Hitting and Hitters Discussion Upper Body Strenght for Hitting

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Allot of girls including my dd could use some more muscles from there waist up.

I am not talking about being buff, just more tone, more defined.

I dont think most girls like to lift weights.
I bought them 5lb and 8 lb dumbbells, but they dont use them very often.




I was thinking the bands with handles. Maybe attach them to the walls in there bedroom and do some exercises with that.

Know of any good stretch bands to use with exercises?

Any thoughts on conditioning. Something girls would find interesting enough to use once in a while? ?

Actually I could drop 20 or so, around my mid section.




Straightleg

 

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My dd just started taking lessons with a running/core training coach. He works mostly at Malone College in Stark County. He works with high school, and college kids mostly but is great with the younger ones also. He is very reasonable price wise. He has a few that went to the olympic trials this year. The core training is mostly plyometrics and the bands. Maybe you can find somebody like this in your area.

 

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For $50 a half-hour, I'll teach your daughters how to do some push-ups and pull-ups. For another $50, I'll give them diet tips, like: stop drinking pop and stop eating fried foods and sweets. For another $50, I'll help them with their homework; and for another $50, I'll interview their prospective boyfriends and weed out the bad apples. That's $200 for a whole two-hour training session! You can't find bargains like this every day! This offer is good for a limited time only. Everyone with way too much money and not enough time to spend with their kids, get in line!

 

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played---that is such a noble offer!!! ?We can see you are in this for all the right reasons. ? ;D

 

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Played,
I am going to take up up on the 50 to interview the boyfriends and weed them out.

And another 50 if you can tell me how to stop craving beer.




But would still like some suggestions on the band training.




Wingman, sometimes having your dd get the right information and hearing it from someone else, will help her in the long run. Continue that training at home.






Straightleg

 

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I pay $45 a month for an hour and a half 2x a week. Believe me, I'm getting way more than my money's worth. Besides I split it with my ex-wife. You can't even go out to eat with your family for $22.50 , let alone get top notch training. So, me thinks we'll keep going.

 

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wgman21, how old is your DD? My DD is 12, do you think that is too young or go for it?

 

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They should wait until they get their first period to use weights. Other than that, it's all good. Plyo's and iso's are good for any age. Regular calisthenics also. I say it's never too early to get them into a training program. My dd just turned 14, and I wish I would've found this guy two years ago.

 

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Consider winter competitive swimming. My daughter did it last year for the first time and the positive effect on her pitching and hitting has been amazing. She gets lots of comments about having an athletic build.

 

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Straightleg,

I stumble on infomercials all the time and they use these bands a lot on there. They are working out everything from neck to toe with bands and bid work out balls. I will get the name of it next time I see it and maybe that will provide something you can use.

Here is a link to some excercises in the mean time http://exercise.about.com/cs/exerciseworkouts/l/blresistanceban.htm

 

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I'm hoping a couple of our hitting experts can comment on this one- I'm thinking of having my players do one arm swings with hammers and/ or croquet mallets. I have a couple reasons. One I think this will help develop wrist snaps. Secondly, At the point of extension toward the pitcher the head of the hammer should be pointing horizontally if the hitter is in palm up, palm down position. This will will be a very obvious with the direction of the head of the hammer.

I'm still trying to decide if I want them to hit wiffle golf ball or something as well at times.

I talked to a parent about the importance of wrist snaps and used hitting a nail with a hammer as an example of wrist snaps. I may even have demonstrations of hammering a nail in my pre-season meeting this spring.

 

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Lower body and core are the most important areas for hitting power. ?Bodyweight exercises and bands are great for upper and lower body until they reach high school. ?Also, using broomsticks to work on the technique of more advanced lifts. ?

Once they get to high school and have some experience under their belt, I train them like athletes, not body builders or aerobics instructors. ?We do a lot of compund exercises that wor a lot of muscles at once such as squats, deadlifts, cleans, push press. ?We usually do not do isolation exercises like bicep curls, tricep exercises, leg curls, leg extensions, etc.

I have a lot of info on my website that you can read thru and feel free to ask questions. ?www.maxxtraining.com.

Also, here is a 3 day workout that's not on my site that I used with advanced high school girls over the summer and will be using with college girls this upcoming season. ?www.maxxtraining.com/wjuworkout.htm

 

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google Jump Stretch. Best conditioning training there is. All done with bands of different sizes.

 

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I'm hoping a couple of our hitting experts can comment on this one- I'm thinking of having my players do one arm swings with hammers and/ or croquet mallets. I have a couple reasons. One I think this will help develop wrist snaps. Secondly, At the point of extension toward the pitcher the head of the hammer should be pointing horizontally if the hitter is in palm up, palm down position. This will will be a very obvious with the direction of the head of the hammer.

I'm still trying to decide if I want them to hit wiffle golf ball or something as well at times.

I talked to a parent about the importance of wrist snaps and used hitting a nail with a hammer as an example of wrist snaps. I may even have demonstrations of hammering a nail in my pre-season meeting this spring.

I avoid using the term wrist snap as I do not consider releasing the wrist a snap rather unhinging action or releasing of the wrist. It has been my experience that as soon as you p wrist snap in the hitters mind they start rolling the wrist at or during contact.

From bat lag and that to me is more of a pulling and whipping mental image and feeling with our hands basically inside the path of the ball we release and unhinge the wrists to the ball as well as the shoulder and forearm so snap just does not fit into the feel.

