I am an intermediate player. Play mostly for recreation and occasional tournament.Have been playing 5-6 years. More of a defensive player than power play. My question is what kind of racquet helps so that I can clear baseline to baseline. Sometimes my clear reaches only around the mid court. Will a 23 or 25 lbs tension be more helpful? I use a even balanced raquet. Thanks
Technique aside, i personally feel that tension helps the least in power. Racket spec plays a bigger role for me.
Indeed stiffer racker is harder to generate power & same does with high tension, but most of the time its coz of technique it self. For most people, they had enough muscle from their daily activity to be able to clear hit to the back line. One example of my friend. He is kinda martial art addicted. As far as i know, he does Karate, Taekwondo, Jujitsu (or something). After college he stop training & try a new world badminton. I can say he is very strong & you dont want to take his punch for sure, but he is the opposite of flexible. He is very stiff. The way he hit the shuttle is like he punching it with his racket 90" face forward & not even a swing. With that his stroke able to push the shuttle 50-60% of the opponent court. Told him many times to fix his technique but he never listen as he think its just recreational. Well few year pass & the recreation is over, his shoulder poped out (dislocated) from his own punching force. So, massive pure strength will resulting weak/slow shuttle with bad technique. But with good thechnique, a small power is enough to push the shuttle far away.
That's crazy bro, when you said dislocated, what do you mean by that? Tension does not involve that much tbh with you, try to do warm ups with a good friend and ask him to stand around the rear court and hit a few strokes and see how far can you hit the birdie. Do it over and over again until you've got the 'feel' on how to hit from end to end. It shouldn't be too difficult especially for you who's been playing for 5-6 years. One useful tip maybe try to hit the shuttle on the top area of your racket you know the narrower side of the stringbed on the top of your racket and push your racket upward (it's like you want to hit the ceiling with your racket) and don't forget to follow it through with the full swing.
If you want to clear baseline to baseline, it's easy. Keep lowering the tension until you manage it, that would be the right tension. A head heavy racquet will also be naturally easier to clear with.
idk how to name it, but his shoulder bone is not in their proper location. I saw him suddenly bowing his body, his left hand holding his right arm & his right arm just swinging as he walk out of the court.
You could try searching on the technique forum. Better yet, post a video of you clearing. Most likely, if you can't clear backline to backline or worst can only reach the middle of the court regardless of the racket or the tension you are using: - You might use too much wrist movement - You might not use enough or any pronation - You might hit the shuttle behind you or/and too late - You might not have the correct grip - You might not be in position to properly prepare the stroke. - Doubtful but you might use shuttles that are too slow. Say 76 speed shuttles when 78 would be correct.
Try lower down your racket tension. 23-25 would be nice assuming you have the basic technique. Tension 28lbs onwards will need a lot of your own strength to generate power. Changing to another racket might helps a bit but not much( especially HH and more flex racket).
A lot of assumptions there. @LenaicM gave good advice. Get a video of the technique and check what might be potential issues. Improvement in technique will give lifetime benefits. It will be frustrating for the OP to hear that answer when the original question is about changing racquets and nobody can give any answer about a racquet.
Aside from the funny act my friend does when he hurt his own shoulder. My friend is definitely have a strong muscle & i can say even stronger than me who is smasher type with 3U head heavy racket on double. But even so, i can clear hit easily with less effort while my stronger friend with totaly bad technique only able to push the shuttle 50-60% of the court at most. Maybe its frustrating, asking a racket but get none. But sometimes the right answer is not what we like to hear. Trust me, we all here had no bad motive behind & would love to help each other with our experience & knowledge. Afterall we all are brotherhood in this lovely sport. I can say lower tension or look for flex racket. Its sure help you but for 10-20% at most & wont help you further, while fixing some technique would give you better improvement for sure
You might not turn your body, you might turn your body moves back and so on. IMO a lower tension can be very supportive. An unsuited tension (higher) will result in inconsistent length due struggling to hit the sweet spot. I suggest to stick to the racket and string as long as it is not strung above 22lbs and learn the technique. Means, how to move to the shuttle, turn the body, hit the shuttle high and clean with pronation with a cocked wrist and recover.
