The Load: Where Power Actually Comes From
October 19, 2026 by mindfulhitting
The load may be the most important aspect of the swing. If we can get into a strong position on time, we give ourselves the best chance to do damage at the plate — and the load is where it all begins. It builds our power, gives us control of the swing, and allows us to make adjustments mid-pitch.
So how do we get the most out of our load? What does it look like, and more importantly, what does it feel like?
What “fully loaded” feels like
A good load is slightly different for every hitter, but generally a hitter is fully loaded when they have complete control in their back hip or back leg. As you go into your negative movement, you want to reach a point where you feel your weight “catch” in the back hip — you may have heard the phrase “stacked.” The foot, knee, back hip, and even back shoulder are all in line on top of each other. For some hitters that’s a coil into the hip; for others it’s a backward shift, as if the weight is moving toward the catcher. Some use a leg kick, some a toe tap. The style doesn’t matter. The key is feeling as strong as possible in the back hip.
Here’s a simple test: load into your back hip while keeping your front foot on the ground. When you reach a point where you could lift the front foot and balance, you’re fully loaded. (Hitters with a wider stance may not balance cleanly, but you should still feel tension in the back hip, glute, or groin — that’s how you know you’re in your strongest position.)
Build the column before you load it
Think of a column that supports a structure. The column is your back leg; the structure is your body. To support the weight and keep it from swaying, you have to build the column before you put weight on it. Many hitters rush this. A hitter with a leg kick, for example, can push or kick themselves into the back hip — and end up going too far, or bouncing off the back side with no control. The column was never built.
The fix: shift your weight into the back hip while both feet are still on the ground. Once most of the weight is back — call it 70%, though don’t obsess over the number — then go into the leg kick. Now the kick is controlled, the weight stacks on the back hip, and you can drive forward with the back side instead of falling forward or getting stuck on the back leg.
The front foot doesn’t drive — the back hip does
When you’re fully loaded, you decide when to move forward. You shouldn’t bounce off the back side, fall, or glide to the front leg. The back hip drives you into the stride — the front foot is only there to stop you. It has no control over your forward motion.
Changing your thought process from my stride foot starts the swing to my back hip starts the swing is the biggest factor in learning to gain control and add power. I had a hard time loading early without getting stuck or lunging for years because I controlled everything with my front foot. Make this one change and everything downstream gets easier.
Two ways to load the hands
There are two proven methods for loading the hands — big leaguers use both, and the only rule is that your hands must be in their strongest position by the time your front foot lands.
- Separation: the hands stretch back with the scapula as the body moves forward — think Ronald Acuña Jr. or Mookie Betts. It adds extra whip and torque through the zone, but it’s harder to sequence. If the hands are still going back when the foot lands, the upper half fights the lower half and tension creeps in.
- Together: hands and body move back as one — think Corey Seager or Shohei Ohtani. Some call it “walking away from your hands.” You reach your strongest hip and hand position at the top of the load, then the back hip drives while the hands stay loose and come along for the ride. Easier to repeat, even if it creates a little less torque.
Both styles get to the same place at the same time. Which one fits you is a matter of trial and error — you likely already have one that comes more naturally.
Two halves: the whip, not the 2×4
Here’s the thought process that helps hitters keep their intent without wrecking their swing: think of your body in two halves. During the load, both halves can create tension to reach your strongest position. But once you start forward, the upper half needs to basically fall asleep while the lower half — the back hip — keeps all the tension and drives into the baseball. The hands go along for the ride.
It sounds backwards: to hit the ball harder, relax the upper half? Think of throwing a baseball while gripping it as hard as you can — you’d bury it twenty feet in front of you. A tense arm throws shorter; a loose, whippy arm throws farther. A rigid 2×4 can’t come close to the speed of a whip. Your upper half is the whip, and the back hip is what drives it. That gunshot sound off a big league bat is a loose upper half and a fired lower half — a tense swing is too slow to make that sound.
The catch: the human brain is wired to try harder when we fail. Get beat by a pitch and the instinct is to swing harder, do more. That’s exactly wrong. A coach in pro ball once told me to think of hitting as two sliding scales — effort and contact. When contact drops, the answer isn’t raising effort. It’s lowering it. Get back earlier, calm the tempo, let the contact come back, then ramp the effort back up with control. The best hitters breathe, control their heart rate, and trust their training instead of getting amped up.
One last piece: as you drive with the back hip, try to hit your doubles and home runs to center field. It keeps you from rotating around the ball and hooking everything — and it’s fun to find out how hard the ball comes off with almost no effort in the upper half.
None of it works without time. A strong load only exists if you get there on time — which is why the load and the timing checkpoints go hand in hand. If you want help finding your strongest load, or you’re stuck in the loop of fixing the same mechanical issues over and over, schedule a session and we’ll build it together. It’s also chapter three of my book Be On Time.