One hand drills....be very careful not to over load the wrist, elbow or shoulder with something that is too heavy or awkward. We DO NOT use a regular full size bat ever and because the little league bats are short unless you understand the hand path they will flip over or roll the wrists which is why we use the PVC sticks and load them.

I have made a schedule 80 PVC stick that is the actual length of their bat with 3 ounces of material that slides inside the bat and hit tennis balls with it first with the top hand and then the bottom hand and then both hands.

If you have seen RVP you have seen the hammer and nail analogy and I buy into that completely. Remember if you have used a hammer you do not clamp down on the hammer or grip it with your thumb over the index finger or this restricts the hammer head movement and you want that flexibility in the wrist so the hammer releases to the nail squarely and you do not bend the nail.

We use ball peen hammer as the claw hammers get caught in the girls hair and some have even caught the claw portion on the shoulder.

Use a ball on a dowel rod and attach the ball to the rod with a screw and large washer so when they hit the ball on a stick with the hammer it will make a clicking sound and they know they hit it squarely. I even cut off the outer third of the ball as we want them thinking to hit the inside of the ball and not swing around the ball...so we cut it off.

Use a C clamp and start a 16 penny nail about a half inch in and then she if they can drive the nail in 4 strokes....make sure the elbow is above the nail as to height....makes for fun competition.

Proper extension can be taught using the one knee drill with a regular bat.

 

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Lower body and core are the most important areas for hitting power. Bodyweight exercises and bands are great for upper and lower body until they reach high school. Also, using broomsticks to work on the technique of more advanced lifts.

Once they get to high school and have some experience under their belt, I train them like athletes, not body builders or aerobics instructors. We do a lot of compund exercises that wor a lot of muscles at once such as squats, deadlifts, cleans, push press. We usually do not do isolation exercises like bicep curls, tricep exercises, leg curls, leg extensions, etc.

I have lot of info on my website that you can read thru and feel free to ask questions. www.maxxtraining.com.

Also, here is a 3 day workout that's not on my site that I used with advanced high school girls over the summer and will be using with college girls this upcoming season. www.maxxtraining.com/wjuworkout.htm

I put a lot of faith in Bradden Marcello as to strength and conditioning techniques especially after meeting him and seeing the athletes he has produced with his techniques....TEAM USA.

In 2005 at the NFCA he gave a great presentation on conditioning and was not using more than 8 pounds to do it.

I ask the question of how much weight should be used when doing squats and using the inclined leg press machines and he asked the people in the audience how much they used and it ranged from 50 to 200 pounds and some even said whatever they can do!

The question I ask was to see how some of these coaches determined what ex cerises to use and what weights they thought were appropriate to use.

Brandon was quick to pick up on this as he said what I already knew because my wife is an RN and works for an OBGYN...until they are a freshman in college they should not be doing the squat or incline leg press machines as the Ilium may not have fused yet! There are three bones that MUST fuse together.

The Ilium is the largest of three fused bones and this fusing process may not be complete in most young women until they are 15 to 18 years old.

Some doctors feel this MAY be a cause for some woman who were very athletic to have increased rates of C sections because the fusing process was interrupted and then possible scar tissue was formed during the fusing process.

No medical studies have been done to my knowledge about the exact effects from doing the leg presses or squats. What I thought was funny was most of the ones who were doing the workouts were high school coaches doing pre season conditioning and had no glue to what they were doing.

Girls balance differently than boys as it has to do with the spine which attaches to the sacrum, one of the three bones to fuse. The boys spine is tilted more downward and forward so they can stand taller in the box when hitting.

The girls spine is more flat or horizontal so they can adjust for the load during pregnancy thus we say with the girls and the boys bend at the waist first and then soften the knees next...for the girls we also say no butt showing no balance either and that does not apply to the boys.

So when I hear people discuss how they teach a boy to balance and hit and hear and read them give the same instructions to the girls it makes me laugh because they do not balance that way. Then I hear the word posture used and if you look in the dictionary under posture the word balance does not exist in the description. Balance is balance and it is different as to what they physically look like when balanced and when hitting however almost every site you visit use an MLB player and describe what an elite swing should look like.

 

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Hitter,
Do you have any video of this? I'm missing something in the mental picture dept ;D

 

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So when I hear people discuss how they teach a boy to balance and hit and hear and read them give the same instructions to the girls it makes me laugh because they do not balance that way. Then I hear the word posture used and if you look in the dictionary under posture the word balance does not exist in the description. Balance is balance and it is different as to what they physically look like when balanced and when hitting however almost every site you visit use an MLB player and describe what an elite swing should look like.

Howard, you won't win any popularity contests with the PCR folks talking like that.

 

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CShilt did you ever hear me use the term posture?

Did she hit better than when she got here?

I do not necessarily fit the politically correct mold do I?

Do we get the results and do the kids understand what we say and how we explain it....that is what counts more!

 

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Thanks for all your replies - good stuff. Gives me some research work to do.

Straightleg

 

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http://sparqtraining.com/training/

Google Brandon Marcello also to see how he does it and his opinions on how to warm up.

Go to this site and browse around to see what he does.

Crystl has nothing but good things to say about his workouts.

When doing clinics she does the ladder drill and at the end of the drill on the ladder she feeds a grounder and they turn and field it and throw to a tee in front of a catch net....within a few rounds you see the kids moving through the ladder drill faster.

She does it from many positions so the kids keep having to adjust.

Watch Team USA do pre game and you will get the idea.