WHERE QUICKNESS AND POWER COMES FROM IN HITTERS.

To create a quick, high energy, explosive swing a hitter must use four biomechanical absolutes.

1. Balance: A hitters motion though the entire swing staying balanced.

2. Kinetic Link: Produces high bat speed by the sequential transfer of energy from the stronger and heavier body segments (legs and torso) to the arms, and finally to the bat.

3. Bat Lag: The hands and the bat are the last link in the kinetic mechanism. The knob or hands to the ball first, while the barrel lags, while the body continues to rotate through the swing.

4. Axis of Rotation: Is the imaginary vertical line around which the body rotates during the swing.

TECHNOLOGY EDUCATING HITTERS.

With the technical advances of fast speed motion cameras and computers that analyze every muscle and bone in the human body, coaches and players are taking training to the next level. Scientist started experimenting with athletes in sport specific speed and strength training back in the early 1960’s.

Education and understanding of how the muscles develop in athletes makes it easier to develop a speed and strength program for a specific sport. All great athletes want to be the best, so they work and train harder then their competition. The more efficient they train, the quicker they get to the top and the longer they stay there. Most top athletes, colleges, and Pro’s programs use sport specific training to get them to the top.

HOW TO DEVELOP A HITTERS MUSCLES.

With all the muscles in the human body, there are two common muscles that are used and developed. There is the fast twitch muscle fibers which are quick movement muscles. Then there are the slow twitch muscle fibers which are the strong muscles. A baseball and softball player should develop their muscles in the same speed and motion as they do in there games.

Playing other sports like football will not help you be a better baseball player and in many cases it can do more harm then good. To gain speed and strength with the same coordination, a baseball or softball player needs to develop their fast twitch muscles more about 60-70% then the slow twitch muscles.

Playing baseball and softball is more quick explosive movements with endurance, so players need to train that way. There is 3 ways to develop muscles in an overload/underload principles to training.

1– Acceleration training: develops the fast twitch muscles by using light weights many repetitions.

2– Deceleration training: develops the slow twitch muscles by using heavy weights few repetitions.

3– Ballistic training: develops both muscles at the same speed and motion as in competition.

TRADITIONAL SPORT SPECIFIC TRAINING FOR HITTERS.

If a hitter just trains with their own bat and regulation ball, example 33” 30oz. bat, baseball 5oz., softball 6.5oz., their muscles will only get as strong as the weight of the bat and ball. To get stronger, one would use a heavier bat. To get quicker, one would use a lighter bat. Common sense!

Then in the early 1950’s, the donut was introduced to the baseball world. In theory a hitter would put the weight at the barrel-end of the bat, swing it to loosen and strengthen up, then take it off and the bat would feel lighter. This is deceleration training. With time coaches and players got smarter and started swinging light bats to have the hitters swing quicker. This is acceleration training.

SCIENCE HELPING HITTERS TO BE QUICKER AND STRONGER.

With today’s technology science has proven many advancements for athletes to improve their performance. Traditional donuts and barrel weighted devises that slows down a hitters swing more then 10% does more harm to a hitters swing then good. Dr. Coop DeRenne, University of Hawaii, says “ they slow down bat velocity and retards hitters performance.”

When these devises are used, the hitter stimulates more the slow twitch muscles making them stronger through the whole swing. That’s why after using them the bat feels lighter, the fast twitch muscles weren’t stimulated like in game situation, a hitter is not quicker. Another problem is that it is to heavy which reinforces the wrong swing. Players use these devises on the on-deck circle to warm up, but when they take a swing, the weight pulls their arms away developing bad mechanics right before they go up to the plate. This is counter productive training to hitters.

SPORT SPECIFIC BALLISTIC TRAINING FOR HITTERS

Sport specific ballistic training is the newest in developing hitters to make them quicker, faster, and stronger with proper mechanics. Ballistic is weight training at the same speed and motion as in competition. With the hundreds of fundamental swings a hitter should or is taking during their workouts, The more fundamentally consistent he/she is training, the more consistent they are for the game. Practice makes perfect is wrong! Perfect practice makes perfect is correct!

The Procut Hitting System is changing the way hitters are training. The Procut system is a three part program consisting of counterweights, handle weights, and weighted balls. They can be used individually or together. The Procut counterweight is the most popular of the system. This perfect swing weight now reinforces the proper fundamental swing every swing, while adding weight to the bat making it heavier. The weights are safe and simply strap-on to the knob of most bats (newer model screws-on) making it safe to hit balls.

The only hitting system that a hitter can use in all their hitting drills from on-deck, tee work, softtoss, shorttoss and even batting practice. The counterweights have three different weights 8oz., 12oz., and 16oz.. These weights stimulate a hitters muscles in different overloads and underloads making one quicker and stronger while training like in game speed. The newest product to compliment the system is handle weights called the “Bat Belt”. The Bat Belts weigh 4oz. each and the hitters can use one or up to four adding 16oz.more to the bat. With the weight(s) near the hands of the hitter the swing weight makes the bat swing fast and again safe to use in all hitting drills. The Bat Belts attaches by wrapping the Bat Belt around the handle of the bat just above the hitters hands, add other Bat Belts above the other to make the bat heavier.

The Procut bat weights develop and strengthen hitters through the range of motion and can be further enhanced by adding Procut heavy hitting baseballs and softballs 7oz.,9oz.,11oz.. This is resistance hitting through the point of contact while hitters see their results. Hitters learn to hit through the ball and not at the ball. This is the only complete hitting system that hitters reinforce their fundamental explosive swing while weight training at the same speed as in a game. Hitters need to practice explosive hitting in different amounts of swings and weights everyday or workout to maximize their performance.

Let science improve your game. A player that trains excellent, plays excellent!

With the technology of today and tomorrow, and one’s ability and desire to be the best, we will always learn and develop ways to make one better.

By Tim Nolan