is because he needs to
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respect that the opponent has more shot
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choices from their position you'll also
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notice that Lee Chong way sometimes
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chooses to walk as well if he plays a
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very high clear or lift there is more
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time to recover when you do this and you
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don't necessarily need to be consuming
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so much energy by staying low you can
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also see Lee Chong Way's recovery speed
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drops I would like to note here that Lee
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Chong way doesn't just change his
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recovery speed but also his positioning
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if you play a very good drop there's a
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good chance your opponent May lift again
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thus you can see that Lee Chong way
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sometimes opts to keep his right foot
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back and glide forward to be ready to
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push to the back again now I do want to
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mention that even though Le Chong way
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adjusts his recovery speed based on his
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shots he almost always instantly pushes
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off as he plays his shot pushing off
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instantly is key to playing at a faster
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speed if you wait after hitting your
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shot and then recover you'll often mtime
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your recovery and end up playing a game
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of catchup that you'll most likely
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lose for the final part of this video we
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want to talk about a concept we like to
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refer to as loading the legs this is
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really just staying on your toes but you
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need to understand why doing this helps
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faster we like to think of our leg
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muscles like they Springs when you get
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on your toes you're Contracting your
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muscles like when you push a spring in
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then when you drop your heels you're
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releasing the energy like you're letting
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go of a spring one reason Le Chong way
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is so fast on court is because he's
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almost always on his toes this allows
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him to split step without delay and
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immediately push off if we use the
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spring analogy Leong way essentially
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already has the spring pushed in and can
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instantly release it makes his split
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step super efficient and precise
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compared to those who take big
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hops hopefully you learned something
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from this video that you can use to get
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better footwork definitely keep these
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things in mind every time you train to
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build it into your muscle memory
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do you think Lee Chong way had the best
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men's singles footwork of all time let
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us know in the comment section
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below if you like this video don't
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forget to hit the like And subscribe
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