FITNESS - Strength Training For Hitters – You Get More Than You Think
Strength training is an aspect of baseball development that must be employed if a hitter seeks to optimize his performance. What is great for teen-aged players is that there are a multitude of excellent programs available and many knowledgeable trainers who specialize in athletic strength training. This generation of players has more opportunities at their fingertips than any previous generation. It’s simply up to the athlete to get to a gym and do it.
For hitters, strength training is
for everyone. We commonly associate strength with hitting for power, but ALL types and sizes of hitters stand to improve by getting into the weight room. Below is your Lucky 7 of how strength training will provide direct benefits in the batter’s box.
Strength training will ...
* improve your overall confidence at the plate. When you feel stronger, you feel more prepared and self-assured. Strength training has a positive psychological impact that can’t be quantified.
* increase your extra base hit totals. More strength from your legs, core, wrists and forearms will deliver the barrel of the bat with greater force. The better the bat speed, balance and muscular strength, the harder and farther the ball will be hit.
* raise your batting average. Hitting the ball harder gives the fielders less time to react to balls off the bat … even ground balls.
* allow you to collect base hits even when you’re fooled on a pitch. Throughout a season, it is inevitable that you will get fooled from time to time. When you lose your lower half (by getting out with your stride) and catch the ball out front, increased strength will help you eek out a few cheap hits.
* enable you to fight off inside fastballs for base hits. This is especially important in a two-strike approach. If you trust the fact that you can allow the ball to get deep and still muscle out a base hit, it will make you better on off-speed pitches because you’ll give yourself more time to recognize the pitch. (See Derek Jeter).
* help you check your swing. The better the pitching gets, the earlier you have to commit to your swing. If your hands start and your eyes suddenly tell you “no,” additional strength will help keep your hands and wrists from breaking.
* get you some hits off of flawed swings. Top-hand rollover ground balls are the perfect example. If you roll over prematurely and top the ball, increased strength may impart enough topspin that it bounces and shoots through the infield. All hitters have flawed swings from time to time, so it’s a huge bonus to get a few hits out of them.
* Bonus Benefit: Adding muscle helps reduce the risk of injury. Muscle endurance helps avoid pulled or strained muscles and having some muscle padding protects bones when getting hit by a pitch.
A Few Weightlifting Tips
* Make sure you follow a strength program specific to developing as a baseball player. A productive workout for a baseball player differs from that of a football player, track star or wrestler.
* Don’t worry about what the guy next to you is lifting. Shame or embarrassment is the most common reason why teens shy away from initiating a weight-lifting program. Worry about yourself only and improving your strength. Everyone starts out weak in the weight room. The only way to get strong is to start from square one, put your time in and improve each workout.
* Focus on strengthening your entire body. Baseball players use their lower body and core strength in everything they do. It provides a foundation of balance. Don’t simply work the upper body.
* Find a lifting partner. There will be days that you don’t feel like lifting where he does and vice-versa. Workout buddies help pick each other up on days when there is a shortage of desire or energy.
* Breathe.