Badminton lift: check your form with your phone
The lift is the underarm shot that sends a low shuttle high and deep, most often in answer to a net shot. It buys you time when you are in trouble, and a good one goes high enough to land at the back of the court.
No equipment needed. Practise at home. Just do the swing properly in front of your phone. No court, ball or shuttle is needed, and a racket is optional: the coach judges your movement, so a shadow swing at home in a hallway or garden is enough.
What good looks like
- Get low with your legs and reach with the racket arm out in front of you.
- Meet the shuttle low and in front of the body, not beside the hip.
- Drive up from the legs and use the forearm to send the shuttle high and deep.
- Finish up and forward, then push back to a ready position.
Common mistakes and how to fix them
Using only the arm
A lift from the arm alone floats short. Use the legs to drive up with the shot.
Contact beside the body
You lose power and control. Reach out ahead so contact is in front.
A flat swing
The shuttle needs to go up as much as forward. Swing from low to high.
What Formanti checks on your lift
At the moment of contact, on every swing you take.
- Contact in front: hand clearly in front of your shoulder. meet it in front of you, not beside or behind
- Contact height: between waist and knee height. the height this shot is usually hit at
- Arm height (only if far off): 0–130°. Below waist at contact, follows through up
- Elbow (only if far off): 100–185°. Lower-body drives, arm extends through contact
- Body at contact: legs not locked, no leaning back. a stable base to hit from
Your ready stance
Hold still between swings and the coach talks you into position.
- Knees: 120–165°. Soft, bent knees let you push off in any direction
- Back lean: -5–25° forward. A little forward: not upright, not hunched
- Feet apart: 1–2× shoulder width. Feet wider than your shoulders, for balance
What your report looks like
When you finish, you get a report like this one.
- How many swings were in range, out of how many.
- The one thing to work on next, then the next, each with a drill.
- Every swing as a picture with your skeleton on it: ticked, or flagged with what was off.
What you hear and see when you are off
Hitting it too close to you
The coach says: “Meet it further out in front.”
On screen: Meet it further out in front.
Drill: Shadow swings, freezing at contact: your hand should be clearly in front of your shoulder before you swing for real. If the ball is too close, move your feet, not your arm.
Hitting it too high
The coach says: “Let it drop. Meet it lower.”
On screen: Let it drop and meet it lower.
Drill: Shadow swings with your knees bent, freezing at contact at the right height, so your legs do the lowering and your arm stays quiet.
Hitting it too low
The coach says: “Take it a bit higher.”
On screen: Meet it higher.
Drill: Shadow swings freezing at contact at the right height, then feed yourself a ball and take it on the rise.
Arm too low
The coach says: “Get that arm up a bit higher.”
On screen: Lift your hitting arm a lot higher at contact.
Drill: Shadow 10 swings in slow motion and freeze at contact: check where your elbow is before you speed up.
Arm too high
The coach says: “Keep that arm a bit lower.”
On screen: Keep your hitting arm a lot lower at contact.
Drill: Shadow 10 swings in slow motion and freeze at contact: check where your elbow is before you speed up.
Arm too bent
The coach says: “Straighten the arm more. Meet it long.”
On screen: Straighten your arm a lot more through contact.
Drill: Slow shadow swings, pausing at contact: your arm should be almost straight with a soft bend.
Arm locked straight
The coach says: “Keep a little bend in the elbow.”
On screen: Keep a lot more bend in your elbow at contact.
Drill: Slow shadow swings, pausing at contact: keep a soft bend and finish with a wrist snap.
Legs too straight in your stance
The coach says: “Bend your knees”
On screen: Bend your knees.
Drill: Hold a low ready stance for 20 seconds between reps.
Hunched over in your stance
The coach says: “Chest up, don't hunch”
On screen: Chest up, don't hunch.
Drill: Hold the ready stance with your chest proud for 20 seconds.
Drills you can do alone
- Low-to-high shadow: lunge, swing from low to high and hold the finish with the racket pointing up and forward, 10 times each side.
- Contact check: pause at the lunge and check your hand is in front of the knee, not beside it.
How to set up your phone
Prop your phone up 2 to 3 metres away with your whole body in view, at about hip height. For the lift, stand side-on to the camera on your hitting side: how far in front you make contact and how big your backswing is can only be judged from the side. It all runs on your phone and nothing is uploaded.
Guide values: where the hand should be at contact comes from coaching rules (Coaching consensus across the sport: contact in front of the body, at a height that suits the shot, compact where the stroke is short.) and has not yet been checked against real players. Contact point and backswing need you side-on to the camera.
Frequently asked questions
What is a lift in badminton?
An underarm shot, hit from low down, that sends the shuttle high and deep to the back of the opponent's court.
How do I lift deeper?
More leg drive and a low-to-high swing. If the shuttle is dropping short, you are probably hitting it too flat or too late.