From pro cut hitting
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.