Multi-Feed Training For Badminton - Benefits And Exercises
A multi-feed or multi-shuttle practice in badminton is when the ‘feeder’ has a row of shuttles in which they continually throw or hit to the ‘worker’, without retrieving the shots that the worker hits.
A continuous rally is therefore formed where you are able to control the pace, speed and trajectory of each individual shot.
Multi-feed training is used at every level of badminton, and there are many different types of practices you can do to improve all areas of your game – including your attack, defence, movement, and reactions.
We’ll now discuss the benefits of multi-feed training, what NOT to do as well as some example exercises for you to try!
Benefits Of Multi-Feed Training
1) Very Customisable To An Individual’s Needs
Since each shuttle is fed into the court independently of the previous shot, you can really manipulate the speed of the shuttle, pace of the rally, and trajectory of each shot (provided you have a good feeder of course)! Therefore, there is a huge variety of practices you can do with this type of training.
For example – if a player has an injured knee and is therefore limited with their movement, multi-feed training can be used to refine technical skills.
Or, multi-feed training can be used to practice a specific movement pattern, like a smash and then mid-court drive.
2) Helps Develop Endurance
The idea behind multi-feed is that you are moving quicker than you normally would, so that when you get into a match it feels easier and like you have more time.
Therefore, working at a higher speed for a longer period will improve your endurance since the rally never breaks down!
Training your badminton-specific endurance is in our opinion the biggest benefit of multi-feed training.
3) Improves Consistency
Similar to the above point – since the rally keeps going even if you make a mistake, you can practice your ability to consistently move well and hit good quality shots, especially when you are already tired.
4) Improves Reaction Time
As we mentioned, you can create a lot of different scenarios that you might want to practice with multi-shuttle training.
For example, hitting or throwing shuttles into the court at a faster pace than what the worker is used to in a match can help improve their reactions.
It can also help improve the ability to make good decisions and hit good quality shots when under more pressure.
5) Develops Confidence
Especially when leading up to competition, multi-feed training is a great tool to add into your training.
It can help you sharpen up and feel good about your shots and movement.
And don’t forget to practice your strengths too – it helps develop confidence and it’s important to remember what you’re good at and use it to your advantage in matches!
6) Encourages Creativity
Multi-feed can be used to practice a variety of different shots from the same position which is sometimes difficult to replicate with a single shuttle rally. We personally have used it to practice lots of different ways of hitting shots and this experimentation has helped us develop new skills and also shots that we regularly use in our game.
Mistakes To Avoid When Doing Multi-Feed Training
1) Poor Feeding
The most important component of a good quality multi-shuttle practice is a good feeder! Ultimately, if the practice is always breaking down, the worker is not getting the opportunity to improve.
If you have a good coach feeding you then this might not be an issue, but in group sessions, often players need to feed each other and they may not be as experienced in feeding as coaches are.
It’s definitely not an easy skill to master, but as with everything, the more you practice the more you will improve over time!
You can start with doing more simple feeds, such as hand throwing or feeding to the same place (for example when you are doing technical practice), then over time you can increase the speed and add variety in the types of feeding you do.
Check out our Badminton Multi-Feed Programmes below (for both singles and doubles players), as there are also video demonstrations on how to multi-feed.
Even if you see your training partners as your ‘competition’, you all need each other in order to practice and improve. You want to make sure you always give your best when feeding - and hopefully they will also give their best when feeding you!
2) A Lack Of Communication
It’s important to take responsibility for your own training and improvements, which includes communicating when you might want things done a bit differently when someone is feeding you.
For example, they might be feeding too fast or too slow, or perhaps you want more shots fed into a specific area so you can practice that more.
Every player is different, and you’re all there to improve your badminton. So as the feeder, it’s also important to not take offense when someone asks you to do something differently, as they just want to get the most out of their training.
💡 If you can create this type of training environment where everyone is open to feedback and willing to support one another, it will make a huge difference to not only the rate of improvement, but also the enjoyment of training!
3) Overloading
Since multi-feed training allows you to move at a higher intensity than what you might be used to in a match, it’s important not to overdo it as this could lead to you becoming injured (especially if you’re only just starting to incorporate this type of training).
It is important to gradually build up the amount of multi-feed training you do, and also the intensity of these sessions. This is something that is incorporated into our multi-feed programmes.
4) Only Doing Multi-Feed Training
Remember that in multi-feed training, you will not always get a match-realistic scenario and the shots might come back differently in a match. This is why it’s important to do other practices in your training that incorporates more match realistic situations too.
Examples of this would be 2v2 drills with a single shuttle, or mini games where there is a certain ‘rule’ – such as the back tramline is out!
We’d also encourage you to think about each multi-feed practice you do (we have included a few examples below) and how they relate to a match. Think about what shots you are playing and what would be the likely response. If you’re using multi-feed training primarily as speed or endurance training (which it is great for) then this might be less important!
Ways To Do Multi-Feed Training
There are MANY different types of exercises you can do with multi-feed training (we have over 80 exercises in our multi-feed programmes), but here are a few popular ones to help you improve your badminton!
Smash-Kill (For Singles)
This drill helps to improve your attack, speed and explosive power. The feeder will lift a shuttle up to the rear court, around ¾ length to the back, then follow up with a shot at the net. The worker will hit a smash on the first feed, followed by a kill on the second feed (if they can).
After the ‘kill’ at the net, the player will go back to the centre quickly and the next shuttle will be lifted to the rear court again and the whole process is repeated. We recommend around 5 sets of 12 shuttles for this exercise.
- Focus on racket carriage after the smash, bringing it up in time for your next shot, and having an explosive movement forwards into the kill.
- Remember to think about your shot choice and placement too - you might not always be able to play the kill!
Throw Downs (For Singles)
This drill will help you practice your movement from a low position and also your lifts. The feeder will hold a row of shuttles and be standing around the service line. Then, they will simply throw the shuttles down one-by-one to the worker who is covering the mid-front court.
💡 KEY POINTS:
- Keep your legs bent and your body in a low position, as this exercise will definitely push your speed!
- Focus on trying to play good quality shots, whilst moving very quickly and being under pressure.
Rear-Mid (For Doubles)
This drill will help improve your doubles attack and control from the mid-court to the rear-court.
The feeder hits shuttles at differing heights and paces in the mid-court to rear-court area for the worker to practice a variety of shots.
This might be a good practice to communicate to the feeder if there are any specific areas or patterns of hitting that you might want to work on!
💡 KEY POINTS:
- Focus on being early to the shuttle in the mid-court.
- Remember to think about shot choice and placement too, which will depend on the position you are in.
Random Net Attack (For Doubles)
This exercise is great for improving your front court attack, which is a key skill in doubles for putting pressure on your opponents and also finishing off the rally!
The feeder can either stand in the middle, or to one side (they can switch each time!) and will hit shuttles upwards at differing heights and speeds to encourage the net player to play shots at different angles, replicating that of a game.
💡 KEY POINTS:
- Keep your racket and elbow up and active throughout (if your racket is down as the feeder is hitting their shot, then you waste time needing to bring it back up each time to hit the shot).
- Don’t try and hit it too hard! Remember that placement of the shot is much more important than simply hitting it as hard as possible without any control of where it’s going.
27 Multi-Feed Programmes PDF
We hope you can now see why multi-feed training can be a key component in any badminton player’s weekly training programme.
If you’d like more information on multi-feed exercises, we have various Multifeed Programmes that are perfect for both players and coaches! They are downloadable PDFs that include 27 different programmes, 80+ exercises as well as video feeding demonstrations!